During my childhood years, I have always contemplated becoming a teacher. Throughout grade school, I would coerce my friends into role playing activities so that I could write on a chalkboard. However, with each passing year, my desire to teach diminished as I saw the lack of passion embraced by the majority of my teachers. At the age of twelve, I thought that the hunger to teach is its crucial and central component. Yet, throughout my grade, middle, and highschool years, I was flabbergasted at the lack of emotion that teachers displayed toward their students.
It was the first day of my sophomore year in highschool, and it is with angst, that I approached the doors of my English class. As my friends and I reluctantly walked into our classroom, we saw our teacher handing out chocolate, while greeting and smiling to her obviously uneager students. As I sat down and listened to our English teacher asking about our summer reading, I observed the blank and annoyed facial expressions of my fellow classmates. The room suddenly became noisy as each student rumbled through their bags in an attempt to avoid eye contact with our teacher. Suddenly, all of the facial expressions transformed into stares of confusion as we witnessed our teacher burst into loud laughter. A student then raised her hand and asked: " Mrs. Prosel , What's so funny? ". Predicting that our teacher will angrily respond, we all ducked are heads in order to refrain from laughter, but to our surprise our teacher only became more hysterical in her laughter. Finally, she stopped and began to reminisce about her days as a highschool student, and her past attempts to avoid answering the infamous question about summer reading. I still remember the word that she used to describe the books that we were assigned to read as she called them "bogus". She began to explain to us why she had become an English teacher; a subject that many of us viewed as dull and intimidating. Then, she began to ask questions that many of our past teachers had never cared to ask such as: " What is your favorite book?; how do you like to express yourself ?; and how many of you own a diary?". A few minutes later, the classroom was unusually loud as each of us were fighting to capture the attention of our teacher. We each began to discuss our favorites poems and books in addition to our future aspiration and dreams. Some students even began to write down their ideas just so they wouldn't forget to tell the teacher once they got the chance. Mrs. Prosel was the first teacher who had allowed us to express our opinions and thoughts, compared to our other teachers who believed that as authority figures they were the only ones who were allowed such a luxury. That year the beginning of each English class was devoted to writing our thoughts, feelings, aspirations, and our critiques about Mrs.Prosel's teaching. She was also the first teacher to view each student as an individual, and to attempt establishing a connection with each student by expanding our minds and preparing us for the future.
If it was not for Mrs. Prosel, I would not have lost the desire to pursue a career in education. My connection with Mrs. Prosel opened my eyes to the impact that a teacher can have on her students. The students who were unable to stay awake in other classes, were consistently alert and eager during her class. She gave all of us the courage to believe in ourselves and in the power of writing and self expression. To this day, Mrs. Prosel and I share our feelings, aspirations , and future plans through writing.
-- Alaa AbuAli, American University