This is Why I Teach - A Response to Nancie Atwell

Thank you Dan Brown for responding to Nancie Atwell’s recent advice for students considering going into teaching to look to the private sector instead. 

http://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2015/03/26/global_teacher_prize_winner_is_dead_wrong_1178.html

The reasons that I went into teaching almost thirty years ago haven’t changed. When I wrote my educational philosophy as an undergraduate, I explained that I love learning and that I hope I can instill the love of learning in my students. This is why I teach. If I have helped one student love learning and see the possibilities in themselves then I have been successful, and over my career, I have been able to touch many children.

Curriculums have changed. Instructional methods have changed. Standardized tests have changed. Families have changed. Kids have changed, and I have changed. But my love of learning has not changed. That is what energizes me every day. I can make the difference in the life of a child.

For students considering teaching as a career, I give this advice. If you think teaching is easy or that you’ll have a 9 to 5 job with summers off, it may not be the best job opportunity for you. The pay is okay. The stress level is high, and the job comes home with you every night. But if you are sincere in your desire to be the change in a child’s life on a daily basis, I can’t think of a better job.