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Michaela Callahan

September 6, 2017

Intro to Teaching

Reflective Essay 1

Inspiration

Teaching has always been a passion of mine. When I was a little girl, I would force my

parents to sit down in little makeshift desks in my living room so that I could teach them. I would

look up lesson plans, and even implement my own rules for behavioral issues. Teaching has

always been a calling to me. Although teaching seems like an easy profession to some, it is not

an easy task. One has to be willing to step out of their comfort zone to appeal to the students. In

order to be an effective teacher, it is imperative that one teaches in different ways to make sure

that every student is able to effectively learn the material. It should also be fun, although some

things are not going to be fun, however there are ways to lighten the load. Over my many years

of schooling, there have been many teachers that have inspired me to realize even more that

teaching is the career for me.

It hit me hard at the beginning of my senior year that I truly was ready to kick start my

teaching career. I had been on my second year of student teaching with second graders and the

same teacher. Because I was there for so long, I knew how the class worked, and when there was

a substitute, the kids relied on me simply because I knew what they were supposed to be doing

and when. On this particular morning, I knew that there was going to be a substitute, so I drank a

little extra coffee morning to prepare myself to be in front teaching the whole time. I soon came

to realize that I was going to be the one learning as well as the cute seven year olds. When I

walked in to introduce myself to an unknown teacher, I immediately began to judge. I almost felt
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bad for the substitute, because he seemed shy and timid. He weakly shook my hand and

introduced himself with a very nervous attitude. He then went on to tell me that he just needs a

minute to look over the notes a little bit more and asked if I could take over the class while they

come in because he needs to use the restroom. It took him about ten minutes to finally come in

and get started with the class. To my surprise, he came into the classroom singing a song. It

caught everyone’s attention. The kids all started laughing and having fun with him. As I listened

to the words, I realized that he was teaching them the math lesson. He spoke for the rest of the

class in all song, and expected everyone to participate. Of course, they wanted to be there,

because they were having so much fun. Right then, I knew that, that is how I want to teach. I

want to engage every student and allow them to want to participate in class. I also learned a very

valuable lesson that day, never judge a book by its cover.

Teaching comes in all forms, and before I met Mr. Bobak I never realized that. He

allowed me to open my eyes and see the bigger picture of teaching. I remember leaving that day,

with such a different appreciation for teachers. I feel as though it is one of the hardest professions

to get into, because you are literally shaping the children of the future. You are the one to be

there and push them when they do not quite understand a concept, and you are the one that

allows them to think for themselves. It is okay to make mistakes when teaching as well. There

will be off days and there will be great days, but that is the most fun part about the whole

experience. Not only are you teaching other students, but they are teaching you as well. We learn

a lot from children and their own home experiences. Every day, there will be something new that

comes up, that we are forced to deal with. The one thing that we must always keep in mind

though, is that life is always changing. We will realize that some things we think we are going to
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do, do not end up happening, and some things that we think we will never do will end up

happening. This has sort of happened to me within the last week or so.

Growing up, I have always hated history. It has never been my strong suit. Recently

however, I have encountered many different circumstances that have begun to change my mind.

For example, my Junior year history teacher was the most passionate man that I have ever met.

He would get so excited about teaching history, that by the end of the lesson he would be talking

so fast and spitting all over the place, because he was so enthusiastic about the content in the

lesson. He inspired me to be that passionate, and to never go into a profession that I am not

excited about. Along with my history teacher, I had a dream a few nights ago in which I was a

history teacher. Every day when the children would come into class, they would immediately put

their phones away, and their bags at the front of the classroom. I did not even have to ask them to

do that, because they were excited to learn the content I had for the day. When I woke up the

next morning I started to think about being a middle school history teacher. It truly inspired me,

because it is something that I have never really looked into. Recently I have looked into

minoring in history and I feel that it is doable. It is definitely something that I am interested in

and will continue to push for.

Inspiration is an important part of why people want to do the things they do. Mostly

anyone you talk to will have some reason for why they want to do something. That is its own

form of inspiration. Teaching is a profession in which you inspire others, so it is my goal to

inspire others in the same ways that I have been inspired.