March is “Music in Our Schools Month”, a particularly important month to me, with an important message: Music Inspires. While I already went over why I chose music in a prior post, teaching music has also had a deep impact on my life.
Yes, I was a teacher in the public school systems, and no longer am. Teaching was both the most rewarding, and the most heartbreaking, thankless job I’ve ever held. You’ll often hear countless stories of why people left teaching (just Google “Why Teachers Quit” or “Why I left Teaching”), so I won’t add my own to that ever growing pile. Instead, I’m going to go into why I chose to teach.
For me, teaching was always a part of who I was. Maybe it stems from having a sister who is 5 years younger than me. Obviously, as the older one, I was laden with more responsibility, and acted partially as “Mommy #2.” Whatever it is, teaching is hardwired into my nature. It’s why I make a great team leader, because I’m always looking to find ways to help people learn from whatever experiences we go through.
Teaching is the foundation of all the jobs that exist. Without teachers, students wouldn’t have the ability to pursue their interests and become well rounded, socially responsible adults. While this is definitely being crushed through various education reforms, the latest act “Every Student Succeeds Act” does include an important aspect of education: the arts, and brings hope to our education system.
As a teacher, it’s exciting to shepherd children through their life journey. That moment when a student finally understands something-- that “a hah!” moment-- is what really attracted me to teaching in the first place. In high school, I had a couple private students. It was always super exciting for me to see their eyes light up as they understood something. This further fueled my desire to teach. I loved being able to help someone, anyone really, see and understand a topic more thoroughly. Music was my strongest suit, so I figured, “music education is the way to go!” And it was. I wanted to be the one to help someone through the process of learning. I wanted to be there to answer all their questions, fuel their curiosity, and link them to subjects that may not have seem like they connected at first, but do. The ability to really have such a deep impact and hands on ability to help mold young minds really drew me to teaching. I wanted to instill great expectations in my students, push them just a bit more so they would see themselves at their fullest potential, develop minds that weren’t afraid to ask why, and help students grasp even the hardest of concepts.
My first year of teaching was a huge year of learning for me, and was the hardest year of working I’ve ever had. I started growing grey hairs randomly, lost the ability to sleep well, and still I loved it. It was hard: I struggled, I cried, I let parents verbally abuse me, learned how to eat while driving, but I didn’t let it keep me from doing my best. The students were eager, which fueled the lessons. We would play running games to help them better comprehend note reading, walk in rhythm, sing together, dance together, make music together. Each time someone missed a concept meant that I spent the night trying to think of ways to help them comprehend the concept. Each lesson catered to the various learning styles out there. By the time year one was over, year two felt like a smooth ride.
The opportunities and possibilities that a teacher can open up to students is a huge responsibility, but also one of the most joyous parts of teaching. Being able to encourage students, reign them in when necessary, but give them the skills to thrive and go for it, are what drew me into teaching. The moment a student came up and said to me, “Ms. Wang, yesterday I felt sad, but then I took out my violin and played, and knew everything would be OK” was the moment I knew why I went into teaching. The moment a parent told me they were doing something as a family and bringing their daughter to see the NSO because she was soooooo psyched on viola, I knew why I went into teaching. The moment a viola student’s mother ran up to me excitedly saying, “Ms. Wang, my son told me last night he wanted to be a professional violist when he grows up, you have no idea how happy this makes me!” I knew why I went into teaching.