Everyone has that one teacher. The one who changed their life, showed them kindness, believed in them, and cared about them. My teacher was my high school English teacher, who despite all my errors, believed in me and took the time to see who I could really be. He’s the reason I decided to teach – among other things – but what is keeping me here? Many teachers are leaving the profession because they feel undervalued and aren’t receiving adequate support and pay for the work they do. I haven’t had a single positive response to my decision to become a teacher, which says a lot, not just about how society views the profession but how uninformed it is about the facets of teaching. Here’s why I’m sticking with education:
- The Money
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With my six figure salary as a teacher, I should be comfortable…said absolutely no teacher ever. No teacher enters the profession because they know they will live a life of luxury. Many educators come out of college with debt and struggle to stay afloat their first few years. Not to mention the higher your degree, the higher your pay which ultimately means more student debt. However, my mom always said to me, “I’d rather you do something you love, than spend forever in a career you hate.” To me, if I’m spending the money to get a degree, why shouldn’t be in something I know I’ll love to do long term. I used to want to work in psychiatry, which is a big pay increase from teaching, but I knew in the long term I would just end up bored. Plenty of teachers find ways to pick up jobs in the summer or make extra money throughout the year to sustain themselves, and so will I. My students and my love for teaching make the job worth it, not the pay.
- The work
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I’ve loved to read ever since my grandma showed me Harry Potter at six years old. Move over Magic Tree House, I was on to bigger and better things. Because of this, I was able to help all my friends sound out words and string together sentences. My teachers caught on early and I was always a teacher’s helper or assigned to sit next to the kids who needed a bit more help. I never realized how much I enjoyed it until someone told me to make a career out of it, and of course I said, “Teaching? Ew no.” I was so used to hearing my family, the news, and basically everyone saying that teaching is a thankless job and that I wouldn’t make any money. I never stopped to think of everything I get to do as a teacher. I get to share my love of reading, grammar, writing, and more with so many students and watch them develop their own love for English as well. I learn new things from my students each day and there isn’t a day where they don’t surprise me. I also really love creating lesson plans which sounds totally weird but it scratches my ADHD brain just right. I know that everyday won’t be great, and not everyone will love me or English or school, but that’s okay. As long as my students feel safe, grow as people, and take at least one thing from my class I’m happy. If you aren’t passionate about the work you’re doing, you’ll never make a difference.
- The Students
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Everyone has that one teacher, and I think most teachers have that one student that makes them realize why they teach. For me, it’s the senior I’ve been tutoring every weekday since May. When we first started working together, he absolutely hated school and wasn’t motivated to work. He told me that the tutors he had in the past “always yelled at him” and that they “didn’t help him.” As much as I love to teach, I’d never actually had the opportunity to create lessons and plan them out for anything other than assignments. I told him that we were going to get through this and learn together, me how to be a successful teacher and him how to be a successful student. Over the course of the past six months, I have watched him grow into such an amazing student and have learned so much about myself as an educator. I’ve learned how to tailor lessons and assignments to his learning style while still providing him with the standards given in his online classes and how to manage time efficiently to get as much done as possible. He is now a straight-A student who I am extremely proud of! Seeing his progress and knowing that something I did helped him get there fills me with pride and joy, and reassures me that I’m in the right profession. Being an educator is not easy, but it’s also one of the most rewarding professions out there. I get to make a difference in someone’s life each day while talking about things I love and sharing them with my students. The new hit TV show English Teacher has a line where Principal Moretti says, “Remember what’s important – the love of what you do, the people that surround you. Good people make good teachers.” (“Convention” 14:27). Focus on the good, learn from the bad, and keep making a difference!
