What Brings me to Teaching

Ummm… This is a little awkward but I actually enrolled in the class late so I missed the whole "why I decided to be a teacher" thing, but Rick has graciously allowed me to complete the post soooooo yeah, here goes...

I can tell you the moment I made the decision to pursue teaching, however I feel like that would leave out a lot of context to frame my perspective that led to the decision. It probably started in high school. I was a pretty average student who experienced several terrible teachers from my past. I 

had  one teacher who disliked me so much he would roll his eyes before calling on me to answer a question if no one else hands were raised. I had another teacher who really seemed to have it out for me for "being a distraction" even though I wasn't half as bad as 20 other students who never suffered any consequences. This was all in Jr. High. So if I told myself back then that I was pursuing a career in education, my younger self would've slapped older me. 

However, in high school, I had the opportunity to experience several teachers that not only cared for me, but they also believed in me. I struggled a lot back then (and I still kind of do now, as apparent in this late post), but these teachers saw something in me that I didn't see in myself (potential). These are the teachers that regularly reminded me of how smart I am, and they regularly worked with me when I was truly struggling. These teachers successfully facilitated deeper learning, and constantly kept me engaged in the lessons. I began staying a couple minutes after class just to talk o the teachers about my thoughts on the lesson and any questions I had. My geography/history teacher Mr. Landreth has traveled across the globe for most of his life immersing himself in the culture and effectively used these experiences when teaching. Therefore many of his lessons became personal stories that gave me an in depth view into the history behind so many cultures from a perspective that very few have the opportunity to perceive. My history teacher, Mr. Kemmerling, was so outgoing, and good at storytelling that history lessons became adventurous plots with twists and turns and drama and comedy. This is probably why I took a special interest in becoming a history teacher.

Finally, I graduated high school and became a very successful student of College of DuPage for a few semesters. Yet at the time I was completely directionless. I had hit a point where I NEEDED to make a decision on what to do in life. I am very indecisive so the thought process was very long and drawn out. The moment I finally decided to pursue education was sitting in my 2003 Toyota Avalon, seat leaning back as I was staring through the sunroof, listening to Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead. Thinking about my experience in education throughout the years. I thought about how much of an influence those teachers were for me and how they allowed me to become the successful student that I became. I thought about how nice it would be one day for me to do the same for another struggling student, and guide them to success. That's when I realized I wanted to be a teacher.

Here is a picture of a dog. Your welcome.