Role Of A Teacher

I want to be good at what I do. Whether that's teaching, playing video games, or raking leaves in my yard, I want to excel. I want to look back on what I have accomplished and feel proud of what I have put in and what I have gotten out. I believe that before you can ever start excelling, you need to know what it means to excel. Setting a goal is the only way to check whether or not you have actually succeeded, so now is the time for me to set goals for myself as a teacher.

Success

What do I want to accomplish as a teacher? I want my students to think of me as a good teacher. This naturally makes me think about what makes a teacher a good teacher. I think back to the good teachers I had and want to emulate them. The most memorable lessons I learned in high school fell into two categories:

1. The teacher was talking about something I was genuinely interested in and simply helped me explore a subject I was curious about. I was self motivated to learn, but that self motivation can be hard to find. It was not until I was (somewhat) mature and could really push myself. I think the best teachers are able to help students motivate themselves until students mature enough to push themselves.
2. The teacher's own excitement for the topic was so infectious that the lesson became an experience that I will never forget. To this day, I still remember the importance of the Interstate Commerce Clause, and that is simply from the excitement my AP Government teacher brought every day. 

Put simply, I believe that the role of the teacher is to help guide students to areas that interest each individual student while motivating and molding the students to become life-long learners. It is up to myself as the instructor to help students find topics and areas that they are interested in, show students how to pursue areas that interest them, and set the students up to continue learning and succeeding for their entire life.

I think this is absolutely vital in a math and physics class room. These topics can be really confusing, and a common complaint heard in these classes is, "When am I ever going to use this?" I need to help the students relate to this new information and apply it to their own lives. A day comes for every student where they walk out of a classroom as a student for the last time. From that point on, they will never "learn" new information in the same way again. If they are not prepared to learn on their own outside of a classroom, they will stop growing as an individual. It is my top priority to make sure students do not end up like this.

If I can do all that, then I'll feel like a successful teacher.

I would also accept seeing the Lions win the Superbowl. That would be an OK consolation prize.

What I Expect To See Every Fall