Making Dreams Come True

Making Dreams Come True

“What do you want to be when you grow up,” asked the second grade teacher.

Little boys and girls raised their hands with enthusiasm and responded with, “ballerina,

football player, princess, race car driver” as the teacher wrote the dreams on the

board. One little girl in the middle of the room had different dreams: she said, “I want

to be a teacher when I grow up!” I was that little girl. When I was eight years old, I

realized what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to teach.

In Mrs. White’s second grade class I made a discovery. If my peers were having trouble with their work and Mrs. White was busy, I would help. The joy I experienced from helping others, especially my friends, was amazing. I felt very good about myself while I was helping and even better when the classmate received a good grade. I concluded that teaching was the job for me.

I believe that like my peers in second grade, all students want to learn. Some may rebel and act out, they may skip school a lot, but I feel that deep down they want to succeed just like the excellent students. Students want responsibility, work (yes, I said work), encouragement, support, and a mentor. The rebelling students try to deny themselves these values because of low self-esteem. They may believe they cannot succeed and therefore act as though they do not care. My job as a teacher will be to make all students want to learn and broaden their knowledge base.

Relative knowledge is the only true knowledge because it is dependent on the person and the environment. Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences show that knowledge is different for different people. There is no set guide for being a knowledgeable person and there should not be. I do agree with essentialists that in mastering the basic core subjects is very important, but that is not all a child needs to learn. The basics are a strong foundation for children to broaden knowledge to fit their interests.