Teaching is one of the most rewarding and challenging professions. I believe that as a teacher, one should bring excitement, compassion, and strong values they believe in to the classroom. Teachers are the most important influence on young people in my mind and should teach to help students grow and succeed. I plan to come to my classes with tons of excitement about the historic events I will be teaching and do this in an exciting and interactive way which will help keep my students engaged and have fun while learning as well. During my schooling, I have had history teachers who made the classroom fun and gets his/her students excited about the material being learned. These teachers also displayed their love of teaching their content area by bringing the excitement to the table. When students are in middle school or high school, they are tired, just want to get through the day, and are not always excited about going to class. As a teacher, I feel it is very important to keep students engaged and this can be effectively done by trying new ways of approaching topics and utilizing new instructional strategies into the classroom.

 In my future classroom, another one of my goals is to leave a lasting impact on my students.  I want my students to see the passion I have for them and history. I would love to be that teacher that students feel like they can always come to and just talk. As a student, I have appreciated the teachers who care for their students both in and out of the classroom. There were times where I just needed to talk to someone else other than my peers or family and I always had one or two teachers I felt comfortable in confiding to. I feel like these relationships I created with the teachers also helped me while in their class. They always would know if something wasn’t right and help me if I needed it. I have a very strong love for children and want to help them in any way possible. As a future educator, I believe that establishing these relationships with your students are fundamentally important. I want my students to walk out of my classroom at the end of the year and have it be a class they remember for the good. Everyone has that one teacher that inspires them, and I hope to be inspiration for a student one day. I have many teachers like this that have inspired me to follow my dream of becoming a future educator. I also believe that everyone can learn. As teachers, I feel like we should encourage students to try new and challenging ideas. The way I will know that my students have learned is by them challenging themselves and seeing how they grow internally. Learning in my opinion should not be based on just test scores but growth in the student overall.

Throughout the past four years, I have grown so much not only as a student but as a future educator. I now have a clearer understanding and ideas about how I want my future classroom to and should function. I have had numerous opportunities to be in several different schools and classrooms surrounding the area where I got to put my learning into practice whether that be through observations or being in a classroom with a host teacher. I can confidently say that with all my experiences through Butler I feel that I am prepared and ready to tackle this new experience ahead of me. When someone asks me why I want a career in the teaching profession, the answer for me is and always has been easy. Education is such a special gift. To me personally, I believe there is nothing more rewarding than getting to teach and shape the future leaders of tomorrow’s minds. I look forward to nothing more than getting to get up each morning and go do the thing I love most: teach and share with children my love for history. Teaching is not a job. It’s a passion.