As an education major the first week of classes means having the dreaded icebreaker questions that cause every college student to feel more uncomfortable then when they first entered the classroom. Being an education major means the questions are all basically the same, “What teacher has inspired you to want to go into this field.” Everyone usually speaks of a specific teacher that has got them to where they are, or an experience with a teacher that has inspired them to want to teach.
Up until this year I couldn’t think of one teacher that truly has inspired me to say, “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” I actually had a very different experience. I realized it was the fact that I had watched myself and my peers struggle, this continued as I was pushed throughout the education system.
It was due to the fact that I had learned so differently from others that I wasn’t seen as top of my class or that I was just over looked all together. As early as I could remember, teaching was my passion because I wanted to be the teacher that I never had.
I wanted to be that teacher that everyone else had growing up that I didn’t. I wanted to be the one to inspire students and have them realize their full potential. Growing up no one should ever have to go home at night questioning why they aren’t smart enough or why they keep failing tests without any help. So once again why would I want to stay in a system where I had such a rough experience myself?
I never want a child to have to go home and question their intelligence based on the test scores they are receiving. I would never want a student to question their worth because they have a different learning style than child next to them. I want to be someone that can help them realize that they are worth so much more than a letter grade.