Is Teaching What I Thought It Would Be?

Is Teaching What I Thought It Would Be?

Brianna Baxter

     My idea of teaching changed when I began my position as an inclusion aide. Many people, including myself before I entered the field, assume that teaching is simply educating. Before entering the field, I had the assumption that teaching is just about educating children about the knowledge and skills they need to know and assessing that knowledge.

     One of the many job requirements of an educator is to teach children knowledge and skills. I truly enjoy teaching objectives and the wonders of the world. However, I want children to believe that they are the wonders of the world. I want every single student to believe that they are powerful. Empowering children to own their knowledge gained and to appreciate the value of obtaining knowledge is a critical goal of mine.

     I want students to be engaged with the content they are learning; engaged students are happy to be learning, and teachers who teach engaging content are happy to be teaching. I knew that I would love the act of teaching before I actually taught, but I did not know that I would love teaching for the opportunity to empower children to be leaders, no matter how young they are.