Education has always been valued on my eyes. Growing up, I was a student that always put in the effort at school and always loved to learn. I grew up watching both of my parents live out their roles as teachers, and I decided that I wanted to also teach. Some people may think that I joined this field because that is all that I knew. However, this is not true. Education has always spoken to me, and I have always wanted to make a difference in the world around me. With teaching, I can make an impact in my students’ lives to mold and shape the next generation of leaders. 

When I was a teen, I had watched a movie called “That’s What I Am”. The movie is about a twelve-year-old boy growing up in the sixties who is trying to seek his educational identity while also dealing with the bulling and punishment of his classmates. The teacher in this movie, Mr. Simon, becomes this student’s favorite teacher. He molds this student to start pursuing his love for writing and to make a change in the world around him. One of the quotes of Mr. Simon that has always stuck with me is this: “I am a teacher. That’s what I am.” This teacher also helps this student realize his potential as a writer, by saying that “if you enjoy something and you are good at it, you must define yourself as what you want to be.”

Starting out as a student teacher this semester, I have found myself through it all saying the very same saying and repeating it to myself: “I am a teacher. That’s what I am.” This saying as grounded me, and helped me realize that I am now more than just a college student studying elementary education, and instead a teacher. I have also realized that I am more than just a teacher that grades papers, teaches content, and stands up at the front to ask questions. I am a teacher that can create a classroom filled with kindness, zeal, honestly, hospitality, dedication, and heart. I want to be that. Teachers are so valuable not because they can get your students to proficiency (which is great, and what we also strive for), but also because they can mold the students into people of character. Education for me was never seen as just a way to learn about math, science, english, and social students. Instead, it was seen as a way of building students into who they will be in the world. 

So, who am I as a teacher? I am a teacher that cracks jokes during class to keep the students engaged. I am a teacher that stays until 6:30pm, sometimes 7pm, just to plan and create a great lesson for the students that I care so much for. I am a teacher that encourages the students each and every step of their learning, always propelling them to say “I can”. I am a teacher that collaborates with my teacher team and enjoys the time spent with colleagues that I look up to. I am a teacher that sits with the student that is confused and supports them through working out the problems together. I am a teacher that cries at home for the students that are struggling and for the students with tough home lives. I am a teacher that studies the content before a lesson, so that I am ready to take on what questions the students have to say. I am a teacher that encourages the students to act like family, to always treat each other with the care that families do. I am a teacher that comes to school with a pep in my step, because I am ready to start the day doing something I absolutely love. So, I am a teacher and that is what I am.