When Did You Pick Your Path?
Posted by Jen Bragg on 17 Jul 2009 | Posted in: Inspiration and Motivation, Teachers and Teaching
The question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” seemed to pop up frequently when I was younger. Sometimes it was posed by a teacher for a writing assignment, and other times it was asked by a classmate seated nearby at the lunch table. Once or twice, I’m sure it was an inquiry made by a distant relative. What was my number one answer? A teacher. It always seemed like the natural choice to me. And with the help of my family, I even had my own little classroom set up in our basement. It had a large chalkboard to write on, an old-fashioned student desk (my mom bought it at a yard sale when we lived in Illinois), and tons of stuffed animals to teach. I even had some math workbooks my older brother made for me. (Using carbon paper, he duplicated pages and bound them in file folders—as a youngster in the ’70s, I thought them pretty fancy!) It was tons of fun, and even though I considered other careers during my teen years, when it was time for college, education was still my top choice.
What about you? When did you decide that teaching was the profession for you? Has it been a lifelong interest or did you discover it later in life, after dabbling with other careers? I’d love to hear from you!
Congratulations to Audrey in Pasadena, California. She is the winner of a copy of 500 Classroom Tips, Grades K-1 in our weekly blog drawing.
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41 Responses to “When Did You Pick Your Path?”
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More Comments Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] Show All Comments
I have had many awesome teachers. I would play school with my sisters when I was younger. Teaching has always been my dream career. I love working with kids and helping them learn. During my junior and senior years in high school, I had the opportunity to spend an hour and a half each day for a semeseter at the elementary school as part of a career exploration class. The teacher that I had in first grade asked me if I wanted to come back and work in her first grade classroom. I was so excited! She is an amazing teacher and I have learned so much from her. She really is my inspiration and motivation to become a teacher. We had so much fun working together. I would spend other free periods in her classroom and during college, I would find any opportunity possible to go back and help in her classroom. This past school year was my first year teaching and I was so fortunate to have a job in the elementary school that I went to myself. Teaching has always been my dream job and teaching in my own elementary school is even better.
When I was younger, I was always asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I always said, “a teacher.” I would use my bedroom as a classroom, set my barbies up in assigned seats and teach them. As I grew older, my friends would come over, and we would all play school. We all took turns playing teacher and children. When I was ready to start college, my number one pick was education. I made all my teaching games, made up my own worksheets and P.E. games when I was doing internships. That all carried over when I started my student teaching. When I graduated, I applied everywhere. I was a preschool teacher at a daycare for six years. Then, I went into a Headstart program, which I am currently at and have been with for three years. Now, I have a teaching lisence in Elementary Education K-6. Even though, at the time, it is hard to find a teaching job, I am still looking forward to going into the classroom to see what kind of students I will meet. I always get excited when starting a new year. I can’t wait to use new ideas and interacting with the children!
I have known that I wanted to be a teacher since I was about ten years old. I would play school with my stuffed animals in my room. I love the idea that you get to start over at the beginning of every year! It gives you a fresh new start. I don’t know of other jobs that allow you to do that. Teaching allows me to use my creativity. How you taught last year may not work the next year or the next because children are so different and the dynamics of the class are always different. Your class is not always the same each year and I enjoy that!
I’ve always known that teaching was my vocation. I remember playing teacher when I was little with all of my dolls and stuffed animals. In elementary school I remember declaring that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, regardless of who asked the question! At the end of high school, although I chose my University courses to keep my options open, I always kept in mind that I wanted to teach. As most people often do in University I questioned what I would really be happy choosing as a life-long career. Upon graduation, I knew in my heart that teaching was still my calling. My supervisor in Grad school turned out to be my sixth grade teacher and she was thrilled to see that I had continued on the path to become an educator. I ended up graduating with my Masters of Science in Teaching, and this fall it will be my second year teaching in Harlem, NY! (I’m originally from Canada!) This profession that I have chosen has, and I’m confident will continue to be, both such a demanding and rewarding life-long teaching and learning experience!
I first knew I was supposed to teach about 7 years ago when God really led me to lead an AWANA Cubbies class on Wednesday nights at church(Preschool age children). All my life I had no idea how much I loved kids, but how much I also really loved teaching! It lets me use my very best gifts and talents in a way that doesn’t make me crave constant praise and the spotlight (oh yeah, I was going to be an actress before this happened =O) but it satisfied some deep desire to communicate what I had to tell. It has led me to quit my job in the medical field this past year( before that, I did some acting, managed a wallpaper and home decor store, worked as a medical secretary, patient care tech on a maternity center, and an anti Tobacco activist for the State), and moved into full time ministry, which has been a huge blessing to my family. Our church now has a preschool and childcare ran by yours truly, and I can’t say enough how different this has been from anything I have ever experienced. I led my first VBS (Vacation Bible School) and still get to use those fun theatrical skills on a daily basis with the kids. My husband and I have also been unsuccessful at getting pregnant for 9 years, and this ministry has blessed us with many more children than we could ever have imagined. God has really blessed us more than I can say through teaching, and it all started with a one hour volunteer teaching gig at church!