I am currently a sophomore and an elementary education major. However I have known I wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl. I use to sit at home and play school in my basement with a little desk. I loved getting new school notebooks and getting ready for the first day each year. I always wanted to get good grades and to be on the teacher’s good side. I have just always known that teaching is what I wanted to do.

Being around other education majors, they often have similar stories. A lot of them have known they wanted to be a teacher for a long time. Many of them are very organized, planned, and put together types of people.

I believe it takes this certain kind of person to be a teacher. It takes a special person with patience and love for children. Someone who loves the job for what it is and what they get to do rather than for the money or rewards they receive. It takes someone who is selfless. Someone seeking to give rather than receive.

Teaching is not just some job or profession anyone picks. It is a passion. It takes a certain desire and drive to get up everyday and inspire young people. It isn’t easy to challenge 20-30 kids in a way that fits them. It isn’t easy to teach a child knowing they have way too much going on at home to be focused on school. It isn’t easy to keep a room full of kids focused on learning when there’s a student who won’t stop acting out.

This job takes dedication. It takes a person who chooses to walk into a classroom everyday with a smile. It takes a person who chooses to care about every single student, despite their circumstance. It takes a person who is willing to fight and not give up on anyone. It takes a person who wants to be there.

This is why teaching is a passion and not just a job. So to those who are teachers, thank you for pursuing your passion, and to those who are pursing teaching, thank you for striving after what is in your heart. Whether you hear it or not, you are valued and appreciated.