The Goals of a Prospective Teacher by Marcus

The Goals of a Prospective Teacher by Marcus - February 2019 Scholarship Essay

Ever since I was in the fourth or fifth grade, I have wanted to become a history teacher. My love of history and education has grown over the years as a result of the history books I read daily and the great history classes I have taken. I have admired my history teachers and have longed to follow in their paths. Being a teacher is truly my dream as I sometimes dream at night about how I would run my classes. However, to make my dreams come true, I must first go through college. My college goals are meant to facilitate and ensure that I am qualified to become a teacher. These college goals include majoring in history, going to school in South Carolina, and committing to internships for prospective teachers.

First, I have the goal of majoring in history. Although I have taken several great history classes in high school, I can not wait to enjoy the freedom and variety I will have in college. I have looked up the lists of courses in the History Departments of all the colleges I have in mind and already see many that I would definitely take. By majoring in history, I will gain the knowledge and critical thinking skills that I would need to adequately analyze and teach history. Several of the teachers I have had only had to major in history to get their job, so this would be another step toward my career goal as well. Therefore, majoring in history would not only be fun for me, but it would also provide me with the knowledge and a little bit of the qualification to become a history teacher.

Next, I have the goal of going to college in my home state of South Carolina. There are several reasons for this. One reason is that tuition tends to be greater for out of state students than for in-state students. This means that instead of paying a few thousand more for college by going to school in North Carolina, New York, or Illinois, I can pay less by staying in my home state. Another reason is that there are several scholarships available in my home state, particularly some teaching ones, which will cover most if not all of my tuition for college as long as I stay in state and agree to teach for a few years. This means I would be able to pay less for college by agreeing to do something I already intend to do. A third reason is that the state of education in my home state is really bad. I would like to stay and help improve it. Since I would have the chance to have less student debt in the future and help support a failing education system, I plan to go to college in my home state.

Then, I have the goal of committing to internships for prospective teachers while in college. Although I regret not being able to take teacher preparatory classes like Teacher Cadet in high school, college offers me several opportunities to get real experience inside of a classroom. I have had many different student teachers in my classes throughout my years in school. They have ranged from okay to really great. I hope that when I am in college and am able to do things like this, I can learn from their weaknesses and their strengths. Also, I hope to get paired up with a great teacher who can pass down their wisdom and advice to me. Furthermore, I hope that I will get used to being in front of an audience of students as I am kind of a shy, awkward person. The only bad thing I can think of for me participating in internships is that I would have less time to study for my classes and less time for other activities which can provide me with some relief from the stress of college. Although it can cause me to have less time to myself, the benefits of a teacher internship such as gaining valuable experience for the future are too great to pass up.

In six years or so from now, I plan to be inside a classroom I can call my own with students listening to me lecturing about some historical topic with several papers to grade once I get home. However, to get to that point, I will have to follow through on my goals for college. These include taking history classes to gain the knowledge and skills to become a teacher, going to college in my home state in order to have less student debt to worry about and be able to take part in certain education scholarships, and participating in teacher internships to gain the experience needed to become a teacher. With these goals in mind, I will have to put a large amount of effort into the rest of my senior year and my years in college to accomplish my goals. I know I can become a great teacher one day. All I have to do is put my mind to it.