Why I Teach

To honor all the teachers out there for teacher appreciation week, I thought I'd dedicate this post to YOU...ALL current, past and future teachers.


I teach...
to make a difference in children's lives
to make children laugh
to help kids learn
because I want to share my love for learning
to watch children become successful
to help raise successful members of society
because I love working with kids
to help children be more confident in themselves
because it's a passion of mine
...because I could never picture myself doing anything else in the world.

My class this year.

I was recently asked in my last 2 interviews, why did I decided to be a teacher. I always wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl (cliche, I know-but it's true). I remember either for Christmas or my birthday one year when I was about 7 or 8, I wanted and received a whiteboard with dry erase markers.  I was on it for hours teaching my American Girl dolls (and little sister, when she cooperated) an array of things. I also remember my favorite teacher of all times was Mrs. Bullis when I was in 4th grade. I still remember her to this day.

 My reading class this year. Love these kids!

My little buddy sleeping after a field trip.

First position....

Second position...NO JOKE!!

 Some of my other students sleeping as well...

As I grew older, I started to enjoy teaching children and developed a passion for helping them. I started my 'kid' career as a babysitter in the neighborhood, then became a gymnastics coach, then a nanny, then a tutor and now a full-time teacher, and I love every minute of it!

I came down to Clarksville, TN to pursue my career as a teacher because up in Chicago is was nearly impossible to get a job. If I stayed there, I would have had 2 choices; register to be a substitute for the entire year (a very sporadic and to me, chaotic job with different grades, other teachers rules and routines and a different classroom everyday---no thanks!) or take a year off and continue tutoring on the side. Neither of those sounded appealing to me, so I started looking outside of IL. I HAD to have my OWN room and my OWN kids. And while I'm still mobile and young, why not move to another state for a career opportunity that I love!

So here I am, 2 1/2 weeks away from being done with my first year of teaching and it feels bitter sweet. Bittersweet because this group of kids will always be my first class and knowing I most likely will never see them again is crazy. I wish I could watch them progress and grow, but I know they'll do great things.

Being a teacher is not as easy as many people think it is. It's not a 8-3 job. It's a nonstop job with no strict hours. This year I have gone into school on countless Saturday's making resources and writing lesson plans. Everyday, I get to school at 6:30 am and at until January I didn't leave until about 5 pm. Now, with the end of the year approaching, I still get there at 6:30 am, but usually leave around 4 pm. It may sound like I'm complaining, but trust me, I'd rather do this for the rest of my life with the crazy hours involved then anything else in the world!



Teaching is such a rewarding career and I'm so lucky to work in this field.