Why am I teacher?

Why did I become a teacher?  According to Wikipedia, ‘a teacher (also called a school teacher or, in some contexts, an educator) is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or values.’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher  And the definition of teacher according to the Merrian-Webster Dictionary is ‘one that teaches; especially : one whose occupation is to instruct.’ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/teacher  While further down this same page, the definition of teacher was stated as ‘a person who passes on information or skill’.

My definition of ‘teacher’ begins the same as the last definition above, ‘a person who passes on information or skill.’  Within this simple definition I add pieces that vary for different teaching positions.  I believe that a teacher is a person who has chosen to spend their time giving another person (student) information, skill, or technique, in which they have perfected or experienced first, in order to allow the student to become the best person they can be in every moment of their life.  Information, skill, and/or technique are defined based on the situation of the teacher/student and include but not limited to school teacher/student; parent/child; clergy/congregation; Guru/apprentice situations. Teaching is also not limited to being in a specific place in order to teach the information.  Teaching can occur in such places as a school, a church, a spiritual class, a home, or a dance studio, etc.  

I add time to my definition depending on the situation of the teacher/student scenarios and therefore it is defined differently in each case. Each teacher/student situation can have different time limits or no time limits at all.  School teachers, for example, only get 180 days a year to successfully pass their information onto their students before their students are moved to the next grade.  Whether or not they have successfully learned the information or skill is currently dependent on final grades at the conclusion of the school year.  So, for me, it is up to the individual teacher to determine how much time in that 180 day period they need to provide in order for their student(s) to learn what it is that they are teaching.  It is not about making sure a 42 minute lunch was taken or a 42 minute prep period was used wisely or that the teaching start and end on a bell. For me, it’s about using the time you have to make a difference in that student’s life.  The parent/child scenario, like the school teacher/student scenario has a limited time to pass on to their child the information or skill they are experts in.  While it feels like forever, 365 days a year, for possibly 18+ years can go by very quickly.  So making the most of those years can be very satisfying when the child graduates from high school, then college, then maybe a post graduate college and finally landing a job.  And then you look back and smile because your efforts (time) in teaching them are rewarded.  Clergy don’t just get an hour on the weekend to teach the congregation the teachings of their Holy books.  They provide teachings every day, every week, every year.  So for them the time frame would solely be dependent on the congregation.  The Guru keeps teaching, knowing that when the apprentice makes decisions in their life based on the well-being of others, they will in turn become a Guru themselves and begin the teaching process over with another student, and so on goes the teachings of a Guru, limitless time.

My definition of teacher isn’t for the faint of heart or the person who only took a teaching profession for the ‘time-off’ they get throughout the year.  It isn’t for the person who only works within the confines of a ‘contract’. Or for the person who feels this was the only profession they had a choice to make.  My definition is an inner voice that has always wanted to share their wisdom, knowledge and/or skill with another person so they can be the best person they can be.  Early on in life, I ‘taught’ my friends to play the piano, how to braid hair, how to perm their own hair, how to color their hair.  I ‘taught’ new cheerleaders the chants and dances for the games.  I ‘taught’ campers to be good citizens during 4-H camp.  I ‘taught’ a group of girl scouts how to wrap a package perfect for a badge.  I seemed to always be the one they came to, to learn what I was already doing.  And so I ‘taught’ them all.  Without thinking, I was teaching, even back then.

My Dad was a middle school teacher, an industrial arts teacher, and a Head High School Football Coach.  He was dictatorial in his teachings, black and white, no grey areas when it came to education or football.  Being educated in the 70’s and my Dad being an industrial arts teacher, I remember my teachers telling me that my Dad made their wooden paddles that hung on the wall, some solid, some with holes, some long, some short and some wide or thin.  The ‘fear’ of the paddle being used was my deterrent to never cross the proverbial line of good and bad.  I witnessed others who crossed that line and wondered if there wasn’t a different way. I also knew in that moment, I didn’t want to ever be ‘classroom teacher’; someone who I perceived had to discipline a large number of unruly students at once.  For me, in middle school, that was unimaginable.

