Why People Choose to Teach

There are a million and one reasons why someone might decide to teach. Some reasons are a little bit more interesting than others. Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to become a teacher when i got older. Back then my reasons for teaching were a little different then they are now. When I was little I wanted to teach because thats what most everyone did in my family. I also liked being in charge, and getting to set my own rules. Having summers off really appealed to me as well. But as i grew older my reasons for teaching began to change. I started to see how much I enjoyed helping people, and how much I enjoyed the satisfaction they felt when they finally understood the problem. I realized that I had a passion for teaching and how it was really something I loved to do. In fact, I wouldn't even mind teaching all year round! I discovered that teaching to me wasn't about being in charge and telling people what to do, but instead helping them and encouraging them to learn something new. When I researched other peoples reason to teach I got a lot of different feed back. I thought the best information I found was Rhonda Day's article Teachers Bring it All to Life at the website http://www.helium.com/items/633186-teachers-why-do-we-want-to-teach. She lists a bunch of different reasons why someone might decide to teach. One reason that really stood out to me was being able to take a complex idea or problem and turn into something simple. I really like this reason because one part of being a teacher is being able to simplify ideas for your students. Many children might not understand a problem one way, but being a teacher we are able to turn it around for them and help them see it in a new way. Once we see the child finally understand it it gives us a rewarding feeling. Another reason that i really like is when she talks about " A strong desire to give back to the community..." This is a great reason to me because theres no greater way to give back to your community then by lending a helping hand. And whats more helping then being able to give children from that community the gift of education.This articles really hit me though when Rhonda stated that "Teaching is a noble, enviable, and demanding occupation. It requires knowledge, patience, understanding, and a desire to help others." Knowledge, patience, and understanding to me are the three major qualities that someone who wants to teach must possess. I think if you have these three things then it really doesn't matter what reasons you have for teaching. If you have these three traits, it doesn't matter if you decided to teach because you want to give back to the community or because you just love children. No matter what reason you have you''ll automatically be successful at teaching because you have the knowledge, patience, and the understanding.