A few weeks ago I was having a discussion with my friends
Bethany and Matt and some of us, mainly me, were feeling disillusioned with
public education. The honeymoon period with our students was over. The district
and state are shoving more and more tests down the pipe. We got a $30 raise
this year. Then Matt began to mention why he became a teacher. If you know
Matt, it was a wonderful speech, filled with beautiful images and memories, of
course. Then he said, “You have that same experience. Of course you do, that’s
why you’re here.”
That comment hung with me and made me feel all warm inside
as I reflected back on why I became a teacher. Then I got busy and I crammed
that feeling into a corner of my brain, forgotten and untouched. But recently,
I’ve reflected on that moment and dusted off the memories.
Nancy Duffner, my sophomore English teacher and newspaper
advisor for three years, is the reason I became a teacher. Ms. Duffner had high
expectations and you were expected to meet those expectations by the end of the
year. There was no room for foolishness or a lackadaisical attitude. However,
behind the reputation for being a “hard teacher” and someone to “fear” I was
taught immeasurable lessons. Beyond having my writing demolished and rebuilt,
and realizing my love of reading, I was transformed and shaped, in part, by the
lessons with Ms. Duffner. Spending those three years with Duffy, as we
affectionately called her, I learned: how to speak up for myself, to fight for
my beliefs, to strive for change, to advocate for those less fortunate, to be a
leader, to be a follower, to acknowledge when I was right and wrong, to think
outside of the box, and so many more qualities that make up the person I am
today. Ms. Duffner taught me the most important elements that make up bits and
pieces of my life, and yet, none of it can be measured on a test.
Teaching isn’t to get a certain test score; teaching is about
the students. Teaching is about working with, challenging, praising, editing,
and molding students. I didn’t become a teacher to give students busy work and
reprimand them. I became a teacher
because I felt inspired as a student and I wanted to recreate that in my own classroom.
I became a teacher because, as a student, I felt that I could go to a safe
place, be myself, and face no judgment and I want that for my students. I
became a teacher because in Ms. Duffner's class I knew I was going to be challenged and
I was going to be better for it, and I know that my students deserve that
opportunity too. I want my students to feel the way that I felt when I walked
into H-2. That’s why I teach.
