Why Am I Here?

While I am reflecting on the most significant experiences of my Appalachian career, it got me thinking, how did I end up here? (Excluding my soccer influences that I recognized in a previous blog.) This is because it is my belief that before you can move forward, you need to know where you came from. So here goes...

Why Am I Here?

How did I end up at Ashe County High school in the final semester of my undergraduate university career? This answer is obvious; it is because I am student-teaching at a public school near the university I chose to attend, Appalachian State University. However, this question is more complex than the literal explanation I provided. I am at Ashe County High School because I am student-teaching, which is the capstone experience of any undergraduate education major, for universities worldwide. However, I can attribute student-teaching and potentially pursuing a life of teaching through a combination of explanations. These explanations include being given a firsthand look at the life of a teacher through my own two parents, an unknown love of learning, some ill-informed advice, and a passion to help and give back in the public service domain.

The most significant impact that helps explain why I am here is the fact that both my parents were teachers. My Dad is a high school technology teacher and my Mum is a former elementary school teacher, now an English as a second language tutor. Consequently, from a young age I was exposed to the life of a teacher, indirectly through my parents. I was able to see the love of facilitating learning, but I was also able to see the vulnerability and despair teaching causes. I would come home from my day at school and see the joy in my parent’s eyes if they helped a student learn a new concept or if a student had reciprocated their love back. On the other hand, I could also see the vulnerability and despair their profession caused if they weren’t able to make a connection with a student or the student had exhibited inappropriate behavior.

Because I was able to see love, despair, and vulnerability through my parents, the major turning point that pushed me towards an undergraduate career in education was my own love of learning. Although I didn’t initially realize this, I actually liked coming to school. Whether it was an actual love of learning at that stage, or a love of going to school and sharing the interpersonal relationships with my friends is still unknown to me, but I do know I enjoyed coming to school. It is through my university career that I finally confirmed that I had a love of learning. This was demonstrated by my willingness to prioritize my school work above other things and the success I achieved subsequently. Therefore, I took the chance to pursue a career option that would give me an opportunity to go to a place which I loved attending every day. Furthermore, through teaching I am able to epitomize the saying “when one teaches, two learn” (unknown), satisfying my craving for learning.

When I first came to Appalachian I made the tough choice to declare my major as soon as I came in as a freshman, this way I could be tracked on a four year degree program that my athletic advisors and I desired. I didn’t want to take my time declaring and then realize that I wouldn’t get out of Appalachian in less than four and half-five years. Therefore, some of my decision to pursue Physical Education was instinct from the influences I have stated above, but it was finally established after some ill-informed advice by my father. I was weighing up between Physical Education and Exercise Science. Now I believe my Dad was somewhat correct in his statement that finding a job is a lot easier for a teacher than it is for any other profession because school’s are an element of every society that are never going to go away. There are always going to be schools and consequently there is always going to be a need for teachers. However, he also stated that the only occupation I could achieve with an Exercise Science degree is a personal trainer, which is not what I desired to be and still isn’t. Through experience however, I have learned that this very subjective statement is untrue and there would have been many rewarding potential occupations for me out there had I decided to pursue Exercise Science. Nevertheless, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, and I decided upon teaching and declaring Physical Education Teacher Education.

I chose Physical Education because it was a subject I experienced success at throughout my grade school career. Additionally, I wanted to pursue a subject that didn’t require me to be inside a classroom all day. Therefore after considering other “non-traditional” subjects, such as technology and family and consumer sciences I decided to follow Physical Education. Since I have become a Physical Education major I have made it my duty to combat the notion that it is an academically soft curricular area. This is because Physical Education plays a critical role in educating the whole individual. Research supports the importance of movement in educating both mind and body. The physically active individual is more likely to be academically motivated, alert, and successful. Throughout the school years, quality Physical Education can promote social, cooperative, and problem-solving competencies, which other subjects can’t and don’t. Additionally, Physical Education for me, growing up in New Zealand, didn’t have this notion of being academically soft, as it does in the United States. To me, Physical Education was a challenging subject in all its facets, physical, mental, emotional, and social. It is my belief that the skills such as self-discipline and time management that I learned in this subject are the same skills that have helped me achieve so much success at university. Consequently, I want to promote similar skills in the students I teach.

The final reason why I chose education as my undergraduate career was a desire to help people and give back, which is one of the fundamental principles of teaching. I have always assumed that I would have the personality to be a great teacher and have a good rapport with my students to promote a conducive learning environment. On the other hand however, I didn’t know if I had the particular personality to pursue other public service majors, because they require specific traits I don’t think I have. These subjects include those that require either a hardnosed approach, such as criminal justice or social work, or those that are very individualistic and have little interpersonal relationships, such as design. Now at the conclusion of my degree program, in my semester of student-teaching, I have confirmed that I do have the personality to be a successful teacher and I also now know that I have the tools to make my educational environment conducive to learning. Therefore, I can help and give back to the future leaders of our society as maximally as I can.

In conclusion, despite its significance in pushing me towards an undergraduate career in teaching, it is my love of learning that is now edging me away from education for the moment. Additionally, the extreme dislike and despair I feel when I have to deal with the bureaucracy of school systems is also pushing me away. I understand that teachers have to be accountable for student learning and their extracurricular duties, however, there are some of us out there that are pursuing teaching for no other reason than to help facilitate student learning and give back. Consequently, all the red-tape that is associated with schools is extremely frustrating and despairing to me, and for the moment I would like to pursue other options in my life. Therefore, at this stage I am using my Physical Education degree to help me obtain a graduate career in Exercise Science. Once that is completed this I will decide what path I will travel. I am pursuing Exercise Science knowing that I can always come back to teaching and have the persona and tools to make a great educator and impact students’ lives.

There you have it people, over the past couple blogs I have explained how I ended up at Appalachian via soccer and the influences that swayed me towards education. As a result, I can move forward into the next stage of my life knowing I will always have these memories that were aided by everything Appalachian has to offer, and I will go forward with the skills to be as successful as I want to be.

As of right now, I'm not sure what Appalachian experience I want to recognize next, but I'll give it some thought and I'll get back to you.

Until next time,

~Cam

P.s. I have finally had my graduate assistantship application recognized and I have been offered a G.A. position at the University of Memphis to go along with my acceptance to their graduate school. Elvis...here I come!