When I grow up
Well, I think that I always wanted to be a teacher. I am not sure why. I used to play "school" with my sister. We always fought over who would be the teacher. (she has been teaching for 14 years). Somehow, Mom got her hands on some teacher material with student books. We must have read those same stories hundreds of times. Our favorite thing was to deal with behavior problems and call parents. Back in the day the "pretend parents" allowed us to paddle the disobedient child. ( I think that might have been the most fun.) I think we wanted to be disobedient just so that the other person would let us be the teacher. I seem to remember workbooks too. We didn't want to write in them though because then we wouldn't be able to use them the next time we played the game.
Now that I am actually a teacher, I don't think that any of what we practiced is what I have experienced, nor will I ever experience that. I never realized how much we needed to know about our students in order to teach them.
I also wanted to be an officer in the Air Force. I guess I only wanted to join the military because my dad was enlisted. I learned a little about what it takes and wanted to be there. I didn't want to be enlisted though because I wanted to make more money. I eventually enlisted but it wasn't all that I imagined it would be. I fell in love with the benefits, the days off, and the relaxed nature of some supervisors. I don't miss people telling me what to do and not having a choice of whether to do it or not, nor do I miss the possibility of being sent God knows where to either be shot at or bored to tears.
Well, I can at least say that I have tried very hard and I have accomplished some of the things that I set out to accomplish. I don't have any regrets even though for the last school year I had my doubts. I wondered several times if I should be teaching students. I have been advised that all teachers, at one time or another have the same sort of feelings.
Now that I am actually a teacher, I don't think that any of what we practiced is what I have experienced, nor will I ever experience that. I never realized how much we needed to know about our students in order to teach them.
I also wanted to be an officer in the Air Force. I guess I only wanted to join the military because my dad was enlisted. I learned a little about what it takes and wanted to be there. I didn't want to be enlisted though because I wanted to make more money. I eventually enlisted but it wasn't all that I imagined it would be. I fell in love with the benefits, the days off, and the relaxed nature of some supervisors. I don't miss people telling me what to do and not having a choice of whether to do it or not, nor do I miss the possibility of being sent God knows where to either be shot at or bored to tears.
Well, I can at least say that I have tried very hard and I have accomplished some of the things that I set out to accomplish. I don't have any regrets even though for the last school year I had my doubts. I wondered several times if I should be teaching students. I have been advised that all teachers, at one time or another have the same sort of feelings.
posted by Sonya at
7:09 PM
3 Comments:
I used to love playing school with my cousins. We also made our "students" write on their own paper so we could save our worksheets for the next time. I guess we played school based on our perceptions of our teachers. Maybe that's why we didn't realize how much attention they gave to us. Or how often they wanted to beat us but couldn't!
By
blindsi, at 7:36 PM
The bad teachers are the ones who are convinced they are great. Good teachers always try to improve, to reach more students, to reach the students who don't want to be reached.
My grandmother had tons of teaching materials. She retired after twenty-five years in the classroom, so we had great play material, including gradebooks and student desks! I loved playing with that stuff.
Teaching for me was always a background possibility. My grandmother was a teacher; my only aunt who attended college was a teacher. Multiple aunts and great-aunts were teachers' aides. It wasn't until high school that I decided to teach--and then I wanted to teach high school, not college.
By
Donna Sewell, at 7:38 PM
I guess some childhood dreams DO come true. :)
By
Kat, at 7:49 PM
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