Teaching+Motivations

= Teaching Motivations = = = Amber is purple  Luke is **__BLUE__**  Nicole is PINK Mathew is GREEN

WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION TO BECOME A TEACHER AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES A GREAT TEACHER?

 My inspiration to become a teacher is my mother. For the majority of her career she has been a Primary School teacher who is dedicated and extremely enthusiastic in the profession. I have seen her career grow and marvelled at how much effort she has put into her work, as well as proud of the further education she has completed. That is the teacher I want to be!! I think the key to being a great teacher is passion. If you have passion you want to do your very best, you want to be there helping in any way you can. It will help you be creative in finding solutions to teaching. - Nicole  When I first graduated I struggled with a deep feeling within me with regards to work and working life. I knew that I could not just do any job. It had to be something that I believed in with all my heart and it had to be something that contributed POSTIVELY to society. I could not work for some company as a cog in part of a money making, environmentally plundering, people exploiting machine. I had to be able to believe in what I was doing... It took me a while to understand that it was teaching that I was destined for, so consumed was my imagination by my one big dream - world travel! Throughout my travels I had the privelage of teaching English to local people in the places that I landed and it was through working with children during this time that I started to understand that this was something that I really wanted to do. When I worked with children I enjoyed my working days. I was never bored. I believed in the kids and never grew tired of their questions or jaded by their continual achievements and learning. TEACHING is something that I believe in and because of this I put my heart, soul and energy into my class, their learning and well being and their dreaming.

A good teacher is one who is firm, fair and fun. A good teacher is consistent, caring and child centred within their classroom. A good teacher makes all children feel safe enough to take risks within their own learning. A good teacher opens their minds and encourages children to dream up their future, then inspires them to learn to get there. - Mathew  As a young child I always wanted to be a doctor. If anyone ever asked me what I was going to be when I grew up, my answer was always a doctor. I never doubted it or thought any more about it, it was simple; I wanted to save peoples lives. As Mathew said, I wanted to do something in life that mattered. I couldn't bare working somewhere where I didn't make a difference to the world, so my answer to that was to be a doctor. I did work experience at a hospital and just loved it. I loved visiting relatives who had babies, I loved seeing the babies and looking at everything the doctors did. It wasn't until I reached highschool that I started realising that anyone couldn't just be anything they wanted to be, you needed certain subjects, marks etc. It was now that I also realised how high I had set my goal at becoming a doctor. That you needed a phenomal enter score, that is was many, many years of studying and extremly costly. I quickly figured out that whilst I was intelligent, there was no way I had the makings of a doctor. So as I travelled through high school, I knew that I still loved learning about the human body and medicine and psychology, so upon finishing, I had decided to try and be what I saw as the next best thing to a doctor: a nurse. I also loved maths, and it was in the back of my head that a career in finance might be enjoyable too, so I applied for many uni courses as backups, but was accepted into a Bachelor of Nursing/Psychology at Deakin. My Aunty, who is a nurse kept trying to talk me out of it, but I really wanted to give it a go. So I did. I did one full year of the double degree and I knew that nursing wasn't for me. I loved many aspects of it; I loved patient care - helping them feel better and talking to them. I did 2 weeks practical at a palliative care facility and it really opened my eyes. These people were all dying, but were completely at peace with it, so it was a really rewarding experience. We helped them die as comfortably as possible in a peaceful and dignified manner. I got so much out of it. But as I said, I knew that nursing wasn't for me; the shift work, always being told what to do by doctors, and from what I saw, the nurses seemed to know just as much as the doctors, but were allowed no initiative and were paid a very small percentage of what the doctors were. And I really felt that a university degree wasn't necessary to be a nurse. I learnt more from the three weeks placements I did, then the whole year at uni. I didn't like the thought of another 3 years of being taught things that only really stuck with you once you saw it on a patient. So I dropped the nursing half of my degree. I continued with Psych because I found it very interesting, but I knew I didn't want to be a psychologist. I started getting really frustrated; I always knew what I didn't want to be, I just couldn't figure out what I DID want to be! I really envied those people who always knew what they wanted and had a way of getting there. So as I entered second semester of my third year, I was really stressing out with what I was going to do by way of career. Another Aunty came to me with a great suggestion; her close friend owned a business and was looking at expanding and taking on another admin assisstant. It was a mortgage broking business, and I had always liked maths and numbers, so I saw it as a great opportunity and began right away. As soon as uni finished, I became full time and really enjoyed it. It was this point in my life that I began thinking about teaching. Two of my best friends were studying it, and I loved hearing their stories... it was in the back my mind all the time - Did I want to be a teacher? I constantly weighed up the pros and cons between becoming a broker and becoming a teacher. The next year - so my first year out of uni, I travelled around Europe with my boyfriend, hoping that seeing the world would help me get a better understanding of what I wanted. It didn't. I spent the day with my friends Mum who was a primary school teacher in her class and though I enjoyed it, it still didn't help me decide. It seemed like a really tough job! I think I always knew teaching would win, but there were so many perks to broking and I was really comfortable in my position and had such a great opportunity; I didn't want to pass it up. I saw the other brokers and how they loved their jobs and driving all over the place meeting new clients and raking in the cash, but I knew it wouldn't be me. Commission based work, working nights, targets to meet. Again, I knew it wasn't for me. So after I got back from my trip, I applied for the dip ed. I realised that this was the last year it was only going to be a one year course and knew I had to go for it. This year, my best friend began her first year as a primary teacher and it was getting me excited. So when I found out I had been accepted into La Trobe, I was thrilled. It's been great hearing what it's like from my best friend, and makes me feel better having someone to lean on. It was really daunting beginning at a new uni, travelling to an area I had never been before and I'm still terrified that this time next year (providing I get a job!) I will have my very own class to teach!!!! I'm so scared!!!! But I plan to work really hard this year and be very prepared for whatever next year throws at me!

