To
teach. Although it may seem like a
simple task, its roots run deep and opinions on its definition and importance
are expansive. Goethe once said, "Treat people as if they were what they ought to be
and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." In an essence, this is what my teaching
philosophy is. I look at teaching
as a skill that takes practice, something that requires love, patience, and
believing, and something that is quite honestly, not easy to do.
My
childhood was filled with days of setting up pretend classrooms, dragging my
poor sister and her little friends into it to be my pupils, grading pretend homework
with the ‘Good Job!’ stickers my Mom gave me from her school supplies, and taking
recesses to the backyard. The love
of teaching I have developed began many years ago, and it has continued to grow
as I’ve gotten older. Being a
member of the Church, I was given many opportunities to teach in the Young
Women and Relief Society programs as well, once the plastic chairs and tables
in my basement classroom got a bit too small. I think it was at church where I really noticed the
difference a teacher could have on his or her students. The classroom is a place where you can
light a fire within a student and let them continue to let their flame
grow. All you really have to do is
believe in them and give them a little push in the right direction.
My
quest to becoming a teacher for real began about a year and a half ago, and
over that time I’ve started thinking about the reasons as to why I am doing
this. Why would I want to become a
teacher when the pay isn’t always great and the recognition not always
there? That is simple. I am becoming a teacher because I am
confident that through it I can make a difference. I am becoming a teacher because I love being in front of
people and showing them something new. I am becoming a teacher because I’ve seen a teacher take a
struggling teenager, make them feel on top of the world, and help them find
that little something they are searching for within themselves. I am becoming a teacher because I want
to do the same.
In
my future classroom there will be rules, but it will be student run-- in the
sense that the students will get out of it what they want to get out of
it. It will be a place filled with
neat posters, fun colors, and new technology popping up daily. The students will help pick the
projects worked on, and they will grow together as a class as they work on
different things as a team. I will
be an equal to the students, but also the expert in the room. I will be one of those teachers
constantly working on ways to become better, and always innovating in my
classroom management and lesson plans.
I’m going to be a fun teacher, one who respects the students, and one
who helps them see their potential and how they individually can contribute to
the world.
