Should I be a teacher? I am thinking about going back to school, and want a career I will like.?

Question

I want a career that I will like and also allows me time with my daughter and husband. Any teachers out there that want to talk me into or out of it? Do you like your jobs? Do you like the hours, schedules? How is your pay???

Answer 1

I was a substitute teacher, my daughter is a first grade teacher.

The first thing I would really recommend is that you go sit in several different grades/classes, and see first hand what school is like now.

I homeschool my youngest daughter, but my other kids went through the public school.  However, it was several years ago, that they did.

I think the biggest things I hear from my daughter, and that I noticed, was:

Kids have a hard time focusing/paying attention, they know way too much in terms of s*x, tv, etc. for their ages, and they do a lot of hitting/being mean to other kids.

Parents can be a really big problem, and blame the teachers for a lot of their child's problems, when most of them come from lack of guidance from the parents.

So, if you are a very, very patient person, who loves kids, nad can put up with not being able to teach the way you would really like to, because of all of the other things that get in the way,

If you can deal with irate parents, and also the fact that you will have inclusion kids in your class (children who may be autistic or some other thing like that).

If you like that sort of thing (and some people love it) then you will be ok teaching.  Just go into it with your eyes wide open.

As for pay, that varies by state, and district.  

Hours are school hours, but you will have a lot of at home lesson plans to make, and grading to do, if you are a good teacher.

Also, you could be team teaching with another teacher, depending on where you teach, and what grade, so there is the teacher and his/her personality to deal with.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, but I wish someone had sat down with me and told me some of this before I borrowed so much on student loans, and then discovered that it wasn't really for me.

Good luck on what you decide.

Answer 2

Why not volunteer at one of your local schools to see whether or not you like the atmosphere and being around the kids first?  That will also give you a sense of what grade you'd like to teach, subject, etc.

Answer 3

I'm not a teacher, but I'm also thinking about going into the career.  Teaching pays pretty well, (sometimes more in public than private schools, depending on the school) but if you work in a public school, you won't get quite the student/teacher relationship you would in a private.  I know all the teachers I've talked to love their job, but most of them work in a private school.

Anyways, good luck and hope everything turns out well!

Answer 4

yea, you should do it..  if you have alot of patience and love kids then that would be a perfect job for you.

Answer 5

Pay is ok, but its alot of work. And alot of hassle. And with very little apparent award. In order to be a decent teacher you have to put in alot of time and effort into your plans each week and these still need to be flexible. I grade papers at night and on the weekends, I get summers off which is awesome but once or twice I've had to do summer school so that isn't always a hundred percent. You have to seriously like and respect kids, be able to see the other side of kids and realize that what they are showing you isn't necessarily what's going on. Teaching is not an easy job and you don't always have as much free time as it appears you will, but there will be, from time to time, highly rewarding students. As with anything, you get as much out of it as you get into it. My day starts at 7:30 AM and ends at 4PM (classes end at 2:30 than there is the last period for extra help or such until 3:30 PM than meetings possibly. Than I still have to grade homework, work on plans and set up things for the next day (and my first year I went from room to room so I had to carry all this stuff with me haha). It's certainly an adventure! :) I love my job though haha. I'm just more realistic about it than I used to be :)

Answer 6

YES you can, but first you have to mention your skills and the subject or field in which you can teach. As far as the schedule and pays are concerned it depends on the school or institute in which you are going to teach. I love being a teacher and i Welcome you in teacher's community.

good luck

Answer 7

Before deciding do your research on the No Child Left Behind Act. It's a horrible act that leave's children behind who really need the help.

Answer 8

okay this might not have been what you wanted but my mom is a teacher, she started teaching after my little sister was born. My mom does love her job she loves all the kids she teaches. But she does have to do some work out side of the classroom, some lesson plans she doesn't finish during her plan periods I don't know if that is just beacuse my mom is slow or if they don' t give you enough time. My mom teaches middle school so she works from about 7:15 till 3 sometimes she'll stay later to do lesson plans. My moms pay is not good  teaching doesn't get you a good amount of money.

Answer 9

I have a Masters in Teaching and have not worked in the school system for a LONG time. The last place I worked was in the prison system and it was quite interesting and sobering. One benefit was that none of the students carried guns to school !!!

I do love teaching and that is why I am moving to China in August. I accepted a position in South China and will be teaching English at a University (for students who are intermediate with the English language). My peers, already there, talk about the appreciation given by the students in China who are more interested in learning and studying than they are in knowing who Jennifer Anniston is dating.

Teaching requires self discipline, the ability to direct and connect. The student needs to believe you WANT them to learn and then present the information in a way that is digestible. There's the drama with teacher's unions and the school district added to the long hours dedicated to lesson prep, grading and after school assistance. Some areas of the country pay more for teachers; some, not much higher than minimum wage.

If you can alter your life and you have a cooperative family, teaching can be for you. But the main question is: Are you thrilled to see someone grasp a concept that will better them and be willing to be patient with the others who may not get it? Check out your attitude/s; see if you want to be as a seed to be planted into fertile fields and are able to weather the storms. Only YOU are able to answer if you can be a teacher.

Answer 10

I did it 11-years loved and then left to start my own company.  I loved the kids, time off and everything but the teachers who should have retired years ago and just hung around to collect their retirement.  They left teaching years before they handed in their resignations and were often times depressing and the kids hated them because they no longer were teaching them anything.  Not to say that about all long term teachers.  Some were amazing to the day they did retire and everyone was sad to see them go.  GO FOR IT.

Answer 11

Some local Community Colleges have a program within, that reads like a test. It will ask you a battery of questions about your life, likes and dislikes, TV shows you like to watch, based upon your selection, the computer refigures and gives you the next battery with more specialized questions. At the end of the testing the computer will generate 100 jobs you are suited to personality wise and other factors. #1 being the best ect. This was very helpfull to me.

Answer 12

I love my job, but don't do it if you think you're going to have lots of free time...especially your first few years.  It's not an

8-3 job, by any stretch of imagination.  I work 10 hours a day, easily, then more when I get home.  Right now, with the end of the school year, I'm doing about 12 hours a day.  The pay is okay...it would be hard to do if I weren't married to a man with a good income.  Good luck.