Title: What made you decide to become a teacher? Recently, I have been asked "what I want to be when I grow up." I am leaning towards some kind of teaching... - eNotes.com
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What made you decide to become a teacher? Recently, I have been asked "what I want to be when I grow up." I am leaning towards some kind of teaching career. I am just curious as to why different people have decided on this career. I would love to hear your opinions or your least favorite and favorite parts of your job!  Thanks.
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Content: Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. mizzwillie
Educator since 2010
979 answers
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In my teaching career, I have almost always worked with the more difficult students. I had decided to be a teacher because I felt that I could reach any kind of student, and I wanted to give back as I was a poor kid who went to school on scholarships and work-study. I remember my students at the juvenile correction center saying that they dropped out of school because no one cared if they were at school or not. Somehow, lost kids became my specialty. I found that I could turn lives around even if the student was living in a car. I never stopped encouraging, praising when a student did well, pushing when they could obviously do more by asking them to "dig deep" instead of skimming the surface, asking other teachers to either help me or asking them to give the kids a chance. I did want to change my students' worlds, to give them skills to serve them in the future, to get them to think about their place in the world and what kind of person they wanted to be, and to be able to say at the end of the year that they had indeed learned worthwhile skills for the future. Approved by eNotes Editorial Team
Lorna Stowers
Educator since 2011
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I became a teacher because I, like many other teachers, found a teacher that helped me to become excited about education.