Understanding My Goal as a Teacher

Understanding My Goal as a Teacher

My curriculum class changed my view on life. It allowed me to realize

that my purpose in life is to be a teacher. My curriculum class

allowed me to discover my main goal in life as well as showing me how

difficult achieving that goal is.

It was not a class about spiral curriculum and lesson plan formats

that changed my view of life but rather the professor who lead me to

my own realizations about the world. Professor Federman, who ran my

class, showed me that everything in life is important and that in

order to teach well one must be devoted. Having taken this into

account I am going to attempt to understand my goal as a teacher, how

I will achieve that goal, and why I want to. I will use my experience

in Professor Federman's curriculum class, the book "Tea Life, Tea

Mind," and the movie "Kill Bill" to do so.

First, my goal as a teacher is: To make children actually WANT to

learn. In other words, I do not want to force children to learn, I

want to allow children to learn. I know that this goal sounds

idealized and romantic, and perhaps it is. I realize that I am young,

and because of that I am naïve but I am a helpless romantic and a

strong believer that children want to learn. The only thing keeping

children from learning is a poor education system. But if you wouldn't

mind I'd like to stick a pin in that and instead discuss the devotion

involved in being a teacher.

Devotion has almost become taboo in our time. To devote yourself

completely to something seems unfair. How can you as a person say that

you are willing to give up almost everything in order to do that one

thing?

Devoting yourself takes perseverance and a strong will. The book "Tea

Life, Tea Mind" discussed the devotion a Tea Master must have in order

to fully understand the Way of Tea. It is stated in the introduction