Growing Up as a Teacher's Daughter by Kennedy

Growing Up as a Teacher's Daughter by Kennedy - November 2020 Scholarship Essay

Growing up, I spent a significant amount of time in a classroom. I know that sounds obvious, but I spent more time in classrooms than most people my age. My mother was a teacher, so after school I would always be helping her by making copies or doing random tasks that she claimed would be helpful. I never knew if it was because she genuinely enjoyed having me help or if it was simply because nobody else was available to pick me up from school. My dad was usually traveling and because my parents were no longer together, my time with him usually had to be scheduled. So, whenever I was supposed to be with my mom, we would do work in her classroom together. Regardless of the reasoning, I enjoyed getting a behind the scenes look at what it was like being a teacher.
I got to see how the teachers interacted with each other and how they would collaborate to form lesson plans that would make the content of the lesson clear. I got to see how different teachers spent different amounts of time in their classrooms and how different teachers were far more passionate about their jobs than some of their coworkers. I even got to see the way that the principal treated his staff, which I have come to learn that principals in real life are far different than they way they are portrayed in movies. But what stood out to me more than anything else was that regardless of the grade level, all teachers put so much effort into making sure that their students are getting the education that they deserve.
I may be biased as I am the daughter of a teacher, but this observation has followed me through my entire education. All throughout high school I payed attention to the books that we were asked to read and appreciate all of the activities that the teachers put together to make the content interesting. I worked hard on every assignment that was given to me because I knew that the teachers spent time and put effort into choosing that specific assignment because they felt that it would benefit my education.
Without teachers, education would be nothing. There would be nobody to teach us, nobody to answer questions, and nobody to decide what the best way to present information is. For this reason, I would say that having passionate teachers would be the thing that I am most thankful for in my education.