Yep. Just like I did in real life ... getting a Masters in a different field, having a few years of experience in that field, figuring out my love for teaching, dropping everything to get certified to teach. I LOVE my job. My students are awesome, my school is awesome. Though it is an exhausting job, I can't imagine any other life for myself. I am MEANT to be where I am.
Probably not. It depends on what day it is. I would have majored in Health Information Management or General Business with a minor in Human Resources. I took a few classes for business and HR and enjoyed them. Beth
Hard question. Very, very difficult. I'm not completely satisfied, but what I would like to do isn't quite realistic...so I'm just not sure.
I looooooove my job and wish I had pursued teaching earlier. However, if I were doing it over again, I would have pursued a career in music writing and production.
This is a toughie for me. I am having a VERY rough school year. I sat in my principal's office crying because it is that bad. My admins try to help but I feel like I failure. I did not originally go into this field to work with severe/profound students. I sort of fell into it. I love the kids but I'm tired of getting hit/bit/scratched nearly every day. I have scars all over my arms from students. It is emotionally exhausting and I have no one that I can confide in at my school. When I voice my opinions at grade-level meetings people openly roll their eyes at me. I've had people tell me that I don't really teach like they do. I feel completely alone. Now the last 2 years have been a completely different story. I was excited to come and work with the kids. I just don't know if I would do it again.
I don't know that I would do anything much differently. It would have been nice if I could've started teaching in my 20's instead of late 40's. Then again, I was not the same person then that I am now and, frankly, probably would NOT have been a very good teacher at that age. So, no, I wouldn't do things differently. I do believe teaching is the profession I am meant to do, but I also believe I had to travel the road I did to reach this point. I believe God does all things for the good of those that trust in Him and I believe this IS the time I was meant to enter the teaching field. It has definitely been a rough start, but this is the path I was meant to travel and I will stay the course.
I would become a teacher again. I love my job, the staff, and the kids. There are times, however, like about February when the stress levels rise and winter gets old, that I wish I could do something different. I don't know what different would be, but there are times I would like a low stress job - like the people that set at desks and do repetative tasks. I would get bored with that in about 3 days and would be excited to be a teacher again.
Yes...I'd do it again! I was a business major as an undergrad. Worked in advertising sale, customer service...Education is my graduate degree and my second career...it's so much more fulfilling for me than my earlier career. I always tell people I wish that everyone could be as happy in their job as I.
I think I would. Teaching wasn't my first major, but I've been very happy with the choice. I can't imagine that I'd have been any more happy with my other choice.
I wish I had my masters/dr. So I could teach methods to college students. I am getting older and I think I will get burned out in a few more years. I love the field but would love to teach what I have learned to future teachers.
I probably would. There are times I have thought about changing professions, even looked at jobs or programs, but I continue to find joy in my job. I would like to expand on what I do though, tutor or start my after school program.
Hmmm..... Well, I beleive I've made some wonderous impact on the lives of many students. I've also beacme friends with some wonderful coworkers. But, if I went back in time and could repeat college over again, then I would without a doubt choose a different career.
The only thing I would have done differently is to have gone to college for teaching in the first place (I have a business degree from my first round in college), instead of getting my teaching degree at about 35 through a post-baccalaureate program. If I had started off in education I'd have my Masters by now and the salary to go with it. Even with the 60 hour weeks I'm doing right now, I'd rather be teaching than back working in an office.
I don't know..... I worked in an office for about 6 years and I like teaching much more than that. But I might go for a job with a little more respect and a little more money.....whatever that would be LOL I don't regret becoming a teacher---at the end of every day I am happy and proud but I am also frustrated a lot too.
Well, I have only been teaching for about two months , but I'm definitely in a different type of situation than I imagined I would be in. I saw myself ideally working with AP/gifted/highly motivated high school students whose true joy was to come into my class to discuss Thoreau (etc.). Yet here I am, teaching in a Title I middle school and facing bored, frustrated, and uninterested students and trying to teach them-- yet I love it! My students are so much more than that, and unfortunately, those things are all that many teachers focus on. My students amaze me with their potential, and I love how it comes out through them in the most surprising ways. I never imagined I would be doing exactly what I'm doing, but I sincerely pray and aspire to continue seeing all the good in these kids. I also hope that when I have been teaching 20+ years, I would go back and still become a teacher in a heartbeat. One day at a time...
If I'm being honest, no. I wouldn't choose to become a teacher now that I have been one. Don't get me wrong, I do love teaching, but I'd be hard pressed to name another job where you give everything you have, and then you're disrespected on a personal level and a national level. The only thing I can think that might be remotely similar is being a police officer.
My sister is a nurse and she makes tons of $$$! So at least they are financially compensated for their abuse!
Lol, it's funny you say that. DH is a cop, and we often joke, kind of, that we have the two most low paying thankless jobs to be had. Beth
I truly believe it, Beth. Police officers and teachers are both vital to society, and very often despised. I just hate how teachers are portrayed as the bad guys, especially during political campaigns.
