This is often a question I have asked myself over the years, especially on those challenging days in the classroom when I felt less than successful, and needed to remind myself of why I became a teacher in the first place. It is also the question that many of my students answer for me on the days when they discover something new about themselves and their learning or I run into them somewhere years later and they tell me something they remember doing in my classroom.
For me, I grew up in a home where both of my parents were teachers. My father was a high school history teacher, curriculum director, principal, coach of several sports, and a superintendent during the course of his career. My mother was a high school business teacher. Both of my parents modeled for me the importance of learning and were continually taking graduate classes, sometimes even towing me along. My parents fostered my love of learning, but it was my second grade teacher, Mrs. MacDonald that fostered my desire to become an elementary school teacher. From the very first day I stepped inside her classroom, she made me feel important and special. Funny thing was, she actually made everyone feel important and special. From the first day, we had special jobs that needed to be done and these were on a rotating schedule. They were not just the typical jobs of collecting papers or being the line leader. One of the jobs was to help her decorate the glass showcase she had by our classroom door that everyone could see as you walked by. She had you come during lunch and recess to help her do it, so you had special time with her. She didn't care if it looked perfect, just that it was created by her students. The other special thing I remember about Mrs. MacDonald was that we DID things in her classroom and were not passive learners. Our very first science unit on day one was learning about the metamorphosis of the monarch butterfly. She showed us a few caterpillars, the milkweed that it ate, and some pictures of the changes it went through. She sparked my imagination and my sense of wonder. I went home that night and searched for milkweed and came in to school the next day with at least 10 caterpillars I had found in the field by my house. I remember reading stories where she shared physical objects that were in the story: made peanut butter and chocolate cookies from a recipe in our reading book; we wrote our own stories and shared them; did a Christmas play; took field trips to the local library, fire station, and town hall instead of just reading about them in our books. She tied learning to our senses and learning styles which awakened our curiosity, created a sense of fun, and made us aware of the world outside of our classroom walls. But, I think the thing that was most special about Mrs. MacDonald was, again, how she made you feel...special, important, and capable. Years later when I became a teacher, I stopped by to see Mrs. MacDonald before she retired. I told her she was the reason I became a teacher. She smiled, hugged me, and told me that knowing you have made a difference in someone's life makes it all worth it. So, why did you become an educator? Feel free to post a comment to share your story. Or if you do not want to post, perhaps you will reflect about that question the next time you are having a challenging day in the classroom or, better yet, the next time you see your students having that "aha" moment when learning something new. Remember, you truly do make a difference in kids' lives!
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