Since I was a little girl I have always wanted to be a teacher. My younger siblings and cousins were privileged enough to sit in many “classes” and let me teach them through playing school. When I was young I wanted to be a teacher because that seemed like a profession that was fun it involved being with children and you had summers off. I also had a lot of teachers when I was younger that didn’t understand me and didn’t take the time to see what I needed as a student. This is something at a young age I wanted to be able to do for others.
In high school is when I understood my passion for teaching is something I really could do. My high school gave me the opportunity to take part of my day and be partnered with a mentor teacher in a kindergarten classroom and see if the profession really was for me or if it was a fantasy I just liked playing with my younger siblings. In this program I was blessed to be placed with a wonderful mentor teacher my junior year. I had 11 kindergarten students at a small catholic school in my hometown. I fell in love with the students, planning lessons, teaching the subjects that my mentor teacher trusted me with, going on field trips, and just building my skills in the profession through meetings. My senior year I was blessed even more I was given more responsibly and became the teacher in the afternoon while my mentor teacher was on maternity leave. The school also blessed me with the opportunity to work in the afterschool program and to love on children and build relationships with them in a fun atmosphere as well. By the end of my senior year of high school I knew for sure I wanted to be a teacher and was excited to head off to Western Michigan University to start my undergrad for elementary education.
In college I started right in the program of elementary education but had lots of other general education classes as well. My first year at school was not good at all, I was placed on academic probation and really fell behind in my schooling to finish in 5 years. However I still loved my education classes and the knowledge I was gaining from them.
In about my third year at WMU I was becoming frustrated with schooling, I was no longer having trouble in my classes except the math classes, however my passion for teaching dwindled fast. I wasn’t enthusiastic about going to the classes and being lectured to anymore about how to set up a classroom, or how to run small groups, and how you should teach students math. However I started making the dean’s list every semester so I thought I must be doing something right. My fifth year at Western my passion was completely gone for education. The education classes I was taken didn’t appeal to me at all, and I was getting no time with students in a classroom. I started working for my aunt’s day care three days out of the week and I love it. It was a huge blessing to just be with children however I didn’t need to finish college to work there. I could work with the children 1-3yrs old and not need to finish my schooling at all.
I felt the Lord really take my passion for teaching right away once I started working at the day care. In February I became really sick for a whole week, and the doctors wouldn’t let me work or go to class. My professors didn’t approve of the doctors note I had one professor told me “you have an A in my class but I couldn’t pass you if I wanted to at the end of the semester because you have missed too many classes”. This was like a release for me that I desperately needed. I withdrew from all my classes and started working full time at the day care. I was able to use my knowledge of the education field without the entire professional pressure of finishing school and being a teacher.
Part 2 will be posted next Monday 🙂
