Why Consider Becoming a Teacher?

Teaching is a challenging job with many unique frustrations, but the rewards of teaching are numerable. Some of the many benefits include the following.

Experience the Joy of Making a Difference
Teachers get incredible joy in seeing the difference they make as students gain new insights, become more interested in a subject and learn about themselves. Every day, teachers mold the future through impacting their students’ views and understandings. Teachers foster creativity, develop character, give students lenses with which to view the world and provide students with the skills they need to reach their potential and lead productive lives. Many individuals are attracted to teaching by a sense of service, because they want to make a clear, tangible difference in the lives of others. As a teacher, you see the fruits of your efforts everyday as you use your intelligence and creativity to help students become excited about and learn about the science in their lives.
Have a Vocation, Not a Job
For many people, their work is a means to an end. They work for a paycheck in order to live their lives. But those called to teach have a true vocation. To those with whom you interact most during your day of teaching - the students - you are not an employee but a friend, a mentor and a guide to the world. A teacher makes a difference in the world by enabling each of his or her students to fully maximize their talents, imagination, skills and character.
Enjoy Interpersonal Interaction
Teaching science provides those people who want to work in science the ability to do so while also enjoying a high level of interpersonal interaction. Teachers interact with their students, other teachers and community members regularly. Many students decide to pursue teaching over other science careers for this personal interaction.
Benefit From Variety
Many people cringe at the idea of doing a job that involves repetition of a specific task over and over. Teaching is a job that offers a great deal of variety. Each year, teachers get to work with a new group of students with unique personalities, experiences and ideas. Teachers can introduce new topics into the courses, change the way they teach a particular topic or design new classes to teach to keep things new and exciting each year.
Be a Lifelong Leaner
You will never learn a topic better than when you start to teach it. Students always ask the most interesting questions, prompting you to dig deeper and learn more about the aspects of science they are most curious about. Teaching science allows you to be a student of science throughout your career as you incorporate new research findings, technologies and science events into your classroom.
Laugh Every Day

Adolescents are both easily amused and very amusing so working with them provides many opportunities for laughter. Sometimes it will be silly jokes you will make up as you teach that will make your students laugh. Sometimes it will be funny statements that your students share with you that make you laugh. A day of teaching when you do not laugh at least a couple times will be quite rare.
Have a High Level of Autonomy
While required classes have mandated curricula that teachers are expected to follow, it is the teacher who decide what will happen in the classroom each day. Teachers teach their curriculum in very different ways depending on their knowledge, personality and beliefs. Not many jobs provide an individual with so much room to be creative and autonomous each day.
Spend More Time With Your Family
One of the great perks of a teacher’s schedule is that it matches up with a child’s school schedule. While you will likely bring some work home with you, you will be able to be home with your children in the afternoons. If you teach in the same school system that your children attend, you will have the same vacation schedule and will be able to spend your summers home with your children. Speaking of vacation….
Enjoy Lots of Vacation
While some schools have moved to a year-round schedule, where teachers’ vacation is divided up throughout the year, most teaching jobs allow you to have a couple of months off in the summer where you can choose to get another job, teach summer school, or just relax and revamp for the next year. In addition to summers off, teachers typically get two weeks off during the winter and one week during the spring.

Top 5 Things to Consider Before Becoming a Teacher

Teaching is truly a noble profession. It is also a very time consuming one, requiring a commitment on your part. Teaching can be very demanding but can also be extremely rewarding. Here are five things you should consider before taking up teaching as your chosen career.

1. Time Commitment

In order to be an effective teacher, you need to realize that the time you are at work - those 7 1/2 to 8 hours - really must be spent with the kids. This means that creating lesson plans and grading assignments will probably take place on "your own time." In order to continue to grow and advance, teachers also need to create time for professional development. Further, to truly relate to your students you will probably be involved in their activities - attending sporting activities and school plays, sponsoring a club or a class, or going on trips with your students for various reasons.

3. Respect or Lack Thereof2. Pay

People often make a big deal about teacher pay. It is true that teachers do not make as much money as many other professionals, especially over time. However, each state and district can vary widely on teacher pay. Further, when you look at how much you are being paid, make sure to think of it in terms of the number of months worked. For example, if you are starting out with a $25,000 salary but you are off for 8 weeks in the summer, then you should take this into account. Many teachers will teach summer school or get summer jobs to help increase their yearly salary.

Teaching is an odd profession, both revered and pitied at the same time. You will probably find that when you tell others you are a teacher they will in fact offer you their condolences. They might even say they couldn't do your job. However, don't be surprised if they then go on to tell you a horror story about their own teachers or their child's education. It is an odd situation and you should face it with your eyes wide open.

4. Community Expectations

Everyone has an opinion of what a teacher should be doing. As a teacher you will have a lot of people pulling you in different directions. The modern teacher wears many hats. They act as educator, coach, activity sponsor, nurse, career advisor, parent, friend, and innovator. Realize that in any one class, you will have students of varying levels and abilities and you will be judged on how well you can reach each student by individualizing their education. This is the challenge of education but at the same time can make it a truly rewarding experience.

5. Emotional Commitment

Teaching is not a desk job. It requires you to "put yourself out there" and be on each day. Great teachers emotionally commit to their subject matter and their students. Realize that students seem to feel a sense of "ownership" over their teachers. They assume that you are their for them. They assume that your life revolves around them. It is not uncommon for a student to be surprised to see you behaving normally in everyday society. Further, depending on the size of the town where you will be teaching, you need to understand that you will be running into your students pretty much everywhere you go. Thus, expect somewhat of a lack of anonymity in the community.