Education: a vocation that is not for everyone, because teaching is more complex than it seems.

Several factors influence the decision of becoming a teacher, things like economic income, social status, and the labor market. There are more personal aspects that influence this drive in people too. Motivation to teach can come from passion, or work and personal satisfaction,  and the drive to inspire others. However, the aspects may vary for each person and their previous education.

Some teachers at Elgin Community College share their reasons for becoming instructors and some of their experiences at this institution.

When David LoBue, a geology professor at ECC, was a graduate student he became a teacher assistant. Becoming a teacher was not in his plans, but thanks to the work he did as a teacher assistant, which included in-class presentations and helping students with labs, he realized that teaching was something he enjoyed doing and considered it as an option.

“Early on, I never thought I wanted to be a teacher,” LoBue said. “I just wanted to be climbing mountains, looking at rocks and fossils.”

When he graduated school, LoBue came back to Illinois looking for a job and soon realized he was not able to work in the field as a geologist.

That is when he decided that he wanted to teach. LoBue finds his job as one of the best options. For him, the best part of being a teacher is seeing the interest of the students in his classes. The field trips with educational purposes tend to be very interesting too, it gets to remind the students of what they have learned in the classroom.

Rinal Shah, professor in the Mathematics department at ECC, said that her affinity for math and passion for teaching confirmed her desire to teach. For her, it was more about love for this job and math. Right after finishing her master’s degree in pure math, Shah started teaching. According to Shah, she has realized that the role of a teacher can positively impact the lives of others, and this is another reason she continues teaching. ECC is where she began her academic journey in the United States back in 2009.

“I simply love to teach at ECC because of the great group of students and the excellent, supportive, and friendly math department where unity is the main ingredient,” Shah said.

Jacqueline Hartley, a sociology teacher at ECC, grew up in a family of teachers. Her mom and aunt were her inspiration. Hartley found their jobs as something interesting and exciting. What Hartley wanted was to interact with people and mentor as well. While in graduate school, she was able to become a teacher assistant.

“I absolutely loved the interactions and responsibilities of teaching, and I knew that’s what I wanted to spend my time doing,” Hartley said.

She decided to teach at ECC because she likes to invest in the community she lives in, and because ECC is a Hispanic serving institution and she finds that working with a diversified student body is even more interesting. Something that Hartley loves about her job is all the different ideas, experiences, and thoughts that students bring to class every day.

“It keeps me fresh and I’m always learning from my students,” Hartley said.

Something else that these professors agree on is the schedule. The advantages of this profession with respect to working hours. The breaks between semesters and the classes that they can and want to teach.

Teaching is not a simple thing, and whatever the reasons a person decides to teach are, most of the time it results in positive consequences and circumstances. Teaching comes with new and different opportunities, different perspectives, and in the end, it is something that can be enjoyed as long as the effort is present.