Autobiography: A Journey to Teaching

 Autobiography: Teaching and Me

I chose to teach secondary school because I think that we often forget teenagers are still children; consequently, they are expected to succeed without the need for significant support from others. I think this is an unfair and unrealistic expectation that places undue burdens on teenagers. As a secondary teacher, one of my paramount goals is to provide my students with the support that they still need, as children, as well as the guidance and encouragement they need to enter adulthood and continue in their journey of learning and growth. Adolescents are learning about themselves, learning about who they want to be, and learning about how they fit into the world. I want to help them navigate these challenges with compassion and empathy and remind them that they aren’t alone. As an adolescent, I was often told that when I was an adult, I would be given minimum help and guidance; as an adult, I have found that this is not true. When we think that we are alone, then we don’t become people who want to be there for others; when we think that there will be no one to help us, then we don’t become people who want to help others. I want to show older students that they won’t be alone when they are adults, and I want to use teaching as a way to demonstrate that everyone has the ability to seek help for themselves and to provide help to others. 

As an educator, the importance of showing students that they have the ability to seek help also contributes to my passion for helping students learn about relationships. As a secondary student, I always found that the teachers I learned the most from were those I had the best relationships with. A significant reason behind my decision to teach is rooted in my desire to show students how relationships of all types can be built, nourished, and mutually beneficial. 

Teaching secondary school would also allow me to teach students who are closer to becoming fully immersed in the world outside of the education system. The increased critical thinking abilities, empathy, and social skills of adolescents allow them to develop more advanced problem-solving skills. As a secondary teacher, I would be able to help students learn how  these skills can be contributed to the greater good within the local and larger community. During my senior year of high school, we were given the opportunity to develop our own service-learning project; this strongly influenced my belief that problem-solving skills are a central pillar in student learning. When I was able to devise solutions to social issues that I felt passionate about, I was able to learn universally applicable problem-solving skills that have helped me become a critical and adaptable thinker and learner.  

When I started questioning my sexuality my senior year, my decision to become an educator began to develop. As a queer student, I was not provided with supportive faculty or educational resources, nor did I attend school in a supportive environment; as a student, my high school was devoid of LGBTQ+ visibility or representation. As a queer educator, I want to be able to provide this for my students; my primary career objective is to create a space in which all students are able to express themselves and be honest about their identities without fear or shame. Similarly, I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was in sixth grade, and this diagnosis allowed me to develop a deep appreciation for personal learning styles and strengths. My learning experiences following my diagnosis were significantly more positive because I was able to better appreciate my personal learning style. My ADHD diagnosis laid the foundation for a vehement belief that learning experiences are as diverse as learners themselves. I can only help students succeed when I encourage them to be themselves and to be honest about their needs, interests, and goals. My appreciation for learner individuality was further developed during my time in community college, during which I worked as a peer tutor for writing, Spanish, and child development. Through tutoring, I found that I have both a passion and a talent for helping students develop confidence in themselves as writers and as learners. As a tutor, I discovered that I didn’t have a passion for relaying information or providing ideas, but for helping people discover ways to find that information, and develop those ideas, for themselves. 

As I have been completing my field experiences and student teaching, I have continued to find that I want to teach because I want to help adolescents understand the legitimacy of their own learning styles and the importance of pursuing their own goals and interests. I think that students are often taught success has a very limited definition, and this impedes their ability to develop a positive self-concept. I want to teach because I want to disrupt this thinking; I want to show students that there is no “universal” success. Instead, I want to help them recognize and nurture their own unique talents and abilities to be successful in the way that makes them happiest and most fulfilled.