To paraphrase what a teacher in our school recently said, "In Minnesota we have two seasons, winter and testing. This year those seasons seemed to run together." As I sit in a room with students who are taking these annual state-required tests, I question my decision to become a teacher. I have been a student for a long time and I haven't even started my teaching program, yet. So you might ask, what keeps me motivated... Well, it's certainly not testing. Testing (and not just state mandated testing) is my least favorite thing in the world. I am a terrible test taker. I get nervous, lack confidence and second-guess everything! This has so much to do with why I am an online student. So now comes the fear of starting the teaching program, TESTS. See, I already lack confidence :( Oh well, I know that I can do it, it's just going to take time and dedication to my schooling, sadly that means I have to miss out on family time occasionally but I have to remind myself that it's only temporary.
Back to testing and why it's ridiculous...teachers don't teach students because they want to see how well their students can do on a test. Teachers teach because they love working with kids and finding new ways to challenge their abilities. There were teachers that I absolutely loved while growing up because I truly learned some cool things. Trust me, if I've retained information from Mr. Worley's random trivia and Mr. Dhyrkopp's late night tv episodes that he always shared with us, then it definitely made an impression. Mr. Ebeling never failed to enlighten my inquiring mind about anatomy and physiology but I'm pretty sure geometry, government and chemistry took a few years off my life.
So why am I'm working to become a teacher? Because it's so natural for me. I've been "teaching" for years, just in different ways. I've taught kids how to make better choices and to look for alternatives to drugs, alcohol, etc. I've taught adults how to work with difficult kids and how to restrain students who get out of control. I've taught classmates scrapbooking, using interval training, stretching sore muscles, baking a pumpkin pie and casting a fishing rod. I've taught friends everything from biking, strength training, running, and pushing themselves to work harder. So it became obvious to me, why not do what I already do??? I just have to dedicate more time to it, not just so my students can do well on tests but so they can have the confidence to rock every test they take. Trust me, there are a lot of bad examples of teachers out there. I'm not referring to anyone I work with or anyone of my own teachers but having worked in schools for as long as I have, I've learned exactly who I don't want to be.
I don't want my students to be unsure of when I'm joking with them and when I'm not, teasing and joking is appropriate, crude sarcasm is not. I don't want to get so stuck in the "benchmarks" rut that I don't take the time to educate my students on important life lessons. I don't want my students to ever get the impression they can dictate what happens in the room (unless positive behavior is awarded with positive outcomes). I do want my students to feel challenged. I do expect them to show respect to everyone in the room. I do want my students to walk away at the end of the year feeling a sense of accomplishment.
I have no idea what age group I want to teach. I still haven't heard yet if I've been accepted into the teaching program I've applied to, but I do know that with support from my family, friends and co-workers, eventually...I will be a teacher.
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