When Did You Know You Wanted To Become A Teacher?

The Metaphorical Call

Often you will hear educators state that they are answering a "call" to be a teacher, that they always knew that teaching was the career path meant for them. Or maybe they knew because they love witnessing and being a factor in the "lightbulb/Ah-Hah" moments of others. I am not one of those teachers. In fact, I once perceived teaching as a position for people that never matured passed high school, or people who were still trying to figure out what it is they wanted to do with their lives. And while I enjoy seeing students figure something out, I find more excitement in my teaching from students exclaiming "Wait, what just happened?," or as I lovingly call them: "IDK" moments. So what brought me to become this place in life where I am now fervently preparing for my 8th grade class and excitedly counting down the days (29) until the first day of school?

^{Starting her young and making a speaker box with materials found at home}

So How Did I Get Here Again?

To be honest, I am not entirely sure. Maybe I was "called" and I just took longer than others to figure out how to answer the metaphorical phone. Perhaps the catalyst to my teaching career was my substantial work as a babysitter/nanny/caregiver throughout my life. What started out as a way to make money before being legally able to work, turned into a regular activity for me as I became an aunt and trusted adult with occasional availability and no children of my own. Nearly 6 years ago, I was on college major decision number 3,(four if you count "undecided") sitting with my first niece, trying to teach her to sort blocks of different colors when my sister asked "Why haven't you ever considered becoming a teacher?" Truth was, I had been asked the exact same question by my first college roommate who knew she always wanted to be a special education teacher. My eloquent response at the time? "Why would I ever want to work in a school? I have spent my whole life on schools and don't intend on going back when I graduate from college." (She happened to be someone I considered to never mature beyond high school).

^{Legos for the win!}

Lucky Major Number 4, or is it 5....

This time when asked, I had years of experience working two jobs while going to school, paying out of pocket for college, and all I knew was I loved science, history, and psychology classes, hated public speaking, and wanted to find a career where I would make a positive impact on my community. So the question bubbled and wiggled around in my mind without any firm answer for the rest of the semester before I decided to take a developmental psychology class that would apply to my current major of psychology. I had an amazing professor that challenged us as her students to interview a teacher, demonstrate our learning on topics in a multitude of ways, and encouraged me to look at the classes in the psychology major and education major and see if any more overlapped so I could pursue this interest without having to switch majors again. Spoiler Alert: I did anyway.

^{Making bath bombs and talking about chemical reactions.}

And the rest, as they say, is history.

From then on, it all just seemed to fall into place. I decided on the middle school option because I didn't feel like I had the patience to teach elementary-aged students, and I really couldn't decide between science or social studies as a content area of specialty, which was required for teaching high school. The middle school degree allowed me to do both and when I really thought about it, I loved the variety of the personalities and developmental range in middle school. So here I am, gearing up to teach 8th grade science, and still nannying in the meantime.

^{Using a screwdriver to put in a drywall mount is an important life skill, and industry vs. inferiority is a real thing.}

Start A Conversation With Me

What about you? When did you know you wanted to become a teacher? Or, how did you decide you wanted to follow the path you are on now? What makes you come alive?

If you like this post, feel free to follow me. I am finally getting to a point where I feel organized enough to post more regularly and have a list of teaching related topics I hope to have up in the upcoming days. That is not to say you won't see adorable pics of the Kharmadog, SpideyCat, SunflowerKitty, and other adventures as well.

In the meantime, as always, stay awesome.

@tltran