Why do I teach?

Installment #7:

I teach because I am creative.

I enjoy creative outlets and pursuits. I like to draw, write, color, bake, and paint. I can spend hours on Pinterest looking for imaginative ways to decorate any space. I enjoy making things colorful–bulletin boards, poster boards, banners, etc. I relish any task that provides creative leeway.

Teaching a standard doesn’t have to limited by a curriculum. A curriculum is a guide. Teaching is not limited to a standardized calendar of events and deadlines. Learning is not linear, nor is it steady.

Teaching does have limits. There are specific standards to teach, deadlines to meet, and tests to be taken. Nevertheless, teaching does allow for quite a bit of creativity.

I can read a single book, or many books. I can add books to a specific unit. I can teach the standard algorithm or a number of other methodologies. I can come back to a standard or leave it behind. I can reteach with a book or a project. I can revisit a standard today, tomorrow, and next week. I can provide a song to help my aural learners, a poster to help my visual learners, a dance to help my kinesthetic learners. Whatever I do, whatever I choose to add to augment, accelerate, or assist the learning experience is a creative endeavor. And these creative opportunities are beautiful. Teaching is a creative profession, and for that I will always be grateful.

Why do I teach?

Installment #6:

I teach for the steps.

This is silly, selfish, and not entirely true when I started teaching, but teaching is active; so, now I say I teach for the steps.

I have done the office job and I have been in a classroom. Classrooms create plenty of opportunity to burn calories. Sure, my candy drawer also gets used more, so I am consuming more calories. Nevertheless, a classroom position is an active role.

I walk as I teach. I walk from student to student. I walk from desk to desk. I stand up, I sit down, I stand up, I sit down. I sprint to the bathroom and back. I take kids out to recess. I play at recess. I walk around at recess. I take my students to the cafeteria, to specials, to line-up, to dismissal–and back. I monitor work by walking around the classroom. I monitor testing by walking around the classroom. I go from one meeting to the next, from one classroom to the next, from one end of the school to the other end.

My feet are tired, but by the time I get home I can safely look at my steps app and know I got all my steps for the day. One less thing to worry about–and that is definitely a perk, maybe even a reason, to teach 😉

🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

Why do I teach?

Installment #5:

This is the time in the school year where I am most reminded, most excited, most content about teaching.

I teach for right now, this moment, when I can sit back and look at my students and marvel at their progress.

This is the time of year when I am most reminded of the purpose, beauty, and benefits of teaching. My students each year were different people at the end of the year, my class was completely different from the first day of school. My students were more mature, more independent, and more lively at the end of the year. I would look at their work I had saved during the first couple of weeks and compare it to now, the end of the year, and feel accomplished and proud–not just of them, but of myself. We had come a long way, we had achieved so much.

Teaching is hard. It is exhausting. It can be trying. At the end of the year, during those final weeks, I am reminded that I teach in order to grow and help others grow. That duty, and that service, is challenging and rewarding; so, I keep teaching, I keep choosing this amazing profession.

March 12, 2019: Quote of the Day

“Now, what really makes a teacher is the love for the human child; for it is love that transforms the social duty of the educator into the higher consciousness of a mission.”

–Maria Montessori

Why do I teach?

Installment #4:

I teach because it is honorable.

It sounds self-righteous, even sanctimonious, but I’m doing good work. I’m in a time-honored profession. I mold lives. I’m a positive force for the present, and the future.

I feel good because I’m contributing to the future and our collective well-being. I don’t think it’s terrible to say, or point out, that teaching is noble. It is the only profession that paves the way for every other profession.

I enjoying teaching and I take pride in being a teacher–it is truly an admirable career choice.