Most people that know me know that I am going to school to become a teacher. Not everyone knows exactly what kind of teacher I am hoping to become though so I will go over that quickly before I get into the purpose of this post.
After graduating from Michigan State I will be certified to teach grades K-12 in a special education classroom and grades K-8 in a general education classroom. My teaching certifications would be in mathematics and learning disabilities. I hope that after graduating with my bachelor's and obtaining my first teaching position that I will be able to go onto graduate school and get my certification in teaching children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. My dream classroom would be an early elementary class working with children with ASD.
NOW, the meat and meaning of me making this post.
A few weeks ago in one of my classes we talked about what we were seeing in some of our placements within schools. My classmates were seeing both positive and negative things, however, there were many negative things that seemed overwhelming. I am very lucky to be experiencing a wonderful teacher in my practicum placement. Hearing what everyone was saying around me coupled with the incredibly positive experiences that I had been having made me realize how lucky I have been to be put with the people that I have been around to learn from. This lucky feeling has made me want to get around to thanking these people (I am working on talking to all of them so they know how much I appreciate them), and to sharing why each of them has made me want to be a teacher someday. I am not sharing their names because I have not been able to talk to all of them yet and not everyone would want it shared.
The first person was a teacher of mine in middle school. I had two courses with them (math and team time) and I can always remember the joy in their classroom. Whenever you would go in their room they always seemed happy to see each of their students and always made them smile. I can remember having bad days and going into their room and they would tell me the goofiest joke and get me to smile. In my junior or senior year of high school we had to write about teachers that had inspired us along the way and he was one of the two teachers that I wrote about. I hope that one day I can have as positive of a classroom as he did and make all of my students feel happy to be in my class too.
The second person was not a teacher of mine but still someone that I respect A TON. This person was always there to talk and help me sort through things when I could not figure out what I was doing. What I found even more remarkable about this person was that they had this just absolute sense about them that you could trust them. I know that teachers aren't supposed to be counselors and that is a different job, but I hope that I can be a teacher that students feel comfortable coming to me when they have questions or are concerned about something. I also hope that I am a teacher that is good at making my students feel good about themselves like this person did for me. I also hope to be a teacher that not only my students trust, but that their parents trust me with their student.
The third person was a teacher of mine in high school as well as the second teacher that I wrote about in the paper later on in high school. This teacher wasn't afraid to be different than others. They would not let their students just go on with low expectations and made us figure out now how to just solve a specific problem, but how to problem solve and work through different ideas. They made their students realize that it is okay to be wrong sometimes but if you keep trying you will succeed and figure it out. They were always incredibly understanding and caring and someone that I enjoy meeting with just to say hi when I have time at home. I hope that I am a teacher that understands my students like this teacher did and how to push them to be their absolute best. I hope that I can understand that different students work differently and find a way to help all of the different styles of learning my students will have.
The fourth person was the first person to say to me that I would make a good teacher one day. She was helping out with an activity that I was leading and as I was giving instructions to everyone else throughout the activity she out of the blue, with me never mentioning to her about wanting to become a teacher myself, said "Wow! You would make a great teacher one day". That is still the exact line and moment that I picture in my head when I have moments of thinking the road to becoming a teacher is too tough and I should just do something different. It is AMAZING to have someone believe in a dream that you have that they do not even know of. This person was a teacher themselves (not a teacher of mine) and I got to go watch them teach a few classes one day. It was awesome to see how they ran their classroom and how happy their students were to be in their class. A couple of times I have been called a mini version of this person and I do not think that I could ever explain in words how high of a compliment that is to me. I hope that one day I can be half the teacher that I saw this person was and that I can let students know how much I believe in them too.
The fifth person was a teacher that I worked with in a placement through MSU. This teacher was actually the teacher that made me want to switch from being a high school teacher (what I was originally going for when I entered college) to wanting to be an elementary school teacher. She was the teacher that I had the first experience volunteering in her classroom and she made it an absolute joy to do. When a situation that could have spiraled out of control with someone else would arise, she always handled it confidently and with a level of grace that I could not understand. She spoke kindly and positively to all of her students even if they were misbehaving. I hope that one day I can have her classroom problem solving skills and level of calm-ness when working with my students.
The sixth person was a teacher that I worked with in a placement through MSU as well. This teacher let be very involved in her classroom. She really taught me a lot about the field of special education and different things that go along with it. When students would come to her classroom you could tell that they valued her opinion and enjoyed being with her for lessons. Other school staff would also stop by her room just to say hi and you could see how much they respected and wanted her opinion as well. I hope that one day my students and colleagues see my opinion as valuable and that I can be as helpful of a person as this teacher was.
There are other people as well that have taught me more about the teacher that I want to become but these are just some of the main ones. I hope that this has explained just a few of the qualities that I hope to have as a teacher someday.
Your rock Tricia. This post was awesome.
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