When I chose my major years ago (practically when I came out of the womb), I knew I would face challenges and I knew this was not going to be an easy career choice. However, I still made this career choice. As I am finishing up my degree and setting goals for myself in the future, I find myself promising students and parents a lot of things.
As your child's future teacher, I promise the following:
I promise to love the difficult students, or the ones that ask questions like "Where do babies come from?" when I am teaching primary colors. It's a question that is completely off topic, but Susie must know exactly where he brother came from right now. I will love those students. Or, the ones that won't so much as write their names on their paper, probably because they couldn't tell you where their pencil was to save their life. Those ones especially need to be loved, and I promise I will.
I promise to value students beyond their standardized test scores. A standardized test tells me very little about my students. It doesn't tell me that he or she sits next to the kid at lunch that doesn't have any friends. It doesn't tell me that he/she has finally caught up and is on the right reading level, even though he/she was initially two grade levels behind. The students' standardized test scores do not define them or their worth, and I promise to see pass their scores and value them for all that they are and will become.
I promise to continue educating myself. Education is changing, our students are changing and better methods are being discovered every day. I would not want someone with a fifty-year-old education teaching my child tomorrow, so I will not do that to my students. I hope to find new methods, tools, and resources constantly in order to be an asset to every student's learning.
As your future teacher, I promise to:
I promise to pray for you, even if you don't ask me to. You and I might not believe in the same God, you may not believe in a God at all, and that is perfectly fine. But I believe in a God and, when I think I need to, I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to pray for guidance in how I can best serve you as your teacher. I will pray in order to ensure that you get through whatever life throws your way with confidence and maybe, just maybe, you'll learn something along the way. I will never tell you that I prayed for you, but just know that I truly care about you.
I promise to try. I promise to try whatever I need to in order to help you learn successfully. If that means I have to stand on my head to get you the special education services you're entitled to, I'll do it. If I have to apply for hundreds of grants to make sure our classroom has the appropriate materials we need to learn, I will. I can't promise the best outcome, but I can promise that I will put forth my best effort to make these things happen.
I promise to be the best I can be. This should go without saying, but I promise to be the absolute best teacher and human being that I can be. I can't promise to be perfect, but I will give all that I've got to ensure your success. I know this career is going to come with long hours, and I am not going to always be financially compensated for that time, but I've always known that and teachers don't become teachers for the money. Even when I'm tired, sick, stressed and upset, I promise to be the best I can be.
As your future teacher or your child's future teacher, I can promise a lot of things because I've waited my entire life to be a teacher. I hope that, in return, you promise to remember that I am human and I am doing my best.
