What kind of private/independent high school teacher should I become?

Question

I am very passionate about helping others grow and develop into confident, healthy people who possess the virtues of holistic and historic understanding and integrity. I want to become a high school teacher because I believe that influencing people when they are young is the best preventative measure to ensure that they develop such identities. I am just not sure what to teach - I was thinking English? I wish I could also teach philosophy, religious studies, humanities, theatre, and psychology...but I know I can't do it all. I thought I could probably have flexibility as a private school English teacher. Insights?

Answer 1

You seem to be focused on the kind of teacher you should become in terms of personality and educational philosophy but you seem to want to know what subject area to teach.  Good teachers are passionate about both their students and their subject area and are able to find ways to connect students to the content.  You can influence their lives through any subject area if taught well.  

Kids can tell when you don't really care or know about your subject area and it makes them less likely to care about it.  So- what subject area do you love?  What subject area do you have a good understanding for to be able to explain it to others?  What could you become an expert in?    

By the way- Social studies teachers are prepared primarily in History and political science but their training also includes a bit of psychology, sociology, philosophy, etc.  and when a school is big enough to teach those classes, it is usually the social studies teacher who does so.

Answer 2

Choose the subject area that you are most passionate about. Your passion will help encourage students.

Answer 3

It doesn't matter the subject you teach, it matters how you interact with students.  I have taught  at the high school level for 8 years now, and to this day i run into former students as far back as my first year of teaching who tell me that I was "the only teacher who really cared about them."  They won't remember you teaching them how to conjugate verbs or how to write sentences that don't end in a preposition, they'll remember the compassion and caring attitude you displayed and how you treated them as a person.

good luck on your search.  Teaching is the most rewarding profession ever as far as I"m concerned

Answer 4

I think Humanities would suit you well.