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Kerrie Zacharski - I've been asking myself this question a lot lately. I remember when I first started teaching I had so much passion - I wanted to make a difference in a child's life.  Today, I still do. I want to reach that one child, awaken his/her passion, whatever it may be.  I just need to find my passion and enthusiasm again.  The Joker has been hanging around for too long!

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Erin Connell - As so many of us have already said, this was a very difficult question for me to answer. I fell in love with school during Kindergarten and ever since then I knew that I wanted to teacher early childhood and kindergarten specifically. My mom was a teacher and many of my aunts were too. My parents made sure that my sister and I knew that school was so valued in our household and that good grades and high participation were expected. I was blessed with amazing teachers who continued my love for school and my drive to teach. Then, when I was in college I fell in love with ESL and being able to use my second language of Spanish in the classroom. While I definitely miss using my ESL certification and Spanish in my classroom in Oregon, I truly believe that all early childhood students are language learners in some capacity. I use movement, song, pictures, and so much more in all of my lessons to make sure that the curriculum and language are accessible to all learners. There are so many why's that come to mind when I think about why I do this job every day. But if I had to pick just one to define my WHY I would say that I teach because I want to create a love of learning that was instilled in me by my teachers and parents. When kids love to learn and try new things there is no end to what they can accomplish.

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I think I've always known that I wanted to be teacher. I am a third generation teacher. My grandmothers on both sides were teachers, and both of my parents were teachers. Of course, in high school I told myself that I wasn't going to follow that path, but it just seemed natural once I got into college. I have 8 siblings, and we played school all of the time when we were young. We had a large chalkboard and old desks set up as a classroom in our basement, and yes, I always had to be the teacher. I thought it was so cool to "correct" papers. Ugh!  I also wanted to become a teacher because I wanted to change the way things were done. I did not particularly like elementary school. I was the kid counting the paragraphs in the basal reader so I knew exactly what I was going to have to read out loud in front of the entire class. I was really shy, and reading in front of everyone was something that I would dread every single day.  I also hated it when every piece of writing that I worked on was covered in red ink. I vowed that I would never do that to a student, and to this day, I have never used a red pen in my classroom.  So here I am, and I can't imagine being anything other than a teacher. I love working with the kids and helping them find their true strengths.  I truly enjoy getting to know the kids and having fun with them.

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Above is me...Abbey Krenz

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Laura Jicha--This is such a tough question, as there are countless layers to my WHY.  I have always loved school--from the smell of new crayons and paints, to the stories we would read and the songs we'd sing.  School was always a place of comfort for me--it felt like my second home, and I missed it terribly in the summers .  When I wasn't in school, I'd be playing school at home.  As I got older, school became a place that opened my eyes to the world of Emily Bronte and F. Scott Fitzgerald and the mystery of solving algebraic equations.  It was all fascinating to me, and I could not get enough of learning. Thus, I think I've always simply known that I would be a teacher, no questions asked.  I want to instill that same deep, curious love of learning, regardless of content area to my students.  I want to make them feel safe, confident, and encouraged.  I want to open doors via Jann Brett stories, science experiments, and the written word.  This is truly the least I can give my students, as they give me so much more each and every day.  Why do I teach?  Because there is nothing else that would truly fulfill who I am.  I am thankful for this profession that is also my passion.

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To be honest, when I went to college I didn't know what I wanted to do for a career. I only knew if I didn't go to college right out of high school I would never go.  I also knew I didn't want to have children of my own, so education was not exactly calling to me. So, I went through my first two years of general classes & then I declared Elem. Education as my major. It was a quick decision without a lot of thought.  Some 30 years later & here I am in my 25th year of teaching kindergarten & I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing.  I get to laugh everyday.  I stay energetic and enthusiastic about the learning that is happening in my classroom each day.  It might be something small, a student writing their full name without help, or something big, a child starts reading on his/her own.  They "get it".  It never gets old or boring. Now when people ask me if I have children I say, "yes, 23 every year."

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I teach because I love helping others. I especially love helping kids learn and succeed in both academics and personality. I truly believe that we can help teach students to be good people and be kind to others along with learning about the curriculum. My background influenced my teaching because of my youngest sister. She was born with a syndrome and was always in the special needs program needing assistance. She inspired me to be a teacher! My why has not changed. I have always seen the huge smile and light in my sisters eyes when she talks about her teachers. It goes to show how big of a difference we make as teachers and students carry so much with them for the rest of their lives.

