Chemistry All Day Everyday by Nathan

Chemistry All Day Everyday by Nathan - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

If I had the chance to switch my role from a student to become a teacher I would love to teach the subject of chemistry. Not only would I love to teach the subject, I would love to have the experience to teach in general. Having teachers that are passionate about the subject that they teach and get the kids to be engaged is a game changer in what young kids choose to study later in life. Teachers that not only teach but help the students understand the subject and make it interesting have students that will generally have more success in that class.
For example, I was very interested in anything that had to do with science all of middle school. The problem occurred during my freshman year of high school. I had a teacher that when she taught did not seem like she actually liked to teach. It felt like that teaching for her was just a job and not something that she was passionate about. She was just going through the motions of teaching and it was obvious. That class ended my passion of science, I was no longer interested in science and just felt like it was the most boring class that I have ever taken. It was dreadful to go to class everyday and force myself to pay attention. I thought that after taking that class that I would never like science ever again.
During junior year of high school i had a new found liking to science once again. A big part of it had to do with the teacher that I had and the combination of my interest in the subject as well. The subject was chemistry and my teacher came straight out of college and it was his first year teaching. The way he taught made chemistry interesting. During his lesson he would give us a power point but instead of writing all of the information down he would give us activities that were based off the information and not just note taking, The way he explained the lessons also kept us engaged. Instead of a monotone voice he would be enthusiastic with his voice and joke around every once and awhile. He made chemistry interesting, if all teachers were like that I believe that more students would want to be successful. Even if those students aren’t interested in that specific field of study they would still do well because the teacher makes the subject understandable and engaging.
The reason I am interested in chemistry is not only the teacher. He played a big part but I just love the subject. I love the cool experiments that you can do and the need for an answer to the question of why? Why are some chemicals dangerous when mixed together or why do certain elements dissolve in certain liquids? Its these questions that I want to know the reason behind and that is why I am so interested. I want other students to have these same questions and students that are always looking for the answer of why. If I could switch roles with the teacher that’s what I would want to do. I want to make sure that they are engaged and have that urge to want to be successful whether if they want to go into chemistry or not.

I want to be that type of teacher who has fun but makes sure that the students understand what is being taught. That’s how teaching should be, fun and engaging. That’s how I got interested in chemistry and that’s why I would want to teach it. If I could teach chemistry the same way that my chemistry taught me, maybe more students would be interested in it as well. That would be one of my goals as a teacher which is to make the class engaged whether or not they are interested in the subject.