As a child, your teachers loved you. You may have had teachers that you didn't love back, but I guarantee that your second grade teacher would remember your name and how proud they were of you for finally passing your spelling test. Teachers wake up thinking about how each student will respond to a lesson plan, how they can engage their class, how they should discuss difficult topics with their 7-year-old students and how they will help the student who hasn't had money for lunch all week. A teacher goes to bed thinking about what they could have done better, how they could have taught a lesson differently, if their students know how much they are loved, if their classroom is promoting creativity and if their students are retaining what they learn. As I get closer to having my own classroom, I am constantly buying children's books and asking myself what it takes to be a teacher.

Being a teacher means many things. Being a teacher means preparing the same lesson for 26 students that all learn differently and modifying it to match their learning styles. Being a teacher means carefully observing each student and knowing their individual challenges, strengths and weaknesses. Being a teacher is being resilient enough to never give up on a struggling student and being patient enough to listen to a child tell a story that has no ending. Being a teacher means being enthusiastic and believing in all students. Being a teacher means spending too much money on supplies at Target, laughing at jokes that don't make sense and constantly buys more crayons.

To me, being a teacher involves making a commitment to my students. I believe that it is my responsibility to my future students to foster their development, support them, nurture them and teach them. I want to be a role model of positivity and honesty for my students. I want to display my enthusiasm for learning and my passion for helping others. I want to model good behavior and demonstrate healthy habits. I want to help instill confidence in my students, provide them with resources that will help them and help them develop both cognitively and creatively. I want my students to know that they can count on me to be there for them, even when they don't believe in themselves or when they are facing a difficult situation. My promise to support, teach, nurture and love each of my future students is one that I will never break.

Becoming a teacher has taken me seven semesters of 15-18 credit hours, countless sleepless nights correcting lesson plans, more money than I'd like to think about in tuition, two practicum experiences and crying to my Mom on the phone about how difficult my physics concepts for educators class was. Becoming a teacher has been my dream since I was 17 years old, and I know that being a teacher is going to be the most rewarding experience of my life. Being a teacher means making the difference in a life of a child, and there is no better reward than that.