Purposeful Teaching

Ask yourself, what is your motivation for teaching? Why do you think the profession is for you? What do you have to offer young people, and how would you impact their lives? Did you have a teacher who impacted your life? What do you want your legacy to be? Will that legacy be people-centered, or will it be about material gain and the accumulation of things? These questions are crucial and should be addressed if your heart is going to be in your teaching.


If your motivation is three months off in the summer, the profession is not for you. Those three months include preparation for the upcoming year and time to study and learn new teaching methods and/or strategies. If you think it will be easy or fun spending time with young people seven hours a day, the profession is not for you. Young people are challenging and require a great deal of patience. If you are not prepared to challenge and push young people to realize their fullest potential, this is not your profession. And if your patience with young people easily runs thin, this profession is not for you. They are just that-young people!