Why Teach?

This week in class, we all reflected on the question Why Teach? When I first heard this question my first instinct was to say cause I love kids! Why else would I want to teach? However, after going through the readings for this week, I had to sit and really think. What inspires me to teach? Why do I get up every day and go to school to do this thing called teaching? Why should I spend countless hours reading about emergent literacy and observing children who don't seem to ever listen?

The answer is still "because I love kids".

Before reading any further, I suggest reading this list of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers. When I first read the list in this blog, I almost fell over in my chair. I had to seriously think about how I would handle myself if I farted in front of my students. I had to consider giving up my love for glitter because there is no way I want to find it on my clothes years later and after transferring schools. I even had to come to terms with the fact that everything I own in my classroom will at some point be destroyed. (Definitely not bringing my good pencil sharpener). The only thing I saw on the list that I could easily accomplish was being highly caffeinated. Thank goodness for Dunkin Donuts!
 



However, aside from the silliness of the article I had to actually think about why I would want to put up with stuff like this. Being a teacher is definitely a calling, and someone in class said it perfectly. "Teaching is not for the faint of heart." Life doesn't stop in the classroom. I am going to make mistakes, say the wrong things and forget the tests at home right next to the bottle of wine. It isn't the kind of job where you can set down your paperwork for the day, go home watch Netflix, and pick up where you left off the following day. Countless hours outside of the classroom are spent coming up with lesson plans, behavior management ideas, ways to decorate the classroom for the spring, etc. As a teacher you dedicate a majority of your life to your students. So, we still ask the question, why teach?

Let's talk about payment. This article about Highly Paid Teachers kills me. Would you believe that teachers earn an average of only $50,000 a year? That trickles down to $1.42 per hour per student. Now let's be realistic, I get paid more as a babysitter and I don't even have the credentials to teach them. In the article, it talks about teachers getting paid only $3 an hour per student, and I thought THAT was low but it came out to roughly $200,000 a year! Now why are teachers getting paid so little? They are educators, babysitters, and sometimes parents to the 30 children that they have in their classrooms a year. We definitely cannot say that we want to teach because of the pay. If anything, teachers are highly unappreciated. Just ask Jamee Miller. So, we still ask the question, why teach?

These teachers will tell you. Tim Bailey on this website says "Real learning doesn’t take place without an emotional connection. Teaching history can make a real difference in the lives of my students."

 

I love kids. I love their new minds and their hunger for information. I love the imagination they have and they joy they find in the little things. As a kid I was always excited to learn something new and I tackled it with a ferocity. The reason I want to teach is that I want to inspire students to be the way I was as a student. I want them to go home and talk non stop about the water cycle because they find it so interesting. I love kids and I want to see them become the best possible version of themselves. My fifth grade teacher was that kind of teacher for me, and he is one of the reasons I want to be a teacher myself. I want to have an impact on students and I want them to remember me when they grow up to fit into their own careers. The feeling I get when I've taught something or a kid has been inspired by me is worth more than any salary, and I could deal with a few missing books and a broken pencil sharpener. These are small prices to pay to work in a field that you are passionate about. Teaching is the one job that creates other professions. Without teaching, how would we have learned anything? Even if you teach yourself to do something, that is a form of teaching right? Everything that we know comes from a source of knowledge, and that is teaching.

So, why teach?

Teach because it's a passion. Because it is something you want to wake up and do every day, it is important to enjoy it. Teach because you care about young minds and you want them to grow, because you want to feel a connection between each and every one of your students. Teach because you want to create a community, a family.

Teach because you love kids.