It was also in middle-school that we were given the opportunity to have two days on which the last period of the day was a choice period.  I took sign-language every time I could.  I was in awe of the possibilities of opening the world of language to those who couldn’t hear it.  Signing was beautiful and I wanted to teach others how to sign when I got older.  Within my middle school years, I also experienced a situation where two boys ‘taught’ a special-needs student how to go up to girls and push them in the chest while at the same time squeezing their boobs.  I remember grabbing this student’s wrists and telling him, “No!  Who told you to do that?”  He of course was laughing, thinking it was funny.  I told him it was wrong and to never do it again.  I felt so bad for Freddy, as he was a victim of Barry and Mike, and it was in that moment I knew I would somehow teach special needs students to know right from wrong so they would never be persuaded to do awful things like Freddy did.  Now I had two ‘careers’ I wanted to pursue, sign-language and special needs students.  

In high school we took an occupation test.  Answering questions about your likes, dislikes and skill sets that would compute into the best occupations that suited the answers provided.  My occupations came out to be; teacher, actor, writer and others in the fine arts category.  I liked acting; I don’t mind writing; but I did not want to be a ‘school-teacher’.  I did not want to follow my dad’s profession, nor did I want to handle a classroom full of students who didn’t want to be there, nor did I want the salary.  We weren’t poor, we were just not as well off as the girls I was hanging out with.  On career day booths were set up in the gym with a variety of people who talked about their occupations.  Instead of gym that day, we walked around the booths and talked to those we were interested in.  And that’s where I found the Speech-Language Pathology table.  I saw a sign-language book on the table as well as brochures for special education schools and hospital clinics.  The salary for this profession was something I thought was great and they were not school teachers.  I knew at that moment I would become a Speech-Language Pathologist. I researched colleges, sent my applications in and went to East Stroudsburg University.  My first two years at ESU, I had to observe speech therapy in the hospital setting, the private, special education school setting, a private practice setting and the public school setting.  While I liked the one-on-one teachings of the hospital, special education school and the private practice settings I was intrigued the most by the public school setting.  I would be specialized within the school and only have one to three students at a time.   My students would be across grade levels and change every half hour.  I could make a difference with special needs students and at that time of my life, not be a ‘school teacher’ like my dad.  The weekends, holidays, possible snow days and summers off were also amazing perks that pushed me into the school-based speech language correctionist degree program.  

My Dad and I had many discussions on why I thought I wasn’t going to be a ‘teacher’ but a ‘specialist’ within the school setting.  He taught me my first definition of being a teacher.  He said, “Regardless of where your desk is or how many students you have at one time, you still only get 180 days every year, to make a difference in those students’ lives and to teach them all you need to in order for them to become the best they can be for that year.  Teaching them how to be decent human beings on top of the skills you are required to teach them every year is the same goal within the school system whether you are a classroom teacher, a speech therapist, a school nurse, a cafeteria worker or the custodian.  Each and every person in the school must ‘teach’ and are ‘teachers’ for those students.”

My first job was in West Milford Middle School.  My caseload was predominantly special-needs, self-contained students, with Down's syndrome, mild autism, and cognitively delayed classifications.  I had a few articulation students, some general language students, no stutterers, no voice disorders and sadly, no deaf students.  I LOVED my job!!!  I loved coming to school everyday, I loved making a difference, I loved seeing different students every half hour, I loved my paycheck, I loved being done while it was still daylight (my mom was a nurse and so her hours were long and lasted all year, a few weekends and occasionally an on-call holiday) and I loved snow days, weekends off and of course the summer off.  But most of all, I loved working with students.  

My second job in Totowa was different.  They did not have a special-needs class like West Milford did.  I had more articulation students, resource language students, one stutterer, ESL students and one voice disordered student.  Another difference was my school responsibilities.  In West Milford, I showed up, worked with my students, left for the day, repeat.  In Totowa, I had two schools, elementary and middle school which I had to travel between, I was a member of the Child Study Team, which met weekly to discuss students, I was given ‘teacher’ duties for morning, lunch or closing supervision and I now had to see my middle school students 42 minutes each instead of 30. I still loved it, I loved helping students become better at something than they were previously.  I also enjoyed teaching the rules for social skills on my duties to students who were not on my caseload.  This experience was also a student experience for me, I was being taught the ins and outs of the CST, I was learning how to write IEP’s and being involved in my students’ lives beyond the school day.  I became a student again within my role as a speech language specialist.  It was a great experience.  I also learned at this time that I was better with elementary students than I was with secondary students.

