Kevin Costner's For Love of the Game is among my all-time favorite movies.
It's not that which you might expect from a football movie — there aren't many diving catches in the outfield, contested plays at home plate, or spine tingling speeches in the clubhouse.
It's only the story of a man who loves what he does.
To borrow a quote from another sports movie, “How will you not be romantic about baseball?”
I'm reminded of For Love of the Game when I keep in touch with educators...
When it comes to career choices, one can't help but wonder, Why would someone choose to become a mentor? The times are long, the compensation is underwhelming, and the thank-yous could be elusive.
But to keep in touch with educators is to discover they do not do what they do for the pay or for the praise, they do it because...well, they do it because they love it.
They love the challenges. They love their students. They love building a difference.
I am aware this because we talked to a couple educators and posed this simple two-word question: Why education?
It is a pretty open ended-question that could be interpreted a number of ways: Why did you select this career? How come it important? What's inside for you personally? Why do you love it?
Some tips about what our panel of six educators and UWorld content writers had to say...
The “As a result of You” Conversation
It absolutely was my last day of my first year of teaching. I was tired; it have been a tough year. I didn't have my very own room and had to cart my stuff around SAT Math Prep, using other teachers'rooms on their conference periods.
Nearly all of my students didn't worry about learning, and I'd become very discouraged. But as I was packing up, I noticed among my students — we'll call him Julio — had tracked me down. He'd really improved right from the start of the year, and he said something to me that I'll never forget:
“As a result of you, I do want to go to college. I do want to make something of myself.”
It absolutely was at the time I realized why I'd chosen teaching as a lifetime career: to really make a difference compared to that one individual student, to get someone as excited about learning as I was. Changing the length of that one life was all that I needed to understand that my whole year have been worthwhile.
-Melanie White (English Teacher, 10th Grade)
All of the Hard Work Pays Off
My senior high school teacher inspired me to become an educator. She taught calculus in ways which was fun and accessible. I'd always enjoyed math, but her class solidified it as my favorite subject. Why wouldn't I do want to spend my career immersed in my favorite subject while also fostering an interest for mathematics in my students? It seemed just like a no-brainer.
What I didn't realize in the beginning of my career as a senior high school math teacher was that being a mentor demands so much more than the love of a subject. As time passes, I discovered that building relationships with students based on trust, consistency, and respect is key to learning to be a successful educator.
These relationships take time and work, and starting over every year with a new group of students was never easy. However, as soon as students first confides in you, or makes a breakthrough in understanding a hard concept, or decides they like math a little bit a lot more than before — all the work pays off. I genuinely believe that being a mentor could be the hardest, yet most rewarding career.
My students have made an enduring effect on me, and I hope to possess done the exact same for some of them.
-Jessica Meyer (High School Math Teacher)
A Privilege I Never Took for Granted
Teachers get into education because they like to see students grow educationally and emotionally. Principals also get into being principals because they like to see students grow, but when you're a principal you get the chance to see hundreds, or even thousands, of students grow each year.
Yes, that you do not get to understand all the students in the exact same way as their teachers do, but when you ensure it is a priority, you are able to still find those chances to aid students, listen to their goals and struggles, and help either connect them to the best resources or be another adult within their life that is cheering them on!
Oftentimes, students would come to me when they'd a REALLY big problem, or when they'd found themselves in a few serious hot water. It absolutely was my job to simply help identify a road to cause them to a better place and hold them accountable for navigating that path successfully. It absolutely was challenging, fun, and very gratifying work.
Watching students process their missteps and learn to overcome their mistakes is an opportunity that I never took for granted.
There were also some really huge perks to the principal gig like sideline tickets to all or any the big games and performances, hosting graduation, and watching students walk across that stage, with their heads held high and full of the confidence that they might take on the planet!
-Philip Bates (High School Principal)
“Light Bulb” Moments
In 8th grade, I decided that I wasn't a “math person&rdquo ;.Algebra. I do believe that is where it happens for most people.
My teacher, Mr. DiCicco, wasn't typically the most popular among my fellow students. However, he was patient, consistently calm, good at math, and available after school each and every day for any student who needed extra help. Those afternoons included many “Bulb!” moments for me.
Together with his help, I unearthed that I am a math person after all. More to the point, he taught me to be always a self-learner. I started learning how to find answers to questions on my own. After 8th grade, I moved to another school. I never saw Mr. DiCicco again next year, but he truly changed the length of my life.
I enjoy being around young adults getting started in life, learning what they are interested in, being part of their school community. I became a teacher in order that I possibly could really make a difference for students who decide at some point that they are not math people.
What I enjoy most about teaching will be there when students experience their particular “Bulb!” moments and helping them grow from students into life-long learners.
-Joan Lester (Pre-AP Algebra Teacher)
Changing How a Student Sees Their Future
What I love about teaching is watching how success in academics can alter students'whole outlook.
It gives me joy to simply help students find new interest and confidence in an interest where they'd previously struggled.
I love as soon as each time a student realizes that they are actually good at something they once believed was too problematic for them.
Once they see they are able to overcome intellectual hurdles to reach success, it changes how they see themselves and their future.
-Alice Ivas (Elementary English, High School Tutor, College English)
When Your Students Decide To Become Teachers
One of the things I love most about teaching senior high school is watching young adults figure themselves out, and sometimes dealing with participate it.
It might be a kid who didn't think he was AP material before you asked him to transfer into your class, or a lady who didn't have the courage to break up with a bad boyfriend until she read that book you assigned.
It could be the military dependent who had been in her third senior high school and didn't have friends before you put her for the reason that group project, or that young man who enjoyed your mock trial team so much that he got an internship at a law firm, which in turn gave him the full scholarship for college and grad school.
I am able to keep up with many former students on Facebook and it's touching to discover that several became English teachers because of my class.
As fulfilling because it is to understand you've made a difference in your students'lives, it's also just been fun to get at know so many insightful, kind, humorous and sometimes downright goofy human beings. These relationships have been important in my own maturity and development.
Leading a class requires a high amount of emotional intelligence. And it's been transformative to activate with people whose cultural backgrounds are so distinctive from my own.
Being truly a teacher means you will know more concerning the human experience since you may have formed deep bonds with so many, diverse people. I guess you may say that being a teacher helped me figure myself out in many ways, and my students were indeed the largest part of this growth.
