Why Consider Becoming a Teacher?

Teaching is a challenging job with many unique frustrations, but the rewards
of teaching are numerable. Some of the many benefits include the following.
 Experience the Joy of Making a Difference
Teachers get incredible joy in seeing the difference they make as
students gain new insights, become more interested in a subject and
learn about themselves. Every day, teachers mold the future through
impacting their students’ views and understandings. Teachers foster
creativity, develop character, give students lenses with which to view the
world and provide students with the skills they need to reach their
potential and lead productive lives. Many individuals are attracted to
teaching by a sense of service, because they want to make a clear,
tangible difference in the lives of others. As a teacher, you see the fruits
of your efforts everyday as you use your intelligence and creativity to
help students become excited about and learn about the science in their
lives.
 Have a Vocation, Not a Job
For many people, their work is a means to an end. They work for a
paycheck in order to live their lives. But those called to teach have a true
vocation. To those with whom you interact most during your day of
teaching - the students - you are not an employee but a friend, a mentor
and a guide to the world. A teacher makes a difference in the world by
enabling each of his or her students to fully maximize their talents,
imagination, skills and character.
 Enjoy Interpersonal Interaction
Teaching science provides those people who want to work in science the
ability to do so while also enjoying a high level of interpersonal
interaction. Teachers interact with their students, other teachers and
community members regularly. Many students decide to pursue teaching
over other science careers for this personal interaction.
 Benefit From Variety
Many people cringe at the idea of doing a job that involves repetition of a
specific task over and over. Teaching is a job that offers a great deal of
variety. Each year, teachers get to work with a new group of students
with unique personalities, experiences and ideas. Teachers can introduce
new topics into the courses, change the way they teach a particular topic
or design new classes to teach to keep things new and exciting each
year.
 Be a Lifelong Learner
You will never learn a topic better than when you start to teach it.
Students always ask the most interesting questions, prompting you to
dig deeper and learn more about the aspects of science they are most
 curious about. Teaching science allows you to be a student of science
throughout your career as you incorporate new research findings,
technologies and science events into your classroom.
 Laugh Every Day
Adolescents are both easily amused and very amusing so working with
them provides many opportunities for laughter. Sometimes it will be silly
jokes you will make up as you teach that will make your students laugh.
Sometimes it will be funny statements that your students share with you
that make you laugh. A day of teaching when you do not laugh at least a
couple times will be quite rare.
 Have a High Level of Autonomy
While required classes have mandated curricula that teachers are
expected to follow, it is the teacher who decide what will happen in the
classroom each day. Teachers teach their curriculum in very different
ways depending on their knowledge, personality and beliefs. Not many
jobs provide an individual with so much room to be creative and
autonomous each day.
 Spend More Time With Your Family
One of the great perks of a teacher’s schedule is that it matches up with
a child’s school schedule. While you will likely bring some work home
with you, you will be able to be home with your children in the
afternoons. If you teach in the same school system that your children
attend, you will have the same vacation schedule and will be able to
spend your summers home with your children. Speaking of vacation….
 Enjoy Lots of Vacation
While some schools have moved to a year-round schedule, where
teachers’ vacation is divided up throughout the year, most teaching jobs
allow you to have a couple of months off in the summer where you can
choose to get another job, teach summer school, or just relax and
revamp for the next year. In addition to summers off, teachers typically
get two weeks off during the winter and one week during the spring.

Advantages of Becoming a Teacher

Thinking about entering the world of teaching? Here are 9 advantages to becoming a teacher!
#1 - Share Your Passion
Teaching will give you a platform to share your passion and expertise with others. As you study
to become a teacher, you'll also have the opportunity to further hone your skills anddevelop
advanced training.
#2 - Inspire Others
Becoming a teacher will also allow you to play an active role in inspiring others. As you share
your knowledge and attention with your students, you'll influence who and what they become –
not only in the professional realm, but also personally.
Imagine what your future students might go on to achieve and share with the world. Will they seek
to meet the needs of those around them, confronting poverty with compassion? Or might your
students one day become the scientists who cure AIDS or cancer? As a teacher, your influence
over your students, and ultimately the future, is infinite.
#3 - Make a Real Difference
Teachers also have the opportunity to make a significant difference in the world by touching the
lives of their students. For some of the children who enter your classroom, you may be the only
one who believes in them and encourages them to do their best. In this way, you can change a
child's life for the better, each and every day.
#4 - Do Things Differently
Think back to when you were in school - what are some of the things that you would do differently,
today, as an educator? Would you be careful about helping each student discover his or her
talents? Would you take more time to listen? Would you give more second chances? As a
professional educator, you can incorporate some of the positive changes that you wish you had
experienced in the classroom as a child.
#5 - Change the Future of Education
As a teacher, you'll also have the opportunity to influence the future of the field of education. At
some point, most exceptional educators are either formally or informally asked to mentor newer
staff members. In this way, you can share your expertise and wisdom, while also impacting all of
the students that will eventually have that new colleague as a teacher.
#6 - A Community of Educators
Within your school, you'll work alongside many qualified educators. By fostering an environment
of creativity, professionalism, and sharing, you'll have the opportunity to be part of a vibrant
learning community.
#7 - Ideal Work Hours
Many educators find the convenience of being done with school by 3:00 or 4:00 pm to be quite
appealing, not to mention the benefit of having summers off.
#8 - Fresh Start Every Year
Because you'll most likely have an entirely new group of students each Fall, you'll find that each
new school year holds different joys and challenges. You'll most likely find that within the field of
education, you'll never be bored!
#9 - A Dynamic Field
Trends in education are constantly changing, so if you're a person who enjoys adapting and
growing over time, then you'll be well-suited for continuously learning about and incorporating
new trends in the field of teaching.

There are some major pluses of being a teacher. First is a solid paycheck that is less vulnerable
to changes in the job market and economy. Teachers also have benefits such as health
insurance and retirement accounts. Weekends off, as well as holidays and, to a certain extent,
summers off make for some important lifestyle advantages to a career as a teacher. Of course
the biggest advantage is that teachers can share their passion, share it with others, and make a
difference by reaching their students.
 `It’s not all roses. Just as any job, there are downsides to becoming a teacher.
Some of the challenges include:

 The challenge of meeting student needs. Class overcrowding, students with very
different needs, and often poor resources can make it very difficult to do your job.

 Standardized testing and the problem of ensuring that students make the grade while
helping them learn something apart from the test.
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 Parents. Working with parents can be a pro and a con. Wonderful parents can make
you feel like you're making a difference but overly critical parents can be a real
challenge.

 Bureaucracy of red tape, guidelines, and managing the changing and often conflicting
directives or principals, school boards, and parent-teacher associations

 Homework. It's not just students who have homework.

 Many teachers spend their own money on materials to use in their classes.

 Prep time. Teachers work outside of school hours, often in the evenings, to prepare
their lessons
 Teachers are often required to earn a master’s degree. School districts may or may not
pay for it.