Is it fun being an English teacher?

Answer 1

I'd be wary of an English teacher who "intergrates the class with other teachers". That's one poorly written statement!

I love teaching English. There are six strands of Language Arts, which are reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and representing. My area encourages the planning of thematic units that incorporate all of those skills. For example, I can plan a unit around the question, "What is justice?" and we can watch The Life of David Gale, read To Kill a Mockingbird and write letters to the local government asking them to re-investigate the cases of people who are death row. (That's an example, as we don't have the death penalty in Canada)

Answer 2

Based on the level of competence in English I see on Y!A, I'd say it would be a real uphill battle to be an English teacher.

Answer 3

YES!!!! (um, and no).
I teach middle school English, and I LOVE my job.

READING: There's something wonderful about getting paid to read and talk about books. I love exposing kids to stories, and seeing them understand theme, symbolism, etc. Just a month ago, one of my former students plopped down in front of me and said, "miss, let's talk about Bradbury." So we did. I love helping kids find books that speak to them. All this reading brings up issues that the kids deal with, and I love being the teacher that kids sidle up to and talk about stuff because they can do it in the guise of the book their reading.

WRITING: Being an English teacher is great because you help kids find their voice. I work with at-risk kids, which tends to mean disenfranchised populations, so it's especially cool to see them speaking out for themselves and their community. But, all teens are misunderstood at some level. It's great to be able to teach them how to voice their feelings through poetry, essays, letters to the editor, etc.

INTEGRATING: English is the best class for integrating with other teachers, because you have to read and write in all classes. It's a great way to support other subjects and to make your class more interesting. This also makes the lessons more relevant to the kids.

THE DOWN SIDE: English and math teachers are under a ton of pressure because of No Child Left Behind.

There's a ton of pressure to teach the kids in boring test-focused ways, and most schools use test results to determine if you're a good teacher in English and math. It's frustrating, because English teachers like to develop a love of words in the students and to prepare them for high school and beyond--not for a bubble-in test. I hate being under a spotlight, and having old traditional teaching methods forced on me. This happens less in other disciplines.

In all, I love teaching English, and yes, it's fun.

Answer 4

Being a teacher of any subject can be fun, but it also very stressful.

Answer 5

if you love the english language and english literature, the answer is yes. if you don't, well, im sure you wouldn't enjoy it much.