Why Become a Teacher?

I’ve always liked English. I’ve been in contact with the language since I was born. But, to be honest, I had never been completely sure about becoming a teacher. I sort of “inherited” the profession, so there were times in which I felt I was obliged to practise it, and therefore I became reluctant to do it. At the end of secondary school I considered other options: arts, foreign trade, musical therapy (I’m still very interested in this one), etc. But, I don’t know why, when it came the moment to make the final decision, all these different alternatives were out of the picture.

Nowadays, I think teaching is a heck of a job! And it’s even hard for me to understand why is it that not everybody wants to become a teacher. I mean, what’s not to like about it? I was searching the net and I found two great pages.

One of them gives us the top 10 reasons to become a teacher, together with explanations and links to other pages in which we can find useful tips. I would like now to quote such reasons, and talk about some of them in relation to my own experience.
Top 10 reasons to become a teacher:
1. Student Potential
2. Student Successes
3. Teaching a Subject Helps You Learn a Subject
4. Daily Humor
5. Affecting the Future
6. Staying Younger
7. Autonomy in the Classroom
8. Conducive to Family Life
9. Job Security
10. Summers Off
As it’s mentioned in the site, 1 and 2 are closely related. The feeling I get when I see my students have actually understood, learned and applied what I’ve just taught them is indescribable. Brilliant students always put a smile on our face. Slow students are a real challenge, and, at the same time it’s twice as difficult to teach them something, it’s twice as rewarding when they learn it.
Number 4 and 8 are especially true of me. As regards number 4, some weeks ago my adult students were telling me how much they admire (and couldn’t understand) how I’m always in a good mood. No matter what has happened to me before a class, I always enter the classroom smiling. When I have to teach, I forget about everything and I’m just happy. And number 8 is something I would have never believed if I hadn’t experienced it myself. Before teaching children, I was not sure I would ever want to be a mother. However, this is the second year I have the same group of little pseudo-angels-pseudo-demons and I want to take them home! I love them, and I always think about the great persons they can turn into and how great it would be to help a bit more in their upbringing.

The other site I’ve found provides us with a very brief and concise answer to the question "Why become a teacher?", and, of course, is the source where I took the heading from. This page also mentions the downsides of our chosen profession; the incessant struggle to satisfy the constantly changing demands of society. However, reading between the lines, we can see that this only adds to the pride of being a teacher.