To Teach

Hello, all!  Glad to be in class with you this semester.  I'm surprised at how few people I know in this class, but that should change.
All my life, people have told me I would make a good teacher.  When I was in first grade and finishing my classwork before any of my peers, my teacher asked me to help other students.  My interest in teaching blossomed from there.  When I first started college, I thought I would teach music.  Unfortunately, I'm not much of a performer.  I only like being on stage when there are others around me that can catch me if I pass out or something.  So, when I transferred to UM, I decided to change my major to English teaching.  My goals here have changed as well.  At first, I thought I only wanted to teach at the college level.  Theoretically, college students are more likely to like the classes they take because they have the prerogative to choose their major and their classes.  I'd much rather teach students who care about the subject matter.  But as I've gotten more into the C&I program, I've developed more of an interest in teaching middle school and high school classes.
I want to inspire students to read, to write, and to delve deeper into their fields of interest.  Obviously, not every student is going to want to pursue a degree in English.  Regardless, every student is going to need to read and write in order to be successful throughout his or her educational career.  I want to be an encourager, a mentor, someone who lets students know that they can achieve whatever they want to do.