Module 11

Wow, this class has flown by! For my first question I chose "Are teachers born, or made?" Having been raised around a few teachers I have some insight on this. One of my family members became a teacher, got into her classroom and was not happy. She struggled the first few years and was not happy in her life. My mother told her that maybe teaching wasn't meant for her. My aunt was mad at first, but those turned out to be the best words she heard. She wanted to prove my mother wrong. Today she will tell you if you go into teaching because you 'can't think of anything else to do' then you will hate it. She told me that when I first mentioned becoming a teacher. I thought about it long and hard. My aunt was not born a teacher, but over the years she was made into one. I myself had her twice, in 4th grade and again in 7th. Her teaching methods have changed over the 20 years she has been teaching, and today she loves her job. It's evident in the students she's helped. She loves what she does now, and has grown into a wonderful teacher. To tie into another question, "How can teachers best tap into different student learning styles?" The same aunt read an article on it years ago, before there was much research on it. Since then the learning styles had her hooked. I remember in my 7th grade class she would read out loud, have students read, presentations, movies, posters, she went through everything and would note each students responses and what they learned best at. I didn't know at the time, but our class was a gunnie pig class for her. She loves using different techniques to help each learning style learn.

I want to say that some people, like Mrs. P, one of the teachers I interviewed, are born for teaching. I had her the first year she started to teach - and she was wonderful then. She had a knack for it from the start. So while most teachers are not born teachers, some are. It doesn't make one any better than the other.