I have been teaching high school science for multiple years now, and I absolutely love my job.  I laugh every day.  I work along side amazing colleagues.  I teach a subject I find awe inspiring, and I have exuberant interactions on a daily basis with teenagers.  However, I know that many people hold an unfortunate misconception about teachers, that “those who can’t … teach.”  This erroneous belief implies that people who can not become historians, become history teachers.  People who can not write the next best selling novel, become English teachers.  People who can not perform biology field work become biology teachers. 

I have been haunted by the statement that “those who can’t … teach” ever since I became a high school biology teacher.  Throughout college and into graduate school I worked towards becoming a wildlife biologist.  I devoted years of my life to the university preparation and practical field work experience needed to gain the knowledge required of a field biologist.  Imagine my feeling of inadequacy when, for a multitude of reasons, I chose not to continue on the course I had been on since high school.  It was an epiphany when I realized I would not be content in the career path I had chosen.  I knew I would not be happy as a field biologist, but I was lost not knowing what I would do instead.  For the first time in my life, I was aimless. 

I worked at a computer based desk job and as a park ranger, but I never felt content in the jobs.  I knew I needed to be in a job that involved science and working with people, and I had fond memories of my high school science teachers, so I thought I would try teaching.  I made a decision to earn a Masters in Education and to become a teacher.  However, the declaration that, “those who can’t … teach” was still in the back of my mind.  Was I going into teaching because I could not cut it as a field biologist?  Was I not good enough?  Was I settling for teaching?

In 2004, I applied for an Earthwatch Educational Fellowship hoping to be granted an opportunity to make valid my choice of becoming a teacher.   I was ecstatic when I found out that Earthwatch and the National Geographic Society would be funding my trip to the Pantanal in Brazil.  Here was my chance to work along side both teachers and scientists, able to compare and contrast the two career paths I had chosen between.  Was it true that I became a teacher because I could not cut it as a field biologist?  Earthwatch and National Geographic Society provided me the opportunity to determine for myself. 

While in the Pantanal, I was reminded that the practicalities of the work and lifestyle of being a field biologist are challenging.  Scientists may work years before gathering enough data to have a statistically significant sample.  Simply getting to the sampling site from a base camp may take half a day.  There is never enough time for data collection, let alone data analysis.  Funding is always in question, and the knowledge and habitat management suggestions gained from years of work may or may not be utilized by governmental agencies when making environmental development plans.  Field biology is an incredibly difficult job.

The many hardships of being a field biologist are balanced by the pleasures of the job:  the peace of observing birds along a lake shore at sunrise, the excitement of capturing peccaries, the humor in bouncing around the back of dilapidated trucks, and the calm of methodically sorting through insects trapped in a net.  There is a sense of “doing good” for the world, assisting in the much needed conservation efforts to preserve a remarkable habitat. 

While assisting with the field research in the Pantanal, I found myself performing activities and then thinking to myself how I could bring my experiences back into the classroom.  By bringing stories of authentic science into my lessons, my students will see the validity of what I teach.  By telling stories of caiman and jaguars, I will forge a connection with my students that will enable them to want to learn from me, to be interested in what I have to say.  I wrote a list of advanced biology lesson ideas nearly two pages long, based on ideas gleamed from experiences in the field. 

I learned many things about science and teaching while in the Pantanal.  But, the most important lesson learned was about myself.  I was reassured in my career decision when I found myself reflecting on the day’s adventure through the lens of a teacher, not of a biologist.  After twelve days working along side a group of amazing teachers and assisting with four ongoing research projects in the Pantanal, I came to a conclusion.  I can say with 100% confidence that the statement that “those who can’t … teach” is a fallacy.   I can “do” science but I chose to teach..