My Involvement In The Junior ROTC Program

The art of understanding as a teacher is an invaluable skill. To teach, you must understand where your students are coming from and what motivates them not only to learn but to succeed. It was this principle that one of my past teachers severely lacked. Mrs. Sopor seemed unable to put herself in her student’s shoes and demonstrated a high level of immaturity through my experiences with her. As a student, I was an overachiever. For example- I lettered 9 times throughout my high school career and that doesn’t even touch on my involvement in the Junior ROTC program. I wanted to succeed and I wanted to learn. School was something I treasured. Although I enjoyed all subjects to some extent, my favorite core subject was English because of my history
Sopor was the sponsor of the book club and I was a member when I had the time. I was involved in four major extracurriculars and several clubs so I couldn’t always make it. When it came time to make the float for the homecoming parade though? I put aside what I could and dedicated a total of seven hours towards its completion. I drew, painted, glued, donated materials, and found more sources to get materials from. I was very proud of the final product! I had put so much work into it alongside my friends and classmates even though I would not be able to join them during the parade. When we discussed it afterwards, we came to the conclusion that I had put forth the most time and effort. I didn’t mind because it was a culmination of my different interests and had been a joy to work on. What I did mind was at the end of the year when Mrs. Sopor gave her senior speeches to each senior. For my friend Aubrey, she had many, many words (Aubrey was her class favorite and it was glaringly obvious) and most of those words were about the book float and its creation. This would have been fine if for my speech she had said something more than “We didn’t talk much, but you seemed cool”. Even Aubrey gave me an incredulous look at that.
It was her short response to my year in her classroom that hurt the most. Here I was, an overachiever finding myself at the bottom of a mountain that I could not seem to climb no matter how hard I tried. The tools I had used and loved before were now useless.
Sopor seemed to keep making. I don’t believe teaching is just presenting course material in an understandable manner- teaching is a culmination of care for the students and the subject matter. It requires the respect that I was not shown and the ability of self-reflection to ensure that I am treating my students as equally important. I can work to ensure that I am motivating each student in the way that will benefit them the most. I aim to constantly work at understanding my children and, while I may bring some of my natural childishness to the classroom, I will still be a responsible adult and admit my faults when necessary instead of awkwardly avoiding