Why I became a Teacher.
Looking back on my teaching career I can honestly say that much of what I learned about teaching I learned from my middle school teachers and teacher mentors. My kindergarten teacher Mrs. Charlton knew that every student could learn given enough time and encouragement. Through her nurturing attitude I gained confidence in myself and became a better communicator. It was with my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Mary Ann Terry, where I learned about reaching reluctant learners and making learning fun by simulating events in literature, history and science. I will never forget the field trip to her home. Dressing in Native American costumes and weaving images of days gone by gave this moment in history a real life approach. Our large crinkled paper bags she provided for us felt more like hand rubbed hides against our bare arms. Our single-feathered head dresses made us feel like Indian warriors. Wiggling our toes in the thick grass made us feel re-energized (if that is possible for a fourth grader). We gathered around the campfire and listened to the beat of drums. I don’t know what I remember most about that unforgettable day whether it was cooking our baked potatoes in coals deep inside the fire pit or dancing to the beat of the drums we had made out of oatmeal boxes. Mrs. Mary Ann Terry had taken us back to a different time and place. We had all built a relationship with each other experiencing how Indians, or the politically correct term today, Native Americans, had to work together to exist. More importantly she cared about us enough to design that amazing experience.
We left on the bus that day with our noses pressed up against the windows of the bus as we watched her big house grow smaller in the distance, our precious memorabilia in hand. I don’t know what I remember most about that unforgettable day but the one thing I was certain of was that we had all experienced something extraordinary and that group of nine-year-olds would never be the same.
Little did I know she would influence my career in the years to come. It was in my interview for a teaching position that I actually voiced for the first time out loud my thoughts about the influence she had made. As I sat in the interview across the large desk from the Houston Independent School District Principal, she asked me, “Why did you become a teacher?” I was hoping I would have an intelligent response that would set me apart from the other hundreds of applicants. Thoughts were rapidly popping in my mind. My first thought was of my parents and the care, love and encouragement they showed. Even though neither one had graduated from high school, they instilled a desire to pursue a degree and by example instilled a strong work ethic. They were so proud that I was one of their seven children to finish college. But my inspiration to become a teacher came from one very special teacher that had inspired me and made learning fun by creating authentic experiences making connections in learning that a worksheet or ‘reading chapter seven’ of the text book could never do. She offered opportunities in her classroom for real life lessons; she implanted a sense of American pride in the heritage of our “melting pot” backgrounds; and she inspired an appreciation of all of the people who had sacrificed so much for our freedoms. As I told Principal King about her, I watched her facial expression broaden into a smile from ear to ear.
Mrs. Charlton and Mrs. Mary Ann Terry made learning fun and influenced the way I teach. As the saying goes, “A teacher effects eternity; she can never tell where her influence stops.”
This is why I became a Teacher.
We left on the bus that day with our noses pressed up against the windows of the bus as we watched her big house grow smaller in the distance, our precious memorabilia in hand. I don’t know what I remember most about that unforgettable day but the one thing I was certain of was that we had all experienced something extraordinary and that group of nine-year-olds would never be the same.
Little did I know she would influence my career in the years to come. It was in my interview for a teaching position that I actually voiced for the first time out loud my thoughts about the influence she had made. As I sat in the interview across the large desk from the Houston Independent School District Principal, she asked me, “Why did you become a teacher?” I was hoping I would have an intelligent response that would set me apart from the other hundreds of applicants. Thoughts were rapidly popping in my mind. My first thought was of my parents and the care, love and encouragement they showed. Even though neither one had graduated from high school, they instilled a desire to pursue a degree and by example instilled a strong work ethic. They were so proud that I was one of their seven children to finish college. But my inspiration to become a teacher came from one very special teacher that had inspired me and made learning fun by creating authentic experiences making connections in learning that a worksheet or ‘reading chapter seven’ of the text book could never do. She offered opportunities in her classroom for real life lessons; she implanted a sense of American pride in the heritage of our “melting pot” backgrounds; and she inspired an appreciation of all of the people who had sacrificed so much for our freedoms. As I told Principal King about her, I watched her facial expression broaden into a smile from ear to ear.
Mrs. Charlton and Mrs. Mary Ann Terry made learning fun and influenced the way I teach. As the saying goes, “A teacher effects eternity; she can never tell where her influence stops.”
This is why I became a Teacher.