Me too, I change lives too.

I was so excited to catch up on some much needed blog reading this weekend while I was not being at #ITSE2015. I am not lamenting here.

I got to read @mrsdsings post which is linked up here, and I found @okeducationtruths follow up which is linked here. So the question is Why Teach?? With an  up'ed ante question is Why Teach Here? So here it is...

Why teach?
Because it can be fun. My first major in college was Theatre. Mr. Cobb says in his post that often people grab a major without thinking of the career that should follow. I did love acting, but knew it would never really take me to Hollywood. When I finally did settle on teaching, it was for the summers off. Yeah, I know. I am one of those. But it only made sense to take all that I knew from acting and use it in the classroom to teach young'uns. Golly, did it turn out to be amazing. Kids were having fun AND learning at the same time. I was being "the anti-teacher" that I knew from my days in schooling. I LOVE Ben Stein the person, but his character in Ferris Buehler was nearly every math teacher I have ever had. When I first realized that the perfect marriage was teaching and acting I was hooked. And the kids, they were hooked too. They love that they never know what character will be presenting their math, english or history. But they do know they will learn something, and they know that their teacher will be "all in".

Part Duex: Why Teach Here?
I am at Epic Charter Schools, literally because after teaching for one year and being told my "enthusiasm" wouldn't last...there was no way I wanted to place myself around a bunch of haters all day long. I taught here for 2.5 years before being asked to move up to teach the teacher how to more effectively use their curriculum. This year they asked me to start a tutoring program as well and the rewards of the spoils have been tremendous. I love teaching teachers. Now, maybe not all would like my theatrics in the PD rooms, but from what I hear, those people would be few and far between. I still have people asking if I really climbed Mt Everest. And those people can also effectively use data to individualize their approach to teaching. :-)

There you have it. My sloppily written and hardly to the point reasons for being here and in this profession.