I want to be a teacher.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by mrmitchell

I don't call it that bad.

5% of the parents are *******s. 5% of them will be your best friend and help out. Another 67% will just come to parent teacher conferences and be nice but won't get in your way. Although honestly you'll probably never see the rest of them.

I didn't meet that many that I liked, but I admit that you never meet most of them.

[Fake Boris]

I work as a Latin tutor in high school. If you want to teach, don't you ever do anything lower than college!!

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
I'm more looking at teaching at a high school level, but I thought about the whole community college route a lot. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to that. I would, however, like an environment where it's possible to have bonds with the students, which is very hard at a community college level. At high school, you can do a lot such as sponsor clubs, meet with parents, attend sports events and other extra-curricular stuff.

Well if that is what you prefer, more power to you.



I personally prefer teaching young adults though, over teaching children or high school teenagers.


EDIT: Of course, I can't forget that I teach non-traditional students as well, who are in their 30s, 40s or 50s.

[Kidlicious]

Two reasons to teach college instead

1) all the worst students are automatically weeded out

2) no parents

[MrFun]

Kid, you really shouldn't go out of your way to knock what someone else believes he would enjoy doing.




I don't ever want to teach below college level, but I can understand and respect those who have an interest in teaching children or high school teenagers.

[mrmitchell]

Oh, and if any of the kids ever say you're gay, it doesn't mean you've been pulled out of any closets. It just means they don't like you.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by MrFun
Kid, you really shouldn't go out of your way to knock what someone else believes he would enjoy doing.

He'll appreciate it once he starts.

[Guynemer]

Boris, I don't have any advice to give you as to how to pursue this.

But I wish you all the best of luck. I'm sure you'd make a fantastic teacher.

I hated history until I had the best teacher of my life in 9th grade.

[DanS]

Like Guy said, I don't have any advice to give you on how to pursue this, but note that AFAIK you can go directly from your BFA into an MA program. I have heard that many/most public schools now require a masters.

Good luck.

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Kidicious
Boris,

What kind of personality do you have? Can you be an *******? You are going to have to be one, especially during the first part of the school year or they are going to chew you up and spit you out.

Strange. Maybe the school environment you lived in was different from mine, I don't know. In any case we never dissed on teachers, unless they deserved it. If they were good and interesting we were actually eager to have those classes. If you have problems, 75% chance that it's more or less your own fault.
I've had great teachers (a vast minority though unfortunately... in my school ) that had little or no authority at all and I still learnt and enjoyed myself more in that one year that in say the 3 years before that!


Like, giving a helluvalot of (difficult and pointless) tests and being severe and teaching 'ex cathedra' doesn't motivate people to enjoy the class you know...

Doing a test doesn't make pupils study... I never did it anyway. The more severe the worse, in order to make people study I mean. Motivating them so they are interested in the matter themselves works much more in my experience.
In my last 2 years of high school I had a **** teacher for history class, my favourite subject. I totally hated it and I learnt nothing there

ehm so far the

[asleepathewheel]

Sounds fantastic Boris. I think you'll make a great teacher.

Hard work, but can be rewarding if you put a lot into it. The worst teachers are those who are teachers by default, which you clearly are not doing

/s the son of an English teacher.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Kid's experiences are definetly NOT universal. In my school history was one of the favored subjects because we had a number of good teachers in it.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Trajanus
If you have problems, 75% chance that it's more or less your own fault.

It was my own fault, but not because I was mean. I wasn't prepared for it, and I let them take advantage of me. Your experience as a student doesn't really allow you to see what teachers go through and what they have to do to do their job. I thought that all of my students would be as good of a student as I was and be as eager for knowledge. Most students aren't like that. If they think that you are too easy and they can make a party out of your room they will.

[Bosh]

Boris, check your PM. If you don't know if teaching is what you want, head to Asia for a year before you potentially waste your time on a master's degree or teaching certification.

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Kid's experiences are definetly NOT universal. In my school history was one of the favored subjects because we had a number of good teachers in it.

Yeah, in my history tutoring classes at my Hagwon (place for after school lessons) I've got some history classes for kids who're planning to go to boarding school kids and I consider a class a failure unless I get a whole bunch of laughs. For example yesterday I had some kids cracking up about the gorier bits of the Egil Skallagrimson saga and mediaval sanitary practices...

[Barinthus]

BG - pfft to those naysayers.

While teaching is not for everybody, if you have the right personality for it and you can roll with punches, I'm sure you will find the experience rewarding.

I teach language arts in a high school full of special education kids and I hope to grab that opening in the history department for the fall. There are bad days but there are terrific days and moments where you just have to go 'awww' when you find out that that particular kid who gave you hard time during your first weeks declared to other teachers that you're a great teacher.

Go for it!