Whoa I wrote a lot. It felt really good to get that out though- sorry guys!!!



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==<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those are fantastic answers guys. I think this course is fantastic because everyone in it is that little bit older and more mature compared to coming to University straight out of year 12. Tthat means everyone wants to be here. It is great to read your differing motivations because it inspires me too as I am excited to be a part of the Primary Education faculty. I hope when we do graduate we are surrounded by other collegues who are also as passionate as you three! ==

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==<span style="color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: Times New Roman;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason I am so interested in working in Primary Education is that I feel by completing this course and working in the field of Primary Education not only best suits my personality style but matches very well with my character traits, tertiary qualifications and interests. Working with children has always been a passion of mine from when I was given my first baby-sitting job when I was of a young age. I completed a Bachelor of Psychology in 2006 with the intention of focusing my further studies on working with children and adolescents. I have lot of experience working with children including working in a crèche facility with children ranging from 8 weeks to school age, and extra work with school age children. Throughout this work I have grown to really appreciate the mind of a child and develop an understanding of how important it is to have a positive role model in their life. The most influential people in my life have always been the ones early in my life who gave me the confidence to believe in myself. In the early years of my life I was known to be quite a naughty boy. I was given a lot of support during these vital early learning years which has led me to be a very outgoing and confident human being. I relate a lot of who I am today not only to my family but also my teachers who facilitated this growth. I would love the opportunity to be able to be a positive role model in a young person's life. I truly believe that with the compassion and care that was given to me at a young age I can pass on this to other children. I believe there takes a lot to be a good teacher. The main factors in my mind is having the passion and belief that a teacher can make a difference. If you believe in the job and can understand how important a teacher is, especially to the primary age that is a good start. Obviously there are discipline and curriculum standards that must be adhered to but as long as the teacher is excited about teaching and excited to see children learning and growing that makes a good teacher. ==