I am 23 years old. I have recently married, and I am currently on the search for a teaching position. I have been coined my whole life as 'the smart girl,' and quickly discovered in elementary school that some kids only wanted to be my friend so they could cheat off me. As a child, I did not realize that this would affect me and them both later on in life. It would affect them because they did not actually learn the material, rather they relied on me to help them pass the tests. As for myself, it caused me to think less of myself. What good did it do for me to be smart when the other students would just laugh or use me to get through high school? I knew I could do whatever I wanted when I grew up, but I lacked the confidence to pursue it. This, however, is not why I chose to teach instead.
At the same time that little Billy James* was cheating off my third grade math tests, I was also developing an interest. My aunt and grandmother were both school teachers, my aunt in high school and my grandmother an assistant in Kindergarten. I remembered my grandmother bringing home leftover worksheets from the end of the school year, ones that had too many copies made for whatever reason. She brought them with the intention of giving me something to do, but I had a different plan. I used these worksheets, and in a young child's way, demanded that my parents complete them so that I could check their work (Lord knows if I even knew the correct answers myself, but I still pretended I did.). When my parents became less than willing to participate, I turned to my rather large collection of stuffed animals. They, being a very patient audience, allowed me my first opportunities to "teach." By this point, I had collected a couple of old text books from various sources. My favorite, though, was an old math book. I would take my white board and teach these silent creatures about multiplying (which we were currently studying in third grade), adding, subtracting, and sometimes even decimals. After which, I would assign them homework from this single book, and later would make a test which I would pretend they had taken. I thought I had found my calling, but this was still not why I chose to teach.
It wasn't until many years later, after several debates on what to major in; after teaching myself in 8th grade how to do basic Trigonometry from my mom's old college book; and after finally deciding to do Elementary Education in college, that I realized exactly why I was doing what I was doing. It wasn't because I loved it as a child, and it wasn't because I couldn't do the work myself. My parents would always say, "You are so smart and could do anything you want, doctor, lawyer, psychiatrist...why do you want to teach?" At first, I didn't know, but when I did figure it out, this is what I told them. Because I want to make a difference. Because I want little Billy to not have to rely on the smart girl in class as he will have learned it himself. Because it won't matter if someone else has the ability to learn faster than others as long as they know they are capable of learning the same things. Because I know that if children love what they are learning, they will love to learn. Because I want to help them know that school doesn't have to be boring or hard. Because I want to help prepare those who will do in the world for their future careers. It thrills me whenever I am helping a student who is struggling with a concept, and then in a flash, see the light bulb go off in their head, the a-ha moment, and realize they finally understand. I live for the moment when I help a child discover their interest and try my best to feed it and not let the spark, the love for it die.
Einstein said, "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." So I guess my number one reason why I prefer to teach is because I want to shift this paradigm. You see it's not because I can't do the work that I'm a teacher, but because I can do it that I am able to teach others how as well. "If you can't teach it, you can't do it!" That's why.
*All names are fictional.
