What Do Our Teacher Interviews Tell Us About Being an Impactful Teacher?

As a future educator in the United States today, I think a lot about previous teachers I have had in my life, how they taught, the memories I made, and how they were in the classroom. I often think about different techniques they had in teaching, as well as what made me remember them. Thinking about all of these qualities and characteristics is one thing, but actually hearing advice and stories from these teachers is also super beneficial, especially for someone in my place, studying to become a teacher.

Although the interviews we had to conduct were given as an assignment, I actually didn’t look at it as one. I looked at these interviews as a place for me to learn more about who some of my favorite teachers really are, how they dealt with things while I was a student that I might not have realized, as well as their overall golden advice that they can give. 

I have been fortunate enough to have many impactful teachers in my schooling experience. To name a few: Ms. Green, Mrs. David, Mrs. Oder, Mrs. Cooley, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. St. Pierre, Mrs. Bolton, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Geenen, Mrs. Waters, Mr. Wallace, Mrs. Carter, Mr. Mauthe, and so many more. These teachers are a big part of my “why” of being a teacher. 

I will have had the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with Mrs. Geenen, who we all call KG, and Mrs. Waters, who we all call KWW, and talk to them about what it means to be a teacher, as well as advice and further knowledge of being a teacher. Both of them were teachers I had the pleasure of having in High School. KG is the Health teacher, as well as the Campus Ministry Director at Xavier High School. KWW is currently the Director of Campus Ministry at Notre Dame Academy, but was my Junior year theology teacher, as well as Campus Ministry director at Xavier. 

To answer the question of “what do these interviews tell us about being an impactful teacher?,” it is this: if they weren’t impactful teachers on me, I wouldn’t have chosen them for this assignment. Like I said, these two were part of the reason why I chose to become a teacher, next to the fact that I like working with younger children. When I have my own classroom full of students, I want to have the same spirit of teaching as they do. I wouldn’t have chosen to interview a teacher I didn’t particularly care for. These interviews tell us that students still do think about what they did as a teacher during their time as students later after class. 

From what I learned from the interviews, being an impactful teacher doesn’t mean you were better at teaching a certain subject than another teacher was. Being an impactful teacher means you made a difference in a student’s life in ways someone else might not have been able to. Whether it be school-related or not, the teachers that made an impact on my life were the teachers that made sure to care for their students’ needs, built trust and understanding, had a fun environment, and made an effort every day to be the best version of themselves for us. 

As a future educator in the United States of America, I thank all of the teachers I have had in my life for the impacts that they made on my life, and I hope that other students who also had the same experience express these feelings more. It really does make a difference.