Why Do I Teach?

I was asked this question as part of the Adventurous Teaching Academy challenge I am participating in this year. I immediately came up with this sentence: I teach because I love reading and writing and I want to share that love with my students. I feel like it's kind of cheesy, but really those are my favorite parts of teaching- introducing students to books I know they're going to love, talking about books and reading with my kids of all reading abilities/loves, and getting kids excited about writing through silly activities or fun ones like NaNoWriMo.

Even though it is kind of cheesy, that is the reason why I teach. And, unfortunately, I feel like I forget my reason a lot of the time. I get caught up with trying to learn a new curriculum (like this year) or trying something new that is harder than I thought, or simply focusing too much on curriculum and standards. Those things are important, and I believe I grew a lot as a teacher last year (Especially in terms of what just doesn't work with my babies! lol) but I moved away from independent reading and sharing books & reading with my kiddos. Part of that was learning a new curriculum and figuring out a new school and a new grade, and part of that was seeing how other teachers in the building ran their classrooms, and part of that was me thinking it was "too hard" to fit it in. But honestly, I missed it. I missed all of my book talks and students actually checking out books from my classroom library, and seeing my students fall in love with books.

So this year, I'm determined to go back to that. I'm reworking our curriculum to meet the needs of my students. I'm making sure to carve out time for independent reading. I'm planning on book talks and sharing what I'm reading (plus actually reading during the school year, which I drifted away from the last few years) and so much more!

I really think that if I truly focus on fostering a love of reading and writing in my classroom, the other things will fall into place. It's a lot more fun to discuss theme or characters or narrative writing if students are engaged or tying it to books they love. I've re-found my purpose as a teacher and I am SO excited!


So why do you teach?