Elida Laski taught kindergarten for three years in Chula Vista, California, and is now a literacy coach for three early learning centers in the Boston Public School system.

In my second year of teaching, a colleague told me, "Good teachers are born, not made and you were born with it." After four years of teaching, I still wonder about this comment. What is that it, that certain something that distinguishes excellent teachers? Do you have to be born with that certain something in order to be a good teacher? If you are born with it, do you always know that teaching is the profession for you? Is it true that some people are just not made for teaching, or can anyone learn what it takes? How do you know if you are meant to be a teacher?

I never intended to be a teacher. In fact, it was not until my senior year of college that, as a frustrated pre-med student, I entertained the idea of teaching and took two education courses. Immediately, I knew that teaching was for me! I had done very well in the pre-med track, but I never felt invested in what I was studying. Education courses required just as much, if not more, time and thought, and they were exciting in a way pre-med had never been. Education offered me the academic rigor of the sciences but also appealed to my heart.

Teaching demands systematic thought and reflection in order to deliver the instruction and analyze situations. It requires a solid understanding of content and pedagogy to be critical of new trends and develop curriculum. However, I believe it is instincts that humanize teaching—the gut feeling of what will work or not, the sense of how to connect with each child, the ability to juggle ten things at once and be fired up rather than stressed out, and so much more. Being in the classroom is still an adrenaline rush. I put in twelve-hour days without thinking twice. I cannot go to a store, museum, or park without thinking how I might apply what I see to my classroom. The joy of teaching, itself, drives me. That, I think, is the it. Whether you can learn it or have to be born with it, I still cannot say.