As a young teacher, I’m often met with a list of questions from others when I share my profession. The question that is asked the most is, “Why did you become a teacher?” The response I normally give is that I was born to teach; which I do believe to be true, but to be honest, the answer to this question is way more dynamic. The truth is that there are a myriad of key moments in my life that guided me on my journey to be an educator, stemming back into my childhood and continuing on into my early 20’s.

 

As with most things you learn, my first memories of teaching occurred with my family. I remembered being no more than 9 years old and hearing my mother getting frustrated with my younger brother as she was attempting to teach him something. No matter how much she tried to explain, he just didn’t get it. As her frustration increased, so did her voice and so did the cries of my brother. This cycle continued as I silently crept up the stairs to the second floor of our house, and as I locked eyes with my mother I said, “He will learn if you have patience.” The house instantly became quiet after I said those words; my mother went into her room, my brother silenced his cries and I returned downstairs. I didn’t understand the power of my words back then, but it’s something that resonated with my mother to this very day.

 

My next experience teaching happened a few years later when I was in middle school and my mother decided to go back to college to complete her degree. Everything was going well with her studies, with the exception of one math class. She was required to take a statistics course in order to graduate; and even though decades had past since her primary school days in Trinidad, the fear that she developed about math from her childhood still rung true as an adult.

 

One night she came home depressed and told me that she failed her first statistics exam; she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to graduate because of this class. I remembered her telling stories about her terrible math experience growing up in Trinidad, and even though I was only 12 years old at the time, I told her to bring home her math textbook and her notes from class so I could help her. Every night I would read her textbook and her notes and break down the material in a way that she understood. Her confidence in math increased and she eventually passed her next exam and ultimately the class. From that moment on, my mother told me that I should become a teacher, and I did what most pre-teens did, I didn’t listen.

 

All of my memories teaching beyond that point happened by me teaching myself and my peers. As a high school student, I remember hating being in class; not because I didn’t enjoy learning but because I didn’t enjoy how I was being taught. I frequently came to school late or selectively avoided going to the classes taught by teachers I didn’t like. Most of my classes were maxed out with 34 students, and I didn’t feel that I would be missed if I didn’t show up. Due to my obvious disinterest, most of my classmates thought I received failing grades, but little did they know I spent many hours at home teaching myself; I read through textbooks, created my own notes and compared my notes with the notes of my friends and lazily maintained a B+/A- GPA throughout high school. Although I wasn’t in class everyday, my friends heavily relied on me to help them with math. They frequently got frustrated that their teacher couldn’t explain math how I explained it.

 

When I was in the 10th grade, I had a friend who was failing math in the 11th grade. I offered to tutor him since we had the same teacher; and even though he was extremely reluctant to accept my offer, he eventually agreed. He ended up getting a 98 on his next exam. When I walked into my class the following day, the teacher pulled me aside and asked if I was helping him. I shrugged my shoulders and said “Yea.” She replied with a smile, “You did a really good job with him, you should consider being a teacher.” I gave her a simple no as my answer, and went to my seat.

 

I did everything in my power to go against finding a career in education even though the universe kept pulling me towards the profession. As a senior in high school, I got numerous full ride scholarships to pursue a degree in math education, which I readily tossed aside. At that time I had reignited my passion for music and ended up going to college to major in music. I felt that by choosing this major, I would end up showing everyone that I could be in charge of my own destiny and I didn’t need to become a math teacher. Even though I felt I was beginning to take control of my own destiny, the pull of the universe was still stronger and I ended up teaching the steel drums part time to kids when I turned 18.

 

Over the next few years, I received countless of compliments from onlookers about the good work I was doing with the kids. These compliments landed on deaf ears. I honestly didn’t feel that I was making that big of a difference with the lives of these kids. I felt this way until the summer of 2012, when I was 23. I was standing outside talking to a friend when I saw someone who I hadn’t taught since I was 18; we both waved hello and she went inside to play around on the steel drums. As I continued talking to my friend outside, I kept hearing music that I hadn’t heard since I was 18; it was one of the first songs I arranged and taught. I kept asking myself, “Who is playing that?” I went inside and saw my former student playing this song, note for note, like I just taught it to her. I stood there in shock and I said to her, “You still remember that?” and she responded, ” Yea, I never forgot it.” as she continued playing.

 

That single moment that confirmed, for me, that I needed to become a teacher. I never thought that my presence in someones life actually mattered, or that someone could remember something that I showed them years down the line. That moment was humbling and empowering at the same time; I realized that my mother and my teacher were right and I needed to pursue a career in education. I ended up completing my Bachelors in Mathematics in 2013, then went on to receive my Masters in Secondary Math Education in 2014 and I have been loving my career choice ever since.

When did you realize that you should become a teacher? Let me know in the comments.