"Why" Do You Teach?

 “I never get to really teach anymore.  All I do is read a script out of a teacher’s guide, teach to the test, do paper work and baby sit a bunch of kids that don’t care about their lives?”

“If my principal tells me one more time I have to do more to improve my students’ reading and math scores, I’m going to go postal up in here!”

“Doesn’t that parent know that there are 25 other kids in the class and I’m doing the best I can to help their child?”

Can you identify with any of these thoughts and the emotions associated with them?  Maybe you have even said or thought similar statements as a new or veteran teacher last year, last month, yesterday, or even a few minutes ago.  I know I did and still do at times. 

When we feel beat up, under-appreciated, and misunderstood it’s natural to ask that inevitable question, “What was I thinking when I decided to be a teacher?  If you are a home educator you may have asked yourself, “why did I decide to home school my kids?  Wouldn’t it be easier if I just sent them to school?”

“Why” do You teach?  It’s probably one of the most important questions we need to ask ourselves and get a clear answer on, so that we can remain focused and grounded in the midst of difficulties and frustrations.

Teaching is straight up hard.  Point blank!

Too often we come into the teaching profession without ever seriously pondering “why” we decided to teach and so we are easily uprooted during the storms of life and the challenges the classroom and our students bring because we have never firmly planted ourselves in the soil of our “why.”

I began teaching fresh out college in the fall of 1997.  I was young, eager, and ready to change the world one kid at a time.  I had high hopes and grand expectations, but literally scared to death because I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing.  I knew I loved working with kids and so I jumped into the teaching profession full force. 

I was working at a summer camp program in the South Bronx where I lived in the summer right before the school year started.  I was a mentor to a middle school kid named, Javier, who attended the summer camp.  He was an aggressive kid and big for his age.  Most of the kids were scared to death of him.  Towards the end of the program he confided in me that he couldn’t read and asked would I help him. 

Since I lived close by I told him that I would come read with him on Wednesdays on my way home from teaching.  I didn’t have a clue what to do or how to help a middle school kid who was reading on a 1^st grade level, but I knew in my heart I couldn’t leave him stranded.  So, we met and I read to him and got books from the library and he tried to read with me.  We met for most of the school year on Wednesdays and then one day he abruptly moved with his mom and I have never seen him since. 

To be honest, I don’t know how much I really helped his reading skills improve that year, but he helped me tremendously.  He helped me begin to see “WHY”  I decided to teach.  This process of discovery that began during my first year as a teacher has kept me grounded during difficult days in the classroom and  in my own personal life.  The days when I have wanted to throw in the towel, I still see his face and now the faces of many other students whom I have taught over the years and the progress they have made during the school year encourages me.

Teachers and parents, we do make a difference.  Discover and understand “why” you teach.  Write it down so you can go back to it whenever  your vision on the path gets cloudy.  When we know “why” we teach then the “how-to’s” and “what-to’s” will align with it and fall into their proper places.

 

************************************************************************************************

Antoine McCoy is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher as an Exceptional Needs Specialist working with children with mild to moderate disabilities.  He has taught children in all grade levels (K-12) in Public and Private Schools (general education, inclusion, and self-contained classes) and worked with homeschoolers.