"you're a good teacher"

My favorite question to hear from the students in my practicum classroom is "are you here because you're learning to be a teacher?" (If they have a 2nd grade speech impediment, trust me, it is that much sweeter.) I love telling them "yes, yes I am!"

Why I am going to be a teacher:

Most people going into education were influenced very heavily one way or another from one of their past teachers. Sometimes their experiences are positive and sometimes negative. Either way something has happened to them that has guided their passions to teaching and to the classroom. This is the same for me.

All through elementary school I had great teachers. I always knew that my teachers cared about me. There are countless experiences where I can remember specifically my teachers going out of their way- beyond the school hours they were getting paid for. It wasn't just me they cared for but it was my whole class.

Fourth grade was probably when I realized how much I needed the love and consistency that my education provided for me. My teacher treated each and every student as an individual with different needs. She treated us equally but differently. She wasn't afraid to speak openly to the class about things in our personal lives. Most teachers would be worried of offending students. I almost feel like she helped me face my life rather then trying to hide from it. In times of trouble I could tell that I was deeply cared and loved for.

I will never forget seeing my principal walk into my mothers funeral. I was a nine-year-old in disbelief that teachers and principals had a life outside of school. And I was also surprised that my principal even knew who I was because after all Elementary school seems pretty big when you're four feet tall. I have never felt so much love and compassion from individuals who had nothing to do with my home life at all. I'm certain that these teachers and administration have no idea how much of an impact they have really had on my life of helping me succeed and not letting me slip through the cracks.

I want to have a job where I can be an added resource of kindness, love, and support to a child's life. I want to make a difference in the lives of young children.

Educational blogs:

here, here, and here

The title of this post was inspired by the cutest little 8 year-old who walked up to my practicum teacher and said, completely out of the blue. "Mrs. Dahle, you're a good teacher."