How To Be A Teacher by Jennifer

How To Be A Teacher by Jennifer - July 2015 Scholarship Essay

I can truthfully say that I haven’t always enjoyed every aspect of school. There are some subjects, such as math and science, that just are not my forte, and to me, struggling in a subject is simply not fun. However, it is certainly possible for difficult subjects to be enjoyable. With the help of excellent teachers, I am able to better understand, and enjoy, those subjects that once posed a challenge for me.

The first semester of my junior was, to be honest, a disaster. I had always been an A-B student, but I suddenly found myself getting mostly B’s and even a C in math! I sought out the help of my teachers, and they took time to make sure I understood each lesson, even meeting with me before school to reinforce my understanding. With the help of my teachers, I was able to pull my grades up to all A’s and a B+ in my worst subject, math. It was this experience that confirmed my primary goal that I hope to accomplish in college: to become a teacher that is able to accommodate every student’s needs and to draw out the potential in each of my students.

I am hoping to become a Spanish teacher, and I hope college provides me with the preparation and experience I need to be able to educate my students as best as I can. Students often struggle while learning a foreign language. While I am lucky enough to be able to understand the rules of the language, I completely understand why learning another language can be challenging. In college, I hope to gain enough knowledge to give me the ability to help my students through these challenges in a way that they will be able to enjoy.

School shouldn’t be a chore. In high school, students are in the prime of their teenage years. We want to be spending time with friends and participate in sports and clubs, not stuck inside whittling away at a mountain of seemingly impossible homework. School should not be as big of a cause for stress as it is. Learning and retaining information should come easier than it does for some many of my peers. In college, I hope to learn ways to teach my students information necessary for success in my class using methods that are both easy to understand, remember, and utilize; and enjoyable. I want to make Spanish as easy and fun for my students as it has been for me.

In college, I hope to gain the skills I need to be a teacher who can make learning enjoyable, but also a teacher who can give my students that extra push in the right direction, should they need it.