Up until I was a senior in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. A couple of professions had crossed my mind, but being a teacher never did. However, during my senior year in high school, I had an experience with my second grade teacher, Ms. Doyle,that made me want to teach for the rest of my life.
As I look back, I realize that I had developed a relationship with Ms. Doyle that led to many experiences and memories in her second grade classroom. There was a never a day that I did not want to go to school because Ms. Doyle’s class was so much fun. Whether it was reading, math, science, social studies, or spelling, Ms. Doyle always knew how to make learning fun. Walking into her room made me happy, since everybody felt welcome there. For once, I started looking forward to going to school everyday and the work that we did in class never bothered me. I always tried very hard on every test or homework assignment because I wanted Ms. Doyle to be proud of me. As I got older and went to middle school and then high school, the memories of my second grade class never left me.
Ten years later, I returned to Ms. Doyle’s classroom for my senior project. Since I was so inspired by the way Ms. Doyle affected her students and how she was able to make even adding and subtracting fun, I decided it was worth a shot to see if I would be interested in teaching. In order to figure that out, I decided to be a student teacher in her class. As a student teacher, I was able to spend time with her second grade students, who like myself, were filled with high energy. Like I had mentioned before, I still was not sure if teaching was for me. However, one day during Ms. Doyle’s math lesson, I realized that I wanted to teach. There was this one student, Billy, who had been struggling with his subtraction for awhile. Every day after school, she would stay with him and help him. Eventually, all the additional practice after school paid off. After a quick brief lesson, the students received their tests from the day before. The look that was suddenly painted on Billy’s face when he got his test back is one I will never forget. His smile lit up his entire face because he was so excited. He had finally gotten a 100% on a math test! Not only that, but he had gotten the highest grade in the class. Never before had this happened to him. Seeing how happy Billy got over just one grade made me realize what an impact Ms. Doyle had on her students. Throughout the rest of the day, Billy could not wipe the smile off his face, and she had done this by staying after school and helping him. When I realized how much Ms. Doyle could affect the happiness of her students, I knew that I wanted to do the same thing to another student, one of my students.
Ms. Doyle’s guidance encouraged me to pursue my goals, just like she did to Billy and all her other students. Her effective teaching made me want to really give it my all to become an effective teacher who will make a difference in the lives of my students. The idea of having such a positive impact on a person excites me a lot. The smile on Billy’s face proved to me that teaching is such a rewarding experience, as Ms. Doyle explained to me. I will never forget the words that Ms. Doyle said to me that afternoon: “Some kids take longer than others to grasp certain concepts, but they all have the potential. It just needs extra pushing and encouragement, but at the end their potential shines through. That is what happened to Billy. I knew he was capable of learning and mastering subtracting.” I saw how much of a powerful effect she had on Billy’s life. If I can have that effect on at least one person’s life like Ms. Doyle had on me and Billy, I will have achieved a great goal of mine and I will feel a sense of fulfillment.
-- Allison Hoffman, American University