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Aug 19

Why I Love Teaching

By Jolene Borgese

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of teaching a ten day writing course to middle school students at the PAWLP Youth Writing Project. I had run the first Youth Writing Project on campus with about 50 writers and six teachers. We weren’t sure what we were doing back then but we knew we were on to something big! It was a success that bloomed into a huge project for 30 years.

This summer, my 12 writers were a mixed bag of pre-adolescents who wanted to come to writing camp, and others whose parents had signed them up.  They all made the best of it. They caught my enthusiasm for writing, and, in their preteen coolness, actually showed they liked my activities. Read more

Aug 9

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Why I Teach

By Marlene Kimble

As a late bloomer in this profession – having stepped into a classroom for the first time at thirty five – I sat with a room full of bright- eyed 22 year olds fresh out of undergrad sitting at the district office eyes glazed over while the HR lady reviewed official documents and we signed on dotted lines.  If you asked any of us why we were there, it would probably be a familiar response: I want to make a difference in the lives of children.  It was true for me too.  I was a mother and wife; I had been home for a number of years; and there didn’t seem to be any job important enough for me to leave my kids so I went back to school to do the job of teaching.

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Aug 6

Why I Teach

By Michael LoBiondo

As teachers, we follow different paths to our vocation, and formal education is a rich and colorful calling as a result. I became a PAWLP fellow because I believe that the “teachers-teaching-teachers” method is part of that mission. I teach today for the same reason that I did when I started out as a high school English teacher many years ago: to share a love of learning with my community.

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Jul 29

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Why I Teach

By Rita DiCarne

The past few years have been tough on Catholic school teachers with the closing of schools and the reduction of teaching staff.  Many of my non-teaching friends encouraged me to leave the profession and “recreate” myself like all the popular magazines suggest.  One friend in particular asked me, “What else do you see yourself doing?”  My response was silence.  I just couldn’t come up with a single thing – not one.

You see, I teach for selfish reasons.  Read more

Jul 21

Why I Teach

By Diane Dougherty

I retired from teaching more than ten years ago.  Yet, I still consider myself to be a teacher.  During the final days of my teaching career I remember talking to a student about my future.  “What will I be when I’m not a teacher anymore?” I wondered.

“Mrs. Dougherty,” he replied, “you will always be a teacher, because that’s what you are at heart.”

That student was about to become a high school graduate in just a few short days, but he knew an important truth: those who choose teaching as a career without reservation will always be teachers.  We may have second lives as gardeners, painters, retail salespersons, or experimental biologists; however, we remain teachers “at heart.”

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Jul 6

Why I Teach

By Brian Kelley

Asked to write to the prompt, “Why I Teach” brings up memories of the faces of young men lighting up when they heard my step-father’s name. So much of that, of course, is attributed to who he is as a person in addition to who he is as an educator.  He has talked so fondly about his students over the years. I’ll always remember family conversations held around the kitchen table and the great fondness in my step-father’s eyes when he talked about his students or players.

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