Pre-service and early career educators are some of our profession’s greatest assets. They have energy, enthusiasm, and excitement as they trace their paths to a career in education. Their voices and experiences deserve amplification and recognition. Here at NYSEC, we are thrilled to feature several pre-service and early career educators’ responses to questions about their hopes and what excites them as the new school year begins. Let’s welcome, celebrate, and support our pre-service and early career educators as they continue to share their stories with us!
I am an avid reader—or a bookish person, as the young people say. For me, the decision to become an English teacher was about instilling my own love for literature—its stories, people, and cultures—within the next generation. As a child, and still today, reading was my escape from reality. It gave me the impossible experience of living hundreds of lives in hundreds of settings. Through all those windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, I’ve felt anger, sadness, grief, joy, frustration, and pride in someone else’s story. I hope everyone finds the unique experience of falling in and out of realities—what I call reading—a part of their life.
My perspective as a woman of color is also deeply important to me. Growing up on the outskirts of Atlanta, I didn’t realize how much of a privilege it was to be surrounded by so many different types of people from even more places. Now, living in Upstate New York, I’ve had to readjust to the demographic. Though the diversity isn’t as strong, my passion for representation hasn’t wavered. I’ve had the privilege of completing my observation hours in both a wealthy, primarily white area and a diverse, impoverished inner city. In both spaces, I found that my experiences—my perspective, my coloring—were just as important, whether or not the students looked like me. The ability to understand, relate to, fight with, and fight for students is something unique to the classroom. What other profession offers such unfettered access to young minds and hearts? Where else do we celebrate the experience of seeking knowledge and bridging the gap between knowing and believing?
In short, teaching, for me, is all about connection. To stand in front of thirty pimply, hormonal, bored teenagers is an opportunity to share my story and learn all of theirs. I am excited to one day lead one of these magical spaces—to encourage, love, and challenge the students who cross my threshold. I may not see into the future, but I do know myself. I have been aching to find my lifelong career. I have many passions and recognize there are several paths I could take to attain a sense of fulfillment. But working alongside colleagues and pushing students beyond their goals has made it clear: teaching is that career. This decision, and the path it has set me on, is my testimony that I can, in fact, do hard things. More than anything, I can’t wait.
Micah Davidson, is a SUNY Brockport Graduate Student