Why do we decide to become teachers?

"Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another." -- Marva Collins
(http://ripplemaker.hubpages.com/hub/50_Inspirational_Quotes_for_Teachers)

Why do we decide to become teachers?

When I first decided I wanted to become a teacher my friends thought I was crazy, but my family thought it was great.  Ever since I was younger I always loved helping people and helping my cousins with homework.  Being a teacher is an important job you set the stepping stones for students to be successful through school and the real world.  Many people may have different reasons to become a teacher.  Some of mine are:
1) Children are young sponges.  I love working with children and helping them learn new things. When they understand something new and you reward them or even just clap with a big smile they get a big smile too and feel so good.
2) I had some teachers that didn't help me at all or didn't do their job at all. I want to turn that around and be the teacher students know will help them and is happy to be there everyday. 
3) Students should be allowed to reach their full potential and open their minds up to different learning techniques.  Growing up I feel I was only taught one way to learn, all about taking notes and just sitting there listening to the teacher.
4) Helping people everyday at my job is a joyful feeling but helping children learn everyday and feel better about themselves in math and science is even better.  Some students really struggle in math and science and sometimes that may be because they needed more help then they could get from their teacher.

Just the many words of wisdom and reasons
to become a great teacher.

5) We need teachers that want to be at school and make the environment safe and fun.  The student should come into the class and feel safe to ask any questions they have but they should also feel good about the subject.  The class shouldn't be boring, just because we may have to teach to a test that the children will be given at the end of the year doesn't mean that learning math has to be so boring.

I found a website that listed reasons to become a teacher:
You can move around, you can move up, you can live your own life, you can challenge yourself, you can give back to the community, you can find your fit, you can have your choice, and you can change someone's life. (http://www.destinationteaching.org/career/why.phtml)
My favorite is the last reason, to change someone's life. Helping a child is great but changing their lives is even better.  You can help them but you can change their life by helping them in the subject they are struggling.  yes becoming a teacher means you have your summers off which is always nice you can get another job over the summer or even just take care of your family.

Another site I found had around the same reasons except for two reasons I really loved.  When you become a teacher you become a lifelong learner and you laugh every day.  Every year you will learn something new no matter if it is on a section of math or science you teach or something you learned from your students.  You lend out your knowledge to students and then you learn as you teach.  Along with learning from your students you will laugh everyday with them too.  I want to make leaning fun and exciting so laughing everyday will be something I look forward to doing.(http://www.unc.edu/uncbest/teacher.html)
One of the biggest reason anyone decides to become a teacher is to make a difference in a students life.  Some students have a great home life but some don't have parents there to help them with school. As teachers we are there to help them learn and to stay longer to help them if they need it. We are there to listen and we are there to encourage them to learn.  Changing someone's outlook on school is rewarding.