The First Job in My Career Path Determined My Future

I absolutely love teaching elementary school. Being a teacher comes natural to me. It is part of who I am and part of my DNA. I have always loved children and enjoyed babysitting when I was younger. However, I did not realize that this would be the career path that I would take until my second semester of college.

During the first semester of my freshman year of college my major was undeclared. I felt a lot of pressure to choose my major and basically what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I thought about the amount of my tuition and the fact that what if I spent money on schooling and I hated my career choice. Then a very wise individual encouraged me to make a list of what I love to do and things that I am interested in doing with my life. They said that the career I choose should follow what I love.

So, I made the list and guess what common denominator appeared the most? Children! I immediately signed up for a general education class that required we work with children one-on-one during the semester. This was the first job that I had in my career path and the best because it gave me direction and pointed me towards my future career in education. I realized that I liked helping children discover new things and I enjoyed helping them to learn. During that first job, I worked first hand with several different children. I had to plan and prepare lessons to help them with their homework. This came very naturally for me. I came up with games and fun ways to quiz them. We had so much fun together and it was during this time that I knew I would be a teacher. If I had really been paying attention to myself and the choices that I had made throughout my life, I would have seen the clear path to working with children. There is no doubt that education is the career for me. I am just glad that it did not take me longer to discover.