The Teaching Profession
Becoming an educator, especially in recent years has been considered one of the most demanding yet rewarding professions in the work force today. Teaching, with its benefits and intellectual motives has risen to become one of the most sought after jobs in society. But even after taking such rewards into consideration, one might want to analyze how time consuming and emotionally draining teaching young people may turn out to be. Along with its rewards and demands, teaching is not only a potentially prestigious profession but also a very unique and sometimes life long career opportunity. Exploring teaching has become a popular tactic in recent years for people to make a better decision on whether or not teaching is a career for them.
Individuals, especially in today’s society, tend to choose their professions based on a variety of different reasons. For many, the opportunity to do something they enjoy in life attracts them to that particular area of work. For many people, young and old, having the skills to teach an individual and being able to properly use these skills has proven to lead to some of the most exhilarating experiences anyone could ever have on any given day. Although some people choose teaching as a career because they want to follow in the footsteps of former admired teachers or family members, the main reason usually is to be able to work with young people. Interaction with children on a day to day basis in or out of the classroom not only helps them, but also gives the teacher that needed sense of accomplishment. It feels good knowing you were able to help and guide someone through not only schoolwork but also life, as is true with young people. Being needed by young people gives teach...
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... a career, one can then make the important decision of whether teaching is really for them or not. If being able to communicate with young people and knowing that you are needed on a day to day basis is enjoyable for an individual, then teaching may be something to get involved in. As far as a challenging career is concerned, teaching requires patience, flexibility and knowledge. If way above average salaries and a non-complex profession are what someone is seeking, teaching may not be a career to get too serious about. More or less, teaching is quite the prestigious job and is looked highly upon by many which has over the years, put a very high value on teaching and education. With all of the many good and poor aspects of teaching available to people, now they are able to make a solid judgment on whether or not they are capable or willing to get into such a career.
While growing up and observing my teachers at school, I have learned that it isn’t always an easy job. Teachers do everything they can to teach their students’ academic, social and other formative skills. Plenty of my teachers have to deal with complications, most of them being minor, but it isn’t always an easy job helping children, teens and young adults. As a student myself, I know they can be stubborn, unwilling to learn, aggressive, and irresponsible. Sometimes, they simply don’t care. However, that is a teacher's purpose: to help and shape their students to become better learners, so that they have a clearer understanding regarding a variety of subject matters. Someday, I actually want to become an elementary art teacher, which is why I researched this career. I chose to gather more information of what skills it takes to be a teacher and what you need to do to successfully fulfill this career.
Before I started this university course I had no idea how hard it is to be a teacher. I thought teaching was about imparting knowledge of the syllabus to students. I now see the tremendous amount of work teachers put in everyday, going far beyond just curriculum content. It takes a very dedicated lifelong learner who is passionate about making a difference in the lives of children to become a teacher. Teaching presents many challenges and complexities. To ensure students receive high quality education they deserve, Teachers must meet the National Standards and requirements and constantly reflect upon their practice to improve. Schools in the 21st Century have a large diversity of students with different background and status. As professionals,
Working with children has always been a delight to me. I have had the opportunity to work with children in a variety of settings, most recently at a local elementary school. As a volunteer teacher assistant in a 3K classroom, I encourage students to develop a love of learning and discovery. The activities that myself and the teacher participate in with the children help them develop academically, socially, and emotionally. I encourage facilitated learning by working directly with the kids and encouraging others to join in on the group’s fun.
If someone had asked me 13 years ago, when I first started my career in Education, what my long-term plan was, I would have surely responded that I planned to retire as a classroom teacher. I returned to college to pursue teaching as an adult, and was sure, at the time, that I would always be satisfied in that role. The truth is I do love my job. I love seeing that light bulb go on! As many teachers do, I spend many evenings and weekends researching and planning and going way above and beyond my expected duties in an effort to make a difference for every child. But time passes, people grow, and experiences change people in ways they didn’t see coming.
This research aims to analyze information concerning the rewards and challenges a teacher would face in his or her career. As a teacher, there are several things I am aware of that one would experience on daily basis. Rewards and challenges are among the encounters in the teaching career (Kauchak, 2005). They are very common and unavoidable in teaching career. Rewards come obviously; just seeing the children learn new things and grow in knowledge appears to be the greatest and best reward of all. However, challenges arise in ever size and shape. From the distressed and neglected kids to the frustrated ones. Nevertheless, where a challenge exists, comes a bigger reward in the long run.
There are many reasons people decide to enter the teaching field. Some enter because they enjoy working with people or children, others because they like being off during the summer months, and still others because of their love for a particular subject. Although all these reasons are valid, I feel my reasons are much simpler. The bottom line is that I love kids and enjoy working with them. My desire to make learning a more positive experience for them has only increased with time.
