My Educational Purpose

What is my educational purpose? That is a good question. I grew up in a family of teachers. My father, uncle, and aunt are all high school teachers at different high schools in my home town of Cleveland. I’ve been around education of some form or another for my entire life.

            In my opinion, a student can only learn if they first recognize and accept the fact that they don’t know something and, therefore, lack that knowledge. This makes a student very vulnerable. For this reason the relationship between teacher and student becomes vital to the process of learning. If students don’t like their instructor, or don’t feel comfortable with their instructor, how can they go through the process of learning? I don’t view teaching as a process of telling your students whatever stuff you are teaching and having them memorize it. It is a process of providing your students with the necessary experiences required for learning to happen. For this, good relationships need to be there.

            I have seen how rewarding teaching can be for the teacher. To see a student struggle with, get angry and frustrated at, and ultimately succeed in a topic you love is so incredibly rewarding. I love math, really. (I know….nerd, right?) I think it so cool, and I want to be able to share this awesome thing with students struggling just like I struggled when I was learning it for the first time. In a nut shell, that is why I want to be a teacher. (Oh…I don’t mind summer vacations either)