When I first started teaching in 2020, I knew that I enjoyed teaching. I had done two years of student teaching leading up to my homeroom teaching, and I enjoyed the interactions I had with the students and the books. As I began my first year of teaching, I was asked the question of whether I was teaching for the students or the books. I was not exactly sure how to answer the question. I really did enjoy the books. It’s not that I was not teaching for the sake of the students, but I was able to focus on teaching lessons that were presented well and made good use of the curriculum. I think I can say that most of the first half of my first-year teaching was spent majorly focusing on the curriculum.
As I kept teaching, it soon became obvious that if I taught my lessons exactly how they were presented in the curricula, I lost some of my students, and was unable to help them learn well. I realized about halfway through my first year of teaching that the students played a tremendously important role in a teacher’s life.
I know that it may seem obvious that the students are important, but if a teacher is focused on how they are doing such a good job teaching, they are most likely missing those students who would benefit from that same attention. When I realized my imbalance of attention, I realized that I needed to make some changes.
One of the first changes I worked on was making sure that each of my student’s learning styles was met through my teaching. For example, some students were easily able to grasp the new concepts after a minimal amount of modeling, while other students need to see more and varied modeling before they would easily grasp the same concept. I noticed that when I put in the effort to reach around to all my students, my classes went better. It did not matter how good of a lesson plan I had, if I did not actually teach all my students, it was pointless.
As I moved into my second year of teaching, I realized that one of the biggest reasons I taught was out of a heart of love. I did not always enjoy school, but once I reached high school, I began to really love school and learning. When I first started teaching, I was thrilled to be able to keep on learning. What really began to challenge me was the students. Did I really love my students in a way that inspired me to have them take a precedence over my learning? What I mean by this is, who was more important, me or my students? One might say that the teacher is the most important person in a classroom. Without a teacher, it would be harder for students to learn. However, without students, why would a teacher need to teach?
As I began to shift my own thoughts and actions concerning this discussion, I found that teaching became much more enjoyable. When I truly put my students before myself, I found that my learning still happened, but it was usually through the lens of bettering my students, not just myself. I found that I was more available to my students and was not this austere teacher who sat at his desk, taught lessons, and disciplined all while never forming relationships with my students. My students also felt a connection that I had not had the previous year of teaching.
After teaching for two years, I took a break to pursue my own education in more focused way. During that break, I realized that I really did enjoy the learning, but what I truly missed was the students. I missed the excitement they brought into the classroom each day. I missed the looks of enlightenment when that tough concept finally clicked. I missed those daily interactions that helped to better both student and teacher.
As I reflect on the question of why I teach, I believe I can answer that with one simple sentence. I teach because I love.
Confident Classroom 