Teaching to me is not just a career, it’s a chance to work with children and change their future for the better; to provide them with the essential skills they need in life to become confident individuals, successful learners, responsible citizens and effective contributors.
From a young age I was surrounded by children of all different ages, due to the fact that I was sent to a childminder. This provided me with a sense of closeness with other children, and allowed me to build friendships with a variety of people. I feel that this allowed me to become more confident in socialising with people, and as I became older helped me to realise that working with children was where I belonged.
Throughout my time at school, both primary and secondary, I was involved in Guiding. Again, this helped me make friends with people of all different ages, but also welcomed me into a community. I was involved in Brownies and Guides, and soon realised in my second or third year of being in Guides, that I wanted to go back to my old Brownie unit and help as a young leader. My old unit welcomed me back with open arms, and allowed me to be a guide helper. I stayed with this unit until I moved to Dundee, and it was some of the best years of my life. Working with the girls in the unit, further expanded my desire to work with children in a primary school environment. I know that an hour and a half a night, for one night a week is completely different to 6/7 hours in a primary school, 5 days a week. However, due to the fact I was with the unit for so long I saw a great variation of girls go through, and was able to see how they developed from seven year olds, to ten year olds, and how the slightest thing I did, could make an impact on them and the way they behaved and grew as people.
However, in the lead up to University, Guiding was not the only work experience I participated in, and throughout my time at school I completed several placements in primary schools.
The experiences I had in my primary school placements reassured me that teaching was what I wanted to do in my future, and that there was nothing more I wanted to do. Throughout each of my four separate placements I could always see minor improvements in the children I worked with. When I did see a child improving their skills, knowledge or understanding, it provided me with a certain sense of joy – a type of joy that I have never come across in my day to day life -, a feeling that I believe you cannot achieve unless you work with children. That feeling for me, is what I believe to be another key driving reason as to why I wanted to become a teacher.
The last factor that contributes to why I want to be a teacher, relates to my education. I’ve just finished my 13 years of schooling, and I’ve seen a wide range of different teaching styles, as well as a variation of quality of teaching. But, I know that to make a positive change in a person, or even in myself, a good teacher is sometimes all thats necessary; a teacher that you will never forget, a teacher that changes your life forever. I want to be that teacher for future generations, I want to inspire and create a positive future for children, and encourage them to believe that they can do anything, no matter what background they come from. I want to be the caring adult that leads children to becoming success stories, and embracing who they are as people in society and in their personal lives.
