Throughout my life, I have always enjoyed one thing more than others. Helping others. I knew that in my life I would find joy and happiness in helping people in some way. Before this year, I thought my calling was to become a doctor and help those in need, but in my mind, some of those people do not deserve to be helped. This was my first clue that I would never be a doctor, so in my mind, I knew I had to find another way to help people that deserve to be helped. As a kid, I loved watching the movies where a master of something takes on a student and trains them for months to become better. The goal of the student is to become as great as their master, but the goal of the master is always to have the student become better than they themselves ever were. This became my source of inspiration as I myself want to be seen as a role model in my career and help people become better than me for the betterment of the future of our society.
This is where the second image becomes apparent. It is of an old, small, and underdeveloped building in front of large skyscrapers. I want to develop the future of this country. I want to teach an inspire the future inventors and changers of America and the world. The old cliche is that teaching isn’t a selfish career and that it’s always about the future. I believe, no matter how overused the term is, that it is true. I want the world of tomorrow to be better off than today. Of course, it doesn’t seem to be going that way right now, but this is exactly why I want to be a teacher that can have that impact on people. When these teenagers are forced to feel like they are a part of a society of hatred, backward thinking, and division, I want to be the beacon that shows them that they can change our society for the better. I know that I do not have the work ethic to take my knowledge and work hard enough to go through medical school and help people that way, so I want to instill my knowledge into other people so that they can help the world in my place.
I want to be the one that makes it enjoyable to think. A large part of the culture going around in America for the past 30 years has been one of unintelligence. A culture where people are ashamed of showing that they are smart and intelligent. I want to show students that thinking and having your own educated opinions is a good thing and not bad.
Reading your post, I felt very inspired. Your optimism and motivation is going to take you so far in your teaching career. I have no doubt that you'll be able to inspire and guide your students in the right direction. I really like your metaphor for the building and for how you want to affect your students, very powerful. Thank you for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your sharing. I can feel your patriotism and responsibility for a country. And I also agree with you that students are encouraged to have their own opinions, because different ideas will make society more dynamic.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your story. I definitely relate. The feeling of helping others is like no other feeling, it fulfills me as a person. I love the star wars reference, definitely have to become as great as Master Yoda! Also, your emphasis on cognition is one in which teachers need. Focusing on concepts rather than "procedural teaching" is definitely a must!
ReplyDeleteAnthony,hi,thanks for sharing your story. I agree with you that someone does not deserve to be saved so I think become a teacher that helps students is a good option.A good teacher can guide students do right things and explore themselves.And maybe that can change the whole country.I hope that you can make your wish come true in the future and both of us can become a great teacher.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, thank you for sharing your story. There is much to celebrate here: the desire to help others, the commitment to make the word a better place, and the desire to support thinking.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, though, I wondered what you meant when you said you didn't want to be a doctor because some people do not deserve to be helped. I would argue that teaching and medicine have more in common than you think. Everyday, doctors and teachers are confronted with new problem situations they have never faced before. They have to possess adaptive expertise in order to address these problems without doing harm to the patient/student. However adaptive expertise is comprised of principled practical knowledge or the ability to draw on one's training as well as disciplined improvisation, or winging it in ways that are reasoned. Teaching is intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually draining...just like practicing medicine.
Finally, I wonder if people are ashamed to think or this is the product of oppression..if you tell someone long enough that they are dumb and have nothing to offer, they will eventually internalize that message.
Do you think this statement still accurately represents your thinking about what draws you to teaching?
I think in some ways I have been told by many people that I would never become a doctor and maybe that message has been internalized, but regardless of if it has or not, I think this decision to change majors and become a teacher has been the best decision of my college life so far. I've learned more in the past two semesters about myself and how I succeed than I have ever before and I sincerely enjoy the major. So maybe there are a few things that have drawn me to teaching, but all the reasons in the world are keeping me in it and I think that is what is the important part.
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