Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

curious and would love to hear!

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I always loved school. I've been "playing school" since I was about 5 years old. I even had a gigantic chalkboard in my room and I used to teach my stuffed animals.

I had a little chalkboard on a stand that I used to take outside, too. I used to bug my friend to play school all the time, and 80% of the time she wasn't interested. Needless to say, she's NOT a teacher

It's funny, though--education was such a different field when we went to school. Now, being a teacher is downright stressful. I will fully admit that it's not what I thought it would be.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

hmmm well, too be honest, I'm not a person who ever wanted to be a teacher. I decided during my second year of college when I had to pick a major. A lot of my family members are/were teachers & so I guess that influenced me. Also I didn't know what else to choose to pursue, no other fields really interested me. Teaching seemed like something I'd be good at & wouldn't be too hard (little did I know how hard it really is LOL!). Also I figured it would offer good job stability, decent pay, benefits, etc.... and no matter where you go, there are schools to work at... also I figured that if I ever had kids, the hours/vacation time would work out well because I'd be off when they'd be off. So it was more of a "practical" decision for me than anything.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I am dual certified in special ed and elementary. I decided to become a special education teacher as a result of my own experience in special education in elementary school. My special education teacher was fabulous and clearly made a huge impression on me since I followed in her footsteps.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

LOVED school, loved my teachers!

I also loved journalism and TV and I thought I loved that more so that is what I studied undergrad. Tried that out for a few years. Saw that it was not for me and went back for teaching. I love being a teacher and it fits me better.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

Wanted to be a teacher since 2nd grade. My mom would always tell me that she pictured me as a teacher too. This caused me to go against her in HS and decide to go into psychology. After my bachelors though I went right into a masters program for teaching because I really still wanted to be a teacher. I it.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

Growing up I loved school & my teachers. I always wanted to be a teacher but at the time there were teacher strikes & such & my dad steered me in another direction.

I was a legal secy at ABC & admin at Major League Baseball & then about 10 years later decided that wasn't for me & I went back to school for my Masters in Teaching (best decision I ever made).

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I did love school and my teachers, but I didn't want to be like my mom (who was a teacher) even though I did, ironically, take an elective in high school called Future Teachers (which I just remembered now.) I never thought I wanted to teach for real until I was out of college. (I got a BA in English... never took an education class undergrad.)

I was working in publishing and HATING it when one of my friends from college called me and told me she decided what she wanted to do with her life -- and it was be an English teacher. After listening to her talk about it, I said I was SO jealous, and she kind of paused and then said, "you could do it, too?"

So I did. And I can't believe I actually had a calling that I'd never acknowledged before that moment. There's absolutely nothing like teaching. After college, I never thought I'd be as happy again as I'd been there, but I also never knew I could love a job and be this fulfilled by it. But I am. It's not everything to me, but it certainly has made me a better person and given me a purpose I never knew I had.

ETA: I knew I was making the right choice when I told my parents about this decision. I'd always kind of thought I'd be a lawyer because that's what my dad does, but when I told them, he turned to my mom and said, "I'm going to get to say MY daughter is an ENGLISH TEACHER?" and I can't remember ever hearing him sound quite that proud.

Message edited 9/4/2010 11:15:06 PM.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I went through different phases while growing up, once upon a time i wanted to be a teacher, but then again i also wanted to be a fashion designer, a lawyer, a judge etc...

the real reason i became a teacher was after a few years of being an assistant teacher and eventually teacher for sunday school, i really enjoyed it and had decided straight after high school to pursue that

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

Growing up, I always wanted to be a doctor. I went to college and majored in biology and took all the pre-med classes. When I was a junior, I thought to myself I am not sure if I want to do that anymore. I really wanted to be able to have free time and not be on call. I had many friends, who were going to med school and it just made me rethink my decision. At that point, I did a mentoring program at a local middle school and I loved it. It was that program that made me want to become a teacher.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I always wanted to be a writer but I remember an older person telling me, "Oh, so you're going to feed the birds at the park?" and then I felt bad and thought that I better be a teacher instead!

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I always loved school and my teachers but I wanted a high paying career.

I switched majors a lot as an undergrad. I finished with accounting but then before my masters I was looking into law school and a PA program.

I took one of those career inventory tests and it said teacher....so I decided to pursue it.

I love teaching - and like a PP I thought it was a good, stable job. Liked the perks of mommyhood with it.

But I'm not crazy about how education has changed with the standardized tests. But I still love what I do.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I always LOVED school. I loved my teachers. I played school until I was in about 6th grade (probably a little too old to be playing school).

When i went to college and had to start preparing lessons, I would just get so excited over them. It's just something I've always wanted to do and always enjoyed doing.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I did love school and my teachers and the social aspect (I never wanted to be absent, b/c I felt I would miss something), but I never played school or thought I would be a teacher.

I felt that I was let down by my guidance counselor, so I wanted to become a better one. My college advisor told me the best step would be to get my undergrad in secondary education. So since I always loved history and have wanted to be on jeopardy sine I was in 8th grade, I did SS education.

I thought I would work my way through MS in counseling in publishing, but I hated it. I read Gone with the Wind on the train commuting and I remembered how much I loved history, so I pursued my SS certification. By the time I finished my MS, I loved teaching that I didn't want to leave.

I eventually did leave SS though for library and information science, so now I teach research skills, which I equally love.



My father had the opposite reaction to my career choice. But keep in mind that he was born in 1934 and lived most of his life during the Cold War. I declared my major in 1993 (after the fall of Berlin Wall, Eastern Europe AND the USSR), when I told my father he said "Teachers are the first people the Communists take!"

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I liked school until 3rd grade.. then it was just one miserable experience after another. I HATED it!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't actually ENJOY learning anything until I went to college.

I wanted to become a teacher in hopes that I would change things for my students and determined to not let anyone have the experiences I did.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

A couple of reasons. I was one of those kids that changed their mind a lot...I wanted to be a geologist and then a broadcast journalist. Then once I got to high school I had teachers that inspired me, so I started out wanting to be an English teacher. As I went through my program, I found myself more enthusiastic about activities for younger children and reevaluated my plans. Despite the extreme difficulty in finding a public school job, changing concentrations to elementary ed was the best thing I ever did.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

This is a funny questions b/c I remember once I was with a group of teachers and they all started talking about how wonderful their elementary school teachers were. I had the absolute worst third grade teacher, I'm talking borderline mental abuse. And I sometimes think of her, when I am teaching to remind myself how much our choice of words can affect a student.
Besides this teacher, I did like school and loved playing school. My parents put a full size chalkboard into our basement so I conducted regular classes for my stuffed animals.

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

The #1 reason is that I love children. Kids are, and always have been, my passion.

I did love school when I was younger, but I can't say that really played a role. I always knew I wanted to work with children, but in what capacity was the question. After working as a camp counselor for boys entering kindergarten (going into my sophomore year of college), I knew that teaching was for me. I just LOVED spending the day with those little guys.

I just wish I had the patience that I once had!

Re: Why did you become a teacher ? Did you love school as a kid?

I always loved school. If it wasn't so expensive I think I would still be in school lol

I always thought I wanted to be a teacher. Then in college I majored in Psychology bc the Ed courses at my school did not interest me.

During my senior yr I had to decide whether to go for my masters in School Psych or Guidance. After meeting w/and advisor in the career center at my college I learned that in NYC School Psych's did mostly testing. This led me to pursue a masters in School Counseling.

Second best decision I ever made, first being marrying my DH

I love what I do. I am itching to get back to work, I miss my kids. I have been with them two years (I work in a MS and we follow the kids so I had them for 6,7 and now 8th).