I am thinking about this thanks to @jcolque who has issued a 30 day challenge to help us reflect on our teaching.
Day 1: How did you decide to become a teacher?
Teaching is second career for me. My first was Marketing and I was unhappy swindling people out of their money. (Not that all people in Sales are swindlers, but that is how I felt in the job that I had.) I checked out my options and woke up one morning with the realization that I loved going to school. I hated the silly kids there but I had fun rising to academic challenges and I wanted to share this joy. I wanted to ‘do good’ and make others happy. I am a 3rd generation teacher; so when considering a career change, I naturally ventured into the ‘family business.’
With my B.B.A. (Bachelor of Business Administration) in Marketing behind me, I took the National Teacher’s Exam, enrolled into Xavier University’s Math Education Department and began my journey towards my Master of Education Degree. No, I do not teach Math. I found out early on that I could not/would not be able to handle a Math class. (I only tried because my Mom suggested that I go that route —> A need for math teachers = breaks in tuition.)
To make this long story shorter, I jumped into my new career with both feet and enrolled part time in graduate school at night while teaching during the day. I received my M.Ed. and teaching certification 2 years later. In January, 1996, I got my first teaching job and have been teaching English/Language Arts to students in grades 6-12 ever since.
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