So You Thought You Wanted To Be A Teacher?
It’s never easy when you realize that you went to school to get a degree and learn about something that you end up not liking. There are more people out there that dislike their job that you would think; many of them just don’t want to admit it. It’s hard to admit that you spent all that time (and money!) getting a degree and now you can’t stand what you are doing. Many people who go into teaching deal with this!
So, you finally get your teaching degree, you get in the classroom and in front of students, and you can’t stand it! Maybe you don’t feel comfortable in front of a class, maybe you find that you aren’t as good at the actual teaching as you thought you would be, or perhaps you just don’t have the patience for lesson plans that it takes to make a great teacher? Are you thinking your education degree is a complete waste? Don’t be so fast to call off the whole deal, there are other things you can do with an education degree that might turn out to the perfect solution to your horrible job dilemma.
Most teachers do not get into the business to get rich and famous, so if you decide you don’t like teaching because you are not becoming rich or famous, than it’s possible that you simply chose the wrong career and you should start over. If you decide that teaching just isn’t comfortable for you, doesn’t fit your lifestyle, or it’s just not enjoyable, you shouldn’t do it anymore. Do you keep pushing through? Do you force yourself to continue to work in a job that you don’t like? It’s hard to know what to do in this situation, but there are many options just waiting for you as the world needs every ambassador of education we can get!
What you should not do is stay in a job that you don’t like. Education is serious business for those that are seeking education and you should not be in the position of providing the educations if you do not honestly enjoy what you do. Students, especially children, pick up on these things and the impact your disdain for your job has on them can be long lasting, even if you don’t think that your discomfort or whatever it may comes through in the classroom. Students are perceptive, so if you are in the classroom and you really don’t like it all that much, get out as soon as you can.
But, you don’t have to abandon the educational system altogether just because you don’t want to be in the classroom. Your knowledge, experience, and education can still be a real asset to the education system if you want it to be. You’ll find that many teachers decide they don’t want to actually do the teaching, but they are great at the administrative jobs in the school system, the writing of lesson plans, figuring the structure of kids with special needs education, and many other things. You might find that you are more comfortable working behind the scenes than in front of the class.
A lot more goes into education than teachers showing up at a school and teaching classes full of children. There are many steps in between, and you might be good at delegating, creating programs, or even working as a teacher aide until you feel comfortable getting in front of a class and putting together lesson plans on your own. One great opportunity for many people with a degree in education is school principal and vice principal positions. These are jobs that still involve children and education, but they are not positions that usually necessitate teaching classrooms full of children every day. There is still a lot of administrative work and guidelines and such to follow, but the job is much different and many teachers find that principal positions are actually the niche that they fall into better.
If you have an education degree you might find that you work better in a research capacity. There are many groups and companies that do research on the education system, children, adult students, and many other areas of education where you can truly put your degree to work. Or, maybe you want to work with local or even national politicians to help better the educational system in your city, state, or country. Many politicians seek the guidance of those with an educational degree to help form their education platforms, and this might be something that you are really interested in.
You can combine your education degree with other things that you like to do. For instance, if you like working with animals, maybe you can become the education facilitator between a network of zoos and local schools or something like that. As you can see, there are so many different things that you can do with your educational degree. If you think outside of the box you might find that there are so many more things to do with your teaching degree than you ever thought possible.
Of course, you shouldn’t give up on being a teacher altogether. Maybe you’ll come back to teaching at some point when you’ve done some other things. If you think you’d like to continue teaching, you just might not have found the right circumstances to teach in. Maybe you’re in the wrong school, the wrong grade, or age range of students, or working with the wrong people. Try changing the teaching environment and you might enjoy yourself more.
Education can be a difficult job, and many people don’t realize this when they get into it. If you don’t enjoy teaching, you owe it to yourself and to your students to get out as soon as possible. If you are worried that your schooling has gone to waste, relax! As mentioned above, there are all kinds of wonderful jobs that you can do and really love. Teaching is not for everyone, but that doesn’t mean that teachers are the only ones that can benefit from an education degree.
