Any teachers on here?

[E30 Wagen]

At one point in college I thought about studying to become a middle school or highschool teacher, mostly math. This feeling is still there at times. Are there any teachers on r3v who'd be willing to share their experiences, persuade or disuade me from it?

[mbonder]

I'm a high school history teacher and I think its the greatest job ever!

When I was just starting out in student teaching, my mentor told me that once I finished my first year of teaching and had 2.5 months of summer off, I would never go back to a 12 month job again (and boy was she right!)

You won't become a millionaire through teaching alone, but I feel the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. There is so much to do, so many interactions each day, there's always something new/different going on. I was always bored at many other jobs prior to teaching because it seemed as though many jobs are monotonous, where teaching presents many opportunities for variety daily.

If you are interested, go for it, however, I will tell you that if you go into a teaching program, it will probably suck to some extent and you will feel like most of it is self-explanatory or absolutely obvious, just get through it so you can get into the classroom and start the real work. Just remember, you are always learning, even after years of teaching.

PM me if you have more specific questions about any of it, I'm happy to help.

Matt

[Redfox]

My aunt is a teacher here in Florida. She went from loving it to absolutely dreading work. You take work home with you every night. Expect to be grading papers constantly, coming up with lesson plans(both very well into the night as you try to catch up on papers to grade), dealing with parents who are rude and disrespectful, blaming you and not their child for their bad behavior and grades. Expect to struggle financially if you have a family, especially a growing one. Benefits are being stripped and bonuses are disappearing.

She also works at an "A" school.
Be prepared to be blamed if your students don't study and are lazy, and be prepared to take the heat if they don't pass a standardized test. They also (here at least) have stopped doing the long term teacher contracts, and instead have annual contracts. If you are new or your performance isn't up to par they won't rehire you and you are stuck looking for a job.

The stress and work you bring home, as well as often times bringing your own personal money into providing classroom and school supplies to go with lessons and planning. I considered teaching but with watching my aunt struggle and barely making ends meet it just wasn't worth the hassle.

Bottom line is your work is way more than just the day time. Expect to put in a lot more hours than you'll be paid for. And expect a lot of stress.

[jakeb]

I am a teacher by day.... I am switching to part time this year to be able to do more car builds but I cannot see myself not teaching some.

I will say this that the kids are the best part. There are a lot of other things involved with being a public school teacher that are not desirable. There are times when you will hate it...a lot. The pay is all over the place it seems. Mine is pretty low..while other districts are pretty high.

I teach music and some other electives so I do sorta have the fun classes.
I am not sure if I would recommend going into teaching 100% especially in the current climent with how much the state is cutting funding for education, etc etc

But as said before the perks of summers off and vacations throughout the school year is a HUGE plus. I would never want to work a true 9-5 job ever again.

[swingard]

I'm a teacher! My degree is in Elementary Education and have a masters in Educational Leadership K-8 Mathematics. I have been teaching Special Ed. at an Urban/Suburban middle school since 2005. This year I will be teaching General Math and Social Studies to 8th graders. I agree with everything everyone has posted so far, both good and bad. There is a ton of pressure from parents and administration. You will learn to have a love/hate relationship with students. The work load during the school year is overwhelming, but for the most part very rewarding. Here is my advice to any prospective middle school teacher... If you are a control freak, don't do it. If you are laid back and can roll with the punches go for it! I have noticed that teachers who get married to their work ten to get burnt out easily, a few years of 12 hour days (way past contractual hours) with little or no thanks tends to make them hate life. Personally I limit my work to 45 hours a week, and I leave work at work. This philosophy has allowed me to love to wake up and go to work everyday for almost 10 years. There are many perks to teaching and a number of drawbacks... Id love to answer any questions you have based on my experiences just ask away!

[Vtec?lol]

My aunt is a teacher here in Florida. She went from loving it to absolutely dreading work. You take work home with you every night. Expect to be grading papers constantly, coming up with lesson plans(both very well into the night as you try to catch up on papers to grade), dealing with parents who are rude and disrespectful, blaming you and not their child for their bad behavior and grades. Expect to struggle financially if you have a family, especially a growing one. Benefits are being stripped and bonuses are disappearing.

