Why I want to Teach!

Why I want to be a Teacher

(God given gifts)

 

I believe that God has given us each a gift.  He has created us each for a purpose.

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another”

1 Peter 4:10

I believe that I am called to become a teacher for young students.  I am very passionate about teaching young children and I know this is what God created me to do.

I have always loved kids and babies.  I am a very organized, responsible person that likes structure and order.  I love to be in charge and lead a group of people.  I remember playing school with my friends starting as early as preschool.  If I was at home I would drag my poor brother and sister into it, demanding that they sit and follow my instructions with stickers as their reward.  I remember racing to the trash can to snatch and save the extra copies of worksheets that my fourth grade teacher was going to toss.  I had an entire binder full of worksheets that my friends and I would use to play school with.  This is a passion that I was born with.  I want to teach.

I have had people that barely know me tell me that they can see me as a teacher.  That they think I have the perfect personality for it.  This encouragement is priceless!

We come across many people in our lives, and God places people in your life for a reason.  I was inspired by my first grade teacher, Mrs. Moore, to become a teacher.  At the age of 6.  I wanted to be just like her.  She was so funny and kind.  She made each student feel important.  She helped me learn so well.  I loved the way she read Junie B. Jones to us.  To this day when I need to spell “together”, I say to myself “to get her” because that is how she taught me.  I loved using “space man” to make sure I had appropriate spacing between my words.  I loved how once a week, our class would recognize a student to be “Special Kid of the Day”.  We got to stand in front of the class and everyone would draw a picture of you or for you and then Mrs. Moore would make it into a book for you.

Some people really do have an impact on your life that is unforgettable.  Mrs. Moore inspired me to give other kids the experience that I had in her class.  I still want to be just like her.

As time went on, my passion for teaching only grew.  When I was in fifth grade, my class was assigned a first grade class to be reading buddies with.  My reading buddy was a little red-headed boy named Collin.  I looked forward to reading with him every week.  I loved reading to him and guiding him as he read to me.  One day, I was helping him take an AR test (a short reading comprehension test) on the book we had just read.  Collin’s teacher noticed how I was reading the question and all of the answer choices to him.  She approached my teacher and told her what a great job I was doing.  This was just encouragement to me and more confirmation that I was created to teach!

During my early high school years, I had the opportunity to teach a Sunday school class at church once a month with my friend Amanda.  We had a great time coming up with lessons and crafts together.  This was great practice for developing patience and teaching young children.

During my junior and senior years of high school, I had the great opportunity of participating in an internship called Teachers for Tomorrow.  Through this program I was assigned a class to go to for about an hour four days a week.  I basically got to act as a student teacher for the class.  I am so thankful that I had this opportunity because I got to experience teaching first hand.

My high school teacher for this class, Lisa Tworek, was absolutely incredible.  She always inspires her students to be the best they can be and helps encourage them to reach their goals.  She is so passionate about teaching.  I want that same desire to show through my future career all of the days I am a teacher.

The first year of the internship, I was placed in a Kindergarten class with Leah Baggett and Denise Loehr.  They are both amazing teachers!  I learned SO much from them.  Patience with students was a big one.  Also how to control a class.  We did several different chants to catch the students’ attention and to encourage them.  I also remember learning how to encourage students and have a positive impact on them.  It really does show in their performance!

The second year of the internship, I had the opportunity to work with Stephanie Warren in her first grade class.  She is so organized and creative.  She always made learning fun and interactive with the kids.  She gave me a lot of responsibilities in the classroom and trusted me to teach and discipline.  It was a great experience to be part of her class!

Now that I am at Regent and studying elementary education, I couldn’t be happier with my career choice.  I am so intrigued by the way little ones think, learn, and process information.  I am seeing that education is more than just teaching students scholarly content, but also teaching them good character.  Even if I work in a public school, I have the ability to show my students the love of God.  My prayer is that I will be so overtaken but the love of God that my students will all feel that love.  I pray that I will be so captivated by the joy of the Lord, that my students will be joyful.  And my hope is that I will be able to encourage and motivate my students on a daily basis and inspire them.  I want to have a lasting impression on their lives.

 I know that teaching is not the best paying job.  I have had people in my life discourage me from teaching for this reason.  But I also know that this is the most rewarding career path that I could possibly take.  Seeing the growth in my students' lives is more than enough to keep me going.  I will be more than happy to put in the work, if that means I can change students' lives. 

I believe that each one of us is given a gift from the Lord. We need to follow his calling for our life.  We are commanded to use these gifts given to us by God, for his glory.

“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.  So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.  If your gift is serving others, serve them well.  If you are a teacher, teach well.  If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.  If it is giving, give generously.  If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.  And if you have the gift of showing kindness to others, do it gladly” Romans 12:6-8

We each have a gift.  The Lord has blessed us with this gift.  Let us bless him in return by using it to further his Kingdom.

I hope you have been inspired and encouraged by this post.  What is your gift from God? What is your calling?  Comment!  I would love to hear feedback!

Remember, you are loved, you were made for a purpose.  Use your life to glorify God!  Seek him!  When you bless others, the Lord will bless you.

Lots of Love,

Dani xoxo