My third and current job landed me in Wharton.  Very similar duties as Totowa so the transition was easy.  Additionally in Wharton, I was given language classes for the self-contained classrooms, and the kindergarten classrooms. UH OH!!!!! I never wanted to be a classroom teacher, and now here I was in a classroom teaching 8 - 17 students for 42 minutes.  What I thought I never wanted, was now a daily occurrence for me.  One language class a day and I loved it!!!  My students were like sponges, they soaked up all the vocabulary I could provide them.  I really had no discipline difficulties with them.  Either the teacher handled the student misbehaving, or I was consistent in my discipline so other students didn’t do the same behavior or it was just a different time, different students, different behaviors.  I made peace with my aversion of being a ‘classroom teacher’ and embraced just being a person who passes on information and skill to another person.   Language classes have since been removed from my workload.

After I got married and started having children (students) of my own. A whole new definition of ‘teacher’ came forward for me.  By now, discipline was a BIG topic of discussion in society.  More people had access to news, and more stories were being revealed on the disciplinary abuse of some teachers, parents, and bosses.  Society was only providing these extreme cases of abuse.  They weren’t portraying the good discipline stories, the behavioral management stories or the cause/effect discipline stories, only the abusive ones.  Here I was, a new parent trying to navigate through the discipline arena between my own personal parent/child experiences of discipline growing up, the school teacher/student discipline and what I wanted for my own children, all the while under the microscope of society.  In another discussion between my Dad and I he said, “There are great teachers and there are great parents, they are either a great teacher and a lousy parent or they are a great parent and a lousy teacher; rarely are they great in both.”  I wanted to be great in both.  Teaching 180 days to a group of 50+ students a year while teaching 365 days to 3 children for 18+ years, being the same teacher in both, is both rewarding and tiresome at the same time.  I believe I make a difference with my students every year, helping to overcome their stuttering, improving their language skills, correcting their articulation and in others increasing their social skills.  I believe I make a difference with my own children every day helping them choose between right and wrong, how to speak their truths, believe in themselves, and reach their own personal goals.  As of today, I am confident that I have been great in both.

I began my spiritual journey around middle school.  I remember listening to the homilies in church and the stories in CCD and thinking..."this can't be right!"  I have always been fascinated with fortune tellers; psychics; gypsies; astronomy; horoscopes, etc.  I came across an Angel class around 1997, being held in West Milford at their night school and my friend and I sent our money in to attend.  This class turned out to be the first of many, many classes on my spiritual journey.  My teacher, Ida Diaz,  was so enlightened!!!  She emanated love and light from the first time she smiled at us.  I have taken every course Ida has offered and so proud to be a descendent Reiki Master from her Reiki Master Line.  I passed my 13th level Light Therapy class around 2015.  And now, I could 'teach' others how to walk along their life's paths as well...

Looking back over my life, I have also passed on my knowledge of computers to others.  I ‘taught’ children how to swim.  I ‘taught’ my children how to drive a car.  I’ve ‘taught’ my daughter how to knit.  I ‘taught’ my niece and nephew how to bake cookies and I’ve taught two students with dyslexia how to read.  I further ‘teach’ others how to be one with themselves in perfect harmony, along their spiritual quest.  It appears as if I have always been a ‘teacher’ in some capacity throughout my life.  Passing my knowledge, information, skill and/or technique onto others is a deep connecting passion for me.

Why did I become a teacher? Did I choose to become a teacher or was I destined to become a teacher?  My truth, as I know it today, is that, I AM a teacher.  Teacher is my soul’s occupation. I teach beyond the school/student scenario.  Even when I retire from the school teaching occupation, I know I will still be teaching. I embrace it, enjoy it and look forward to doing it.  May my teachings always benefit others!!