1

Kristopher Barker

EDU 214-1006 Fall 2022

31 August 2022

Why do I want to Teach? You might well ask Shakespere why he Writes, Tesla why he
Invents, or Socrates why he Thinks. Did these people think what they did was fun, possibly. Bug
that’s not why they did those things, they did them because they felt called to it. Likewise with
me, I feel called to be a teacher. What inspired this inescapable draw towards education though. I
believe it has to do with my Faith, and the Teachers I’ve had in the Past & in my Present.

For the First, I’ll discuss my Faith. I am a Member of the Chrurch of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints (also known as “Mormons,” despite the Church’s Effort to seperate itself from
the name). There are 2 ways in which my Faith influences my Decision. Firstly, is the belief in
Personal Revealation. As a Young Man, I was part of a Church-based Self-Reliance Course, to
prepare for Adulthood. Part of this class was, we had to create a Life Sketch. I felt Inspired that I
should follow Education, and since then, I’ve pursued it as a career path. The other part is the
views of Education the the Faith as well. As an uneducated Farmboy, the Founder of
Mormonism had a deep respect for the Education he never had the chance to receive, and at
several points in the writings Mormons consider to be Scripture, Teaching & Learning are
extholed as Virtueous Paths.

Another reason is the Teachers I’ve had. One of the first that really affected me was my
7th Grade History Teacher, Mr Chandler. I always had a passion for History, and it was clear that
he did as well. I learned just what a Teacher with Passion can do for his class. Another Teacher
with a Valuable Lesson was my 12th Grade Math Teacher. As a Background, I am horrible at
Math. Dr Padget was the First Math Class I passed in 5 Years, and that’s where I learned how a
Good Teacher can really affect his Students. Yet another is actually a Teacher from my Chruch.
He taught a Class before School called Seminary, and in that class, I learned how to combine fun
with learning, and how to engage Kids who usually don’t interact in class. There are 2 that have
been the Greatest Influence on me, and that is my Father & Grandmother. I learned from them
what a Trial being a Teacher is, and while I can’t fix all the problems, the Amazing Job they’ve
done inspires me that I can Improve the life of one of My Students, the was I had mine improved
by Chandler, Padgett, and all the others I didn’t get to did for me.

So, in Conclusion, why do I want to Teach. I could say I want to Help Students, or that
it’s because I come from a Faith with a High Value on Education, or because I had Teachers that
Inspired me, or a Million Other Things. But, while those all play a part, they can be reasoned
away. The Reason I want to be a Teacher is more than that. It feels like it’s the thing I’m meant to
do with my life, what I’ll be known for after I'm dead. And, knowing that I have a Purpose, helps
me deal with all the discouragement, and do my job as best as humanly possible, which is what
the Students I will have in the Future deserve. And helping the Students not only helps them, but
 2

Humanity as a whole.

Visual- 4
Aural- 10
Read/Write- 8
Kinesthetic- 9