FIRSTHAND OBSERVATIONS
Is Teaching Right for You?
Six realities that often surprise new educators
Planning to raise children or transition to a more lucrative career, some new teachers enter the classroom eager to leave it; however, plenty of freshly minted graduates bank on teaching long-term but walk away from education after just a year or two simply because their expectations didn’t predict the realities of teacher life.
For those who wonder if they should become teachers, I’ve outlined six aspects of education that tend to surprise and overwhelm newbies.
1. Personality makes or breaks a teacher
To thrive in a classroom, you don’t have to be boisterous or funny (though kids love that), but you do have to be mentally, emotionally, and physically energetic in your own way. When you’re excited, most of your students will be excited too. When you’re sad, tired, or irritable, many of your students will become distracted and resentful.
On difficult days you can fake enthusiasm, but it will take the kind of Herculean strength no one can muster long-term. Students will begin mirroring your negativity and apathy within a week.
You’ll need internal fortitude. Even on days that aren’t much fun, you’ll need to calmly, pleasantly, and relentlessly insist that students meet classroom expectations. Boundaries won’t exist if you don’t consistently reinforce them; excellence won’t be achieved unless you consistently demand it. Maintaining a physically and emotionally safe environment (let alone a decent learning environment) can feel particularly difficult for those who lack self-confidence or shy away from confrontation.
Your sanity will depend on whether you genuinely like spending time with kids. Many, many kids. All at once. Roughly a hundred times a day you’ll encourage Jordan to write the second sentence in their essay while responding to Dylan, who repeatedly asks if they can bring pancake mix and a waffle iron to class on Tuesday. (The correct answer is “no.”)
You’ll need a thick skin or the appearance of one. Even the most brilliant and beloved teachers deal with difficult students and challenging class periods. If you lose your cool with the student who says, “This sucks,” or “Why is this class so boring?” you’ll lose credibility with everyone in the room. A few tender-hearted students’ eyes will grow wide with pity, but pity isn’t respect, and respect is essential.
You’ll need to like — or at least not mind — the limelight. Even when students work independently or in groups, they’ll be aware of you. In a sense, you’ll be a performer, an “edutainer,” whose teacher act lasts until your classroom is empty at the end of each day. A thirty-minute lunch break will be your only guaranteed alone time, and you may find yourself forfeiting even that. I once spent a spring of lunchtimes in my classroom with a student who couldn’t find anyone else to eat with.
The ceaseless flood of teacher-student interactions can be draining, especially when you’re not used to it. I’ve heard teachers complain that, after a day at school, they lack the emotional energy to enjoy their own families.
2. Teachers aren’t just accountable for providing quality instruction; they’re accountable for student learning
Even if you work beyond contract hours, plan units based on state and district learning standards, deliver well-prepared lessons that incorporate innovative technology, provide enrichment activities for gifted students and special resources for students with disabilities, and ensure that students remain engaged (you’ll be expected to do all of this and much more on a daily basis), you haven’t done enough if your students don’t show growth on state and district-wide tests.
Last year, administrators at my school frequently repeated, “It’s not your fault, but it is your problem.” In other words, even when your students’ home lives, physical health issues, mental health issues, language barriers, and low effort cause poor academic performance, you’ll still be responsible for their success or lack thereof.
3. Expectations for teachers are varied and sometimes contradictory
“To teach is to touch a life forever.”
“Teaching is a work of heart.”
“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
“Be the person you needed when you were younger.”
“Guide your students to find their wings.”
I’ve stumbled across dozens of similar sentiments. Most are well-intentioned but problematic since no university that I’m aware of offers a Channeling-Your-Inner-Julie Andrews course.
The fact is, stronger student self-esteems are sides effects of a teaching job well done, not the job itself. Ironically, teachers who truly help students “find their wings” are usually the most academically rigorous ones. Parents, grandparents, friends, etc., help children by knowing and celebrating who they are outside of school; teachers help children by giving them the chance to conquer scholastic challenges.
Believing otherwise, some school counselors, school psychologists, and parents will become irritated when you require students to do assignments, complete projects, and take tests before giving them decent grades. “How,” they’ll wonder, “can solving equations and writing essays help kids swamped by peer pressure, anxiety, ADHD, technology addiction, and depression?” They won’t understand that mastering academic skills will prepare some students for future careers and will increase all students’ self efficacy.
Even if school employees and community members could agree that a teacher’s role is primarily academic, controversy would remain. When I volunteered to help sixth graders register for seventh grade, a parent asked me how her child could enroll exclusively in classes that would prepare him for law school. The same day, other parents crammed their children’s schedules with music, art, and language courses for the sake of cultural and intellectual enrichment. When someone suggested that high school math should be optional since “no one uses it,” my head swam with the conflicting priorities of those who think teachers should emphasize college prep, those who think teachers should facilitate creative exploration, and those who think teachers should ground all instruction in practicality.
