If I had a dollar for every time some asked me, “Why on Earth would I want to be a teacher, they don’t even make any money?” I would be a millionaire; but if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, “Why the hell do you want to teach HIGH SCHOOL,” I am almost certain that I would be a billionaire.

I am 24 years-old and currently on a leave of absence from my job at an elementary school to continue my education and get my degree in high school education, with an English concentration. Over the past 6 years I have been building and working towards a career in education, at times not knowing that that is what I wanted to do though. I have worked with all different age groups, from infants to well you guessed it, high school students. I have been a nanny, worked in daycares and elementary schools, and have mentored. Although I have always been in the education field, knowing that I wanted to teach high school English was not something that I was always aware of.

When I first enrolled in college, it was as a nursing major, with a focus in pediatrics because I have always loved kids. Of course being in college, I needed a job to support myself so I got a job through the Jumpstart program, which is an educational organization that trains college students to work with preschool students in low-income neighborhoods. Jumpstart set me up with my first teaching job.. It was perfect, I loved kids and always wanted to work with kids so to me it was an easy job and easy money since I loved what I did. I continued nursing school and continued working with kids but began working in daycare settings. Then about halfway through nursing school, I got my first real job in the school system as a bilingual second grade paraprofessional at a K-8 elementary school, an opportunity that forever changed my life and that I will forever be grateful for.

Shortly after working at the elementary school, I realized that I had found “my calling,” as cliche as that sounds. I felt like it was what I was always supposed to do and although I had already devoted so much time to nursing school, I decided to withdraw from school the remainder of the semester while I took the time to apply to some new schools for elementary education. After about two or three years working at the elementary school, I got my first taste of what some teachers may consider hell but I considered heaven, middle school. I loved it for so many reasons: I felt like I could actually talk to the students, I was able to teach more, I felt like I had more of an influence on them and surprisingly, despite the rumors, it wasn’t scary at all! I enjoyed it so much that I began to wonder what it might be like to work with high school kids and then I got a job working for the FAM (Family and Friend) for Change mentor program that allowed me to do just that! Although it wasn’t necessarily teaching and more mentoring, it still allowed me to get a feel for what it would be like tow work with high school students from freshmen to seniors.

Now for those of you still wondering, why the hell do I want to teach high school kids and why English out of all things, here it is! High school students are technically the next generation and will be the ones running things and taking care of the people in our generation as we get older. And in my opinion I feel as though if I can influence high school and instill things in them that they can use for years to come, then I have somewhat done my part in helping the future. I know, I know, again with the teaching cliches, but it’s true. Aside from that though, I truly enjoy teaching and interacting with them and in return receiving their feedback. It is also an extremely rewarding profession to me because a lot of people tend to struggle in building relationships with this age group and for whatever reason, this is sometime that come to me at ease. And building those relationship s and gaining their trust is something that is really important to me. Especially since they don’t tend to trust many people of authority at this age. When it comes to why I chose English out of all subjects, you guessed it, it is really cliche as well. I have always enjoyed reading and writing since I was a child and it was always my favorite and best subject in school as a child and still today. Also, a lot of my English teachers have been some of the most influential people in my life as well and I can only hope to be just as influential in future student’s lives as well. I want to provide a space where my students can express their ideas, feelings and opinions about different types of literature and also through an occasional free-write because I feel like free-write essays are not a route many teachers take in high school; And I feel like these can be some of the best an most important writings in their high schools careers. I also think English is a gateway to a lot of grate skills, the main one being better verbal and written communication skills which will always be useful in all aspects of life. What is all comes down to though, the main reason why I am choosing to teach high school English, is because I want to give my students an opportunity to have a voice whether it be with verbal or written, teach them when and how to use it and give them a safe place to do so.