With the summer holidays right around the corner, are you starting to wonder ‘why am I a teacher?’. Teachers are put under mountains of pressure each year to make sure students get the results they want. So, we’ve put together this quick read to hopefully remind you why it is such a rewarding job and maybe, just maybe, remind you why you might have joined the profession in the first place!
🚸 You make an impact on children’s lives.
Arguably, this is the first and most important reward. You as a teacher, get to see the impact and difference you have made to someone else’s life. You have the ability to change someone’s perspective on a certain topic and transform them from refusing to read, to constantly asking you for the next recommendation. As a teacher, you can also be the person for students to open up with and discuss any issues they might be facing, and with any advice, you give them you might just change their lives. Something they’re likely to remember you forever for. (I know there are some teachers I’ll never forget.)
💥 You get to ignite the ‘spark’
Are some of the most common words spoken in your class; ‘I don’t get it’, ‘It’s too difficult’, ‘There’s no point, I’m going to fail anyway’? These are remarks often made by students when struggling with different topics, but once they’ve been given support by you and they start to see their potential, the words will finally change to ‘I understand it’, followed by ‘I’m proud of myself’ and you gain the reward of knowing you made a lasting difference in their life!
🧡 You’re surrounded with love
Especially if you’re a teacher of younger years, it’s rewarding to go to school and feel the appreciation of students. It could just be a student giving you a drawing they’ve done during free time or simply taking the time and effort to speak to you. These little things can be the action needed to put a smile upon your face, especially during a stressful or busy day.
🎉 You get to celebrate milestones
All throughout the school year milestones will be happening, and you get to be the person to celebrate with the student each time. These milestones could be anything from; a birthday, watching a student who’s been struggling with their spellings getting full marks on the weekly test or seeing an older student go from achieving low grades to getting themselves A’s. You get to be the person to see these achievements happen, and can feel proud of yourself for being part of the process.
🤣 You get to laugh all day long (most of the time anyway)
Have you watched the series of the secret life of 4/5/6 year olds? If you have, you most likely agree that kids are hilarious and a lot of the time it’s without even trying! So as a teacher you get the joy of their imagination every single day! Laughter is known as the best medicine and hearing all your class erupt in laughter may be the thing you need to hear to brighten up your day (as long as it’s not when you need them to be serious or quiet).
😊 You get to create your work environment
As a teacher, you can be the one to decide the atmosphere within your classroom, are students going to come in and feel positive and active? You spend 5 days a week in your classroom, and it’s yours to make the most out of it by creating a happy working environment that your students look forward to walking into.
🎓 You get to inspire others
Students (whether you have meant to or not) are often inspired by teachers but it’s not just students, teachers are often inspired by each other as well. You can be the one to inspire others to work hard, whether its students achieving their best grades or colleagues to do a new teaching exercise/technique with their class, you have the ability to make a difference to those nearest to you.
🎨 You get to feed your inner creativity
Getting students to engage in topics, especially those that are a bit harder can be a difficult task, so as a teacher you’ve got to be creative to find the best ways to help students learn and enjoy their lessons. You can produce creative displays to put on your classroom walls, or appealing resources for students to use, you can use your creativity every day to help make education and school exciting for students.
💭 You get to create lasting memories to cherish forever.
Every school year, you’ll be getting to meet new students and meet new personalities with more exciting stories to tell. With the positive atmosphere, you can create in your classroom, you can help to create new memories through learning and every day something new is bound to happen. Students will always have a new story to tell or do something unexpected, and it’s these moments that will stick with you forever.
👨🏫 You get to teach.
All through the stress that happens every year, with exams and general increasing pressure, you’ve got to remember that you get to teach and have one of the most important jobs possible. You teach students to read and write, how to handle different situations and be the one to prepare them for their future. You may be the teacher who helps them get their overall end grades and even help them gain their place at university. By simply being a teacher and seeing the difference you make to students lives, which arguably is the biggest reward.
🔮 You help shape the future!
As a teacher, you’re the first step to shaping future generations! You pass on your knowledge and wisdom to the next generation of doctors, teachers, firefighters, scientists etc. Not only are you affecting that student’s life but potentially the lives of millions of people down the line. You never know what your students might become in the future, but you do know you help to get them there.