Grading further muddies teachers’ already ambiguous role. The latest trend of “Standards-based learning” requires teachers to base grades exclusively on students’ mastery of predetermined standards. As a result, some teachers no longer incorporate life skills into their classrooms. Meanwhile, teachers who cling to more traditional grading policies persist in teaching timeliness, neatness, effort, and responsibility in general.
Torn between conflicting expectations, you’ll have to decide for yourself which of your professional responsibilities are most important. Be prepared to defend your position in the face of inevitable criticism.
4. Few truly believe teachers are professionals
Not everyone will understand that you’ve entered a genuinely challenging career. Those who do won’t fully grasp why.
Some will assume you work in Hell, wearily attempting to impart useless scholastic trivia to naughty and unmotivated kids. Others will view your career as a heavenly extension of parenthood — work fit for nuns, angels, and saints. They’ll assure you a special place in paradise for working with children. You’ll perpetuate this misconception by staying at school long past contract hours to praise poems scribbled in secret notebooks, advise student-run clubs, and help students one-on-one with little to no financial compensation.
To the powers that be, a low wage seems reasonable for Hell’s workers (they get what they deserve) and for Heaven’s workers (the intangible rewards are incalculable). Unfortunately, because most people associate money with success, your non-teacher peers may admire your goodness, but they will probably never deem you successful.
5. Teachers are professionals.
Stay-at-home parents who’ve enjoyed teaching Sunday school or volunteering at their children’s schools sometimes consider becoming teachers to supplement existing income. They assume the job will be a good fit since they like kids and love the prospect of long vacations and afternoons at home. If you recognize yourself in this description, you’re not wrong to consider a career in education; however, even if you’re made to teach, your first year will probably be a baptism-by-fire. You’ll quickly realize that teaching isn’t a “job;” it’s a “career” in every sense of the word.
As a teacher you’ll attend dozens of meetings and workshops, implement the latest research-backed “best practices” in your classroom, become fluent in hundreds of acronyms and buzz words, develop passionate opinions on controversial pedagogical movements, and master a wide variety of online interfaces and programs — most of which will change on a fairly regular basis.
An increasing number of schools require teachers to participate in multiple Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) comprised of educators who teach the same grade levels and subjects. Within each PLC, you’ll regularly collaborate to create assignments, assessments and grading rubrics based on long lists of detailed national and state learning standards; collect, disaggregate, and share data from common assessments; compare student performance averages; design remediation strategies; determine grading and late-work policies; and select curriculum materials.
You’ll serve on school and district committees. There’s a good chance you’ll occasionally present data or propose funding allocations.
However, the majority of your time will still be spent in your own classroom, scrambling to master and combine two distinctive skill sets, each of which will feel like a full-time job in its own right — classroom management (How do you capture and maintain kids’ interest and compliance?), and classroom instruction (How do you help young people understand and retain information? How do you enhance their critical thinking abilities and help them synthesize and apply new knowledge?).
If education can be compared to performing arts, I practiced “Mary Had a Little Lamb” during the rehearsal known as student teaching only to sight read Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto once I landed a job. It took me three years to hit two thirds of the notes. To say those years were humbling would be an understatement. I’d graduated magna cum laude. I’d bagged my English Department’s Most Outstanding Teaching Major award. Still, teaching junior high felt impossible. Because teaching’s learning curve is so steep, I don’t recommend it to anyone who’s interested in a casual or temporary job.
6. Teaching just might be your dream career
If you like working with kids, you can develop the other essential teaching skills with effort and persistence.
My first few years of teaching were rough. I was bad at lesson planning and worse at classroom management. Still, I always liked the kids, and they knew it. I laughed more than I lost my temper, and I learned. I read books and articles. I listened during meetings and workshops. The effort exhausted me, but it paid off. A few years ago, as I glanced out at a particularly challenging class, it dawned on me that I was in control. I knew what to teach and how to teach it. I knew how to interact with my students. I could feel their potential. I had their attention.
I’m still learning, I still have bad days, and sometimes the benefits of teaching don’t seem to outweigh the costs, yet I return year after year because I’m not sure anything else could be as fulfilling. I crave the rush (and it is a rush) that comes from crafting a lesson or unit that engages students and enables them to learn. More than that, I live for the kinds of interpersonal moments that inspire the sappy quotes I find so irritating.
Even when each school year seemed like a series of catastrophic train wrecks, I occasionally experienced the type of Hollywood-worthy moments that you dream of when you set out to become a teacher — moments that have become more frequent as I’ve better mastered my craft. I’ve collected a modest but growing number of notes thanking me for making a difference. I’ve seen students enjoy reading for the first time in their lives. I’ve been there when students realized they were smart. I’ve moderated passionate and thought-provoking discussions. Students have never called me “Captain! My Captain,” but there’ve been times I thought they might if I asked them to.
If, understanding what teaching entails, you want to be a teacher, be a teacher. Know that teaching probably won’t be easy; know that when it’s good, it’s the best job in the world; know that it just keeps getting better.