Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Fort Bend County, TX/USA/Mississauga, ON/Canada
2,702 posts, read 6,040,299 times
Reputation: 2304
Advertisements
I found this article on theage.com about teaching
"TEACHING has never been about the money. Perhaps it's a good thing that students who might have been considering a career in teaching but thought about the money first did not make the mistake of entering the classroom. This year, applications for teaching degrees in Victoria are down by 6.8 per cent. The question is why?"
Anyway, how did you get into the classroom? Did you know it was what you wanted to do before anything or were you pulled into it by other means? I'm honestly interested in what fellow teachers have to say?
Yes, it is a calling. I wanted to be a teacher since middle school. I also believe that the subject/age group that you work with is a calling. I prefer younger children. Some teachers would die if they had to work with young children.
Interesting question and one i've been pondering for a while now. I hated school while I was growing up and thought the last place I'd want to do is go back into a classroom, but now I'm a TA working on getting certified to teach and I am feeling called--never mind that I'll be 50 pretty soon. I didn't actually realize that I wanted to do this until I started subbing, but as soon as I walked into a classroom I knew it was for me. I was the same way with motherhood--drug my feet all the way to the delivery table, then fell in love as soon as I saw my babies.
I'm in a high school now, and high school was the thing I hated most when I was a kid, and I had actually planned to be a HS dropout in kindergarten (no I'm not kidding--wish I was). So why do I love this? B/c I work with troubled teens and I have a firm understanding of what some of these kids are going thru and I have used my past experiences to talk several kids out of dropping out of HS. I pray I will be a good teacher, and some of my coworkers have told me I have a gift, so I pray that this alternate road will be a good match with me and the kids. Will I be a better teacher than those who always knew they wanted to teach? I doubt it, but I don't think I'll be worse either--we can all balance each other out. And my past negative experiences will help me to be more creative in getting the material across to those kids who are struggling.
I am not a teacher yet. However, I have always had a deep down desire to be a high school teacher. I have wanted that since I was in high school. I was raised by a teacher and spent my time growing up in that environment.
I didnt pursue it and choose to go into business. I have spent the last 10 years of my life working for huge corporations in a cubicle farm. I told myself that I wanted to get real world work experience and teach later in life when I had gotten a good savings and did everything I wanted to do in the business world.
Over the past few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that I am meant to be a teacher. I have never been happy with my work.
So, I am in the process of talking to my school about changing majors and going into the education process.
To answer your question, I dont really believe in callings per say. However, I think that certain people know what they want to do early on in life. If you want to call that a calling then I guess it is.
I'll be honest: I'm leery of the quasi-religious, semi-spiritual nature of the idea that teaching is a "calling." No one ever seems to suggest that other professions in which people might find legitimate career pleasure -- being a mortician, balancing accounts, constructing a building, hauling trash -- are undertaken as a result of a "calling."
Being viewed as secular saints is a trap for teachers: after all, the logic goes, you're not in it for the money, for you have been "called": you're in for higher, better motives than filthy lucre. Conclusion: We don't have to pay you...or at least, not very much.
I went into teaching because I enjoy teaching, but I am no saint. Like most every other human on the globe, I work for a living. I expect to get paid in accordance with my education, my experience, and my ongoing effort. If my work is below-par, I do not expect (nor do I deserve) to be paid well, but if this is not the case and my work is outstanding, and I am still not given an appropriate salary to compensate me fairly and professionally, then I will be "called" to leave.
. . . and many are those who respond even though the call wasn't for them.
Ah yes, I was one of them. I got my teaching credential a few years ago and haven't set foot in the classroom since. There were things I absolutely loved about teaching but ultimately I knew that the long hours (among other things) would get to me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
