After 20 years in business, I became a teacher, not sure if I
was doing the right thing. I am sure now. It is the best
choice I've ever made.
Passion for what you do gets you through the day, and
enraptures the students. Passion can be contagious! If you are
not passionate about teaching (but I suspect you really are),
don't try it. You could probably plug away for 10-20 years,
but you'll hate it more every day. The kids will suck the life
out of you if you don't love what you do. They are so
perceptive. It's really hard to do this job by going through
the motions. On top of that, science is probably the hardest
to try to do so with so much additional time and effort
required for investigations and activities that have to be
planned, set up, and broken down.
On another note, if you are good at what you do, most of the
time, especially in science, you'll have 2 students that don't
pay attention, and all the rest that are engaged. It doesn't
have to be the other way around.
I teach in an inner-city school district and love it. Although
I could make more money teaching closer to my hometown, I
don't want to deal with the nagging parents of a wealthier
school district. And I love the diversity of students in my
district. I do learn from them all the time. I teach 7th
graders, which some say is the toughest year, but I love it.
They are old enough to grab complicated concepts, but young
enough to be silly and laugh at my dumb jokes. Consider other
age groups or grade levels.
Hope you keep in mind that even if the classroom turns out to
be not for you, there are plenty of other educational avenues,
once you have your foot in the door. Best wished for whatever
you decide.
On 5/08/08, secondary thoughts wrote:
> I recently got out of an unhappy 10 year relationship with
> a career I found, at best, unfulfilling and, at worst, an
> onerous dead-end.
>
> Not long after I lost my last job, I had one of the very
> few epiphanies I've ever had; I should become certified to
> teach high school science. I don't have any real science
> background apart from a layman's keen interest. I wouldn't
> call it a passion – but I'm just don't have one of those
> deeply passionate personalities – but I do feel very
> strongly about the importance of science education. I began
> studying for the Praxis II content exam for science
> immediately, and took the GRE Tuesday. My plan was to
> enroll in the MA in education program here in Louisiana and
> start teaching this fall under a practitioners license. I
> found myself planning lessons and thinking of ways to
> elucidate Newton's laws of motion to 9th graders. This was
> the very first time in my life I felt like I was doing what
> I was *supposed* to be doing, almost like I had a duty to
> be in a classroom sharing – to the best of my
> as-yet-uncertain ability - what I think consider to be a
> very profound truth; that the world around us is knowable
> through careful observation and reason.
>
> But now I'm having major second thoughts. What's changed
> between then and now is that I've actually substituted a
> few times. I realize that being a teacher and being a sub
> are very different games. But after actually standing in
> front of a few classes, particularly a few ninth grade
> science classes, it just seemed likely to me that if you
> have a classroom of 20 kids, you might have 2 or three who
> are actually interested and receptive to learning
> something, around a dozen who might care enough to put in
> the minimum to pass, and the rest who are actively trying
> to disrupt whatever's going on.
>
> Obviously I have a lot - probably more like everything - to
> learn about being a teacher, but my initial optimism and
> enthusiasm about making the world a better place has been
> somewhat dampened. I need to apply to the master's program
> soon, though, and I don't need this crisis compounding my
> natural tendency to procrastinate.
>
> I'm not sure what my question is. Maybe someone can suggest
> one.
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