Joy of Teaching

• I will love seeing my students become academically successful. Seeing them become successful not only in the classroom, but outside of the classroom will inspire my success as a teacher. Knowing that I have contributed to preparing my students for a future college career will be extremely awarding for me.
  
• Inspiring my students to be passionate about learning and about history would make my day. A student who comes in with a bright face and gets caught up in my enthusiasm for the subject will only prove to me that they are listening and value their education. Seeing them "get it" and understand what I'm saying will prove to me that they are trying and are challenging themselves.
  
• Seeing a student achieve at high levels- socially, academically, physically, creatively, etc... will be extremely awarding. Feeling that I was a part of shaping an individual into a whole and wonderful person would be a feeling like no other. They would be my children- I'd care about their life just as much as my own.
  

• Scrounging for a job in the education world is a bit scary for me. Especially where I want to teach history, I know that a profession will be difficult to find. There is so much that they take into consideration when you apply: for example, whether or not I have a second license or endorsement in another field of study. Also, I do not want to move far away from my hometown, which makes it more difficult to find a job because most openings are already taken.
  
• I'm concerned with the lack of motivation students might (and some will) have in my class. Discipline problems and feeling like I'm failing as an educator will disappoint me. I know that not every student will love my class and be as enthusiastic as much as I'd like them to be.
• I'm not going to lie; the salary that a teacher receives is not exactly as rewarding as I'd want it to be. Teachers shape the future generation and educators. We teach our future doctors, lawyers, politicians, presidents, etc... We give people a world of knowledge that they use to create the place we live in. That is such an amazing, difficult, and time-consuming job. You would think that teachers would receive a higher pay for achieving such goals.
  

Thoughts on Becoming a Teacher

Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to become an educator. My earliest childhood memories consist of playing "school" in my downstairs basement with my little sister. I would always claim that because I was older (thus automatically making me wiser), I had the natural right of being the teacher. My parents would come home from work with boxes filled with treasures: composition notebooks, folders, pens, pencils, a chalkboard, and many more materials I could exercise in my imaginary classroom.

My imaginary students were just as real to my seven-year-old mind as my little sister. My poor sister had to compete with other figments of my imagination to give me the answer to a question. I would give out homework assignments, projects, and tests. I would spend "hours" grading work. I would make lists of assigned readings. Nothing was impossible in my imaginary classroom. I inspired my students. I challenged my students. I motivated my students to want to learn.

My passion for education and learning stayed with me as I grew up and experienced the teaching methods of previous professors and educators. Coming to UMF and fueling my passion to teach has made me realize that my dream of seeing the imaginary hands raised transforming into real ones, is coming true.