“This is my third year at the same school, which is a small elementary school. There's one class per grade level. I teach fourth grade.”
“I chose to change careers, so I left my company after working there for thirty years (...). I kept thinking that I wanted to leave the company, but I didn't know what I wanted to do. When you're in a corporate environment, your brain is so full of short-term concerns.”
“I met someone who changed careers and was now teaching at the high school level. We were having dinner together and he told me about it, and it suddenly seemed obvious to me that this was what I should do. I realized I'd done it before. I previously taught when I was twenty-two and twenty-three years old—I had completely forgotten about it. Really, I wanted that connection with students again. The act of teaching—it's that pedagogical moment, where you have an interaction and you transmit knowledge. I remembered it as something that brought me a lot of satisfaction. It seemed like the perfect fit for me.”
“That's pretty much what convinced me. Then my wife wanted me to be sure. She introduced me to lots of her friends who were teachers and they told me about their experiences, which confirmed my decision. I went to observe classes. I went to see what it was like in schools.”
“I said, ‘Yes—that's what I want to do. But I'll do it my way.’”
“I chose to work with young children. I thought to myself, maybe as a man I should work with middle school or high school students. But at the same time, dealing with teenagers going through puberty and all that, the authority dynamic—actually, I was a little afraid of how I would have to manage authority. I wasn't very confident about it and I thought that working with younger children would suit me better. That's how it happened. I thought, ‘With younger kids I can be more kind and gentle, with a more relaxed approach to authority, while with teenagers it’ll require a different kind of patience.’ Maybe it would have worked out perfectly. I was basing my decision on my own preconceived notions. You remember your own children. Teenage tantrums aren't exactly fun.”