Hi! My name is Laurel Hearn. I am 22 years old and a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, IN. I attended high school at Heritage Christian School in Indianapolis, IN. I love teaching and believe that it is truly my calling in life to teach. However, I did not always feel this way.
Ever since I was in the sixth grade, I wanted to be an accountant. I thought it was the perfect job for me; I love working with people, I love math, and I’m very organized. However, I have learned that one should not go into career just because she is good at the job. I believe one should go into a career because she is passionate about that vocation. It was after this realization that I noticed I only wanted to be an accountant because I was good at the task, not because I was passionate about the career. So I have decided to become an elementary school teacher because it utilizes my abilities, corresponds to my passions, and God has called me to this profession.
Being a teacher takes certain gifts and abilities. I am fortunate because God has blessed me with several of these gifts. I took the MBTI Online Assessment Quiz. This quiz has shown me that I am an organized, caring extrovert. These factors are all used in the profession of an elementary school teacher. First, I am a very organized person. Since I was a little girl, I would schedule out my day to make sure everything I needed to get done would get done, even if that was watching Barney. In my eighth grade yearbook, I was voted most organized, a title I took great honor and pleasure in. A teacher must be organized in order to get all of her work done. Without organization, there will be chaos in the classroom, and there will be no productivity. Also, I am a caring person. According to the MBTI assessment, I think about others and their feelings before making a decision. Some people may say I’m indecisive, but I am actually just trying to be considerate of the group. I am constantly putting others before myself, and I am always willing to do others a favor. I will definitely use the talent of caring in teaching by putting all of my students and their education before my own personal life. Finally, I am an extrovert. God has gifted me with the talent of being able to talk in front of groups. Therefore, I will be very comfortable teaching in front of a classroom. By being an extrovert, I am also very easy to get to know, and I am very open about my thoughts, beliefs, and faith. As a teacher, I will be sure that my students get to know me on a personal level. I will constantly be relating to my students in order to build a strong relationship with which they trust.
Not only has God gifted me with the ability to teach, He has also installed in me the passion to teach. Along with the MBTI assessment, I took the IMAGE assessment which points out the areas that motivate one’s actions the greatest. What motivates a person to act every day is her passions. My results say that comforting, exhorting, and managing are my three top motivations. First, the motivation of comforting is the inward motivation to identify with the emotions of others and to provide comfort to those who are in emotion distress. I love to comfort and console those who are going through hard situations. While I was in high school, I was a mentor to junior high girls at my church. As a teacher, I will have several students who will being going through challenging situations. In order to comfort them, I will be sure to keep my classroom a friendly, happy place. I will make sure all of my students feel secure in the classroom, and I will be sensitive to the words and actions I use. Also, the motivation of exhorting is the inward motivation to encourage others through counsel and to outline practical steps of actions others should take to overcome problems. I have found that most of my friends turn to me for advice, and I gladly give my opinion. Also, being an organized person, I enjoy laying out steps of action. Therefore, my classroom will also be well organized with a plan of action. Finally, the motivation of managing is the inward motivation to organize and coordinate the activities and efforts of others and to set goals for them to meet in these activities and efforts. This correlates with teaching because I must be organized and adequately prepared every day to teach class. I love math, and I have a math set-mind. So, I enjoy watching a process, seeing how something can start at one extreme and end up at another extreme. It will be the same with my students. I will enjoy watching their many stages of learning, from the first contact with a subject to the end result of complete comprehension. I am also a planner. As a teacher, I will have the schedule of the entire year planned out and set goals for the class to reach by the end of the year.
Not only do I have the abilities and passion to be a teacher, I believe that God has called me to this vocation. If I ignore that call, I would be directly disobeying His plan for my life, which is sinning. On a mission trip to Scotland I realized that God has blessed me with a gift: the gift of being a teacher. He showed me my ability to talk in front of people, my passion for seeing people learn, and my love and compassion for children. Also, I want to make an impact in this world for Christ. Is there a better way to do this than teaching children who will grow up to become leaders in the future?
Me teaching in Scotland.