Mark Boatman wants to pursue a career in teaching because he has always been passionate about helping others learn and wants to instill high expectations and a sense of purpose in students. He believes that by providing equal access to learning opportunities, students have the potential to do great things. Another motivation is that teaching forces lifelong learning and presents new insights from students. While the job has pressures, Boatman finds the excitement of making a difference in students' lives most rewarding. He pursued other careers but felt a calling to teaching to make a positive impact on others.

1. Mark Boatman
Journal– Motivations for Teaching
A career in teaching has always been appealing to me. Ever since I was young I’ve
been passionate about helping others learn. The great teachers that I had in school
really believed in me, and were essential in guiding me to work hard and strive for
success. I want to be that kind of teacher, instilling high expectations and a sense of
purpose in all of my future students.I want to make a difference, I want to empower
someone to learn and think about something in a new light. It sounds cliché, but
children are going to be leaders of the future, and what better way to be directly
involved in helping to make a better future for everyone than being a successful
educator. I believe that with equal opportunity and access to learning, every
student has the potential to do great things, and I want to empower every child with
the tools they need to be successful.
An appealing aspect of teaching is that I think the students will keep me young.
Working with the young, interacting with them, and watching them grow and
develop into successful human beings is at the heart of why I want to teach. Also,
adolescents can be rather funny. The various personalities of students that teachers
encounter can provide for amusing situations. Teachers wear many hats, and
students often need them to be more than an instructor, but often times a counselor,
a cheerleader, or a role model; and often times the teacher becomes the student.
Although I may pursue teaching a particular subject, and my knowledge of that
subject may be great, teaching forces you to be a lifelong learner. Students often ask
intriguing questions and may present their own insights, which will cause me to
have to dig deeper and expand my knowledge.
Another aspect I like about teaching is that every year, every day, every lesson,
every student is different from the next. You could teach a lesson with different
groups of students or at different times during the day, and the outcomes and
involvement in the lesson will be different. I like the concept of being able to control
your own class, not in the sense of being in a powerful position, but in the sense of
being a facilitator of discussion, content, and learning. That sense of classroom
autonomy is an appealing aspect to a career in teaching, which is unlike most
professions. Unfortunately I think sometimes teachers get bombarded with
pressures and get wrapped up in test scores and grading papers, and lose sight of
the original reason of why they entered the teaching profession, and the excitement
of making a difference in a young person’s life is lost.
I always knew that one day I would pursue a career in teaching; it was just a matter
of when. My parents have had fulfilling careers as educators, both as teachers and
administrators, and I wanted a career that made me genuinely happy. Throughout
my years at the University of Idaho I first pursued a degree in Geology, then Political
Science, and finally Anthropology. With my Bachelor’s of Science degree in
Anthropology I worked as an Archaeologist for about 4 years. For a while this was a

2. satisfying career, where I got to spend a lot of time traveling, hiking outdoors, and
experiencing ancient history first-hand. But there was something missing in that
career. I wanted to make a positive impact on others, and I had always felt a calling
towards teaching. I know that teaching will be a challenging career, with unique
frustrations, but the intrinsic rewards and joy of the job are second to none.