In a society where kids must go to school up to the collegiate level, teaching is an impactful career choice. Teachers help contour the minds of future leaders of the world. Furthermore, teachers play a crucial role in guiding students to the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need to succeed in life, and teachers lead students to make informed decisions on any topic the meet in the future. As a teacher, a person must relinquish their knowledge onto students. Finally, they must prepare their students for all the obstacles they will face later in life.
Through my own experiences, and as enforced by others' opinions in the profession, I have found that teaching is one of the most rewarding careers. Not only are you placed in the position of instructing and guiding children and young adults through the life long learning process, but you are able to give back to the schools and communities which have supported your early education and experiences that opened you up to a bright future. In becoming an educator, I hope to someday share the knowledge and lend the helping, supportive hand that I was once given, allowing students to formulate their own perspectives of the multicultural society and world around them. Teaching is a career I have been interested in pursuing throughout high school, and as my experiences and study in the field expands, I feel that my desire to teach will grow stronger and develop more soundly.
My interest in teaching started at a young age. I used to watch my teachers in awe as they were able to find new ways to get their students involved and excited to learn. Their enthusiasm to teach was so inspiring. I would often find myself using that same fervor as I grasped each concept. I, then, was able to relay it to my fellow classmates as a peer tutor. To this day, becoming a teacher is a passion that flows through me. However, my enthusiasm and passion are not the only reasons I would be a good teacher. I aspire to see a student’s ability to grasp the knowledge they never before understood. I aspire to see a student succeed at something they never thought they ever could. I aspire to not only support students with academic skills, but also with life lessons about the value of community, pride in one’s own ethnicity, good citizenship, sportsmanship, and more. I aspire to play a fundamental role in ensuring that all students from all cultures and learning abilities have the opportunity to be guided in a positive learning
Picture this, a young girl wearing her mother’s dress and high heels teaching her dolls, or a young boy running around with a red hat and a garden hose. From an early age, many people dream of what they wish to become when they grow up. A few individuals follow this dream; while others leave it behind as a childhood fancy and proceed to accomplish something completely different. Regardless of whether the career a person chooses was a childhood dream, or one decided on later in life, they should conduct significant research on the career. This will aid in determining whether a career is truly suited for the person. Researching also reveals both the positive and negative aspects of the career. This helps the individual in determining if only the surface of what the career entails is seen, or whether they will detest the job once the duties of the job have begun to be performed. From this research, I desire to choose the career best suited for me by learning the necessary education, duties, salary, disadvantages, and advantages of secondary mathematics teaching.
I have decided to become a teacher because I love children. I enjoy watching them grow, and I want to make a difference in the lives of my students. As a teacher, I will do everything that I can to ensure that each becomes a productive, successful citizen in life. In order for me to obtain this goal, I will create a loving, positive, respectful, and safe learning environment where each student will be treated equally and be encouraged to do his or her best. Keeping this in mind, there are four elements that I must remember which includes (1) how young children develop, (2) what they should know and be able to do, (3) instructional strategies that I have learned, and (4) my feelings regarding parent involvement.
Teaching is a daunting task that I do not intend to take lightly. Becoming a teacher has been a dream of mine for several years. I always knew that teaching would be the career for me, especially when I began working in the school system as a substitute secretary. I loved working in the school environment; coming in contact with children everyday made me realize how much I would enjoy teaching a classroom full of students.
“Teaching is often a difficult process, but the end result is very rewarding. Watching a child develop confidence and seeing a student progress in their studies is a very exciting process. Teaching young children is especially great because it is setting a foundation for life-long learning.”(Chronicle guidance publications). What is teaching? A teacher is a person who provides education for pupils (children), or students (adults) using lectures, audiovisual aids, demonstrations, and computers to present academic, social, and motor skills. Teachers can also teach foreign languages, art, kids with special needs, and P.E. Teaching has changed a lot compared to the traditional methods of just lectures and textbooks. Students now are encouraged to actively learn through groups or individual projects. They have learning games, debates, and experiments to help them through the learning process. Being a teacher would be a great career for anyone who wants to further themselves, to help people, and to have great benefits (chronicle guidance publications).
I believe that teaching is the most important profession in the world. How else can we continue to develop in such a technical world, or in any other way, for that matter? Without the transfer of knowledge to young minds, we will stagnate and wither as a world. Teaching is hope for better, more successful futures. Learning is hope for becoming better individuals, for gaining intelligence, and for implementing practical experiences in our future. Since we always tell our children that they should plan for their futures and work to realize those goals, the teaching profession should “practice what it preaches” by helping young people to reach those goals. Teaching reading during the past five years has been rewarding beyond my imagination. I have watched non-readers become readers, I have watched scores and student confidence improve, and I have been part of that change. What a reward!
In recent years, the cliché image of a teacher has come under attach. Research has shown that teachers often work in an isolated setting in which they are considered experts in their specific area; however they often lack the support and equipment needed to do their jobs effectively. As a result, to the inadequate working environment new teachers often leave the profession within the first five years. These conditions often exist because the educational system fails to prepare our teachers with the proper tools and experience needed to do their job well (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).