Why did you become​​ a Teacher? What’s Your WHY?

Tell me why you became a teacher. Some of you may know that I currently work at our local community college. As with many US Colleges and Universities, our school has a Marketing Campaign to begin each Fall Semester in order to try to recruit students.

This year the slogan is “What’s Your Why?” I think it’s fabulous! To go with the campaign they highlighted about 8 to 10 college students (I didn’t really count them) who each had a different “WHY.”

My “WHY”

So it got me to thinking about the power of that question for this website. You know my “WHY” is to help teachers thrive and exceed. It’s my tagline,
“Where Teachers Thrive and Learning Grows.”

Tell me why you became a teacher. What’s your “WHY”?

But, “what’s your why?” Did you go into teaching because you’ve always loved children.

Or did you go into teaching for the content area. We often see that more with High School and College Teachers. A history nerd (I’m one, I have a tee-shirt to prove it) and a science buff are examples.

If you are ever lucky enough to be in a class with a professor who has a true PASSION for that subject, you will be in heaven.

I read a great article from another website called “Teach 4 the Heart” about knowing that you are in the right profession. You can read it here.

BECOMING “THIS ONE TEACHER”: HOW TO KNOW YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PROFESSION

Did You Know from an early age?

Some of us knew from childhood that we wanted to teach. I was one of those. I knew by the time I was twelve that I would be a teacher.

It sure made high school and college easier because I just followed the path to get into a 4-year college, and then once there I entered the “teacher track.”

Others stumble upon the teaching field one way or another. I have a friend who didn’t plan on teaching, getting her college degree in psychology. She found out that it was her calling after being in the work world a few years post college. And she’s been teaching over 30 years now.

You can read another inspirational article here called

17 Golden Rules of Teaching

Others of you may have started your career track in a job that you thought was for you, only to have it not work out and you thought “I might as well teach.”

Some of you probably began as a substitute teacher between other jobs and realized that you loved teaching. Those kids can really pull at your heart strings.

And it is amazing to watch the moment when the light bulb goes on!

The career path stories that I truly love are when parents turn into teachers. I have seen this happen twice for parents who have volunteered in my class. They begin as a volunteer, then get hired as a Teacher’s Assistant while finishing the college courses. Then they finally become a teacher and are overjoyed! HOW AWESOME IT THAT!!

This exact scenario happened to my sister-in-law. She had a degree in Business and left the work world to stay at home with her children while they were young. And low and behold she began volunteering in their classes and absolutely loved it.

And as described above, now she’s a teacher and is happy as can be!

I hate to state the obvious, But…

I hate to state the obvious, but if you don’t like children (or the age group you are teaching), then you should reconsider your career. The kids deserve better, and you deserve to be in a job where you can be happy.

One of the factors that came into my decision to enter administration was that I was beginning to get burned out teaching. I knew in my heart that I love kids too much to allow myself to be that GRUMPY TEACHER! So, I entered the next phase on my education pathway.

Other Reasons WHY…

People are always saying that teachers have it easy because they get the summers off. Well, teachers know there are two crucial things about this concept.

First, often you are working part of the summer either teaching summer school or working on curriculum projects or learning things from publishers, or taking college classes to get a pay raise, etc.

And second, by the end of those ten months, EVERY TEACHER NEEDS A BIT OF R & R!

Having summers off with my own children was one of the reasons I loved being a teacher. I used to tell friends that teaching is the best job for “MOMS” for numerous reasons. Your children can (often) go to school where you teach, you are off when they are off, and you have summers together.

I absolutely loved having my own children attend the school I was working at. I always requested to teach a different grade level than they were in. This change helped me survive both. They were able to walk over to my classroom at dismissal and start homework while I was finishing up in the room.

By the way, you might be interested in my FREE Classroom Routines Checklist. I can zip it off to your in-box once you provide your email address. Get it here:

**

More Reasons Why!

Some people enter education because they think they want to only work until three o’clock and have two weeks at Christmas and every summer off.

Those that enter for ONLY these reasons burn out after a few years once they realize how difficult the work actually is. You have to love teaching and love children (or teens) to make it in this tough world.

Maybe you actually want to enter Educational Administration and have to complete your “required number of years teaching” before you can enter the MA program for your state.

If this is the case, please absorb all the information that you can during these few years. You will need to provide support daily for your teachers once you are an administrator.

You should NEVER EVER forget what if feels like to be in a classroom all day. Your teachers deserve this much!!

So, What is Your “WHY”? Tell me why you became a teacher.

Take a few minutes to ponder this question. Has anyone ever asked you this? Or have you ever thought about it before? I’d love to hear your “why?”

Until Next Time,

Your Teacher Buddy