In Part 3: To Make Sense of the World, veteran teachers explain their love (and sometimes hate) of and long commitment to teaching their students. Think about your own reasons for choosing teaching as a profession. Are you an “Accidental Teacher” or someone from a family of teachers? Write your own why we teach essay describing how you knew you wanted to become a teacher, and some of the experiences that led you to enter this teacher education program. What are your goals for yourself, and what are your beliefs about effective teachers?

I would like to say that I fell into teaching accidently.  I did not grow up thinking I was going to be a teacher.  I always wanted to be a lawyer and it was my love of political science that had me pinpointed in that direction.  I did have several great teachers who gave me the passion to continue learning. I do remember playing school as a child and always wanting to be the teacher.  However at that age I believed that was the only time I would be a teacher.  Although I know that we are all teachers in our own right.  I just never knew I would be in a classroom taking on that role as a profession. 

The ambitions I left for college with were high.  I knew I wanted to be involved in making decisions that would benefit others.  However within the time that I was working towards my political science degree I decided that I was not interested in what the professors were talking about.  Perhaps it was just the certain semester I waited to lump international politics and comparative politics together that made me decide I made a mistake.  For whatever reason it was I did not feel as passionate as I did before.  I decided to take what I thought was going to be a year off of school to figure out my next move.  I began working for a before and after school program in the elementary schools around Albuquerque.  The program had a wonderful curriculum and it was a fun environment.  I did question why children would want to continue doing school work after being in school the entire day.  However if the curriculum is fun and interesting they will enjoy the activities. 

I learned that once you got to understand the students and learn about them you could accomplish a lot with them. I enjoyed coming to work every day and working with the students.  I had the opportunity to work with children from various areas. I continued this work for two years.  I returned to school and decided that I wanted to pursue Native American studies.  This was due to the readings that I had been doing throughout that time.  I enjoyed the classes that I took and the literature I was introduced to.  I attended a brown bag lunch session one day on campus.  An exquisite woman who reminded me of my nali spoke about education in New Mexico for Native American children.  I am not sure if she intended to change anyone’s career path that day.  However as I sat there and listened to what she was saying I knew I wanted to teach.  This was the first time that I had heard that Native American teachers made up only one percent of the teachers in our state.  It obviously did not represent the population in our state.  It was one of those things you never thought of and the moment I did I knew I wanted to be a part of that change.

I decided that I wanted to be someone who could contribute to educating Native American students.  The schools that I attended I had never been introduced to Native American literature.  While in college I was finally introduced to Native American literature and I know that is what I would like to share with others.  As a teacher I want to be able to continue to make learning fun for my students.  Yet remain being creative and create lifelong learners.  Teaching does not seem a burden to me as others have voiced.  Being a teacher is important because we are building the foundation for students.