What Motivates High School Youths to Want to Teach? Narratives of Homegrown Aspiring Teachers

This qualitative study examined how a group of aspiring teachers who had completed a Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher program in high school explained their motivations for teaching. Findings revealed that homegrown aspiring teachers attributed their initial teaching aspirations to their own inequitable schooling experiences and societal perceptions of the teaching profession and explicitly described their decision to teach as a way to improve educational equity for socially and culturally marginalized students in their communities. Learning about teaching in the GYO program with caring and culturally responsive GYO teacher mentors embraced and affirmed their community-oriented, equity-focused teaching motivations.