Why I teach.
I feel that I have found the the occupation that I would be happy to spend the rest of my life doing in teaching. I have a job that motivates me and excites me and I am appreciative of this fact. I like that each day and lesson is different, that I can see the results of what I am doing over the days and weeks. I like to try and make my teaching and the children’s learning interesting (dare I say fun) as much as possible because I believe this is when one can, as a teacher, make the most difference. I try and create an environment where children are respected, respectful but where they can just be themselves. Where they are willing to try anything – I like to say ‘learn by doing’ a lot. I want them to have that confidence to have a go, to be able to accept that things won’t go perfectly all the time but that that’s ok. That’s how we learn. Where they are always excited by the learning new thing. I feel at primary school level, as much as teaching the basics of reading, writing and numeracy we are teaching skills that the children will use for the rest of their lives for example how we treat each other and how we approach problems. I like to think I am aware of this and I am always trying to look at the bigger picture when I’m working.
(Write this for something else but thought I’d put it here.)
January 16, 2012