When I was little I never dreamed that I would ever want to be a teacher or that I would ever start a journey that eventually would lead me into the classroom. Like I have said many times I decided that teaching was what I wanted to do when I got into high school. Once I really started examining career deciding what I wanted to do became an easy task for me simply because I love Agriculture, I love Agricultural Education, and I love The National FFA Organization so what a better career choice for me than to be an Agricultural Educator.
However, I don’t believe there was a singular defining moment of when I officially decided to teach it was more of a collection of little moments that dictated this decision. One of which came my freshman year when I had the opportunity to attend the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis Indiana the theme for that year was “step up stand out”! I spent four days watching as FFA members and Ag teachers across the country stepped up and stood out within various areas of the agricultural industry. It was then that I realized that the National FFA Organization was huge and that Ag teachers were inspiring, impacting, and changing students’ lives all across the nation! Another reason why I chose to teach Ag was because of my own Ag teachers I often use the quote “Heroes are often the most ordinary of men” by Henry David Thoreau when describing my advisors. They truly changed my life. They opened the door of discovery to me, they gave me so many opportunities to succeed both then, now, and in the future; they set the example for me, and ultimately they gave me a goal to reach one day.
But the point of this blog isn't to tell you about the time I decided to teach or even the reason why I decided to teach. You see the porous of this blog is to reach out to my future students. I recently read an article ( see the link at the bottom) written by a teacher to his students. This article has inspired me to write a similar one.
Often times while I was in high school and now in college I felt as if my teacher/ professor didn't care about my success; not saying that all of them were bad cause I had a few great teachers and still do! When I was in a class taught by a teacher/ professor that seemed like they didn't care I was often frustrated and gave up easily with the work I was asked to do! If they didn't care neither did I! When my senior year came I started making a list of all the things I wouldn't do as a future teacher, the list included things like making sure my students had the chance to take adequate notes, not setting them up to fail from the get go, and the most important one was to make sure my students knew that they were important to me and that I cared about them and their success.
As I have started college and even while I was in high school I always made decisions based upon my future students, and today was no different. I received a phone call from a community member telling me about a job that they thought I would be interested in. I immediately met with him and started thinking about my future students and what this job would bring for them. Why you ask? Because I care about them. Everyday I find myself thinking about them and hoping that I will be the teacher that they need! I wonder what they will look like, act like, talk like, and even learn like. I wonder about whether they will be successful, what they will grow up to be like, and if I will be able to help them. I hope for their success, I pray for them in their struggles, and ultimately I think about their futures. It's crazy that even though I haven't met them I know that I am going to love them for the student and person they are and will be; I hope for them, pray for them, and think about them. I know that they will make me a better teacher and overall a better human! I know that I will learn from them more than they will probably ever learn from me! Even though I haven't yet set foot in my own classroom I appreciate my students and know that this is the career for me.
I am grateful that God knows what he is doing and that he gives me opportunities to help my future students! I'm grateful for my future students and hope that one day they will know that I care about them!
P.S. here is the link to the awesome article/ blog post I mentioned above!
choiceshttp://affectiveliving.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/what-students-really-need-to-hear/
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