Why I Teach
"I am an educator naturally obligated to teach every child who wants to learn, and even those who don't." ~Me
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C-A-I-L-A, Caila. When I was in ninth grade, I taught my younger sister how to spell and write her name. It was this experience that ultimately led to my career choice of becoming a teacher. Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to work with children. However, the capacity in which I wanted to work was unclear. As I look back on my life, teaching has been a part of me since I was in elementary school. As a fifth and sixth grader, I participated in the “Future Teacher” program where I assisted teachers in their classrooms before and after school. I would perform tasks such as washing the chalk board, grading papers, passing papers back, sweeping the floor, and running errands. I took pride in my position as a future teacher and did my job to the best of my ability. Additionally, as an upper elementary student, I was chosen to work with students in lower grades to help them improve their reading skills. Teachers would choose students who they felt needed the extra help and for a portion of my lunch period I would sit and read with them, helping them to sound out words.
My excitement for education continued throughout middle and high school. I graduated middle school at the top of my class and was granted the opportunity to attend the number one public school in my city. The high school I attended was college preparatory and more intense than my previous years of school. Even with the change in curriculum I managed to keep up and maintain a liking for education. I enrolled in several Advanced Placement classes throughout my high school career and participated in after school events. One of these events was peer tutor night where students who excelled in a particular subject would help other students who did not fully understand. The summer after my junior year in high school I participated in the Broad Future Teacher Summer Scholars Program on the campus of Michigan State University. From this experience my love for education developed into a passion as I learned about different aspects of the profession. The following school year I was accepted into Michigan State University and have since dedicated my life to becoming the best educator I can be. During my four years of undergrad, I seized every opportunity I could to help myself gain experience in the classroom. I was a member of the Urban Educators Cohort Program, participated in the Service Learning program as a freshman, and worked with the America Reads/Counts Program sophomore and junior year. Upon graduation, I participated in the Learning, Culture and Technology Study Abroad Program in Europe where I was able to learn about different schools in The Netherlands and Germany, as well as teach lessons to students in these countries. With each experience I was able to grow into a better educator. I gained a more in depth knowledge about myself as a teacher and the profession itself. The most important idea I learned is that there is always more to learn. Through furthering my education, I plan to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to prepare lessons for a diverse group of learners, challenge what I know and understand about teaching various subject matters, and learn how to utilize curriculum material so that it best suits my students. My goal as a teacher is to develop well-rounded, open-minded, critical thinkers. Though learning new information can sometimes be overwhelming and stressful, I am up for the challenge. |