Why I Decided to Teach

I wish I had been asked this question at my interview because it could have convinced my interviewer to put me on the short list.

I honestly didn't know I wanted to teach until I was a psychology major. It all became clear to me later. I only had one class my first semester back in school, Sociology. I loved the class. I understood it on a deeper level than the majority of my classmates. The thought occurred to me during a lecture one day: you know, I could see myself teaching this. I really GOT it...when the professor was trying to explain certain concepts or subjects and the other students were struggling, I was the one to raise my hand and reword it or provide an example that made them say "ohhhh, I understand now." I was sort of self-conscious about being the class know-it-all, but at the same time I was kind of proud. I quickly gained a reputation and my classmates began looking to me for help. When I turned in my final exam, my professor told me with a smile, "You should consider double majoring in sociology. You have a good sociological mind." I'll come back to that later.

This pattern continued in every class I took...I got it and I helped my classmates to get it. I became the one everyone looked to for help and I was comfortable in that role. If there were groups, I assumed the role of group leader. I loved learning everything possible and I wanted to share it with my friends. Even at home I started having deeper conversations with my kids, helping them to see things in a different light. The breakthrough came when I was in my third semester, taking Life Span Development: once again I was the top student in the class and the one with my hand up all the time. When we started talking about education-related topics the light came on. I began to realize that I would be much happier and more fulfilled as a teacher than I would be as a counselor of adolescents and young adults, as I had originally planned. One day the professor, Mrs. Dodson, was talking about how you can never be truly happy until you have found your niche, and she suggested visiting the UAH career counselor if we had any doubts about the path we had chosen. I immediately made an appointment and the career counselor totally confirmed my feeling that I needed to be a teacher. It was the most exhilarating thing I had felt in a long time: this was who I was and what I was meant to do. I changed my major to Secondary Education.

The next question: what was I going to teach? I looked into it carefully: English was my first thought because I knew that I was a good writer...I can craft a fantastic essay. However, I really loved psychology and sociology and was beginning to enjoy history. Because I already had a bachelor's degree I could have gone for a fifth year master's, but the offerings were pretty specialized. I didn't want a straight history certification, so I opted to get a second bachelor's in history and social science, which would allow me to teach a wider range of subjects. The grand tour of the Liberal Arts department was perfect for me...I want to know everything about everything! I realized quickly that my broad academic background gave me a deeper insight into history itself: I used my sociological and anthropological knowledge to better understand and explain why things happened. Looking back, my first taste came during my first semester in sociology: my daughter was taking sixth grade social studies at the time and, by fortuitous coincidence, we turned up studying the same historic event from two different perspectives. She was looking at WHAT happened, and I was looking at WHY it happened. That night I became a kitchen table teacher, which planted the seed.


The realization didn't come to me until just a few years ago, but I have always had a Social Science teacher inside me, waiting patiently to come to the surface. I have been told by students and professors alike that I should get a PhD and teach at the university level, but my heart calls me to middle school or high school: it is where I belong. I can do a lot of good there, not only in my official role as teacher but also in my alternate role as mentor, leader, and advocate. There is, after all, a bit of counselor left in me.

I can't wait to be a teacher. I love learning and I love sharing that enthusiasm with others. I love researching and showing kids how to find and make sense of information. I've found my calling and I'm ready to prove it.