She also works at an "A" school.
Be prepared to be blamed if your students don't study and are lazy, and be prepared to take the heat if they don't pass a standardized test. They also (here at least) have stopped doing the long term teacher contracts, and instead have annual contracts. If you are new or your performance isn't up to par they won't rehire you and you are stuck looking for a job.

The stress and work you bring home, as well as often times bringing your own personal money into providing classroom and school supplies to go with lessons and planning. I considered teaching but with watching my aunt struggle and barely making ends meet it just wasn't worth the hassle.

Bottom line is your work is way more than just the day time. Expect to put in a lot more hours than you'll be paid for. And expect a lot of stress.

This is very true. My highschool history teacher was young. After I graduated we became close friends and usually had a drink weekly. I noticed she started to drink more and more and was very short when we talked. I dug a little deeper and she unvieled the woes of the workplace. Keeping a job and raising a family takes it's tolls. She hated that she couldn't devote the time she felt her daughter deserved without it negatively effecting her job. She was at a point where she broke into tears and her marraige failed.

She quit and became a counselor for an all girls baptist highschool. No contract bull shit and plenty of bonuses. even better, she got more time to deal with her family and remarried a more understanding guy.

My uncle is an algebra teacher at a highschool and he doubles as the basketball coach. He doesn't get home till 10pm some nights and get's up at 4am to repeat. Lost all his hair and his kids went rogue on him since he was hardly home enough to spend time with them.

It takes a special person. That's for certain!

[swingard]

With all these stories about the pressures of teaching I feel compelled to add more about my personal experience with the career. I have seen teachers become so consumed with teaching that their marriages failed. I have seen teachers children completely rebel against them because the parent spent so much time concerned about teaching his/her students that they neglected their own children. My wife and I are both teachers. Early in our career we were going through uber relationship issues. We had even discussed separation/divorce. Now keep in mind that a typical work day for both of us during the school year was 6:00AM to 6:00PM and then even when we were home we would grade or plan until we fell asleep. At the peak of our troubled relationship we decided that for the next week we would only work until 4:00 PM and not bring any work home to complete so we could make one last ditch effort to save our relationship.

As soon as we started coming home at 4:00 PM our issues disappeared. It was like a light switch was hit. That first week of not working 12,14,16 hours a day was like a breath of fresh air to us. This will be our ninth year teaching and we both have been home by 5:00pm every night. It is rare we bring things home with us. We leave work at work and if it doesn't get done, tough. We have young children now and make sure that evenings are devoted to them.

I am positive had we both continued to work the outrageous hours that many teachers feel pressured into working we would have been divorced long ago.

I love this thread. lol

[evandael]

i'm strongly considering a m. ed in counselor education, because as much as i find teaching appealing, the sheer number of students you must try and connect with (25-30 a class, 4-5 classes) or even keep up with (grading, lesson planning, as this thread has discussed) is daunting.

i would much rather work one-on-one with students. ideally pre-college or collegiate level. i know i benefitted as much from advisors and counselors as i did from the few outstanding teachers i had.

no doubt, i respect the profession. sure many people take advantage and become complacent. many others are seriously undervalued and overworked.

more concerns:
weekly stress,
over-qualification (ph. d to teach middle school?)
federal/state/local budget cuts,
parent/teacher/student relationship qualms,
administrative bullshit,
standardized testing requirements,
quantitative, not qualitative, performance reviews,
and a general lack of respect and progressivism towards education,
the list continues.

[mr.vang]

Just to add, 70% of all my previous teachers are divorced, 25% still married and 5% single. Btw my 7th grade teacher was a hot young chick who just finished college.

[Todd Black 88]

I hate our public school system here. We have a very militant teachers union, with a lot of teachers that got into teaching for the time off.

WRONG reason to be a teacher.

Our long time teachers make more per year worked, actually they work less then 9 months, then an equivalent working length Nurse makes in 12 months, and they are threatening another strike. They hide behind class size issues, when all they want is more money and time off. They make more then the national family average in this province to start, and over $80k after something like 10 years.

My sons school is out 45 minutes early every Wednesday and one friday every month,for "teacher education".

Teachers here can suck a dick!