The pros/cons of being a teacher?

Question

I want to find a new career, and I'm sort of thinking about elementary eduacation....1st-4th would be fine for me. I think I am a compassionate person, as well as understanding, fair, like kids, and have good morals/values. I think I would make a good teacher. Plus, I would love summers off!
What are the ups and downs of the job that most people don't know about?? How long does it take to get the degree? What is the pay? Thanks. Any other info is welcome too.

Answer 1

Cons? The pay isn't that much. It's stressful and you have to strike a balance with an assortment of personalities.

Pros? This is the best one for me, my prime motivator. Students NEVER forget who their teachers are. What you impart molds them into the people they are to be in the future. You will be a part of their lives forever.

You do remember your first grade teacher don't you? :)

Answer 2

I teach High School so I'm not exactly certain how well I can efficiently answer your questions; however, I can tell you some of my experience. First of all, never become a teacher just for the summers off, you will be sadly disappointed. If you are a good teacher, you will use your summer to prepare for the next year. You will go to in-services and you will participate in other events. Not to mention, you will need to get a summer job, because teaching will not provide you enough income to support yourself, much less a family. The starting pay depends on where you teach, be it the state or the city. My school started me out at $34,500 per year. Out of that comes my union fees, 7.5% goes towards my retirement, and then they take out the taxes.
Teaching is a rewarding career, but not in the ways that you mention. The kids make the day exciting. You'll wonder why you stayed up until midnight the night before grading something and then the next day the one little girl that got an "A" for the first time will give you a hug. Suddenly it's all worth it.
Other things that will take alot of time, outside of grading, are writing your own materials, researching materials, preparing lesson plans, IEPs!, and contacting parents. Before you start a career, think of your passions and never think of the money. The pay should be the bonus; you need to love your job in order to be successful.

Answer 3

Pros - vacations, get to work with kids, fullfilling Cons - dealing with parents, NCLB, not enough time My solution after being a classroom teacher for 2 years was to become a school librarian. I still teach, but only have 45 minutes with a class. Being a teacher is not even remotely easy. However if you like to work with kids and are good at discipline, it might work!

Answer 4

I made a career change after being children's social worker for 12 years. I have completed my first year as a special education teacher in High school and the PRO of teaching is the constant learning opportunities to "better yourself" for you as a teacher and for your students, the breaks when you have small children is a PRO but I agree if you are going to be devoted to being a truly good teacher you do want to coordinate the summer break with going to trainings and taking more classes to better prepare you to become more of an effective teacher each coming school year. I love the change and see the advantage of being a social worker with the students I work with who are disadvantaged. The CON is the pay with the extra fees taken out of your paycheck such as union fees, teacher retirement etc, a 2nd job to supplement your income may be good idea is necessary but also a PRO is the little "financial breaks" (respect in society to some extent)you get for being a teacher with maybe purchasing a home, moving into an apartment, school loans which I never got as a social worker which I think is an important job like teachers.
I got my certification in one year of teaching in a classroom with teach prep class, taking the 2 required state teacher tests(in texas) through enrolling in an Accelerated Teachers Program after paying a fee and monthly fees over the school year---it was worth it!

Answer 5

The biggest con is the time taken to pass all the tests and classes they make toy take under the No Child Left Behind Act. That and the time not spent with your kids and family because you have to plan lessons and correct papers, and they pay is not that good either. The pros are that you are positively changing the lives of those who need it the most

Answer 6

There are a lot of pros to being a teacher. It's so fullfilling and fun. Everyday is different. The kids look up to you, which is a great feeling. The only con is that it really is a lot of work. I have just started teaching, and I have no life. I spend every night working on projects and lessons. I know this won't be the case in a few years, though. It took me 5 years to get my degree and I won't be making a lot of money. I'll start at around 32,000 in Washington State.

Answer 7

The biggest advantage to me was having the same time out of school as my daughters. If they had a day off, so did I. I got to spend a lot of quality time with them. The other advantage is meeting some wonderful young people who become friends after being a student. The cons include: parents, administrators, state and federal testing, constantly worrying about getting recertified, grading papers at home, tired feet, and not being able to go to the bathroom whenever you want.

Answer 8

There are many roads to becoming a teacher. Do you already have a degree? If not you will net to get one, in your case elementary education. You could finish the degree in about three years, depending on your class load & if you are willing to take summer classes. The pay really depends on which state your wish to teach. To compare them by state or find your state looke here: http://www.nea.org/student-program/about/state.html#statisticsforsurvival
Are you ready to have to deal with students that have been sexually abused, neglected, etc? It is really difficult knowing that your students are hungry or don't have clean clothes to wear because whoever is taking care of them went to the casino with the paycheck or wasted it all on drugs or alcohol over the weekend instead of taking care of necessities.
I never thought I would have to deal with such things when I entered teaching. I love my students & it breaks my heart every year because something tragic happens to one or several of them.
If you get into teaching, be ready to have your heart broken but be ready to have some of the greatest joys ever.
Teaching is great because you will have the same breaks as your kids, but in many cases you may have to work a second job to pay for some of the activities you want your kids to participate in.

Answer 9

PRO: Imparting knowledge, experience, understanding, perception and reasoning to the open minds of the Youth of today. Helping to create a new generation of numerate, literate, articulate, sentient, cognate, rational, logical, astute thinking Human beings.

CON: Watching Them throw it all away.