Dh is a teacher too and a typical joke between us after a long and rough day is, "Gotta love being over paid and under worked!" Sigh. Definitely not the case. At least he will actually get a very good salary about a year from now when he's a "senior career" teacher, the top bracket in his district. He already has the needed Masters plus additional credits, he just needs another year working in the district.
I'm a recent grad, so I knew what I was getting into. I will say though that I think this past school year was the worst teacher bashing I've seen yet, especially in the media and political realm (it seemed that way to me anyway, but maybe it didn't effect me as much before since I wasn't a teacher yet). I actually tried really hard to think of another career that I wanted to do- one with more fair compensation, one that was respected, and one I had a chance of getting a shot in (in my home state, there are literally an average of 4,000 applicants for a single teaching job). I reserached a lot of different options, but my heart just wasn't in it. I'm a natural teacher and I know it's what I should be doing- I really can't see myself doing anything else. I enjoy my job but I will say that doing this for the next 30 years seems scary, especially since it seems that things are only getting worse and worse. I also have NO interest in picking one school and staying there for the next 30 years- that sounds terrible to me. Yet that is expected in teaching- hopping from location to location or school to school is frowned upon. In business, you could transfer to another branch no problem, but in teaching it is seen as abandoning your school or something. I'd love to live all over the country and experience all these different things, and I feel like teaching will hold me back from that.
Tough question. Had you asked this time last year, my answer would have been a resounding yes. This year, not so much. We moved back to our home region for this school year. I got a full time job (and am lucky to have it), but my partner didn't. We were fine with that and he was fully ready, prepared and excited to sub. We're a month and a half into the school year and already we're drowning. I took a $13,000/year pay cut to move home but, we figured, with my partner subbing this year (last year he was a student), it would make up for the decrease in pay and then some. Except that it's a small community and all of the sub jobs are going to retired teacher friends of the teachers still working full time. He's been on the substitute list for 3 weeks now, as he was waiting for certification, and in those 3 weeks not only has he not been called, not one job has been posted. We're "ok" for right now, but if things continue the way they are, we are going to have to start choosing between paying our bills and eating. That's not an exaggeration. The difference my pay and our expenses, not including gas and food is $150. So, right now, at this second, as I spend my Sunday prepping and marking at a profession that is so hard to break into if you don't know the right people, for pay that doesn't cover the bills, no I would not choose it again. I love the work. I love the kids. I'm GOOD at it. But, it's not worth my sanity, my boyfriend's sanity, my health or my complexion (cause man, does stress ever cause pimples...sorry, just trying to lighten the post).
Probably not. If I could have the same year I had last year, over and over, I would. But things have changed drastically this year and I expect it is only going to get worse from here.
In a heartbeat! I love teaching. I love the kids. Of course, there are aspects that I'm not crazy about.
I'm only into my second month but at this point I would say absolutely yes! I love my kids and my staff. They continue to impress and amaze me every day. I love going into school every morning.
No, I would not. I love my job, but I am overworked and underpaid. I work 70 hours a week between 2 jobs and I make about $38,000/year. My boyfriend has been out of college for 2 years, makes twice as much money as I do (he just got a 10% raise), works a 50 hour work week, just paid cash for a $28,000 car, and just accepted a counter-offer on a house (he will be putting $20,000 down). When I was in college $38,000 seemed like a ton of money. Now that I see how much I work and how little I get paid compared to my peers, I think I would choose a different profession. I just want to feel comfortable financially without having to work 2 jobs. I want to know that I can save for my retirement or buy a home on my own. I'm almost 30 and those "luxuries" seem impossible. I am also nervous about the future of the teaching profession. I do not think I will retire as a teacher. Again, I love my job, but I am feeling burnt out, underpaid, and under appreciated.
I would start out my first semester as an education major instead of making my major education my second semseter because of that, I graduate a year later than I was going to
I am only in my 3rd month of my first year. Education was my second degree. I love it....for now. It takes so much out of you. I can't see keeping up this pace for 30 years. I would like to move into education related non-profit work eventually. Money is not a huge deal for me, but nothing is worth my health and happiness. I am really beating myself up trying to do a good job for under-prepared and under-resourced students.
I am grateful for my career so far. But I've known for a long time that what I do now is temporary. I do enjoy teaching, but I feel like I am searching for my place in education. I know that teaching junior high kids is not it. If I could do it over...no, I don't think I would.
That's very unfortunate, and I'm sorry to hear you are struggling so much.. I have to wonder why teachers salaries vary so greatly. Where I am, teachers start out at 60,000 a year (canadian), but that's very close to the same amount an new nurse grad makes. Teachers are worth so much more than a lot of the salary numbers I have seen in the U.S. Just surprising.
If I could start over at the very beginning of my college career, I would do things differently. At the same time, I have no way of knowing how that would have turned out. The people I would have met would be different, probably would not have ever met my wife, so its really hard to answer that way. I also wanted to teach, it was something I wanted to do and in that regard I am glad I did it. It was never something I wanted long term and I am glad I have a new path that I am working on. But in the end I wont look back and regret the career path.
