Why Becoming A Teacher Isn’t As Easy As You Think
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Becoming a teacher can often seem like a glamorous idea to some people. The idea of the roles switching and them being the ones teaching children or young adults is empowering. Seeing someone learn something because you taught it to them is a wonderful feeling. Alas, there are downsides to teaching, and in this article is going to be some reasons why teaching isn’t as easy as you think.
Home life is the first thing that becomes affected when you take on the role as a teacher. You will not only be setting your students homework, but you will have to take many papers home to grade, and create lesson plans for the following days and weeks to come. Unfortunately, there’s no time given to you within school hours to do these tasks, so work does follow you home (unless of course, you want to be grading on your lunch breaks.)
Sometimes, stresses from your day like awkward or naughty students can also affect your home life, and likewise with anything at home too. Things going wrong within your home can distract you from teaching; meaning you have to make sure that you’re able to leave problems at home for the sake of your students.
Another thing you need to think about before becoming a teacher is becoming certified to work. Some states require you to get yourself certification before working, or at least prefer you to have one so that you can prove you’re planning on staying in this career. Florida, for example, have this procedure in place. Read about the certification rules in Florida here: https://hrdevelopmentinfo.com/fldoe-certification-process-all-you-need-to-know/. Of course, if your state doesn’t require this, or you live outside of the US, then this isn’t something you necessarily need to think about, but it’s always worth checking.
Meeting targets with your students is a big reason that teachers find their job difficult. You could have the best behaved class in the school, but if they’re unable to meet targets and learn from you, then you will be the one at fault. Make sure that the lesson plans that you’re creating are age suitable for the classes that you will be teaching, and you should find that your students follow suit as desired.
Another problem is that if something else goes wrong with a student’s school life like being bullied or misbehaving, the blame always comes back to the teacher. Parents will report any problems to the principal, who will then have a meeting with you and the parents together and you can guarantee, you’ll get the blame.
The role of teacher doesn’t always mean “teaching” either. If a child is upset or nervous you must console them and make them feel happy with their surroundings and classmates. If a child suddenly becomes sick, you’ve got to deal with them, all while trying to keep the rest of your class occupied at the same time. You’ve got to teach students discipline, and how to behave in the outside world (which sometimes, if a parent doesn’t agree with your methods, that’s another reason to have blame pinned on you.) You’re literally moulding part of this generation’s future, and you’ve got to achieve this in the small amount of time you spend with them each day.
Becoming a teacher isn’t as simple as attending college and earning the right degree. Once you’ve got the job as a teacher, you can expect to attend regular training to make sure that you’re teaching your students the most up to date research and methods. You can also rest assured that all of these training sessions will be within your own time, not when you’re meant to be at school.
Leading on from the point of free time, teachers also have to plan their lives around the school terms. Although the summer holidays may be nice, that’s the only proper break that teachers have because when it comes to half terms, they’re often off training to better their knowledge for their students.
Of course, being a teacher isn’t all bad at all, otherwise nobody would choose to do it for a living. Teaching brings so much joy into many people’s lives, and allows you to meet so many wonderful students. Students that you could potentially be giving the inspiration to for their career choice. You’re also always keeping your brain on the go, and challenging your mind to learn new things. It’s certainly not an easy job, but definitely worth it!
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