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Sarah Updike----    As a child, I was always really school-engaged.  School was really important to me, and to be honest, at some points in my childhood, it was the only place that I felt like I really belonged and was important.  The better I did in school, the more connections I built with teachers, and the more friends I made.  It was kind of my ticket to acceptance that I really needed.  When I went to college, I decided to take some Ed. classes to see if teaching would be a good fit for me.  On my first day, I was so inspired by a professor that I never looked back.  I have been in the same classroom, at the same school, in kindergarten now for 13 years.  My WHY is the love, stability, and acceptance that I try my hardest to provide for every single kiddo that comes into my classroom regardless of their background, their struggles, and their academic level.  For me, it is even more important to connect with the kids that don't seem to connect with anyone else, because I want to let kids know that they are valuable and cared for.  Kids who feel loved and valued want to learn and want to do their very best, and it is my goal to help each child that comes into contact with me become the very best version of themselves.  It is hugely rewarding, and I get a lot out of my relationships with my kids and the teachers that I am lucky enough to work with!  Every year, I wonder if I still will have the passion and drive that I need to make me want to go at it for another year, and every year, I find myself so excited to get back to my classroom that I know I am in the right place.

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Cindi: Like many of you, I knew I wanted to be a teacher early on. I remember playing school and library for hours with my sister. I also loved school growing up because of the social aspects, I found most of the content interesting, and, for the most part, I loved my teachers. My WHY is to bring the excitement of learning, while having fun, to my classroom. I want my students to love being in school as much as I did, and still do. I want my students to begin seeing themselves as readers, writers, mathematicians - lifelong learners. Over the years more and more students have come into all of our classrooms with the deck stacked against them, and if I can spark the passion for learning in the neediest of our students, then I have accomplished my why.

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I feel like if I would've been asked this question 10 years ago, as a first year teacher, my answer would be very different than it is today. I started out wanting to make a huge difference in my kids' academic lives. I wanted to instill my love for learning and passion for reading into my students from the first day they set foot into my classroom. I still maintain this desire to instill the passion for learning, but my WHY has become so much more than that. I echo Matt's response in being the constant in "my kids'" lives. So many of them have very few constants in their lives regardless of their socio-economic status, race, or religious background. I want them to come to school every day knowing they are loved, cared about and safe. Knowing that what they have to say and contribute is important and they are heard. I had a handful of teachers that made me feel loved and respected in my own academic career and I know I learned and retained more from them than any other of my teachers. For me the WHY has become less about content, and more about the connection.

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I did not enjoy school when I was a child.  It was boring, my body could not sit still day, and I did not have a strong connection to a teacher until high school when I took an accounting course.  That strong connection lead me to major in accounting in college.  I eventually changed my major to finance.  I graduated and worked in the finance industry for almost 10 years.  After I had children of my own I realized how awesome kids are.  I realized that working with kids was way more rewarding than sitting behind a desk and working on a computer.  I wanted to be a strong male role model that some elementary students are missing in their life.  I knew I would never make the same kind of money I was making in finance, but making a difference in a child's life is priceless and just maybe I could be that teacher a student meets that makes school enjoyable.  Also, having the same schedule as my own children was also a big draw to becoming a teacher.

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I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in 1st grade. I was always running home to play school to be Mrs. Leimer or Mrs. Nielsen. I took a little detour in college (trying to show my family that I was different than they thought I was), but then eventually discovered that I wanted to be a teacher when I hated going to work every day in a cubicle. I  just love knowing and seeing the impact I make with students and that's my why.  April and May are my favorite months in Kindergarten as I feel like kinderbeans become so independent and grow exponentially.  Most of them come in not knowing the sounds letters make and they leave writing sentences! Seeing those happy kids who want to be in my classroom every day reminds me of my purpose.

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Sorry I double Posted I wasn't signed in the first time and can't delete the other one now!

I want to be the constant in kids lives. I want to be the place where they have someone they can rely on and they know will be there for them every day. No matter what their home life is like I want to provide a safe, fun, inviting atmosphere where kids want to come and can forget about all other worries while they are at school. I also wanted to choose a job where I could act like a kid and I wouldn't have to grow up. I like to think of myself as Peter Pan living in Neverland and never having to grow old!

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I want to be the constant in kids lives. I want to be the place where they have someone they can rely on and they know will be there for them every day. No matter what their home life is like I want to provide a safe, fun, inviting atmosphere where kids want to come and can forget about all other worries while they are at school. I also wanted to choose a job where I could act like a kid and I wouldn't have to grow up. I like to think of myself as Peter Pan living in Neverland and never having to grow old!

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I have always enjoyed working with kids.  I grew up always surrounded by them (my mom had an in-home daycare).  It has always been a passion of mine to have fun, so teaching felt so natural to me.  My WHY is simply that I want kids to enjoy learning and grow into lifelong learners.  I still love learning and exploring, and my hope is that all my students continue to love it too!