Is Teaching for Me?

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I went into my Intro to Education course not expecting to learn the things I did learn. The service learning was... eye opening. I am a little bit of an "older" student. I graduated high school almost ten years ago and I don't think teaching faced the same problems it does today. Because of that, I was almost startled to be faced with the reality of modern teaching during my service learning. I saw a LOT of good, don't get me wrong. but I also saw what teachers are up against; larger class sizes, shrinking budgets, more diverse classrooms, stricter state requirements, and increasing social pressure. I knew teaching wasn't an easy profession, but my service learning has taught me that it will hard in ways I did not expect.

I don't think, however, that it has dissuaded me from wanting to become a teacher. In fact, I think it has empowered me. I want to get in there and... help. I've seen that teachers are working together everywhere to create better environments to teach in AND for their students to learn in. I want to be a part of that. I think this class has better prepared me and I feel like I'm now going into it with open eyes rather than just an idealistic image of what I thought teaching was.

My next steps going forward are to get accepted into the professional teaching program at UVU. To do that I need to get better math scores. Coincidentally, my service learning has helped me a bit with that to. Being able to spend time with math teachers has given me some new insights into study methods I hadn't thought of before. 

The biggest outcome of this class was my decision to change my major. After we did a scavenger hunt on the UEN standards website, I spend some time exploring the standards for secondary biology. I came to realize that the specific things I love about biology are so minimal in the scope of the standards that I'd never be able to sustain myself as a teacher on them. They didn't excite me. I did, however, get excited from reading up on Earth Science standards and I've decided that is a much better fit for me as a teacher.

I am excited to move forward. I'm glad I got the opportunities I did in this class and I can't wait to continue my journey in education.

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