Thankful for Being Home

Going home is a rarity for me, as well as for a lot of other students. When I have the chance to go home, I take full advantage of it.

Image I took of the table on Thanksgiving

The best part about being able to go home over breaks is home cooked meals. While Miami has exceptionally good dining hall food for a college, nothing compares to a home cooked meal. Especially since walking outside is not involved in getting food.

Another perk of being home is being able to take a shower without flip flops.

And then of course, it’s always nice to be able to see family. This Thanksgiving break is especially nice for me, since I’ll be seeing some family that I haven’t seen in over a year.

Catching up with old friends is also fun, especially when they go to different schools and it’s hard to see them often.

A big bonus is being able to do laundry. While there’s usually a limit on how much I can bring home, it’s nice to not have to use the washers and dryers in my dorm for a change. What’s even better is not having to pay for the washers and dryers.

In general, it’s just nice to be home and be able to sleep in and not have to worry about going to class. As much as I love being at school, it’s nice to go home every now and then, especially for holidays.

Why I Want to Become a Teacher

Lately, people have been asking me this question a lot: “Why do you want to become a teacher?” So, why is it that I want to be a teacher? Well, there’s a whole assortment of reasons. 

First, I want to make a difference. While this may be a typical answer that most teachers/teachers in training give, it’s the truth. I want to inspire students and I want to watch them learn and help them achieve whatever it is they want out of life.

Secondly, I had teachers from my schooling experience that inspired me and pushed me to do my best. I hope to one day be that teacher for if not all, then some, of my students. If it weren’t for those teachers that made me love to write and have a passion for learning, I don’t think I would be going into education right now.

Image I took outside of my high school in October
2010 for my photography class.

Thirdly, no two days will be the same and two class periods, despite being the same subject, could turn out completely differently. Each year, I’ll have a new group of students, so that alone will change the atmosphere of my classroom. I’ll have to cater my teaching to each specific group of students, so even classes will vary. While there is some repetition in teaching, within reason, it’s always going to be different.

Fourth, while I teach my students, I’ll also be learning from them. To me, this is another benefit of teaching since I love to learn new things. Not only will my students be teaching me new things, but as I teach different units, I’ll have the opportunity to dig deeper into literature, which is something I love. Learning is a life-long process, and I think teaching easily facilitates learning.

Fifth, I’ll have a direct impact on the future of the world. When teaching, I could have students who will go off to have a career in virtually any field. It’s cool to me that I could be teaching a future President of the United States or a doctor or even a teacher, any number of careers really. All teachers have a direct impact on the youth of society, which is extraordinary.

In all, I could go on about other reasons, but the ones I’ve listed stand out to me as some of my most important motives for wanting to become a teacher. 

Teacher in Training

There’s only one way to put it. I love writing lesson plans. I never anticipated liking them this much, but as it turns out, I really do.

Image I took of some of the reading and
teaching strategies I put on my lists.

For about the past month or so, I’ve been working on a group lesson plan project for one of my classes. Prior to this project, I only wrote one lesson plan on my own, as a sort of introduction to lesson plan writing. It was the first one I’d ever written, and it was a fun process. While making these lesson plans is time consuming, I’ve found it to be enjoyable.

There are so many different parts that go into making a lesson plan, and it’s fun to think about the possibility of actually being able to incorporate some of the ideas I’m coming up with into my future classroom.

For the first lesson plan I wrote, my professor asked us to create lists of reading strategies and teaching strategies. I’d never sat down and created a list of either, but after I completed my lists and looked back on them, I noticed how many of the strategies on both of those lists are things that I already find myself doing. Not so much the teaching strategies right now, but in time, I will need to employ them beyond the writing of a lesson plan.

I have a passion for teaching and I look forward to next year when I can start my field placements. Last year, I was in one classroom during first and another classroom second semester, but neither of them were in my particular field. While I enjoyed my time in those classrooms, I also found it challenging as I was helping students with math and science, neither of which have ever been strong subjects for me.

As challenging as it was for me to help these students, I found that they taught me a great deal when I was helping them. This is one of the many reasons why I look forward to becoming a teacher in just a few short years.