Not everyone can be a teacher. I think we have all interacted with a teacher that we know didn’t have the characteristics, qualities, or even desire to be a teacher. This is why the best teachers view their job as a vocation and/or feel a calling towards the career of teaching. The goal for any person is to find a job that makes them so happy that they don’t feel like it’s a job; it’s very similar for teaching. Lots of people respond to people who want to be teachers with the expression of “I could never do that” and “It’s amazing how you get through the day”, but if you truly love and take pride in what you do, these comments do not fully consume your day.
My “calling” came when I was in middle school and I met one of the coolest teachers I have ever met. He was my middle school band teacher, and he helped me grow my love for music. That inspired me to help others grow their love for music. I have always had music in my life and during that period of my life, I truly understood the benefits that music can bring. It helps express your feelings, it is a social event, it builds the aspect of working together as well as problem solving, and plenty more. I finally understood all of the benefits I got from my musical activities and knew that I wanted to share those with others.
I have recently learned that I believe in a progressivism philosophy of teaching. I want to give my students a safe space to share their ideas to help promote their growth of character and personality. I want them to be able to explore themselves and not be judged for not always being correct. I would like to reinforce the idea that learning happens from mistakes and no one should feel ashamed for trying to find a solution. Life is full of trial and error and my classroom should be a place for students to experiment with it.
One of my strengths for being an effective teacher that I hold at the moment is creativity. I really enjoy creating fun activities and I think I will bring plenty to my classroom. Another is respecting my students. My students are humans too and deserve the same amount of respect as adults. Just because they are younger doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be talked down to or feel below me or other adults.
Something I can work on is making sure my students feel respected and included. While I may feel like I respect my students, I struggle a lot with using the right phrases and how to explain things to younger students without talking down to them. I also struggle a bit with procrastination so I will need to work on making sure I’m prepared for every class. If my students are going to be putting in the effort to prepare for class, then I should as well.
Teaching is a way to prepare our future generation for the world and it is very important that we set a good example for them by making sure we are being culturally relevant in the classroom and policing discriminatory behaviors and jokes. I will try to be as inclusive as I can be by giving my classes a broad variety of music from many different cultures and perhaps creating assignments and projects based on music of different cultures and what they mean to them as well. I will also try to make my classroom feel inclusive as well by having multiple representations of many of the cultures of my students so they feel at home.
