Sitting in a large room, with 30 fellow pupils, my primary 5 teacher bounces around the room. She isn’t the youngest teacher in the school, but her enthusiasm would make you think differently!

Mrs Gilliland was a flamboyant, creative and friendly teacher who was always using innovative ways to teach the class. She made sure that every child in the class was involved in discussions and that no one was ever left out. I personally feel that this made a large impact on my decision to become a teacher as I looked up to Mrs Gilliland as a role model throughout my school career. Even to this day, Mrs Gilliland would have helped me plan a lesson for the primary one class I was involved in during teaching practice and her guidance has really helped me progress and made my move to university a lot easier than I had expected

In lower sixth, we were given the opportunity to do work experience in whichever environment we wish; I chose a local primary school which was in a deprived area. Whilst working with the primary one class, I began to learn more about the personalities of the children in the class and which teaching methods worked better for them. Seeing the teacher adapt to various situations that arose, throughout the week that I was there, really made me understand that teaching was the career that I wanted to follow.

With regards to the type of teacher I want to be, I want to the teacher one that inspires children to try as hard as possible to achieve their goals. I want to be the teacher that doesn’t limit a child’s abilities by saying things like ‘maybe you shouldn’t do that’ but instead enhances their chances of being the best at what they want to do. I want to be the teacher that encourages, listens and cares for the children in their class as not all children will come from the same background so there may be some that need more nurturing than others. I also want to be the teacher that can laugh with the children and be involved in their lives, at their level, as a teacher that can communicate with a child on a topic they are interested in.