As the end of the school year gets closer, it can be hard to remember why you love teaching. Between piled-up assignments, end of year testing, and antsy students, tapping into your passion can be exhausting.
There’s a simple, free, and fast way to reconnect with your job. Ask yourself, “Why do I teach?” Sounds too simple right? But it really works! Take a few minutes in the morning before your students arrive and write out why you love to teach. We promise, it’ll get you back to your teaching roots and help you push past all the baggage that often comes with being an educator.
Having trouble remembering your roots? Check out some of the responses from other teachers across the country:
- “I love being a teacher for that ‘aha’ moment, where a student suddenly goes from feeling confused to ‘I get it! Now I know why we’re doing this. Now I know why I care.’"
- “I like being a teacher just to see the growth in students. To see kids that are struggling to find their niche, and then they come to technology and just flourish.”
- “I love seeing students understand the concepts I teach. We have students that struggle, and in the end you see a lightbulb. You hear them say, ‘Oh I get it!’ It’s nice to see that they know they’re learning something. As a teacher you almost never get to see what your students learn because they graduate, but just to know that you impacted someone’s life in a positive way.”
- “I love being a teacher because I have the opportunity to truly change kids’ lives. Just this past year, there was a young man that had cheated the two years prior to coming into my class. I talked with him and said, “You need to make a change.” We talked about the difference between a minimum wage job and actually knowing how to program. He’s gone one and he’s done incredibly well. My joy is when I see my students go from being unmotivated to truly loving computer science and wanting to make it a career.”
Ready to inspire other teachers with your passion? Comment below and tell us why you love teaching!