The characteriststics that make up the teacher who walks through the classroom door are very important. Since each person is an individual, all teachers are going to differ in many ways. But who the teacher is could have a very significant impact on the students. In order to find out what type of teacher I will be walking through the classroom door, I need to explore who I am.
The first thing I looked at in exploring who I am is why I wanted to be a teacher. When I thought about this many thoughts went rushing through my head. Eventually, I narrowed down my thoughts and decided that I want to be a teacher because I enjoy helping others learn and grow. I know this simply from babysitting young children. It makes me feel good when I teach a young child something that they didn't know before. When this happens I feel that I've reached my goal, which is to teach and succeed.
While exploring who I am, I also decided to identify personal qualities that make me suitable for teaching. For instance, I consider myself to be caring, helpful, trustworthy, organized, fun, fair, creative, and happy. I also am thorough, a good listener, enthusiastic, have a sense of humor, am open to change, have a pleasant disposition and would be involved. I believe that all of these personal qualities are needed in order to be a successful teacher in today's society because they would make for a well-rounded individual in the classroom.
All of these personal qualities can also be considered my strengths. My strengths are what I will need to not only be a successful teacher, but an effective teacher as well. One strength that I am very proud of is my organization skills. I feel that it is very important for teachers to be organized. Being organized has many advantages, especially when you are in a classroom full of young children. An organized teacher is able to keep the classroom and children's work in order, and bring a sense of cohesiveness to the learning atmosphere, such as by dividing the classroom into corners or sections where the children can expect to always find certain things in particular places.
Another strength I have is being a good listener and having a great memory. Being a good listener can show my students that I care not only what goes on in the classroom, but also what goes on in each student's life. For example, if on Friday afternoon a student is excited about a baseball game that they will be playing in over the weekend, I show interest in how they did by asking him or her about it on Monday. This would display to the student that I listen, remember and care about activities in his or her personal life.
It is very easy for me to pin-point the significant factor in my life that influenced my decision to be a teacher: one of my role models, my mother. My mother was a teacher when I was younger. I looked up to her and was inspired by what she did. I would even model her profession by playing "school" with my dolls. Also, two of my favorite elementary school teachers really inspired me to want to grow up and be like them. They made learning fun and enjoyable. I loved going to school when I had these teachers because it didn't even feel like I was learning. Overall, they were great teachers and I would definately model their teaching skills as a teacher.
In every profession there are both east and difficult aspects. For me as a teacher, the easiest thing would be establishing a rapport with my students. I love talking to people, especially children, because they intrigue me. I am very easy to get along with and children tend to like me. As a teacher, the most difficult part of the profession would be discipline. I don't like to raise my voice in public, yet I know there will be many times in my career that a child will misbehave and I will have to be stern with him or her.
When I was a child, there were always things that I liked and disliked about school. I know when I am a teacher there will be things that my students like and dislike. Some of the things that I liked about school was doing arts and crafts, reading books, and playing games. Some of the things that I disliked were speaking in front of the class and working in groups. I hope someday to master the art of speaking in front of the class, but for now I don't enjoy it.
The first impression of who walks through the classroom door is very essential. Now that I've explored who I am and why I want to be a teacher, I can envision the teacher that I will be when I walk through the door; a competant, caring and passionate practioner!
