Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Why do you want to be an educator?
I honestly had never considered the idea of being an educator until I was 19 years old. I first started college at the University of Pittsburgh and was majoring in pharmacy. After my freshman year, I started to realize that pharmacy wasn't something that I wanted to do. When I first decided to change my major, I chose to stick with the sciences and to try out majoring in occupational therapy and rehabilitation. However, while doing this my sophomore year at Pitt, I was still unhappy. Luckily, it was also my sophomore year that I also first started to realize that I had a passion for education. It started when I got a job working with an organization called Jumpstart. This was an organization made up of college students who would go into low-income pre-k classrooms and work with the children on their literacy skills. I loved the program. I really enjoyed working with all of the kids and seeing how they would grow over the course of the year. So at that time, I started to see myself having a career that involved working with children. I thought that I could do something in the medical field that also involved working with kids. Once I finished my first two semesters with Jumpstart, I was devastated to hear that I had lost my work study and would no longer be able to work in the classrooms with jumpstart. I couldn't imagine not working in the classroom and it was in that moment that I decided that I wanted to go to school for Early Childhood Education. I got a job working as a classroom aide in a children's center and started talking to my adviser about what I needed to do. My adviser informed me that my only option at Pitt (unless I wanted to completely restart my entire education over) was to virtually any major, complete education electives, and then apply to go to graduate school for ece at Pitt. Since I really didn't want to transfer and leave the friends I had at the University behind, I decided that I would get my degree in social sciences. I spent one semester attempting that major when I finally made the choice that I should transfer. This led me to the education program at SNHU.
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Wow it seems like you went through a lot to discover that you wanted to become a teacher. I didn't decide that I wanted to go to school for teaching til my senior year in high school, so I feel like we were both late deciding that! But, it is so good that you got to experience different majors to see what you truely wanted to be. I was always in between education and accounting. But, I got to work with children and I loved it! So, that's how I made my decision as well. I think you made a very good decision coming to SNHU. They give us so many opportunities here that I don't really here at any other schools. What grade are you looking to teach? Do you see yourself as a full time teacher or something similar?
ReplyDeleteI haven't really decided what grade I want to teach yet. I really enjoyed Pre-k, but could definitely see myself in an elementary school as well. Regardless of what grade I teach I know that I definitely want to be a full time teacher!
DeleteThere are not enough men in early childhood. This is fabulous!
DeleteI never thought I would have wanted to become a teacher as well until I was 18 years old. I think thats great you got a chance to work for jumpstart and got to help students in a low-income pre-k classroom. That must have been interesting to watch and participate in that classroom. thats horrible to hear that you couldn't work their anymore! It seems it took you while to finally figure out what you wanted to do , but its great that your experiences lead you to want to be in the education program. Would you want to teach in an elementary school or preschool?
ReplyDeleteI really don't know what exact grad level I'm looking to teach yet. I definitely loved working in the preschool classrooms, but after doing some field experience in elementary schools I could definitely see myself being a teacher there as well.
DeleteI couldn't imagine going through the change of majors in my sophomore year, but it seems like it was the right choice for you. Jump start seems like it is an amazing program, and im sorry that you couldn't stay longer. But, i could only imagine the impact that you had on the children's lives while being there, and that's what you always have to remember. I am glad that you are now doing what you love, and i hope that although you had to leave some friends behind and kind of a comfort zone that you are getting so much out of snhu and feeling so much better and confident on what you want to do with your life and schooling. What grade do you want to teach? and where would you like to teach if you have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to figure out what grade I want to teach. I'm strongly considering applying for a program called Teach For America. It's a program that sends college grads to schools in inner cities all over the US and it's actually ran by the same non profit company that did Jumpstart. If I get accepted, I could really be teaching anywhere in the country at any grade level. Eventually, I would like to return to Pittsburgh to be a teacher.
DeleteYou really went through a lot in order to figure out what it was that you wanted to do for the rest of your life! It's crazy that you went to school all the way in Pittsburg before, and decided to come up to Manchester. It seems like you had an amazing experience with working with children in a classroom to make you want to be an education major! Some day, you can have that all back, in your own classroom, with your own students!
ReplyDeleteThis group gets a serious gold star for the conversation! Nice work. It all comes back to the fact that you replied to your commenters, Eric. Awesome job. Great. Now I owe you all stickers AND Gold Stars....
ReplyDelete