What advice would you give to a person going in to the education field or teaching?

Answer 1

To be a teacher is to touch many lives in a very personal way. You will have the power to make a child's day bright or miserable. You will have the responsibility of molding the future leaders of the world. If you decide to be a teacher, don't take the decision lightly. Do it because you have to, because it is what is right for you, and you cannot imagine doing anything else. And if you become a teacher, be a teacher with compassion, patience, and understanding. Always assume that the children in front of you have all kinds of "stuff" going on in their lives, and make school a great and rewarding place for them to be. Lead them to become lifelong learners in a changing world. Teach them by your example that the most important thing is to be a helper of others.

Best of luck.

Answer 2

If you dont know what patience is, working in the education field will help you to get it. You have to have a heart for kids of all ages. Also always keep in mind who you are teaching, all kids are different so your teaching forms may have to be different. Be creative at all times, always think of interesting things to do inside and outside the classroom depending on the level you wish to teach. You also have to have a heart for the community in which you teach because kids bring things from the community or their personal homes to school, so you always are not only a teacher but a counselor in a sense. Lastly, always try to make a difference in at least one persons life, it will make teaching that much worth wild.

Answer 3

Oh, it's so sad that so many people are saying answers like "don't." Education is a very rewarding field, it does pay pretty well (my mom makes like 80,000 a year), and it has great stability (which you can't say for a lot of professions)! My mom's advice to me was to remember that it's "the fight to get to the other side of the desk." Sometimes you have to put up with aggervating days w/professors and teaching situations in order to get your own classroom and do it your way. Good areas to go into right now are special education, math, and science. There are a lot of openings with too few teachers to fill them. I love special education because I have so many choices about what type of setting I want to be in.

Answer 4

First make sure that your really want to do this. Go to a bookstore and browse the books that are about teaching.

Once you decide that you really want to do it, then look up the specific requirements for your state.

Then start fulfulling those requirements (like passing standardized tests, getting a BA, student teaching).

Teaching can be an incredibly rewarding job - it takes a lot of patience and caring to do it. I am studying to be a teacher and am currently a tutor - Iove it when a student finally understands a concept. The look of happiness is so amazing. You have to be patient, organized, and willing to work long hours. I often call the kids I tutor "My kids" because I talk about them at home, get to know them, and worry about them.

You certainly have to love kids.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Do it because you love children not because you want to become a millionaire. Teachers actually get paid extremely well for the hours and days they are required to work and it gets tiring to hear collegues whining that they dont get paid fairly. Most people who complain have never held any real job outside of teaching and thus have no way of comparing to the real world. We do in fact get all summer off and vacations throughout the year and get paid salaries that are still above the averages in our communities for people that work all year and longer hours each day.
Kids can be a pain but most of the problem is weak parents that either ignore, abuse or coddle their kids.

Answer 6

If you get on well with people, are a good listener and prepared to get involved 24/7 you are likely to succeed. It is the most rewarding activity anyone could undertake - forget financial rewards and long holidays- but it is also the most stressful job going. If you have a good sense of humour and broad shoulders, do not anger readily, and have saintly qualities, you will enjoy life !

Answer 7

The pay is terrible. If you are going to be a teacher for the pay- don't do it!! We don't get paid enough for the amount of work that we do. You don't work 8-3 because I bring home tonsssssss of work (grading papers, lesson plans, etc). You have to have A LOT of patience. Although there are a lot of negatives, teaching is extremely rewarding!!! I love working with children and being able to make a difference. Eventhough that sounds corny I'm not just saying that lol

Answer 8

Dont expect the children or parents to appreciate you. Get a masters to make sure that you earn a living wage. Try to find a progressive good school district that has adequate funding for equipment, supplies and salaries. Realize that no matter how dedicated and creative you are, some children will not learn and their parents will not be willing to take the responsibility for helping them. Also, if you have to walk through a metal detector to get to your classroom, you might want to reconsider your profession.

Answer 9

Get your masters degree. It will help you get a job and you will make more money.
Be sure. Teaching isn't a job, it is a calling. The best teachers are there because they love teaching and they love kids.

Answer 10

You didn't say which level of teaching you aspire to do, and you indicate if you were coming to the education field from another profession, so....

1) If in the K-12 levels, research your State Dept of Education to know the requirements for credentialing, the required curricular standards, and resources available to you. You can also find out what teaching specializations bring additional incentive pay (e.g. special education, bilingual ability, ESL, etc) depending on the state and district. Also look at employment outlooks for your state (FFI http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco20024.htm) and hot job trends in education (FFI http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0605/hotjobs.html)

1A) find websites for the various teacher unions/contract bargaining agencies to learn about the issues facing them and the contract aspects of particular interest to you (i.e. work conditions, evaluations, benefits, retirement.) (FFI NEA http://www.nea.org/index.html and the state affiliates http://www.nea.org/aboutnea/affiliates.html)

1B) Salary schedules may vary by district, so know ahead of time what the starting and career track salaries are like. Find out ahead of time, what happens should you change districts especially as it affects your salary and career benefits.

2) If teaching a the post secondary levels, find out the details about the various types of schools. For example in my state there are community colleges, state colleges, state universities. Hiring practices vary from state to state, but also between the various types of schools. Salaries are different in the different systems, as are tenure, sabbatical leaves, retirement, and academic ranking (among other things).

Common to all of these:
1) Examine tax related issues regarding possible tax deductions and exemptions for the teaching profession...both at the Federal and State levels). Talk with a qualified tax adviser, especially one familiar with the education profession. Included in this area would be sideline jobs / professional activities that could be another source of income. Essentially, your teaching salary probably won't count under social security, but the sideline work might. Social security may not add up to much in contrast to your teacher retirement check, but consider this to be a plan B should you not continue in teaching until retirement. (FFI: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/)

2) TSA (Tax Sheltered Annuities): find out about these and try to start them as soon as possible, and put the maximum amounts you can into them. Don't put this off. This should be a high priority item for you. Tighten up your budget and do without luxuries and non-necessities to max out the annual contribution. This is in addition to the state teacher's retirement. (FFI: do an internet search on this topic, one site for example is http://www.btu.org/pdf/Tax-SHeltered%20Plans__0506--RS_Sept.pdf)

3) Keep options open for higher degrees as advancement in the salary schedules is often linked to units past your BA, MA and usually max out with a PhD (in addition to longevity of service). Advanced degrees may also qualify you to move from teaching to administrative levels which many teachers do as a major avenue to more pay.

4) Seek out and talk with retired teachers, especially those who retired from the type of teaching service you seek and from the district / institution of interest to you.

5) Keep abreast of the situation for all of these organizations, regulations, laws, etc. that will be affecting you prospective profession and retirement plans. It is never too early to plan for retirement.

6) NEVER SPEND MORE MONEY THAN YOU EARN. Learn to live within your means. Though few people go into the teaching profession to get rich, there are very few jobs where most people in that field feel they are paid enough. Most college graduates are NOT working in the field of their major and most are underemployed and under paid for their current employment.

7) Get into the teaching profession if you are passionate about teaching. Do it because you enjoy it. Then it won't be "work" because you will be paid to do what you love to do. If you do it right, you can enjoy life and help make the world a better place.

Hope this helps. Best wishes.