People often ask, “Why did you go into education?” Some always have a clear cut answer, a defining moment when their career path was chosen. I am not one of these individuals. I do not know why I really decided to enter the education profession. I think in the back of my mind, it is what I always wanted to do. As a child and teenager, I wanted to do a lot of things: nurse, doctor, athletic trainer, psychologist, and teacher. When I entered college, I threw all this to the wind and declared business as a major. After all, this is where the money and prestige were. I lasted one quarter as a business major.

At this time, my advisor suggested that I major in Physical Education (since I love sports and children) and add professional education as my minor and become a physical education teacher. I thought about it and decided that teaching would be a steady income and provide a good retirement. So, I became a Physical Education/Education major and finished the next two years of school.

The fall of my senior year I student taught, and in the middle of student teaching, I decided I did want to teach, but not physical education. I wanted to be a classroom teacher. I guess it is because I started thinking about my whole educational experience and there were so many teachers that had made a positive impact on my life.

Even though I have tried other jobs, not careers, and done very well, my heart was never in it. I know this is not a skill to possess, but it is a major factor, my heart is in teaching. I think that as far as possessing actual skills, I have several. I am very well organized and detail-oriented. I am open minded and I am always looking for ways to improve my teaching. I am not scared to ask for help if I do not know what to do. Another skill I have is that I am good with children and want to see them succeed in some area of their lives. It is a little early in my career to really be able to define all the skills that I possess. I am sure there will be new ones that seem to appear out of no where.

The learning process of both children and adults is a tough thing. We seem to focus a lot on the teacher instructing and the students just absorbing this knowledge. This is not how it should be done. We ALL learn differently. The one thing that we cannot forget is that in order for children to really learn, they have to be interested and challenged. If they are not interested, they are just memorizing to pass and then the information just passes out the other ear.

Being “comfortable” in your career is important to being a success. At this time, I am comfortable with the idea that I am supposed to be teaching. In another aspect, I hope I do not ever reach a time when I am in a “comfort zone.” I feel that no one should ever do just what makes them comfortable at their job. We all need to strive to go beyond what makes us comfortable and work toward bettering ourselves. In education, what makes us comfortable may not be best for the learning environment. What makes me comfortable is teacher-directed instruction. I need to step out of my “zone” and make myself comfortable using other methods and strategies.