It’s hard to dispute the fact that teaching is important. If you try to imagine a world without teachers, it would be a very difficult place to be indeed. There would be a general lack of knowledge, but more than this, there would be a lack of support and caring – teaching is about a lot more than imparting knowledge and ensuring children (and adults in some cases) are ready for the next stage in their lives. It’s about giving them a future.
Most people would agree that teaching is certainly rewarding, but it’s also important to recognize that it is a rewarding career. The more people who understand just why this is the case, the more people will become teachers, and that has to be a good thing. So read on to discover why teaching is such a rewarding profession to get into, and it might help you decide what step to take next.
You Are Responsible For An Entire Generation
As well as being a rewarding career, teaching is a responsible one. This won’t suit some people who don’t like the idea of having a lot of responsibility, but for others, it’s ideal. Interestingly, it makes no difference which area of teaching you get into; whether you are teaching kindergartners or seniors, whether you’re a classroom teacher or an educational leader – you are going to be responsible for people. Much of the time, when you are working in education, this will mean you are responsible for young children’s education; you can shape their lives by being good at what you do.
This is clearly a huge responsibility, and it can be a daunting one. This is why not everyone should become a teacher, even if they like the idea in the abstract. If you can’t see yourself being responsible for other people’s educations and therefore the route their lives go, then you should try a different route. If, however, you work well under pressure and you want to take responsibility for the lives of others, and how well they can do and what goals they can achieve, then you’ll understand why teaching is rewarding; it will allow you to do all of this.
You Never Stop Learning
If you intend to be a teacher, you should have a love of learning – this really goes without saying, but it bears repeating as it’s so important. Not only does this mean that you should love teaching others, but it also means that you should love learning yourself. If you’re currently concerned that, should you become a teacher, you’ll have to stop learning, this is not correct – the very best teachers will continue to learn their entire lives. This is because education is always changing, and new ideas are always coming to the fore. This means that the best teachers, and the ones with the most rewarding careers, are the ones who continue to learn.
Professional development for teachers may be required by schools or districts, or may be voluntary. It can focus on a wide range of topics, including classroom management, teaching strategies, assessment, subject-specific content, and educational technology.
Continual learning will also help you in your career in terms of advancement, making education an even more rewarding sector to be in. For example, you could take an online Doctor of Education (EdD) program at Marymount University and move into educational leadership, or you could take additional qualifications in your preferred subject matter and become a head of a department. The point is, there is a lot of potential career progression in teaching, and this is yet another reason why it’s so rewarding. However, even if you are content to simply learn new things and you aren’t interested in career progression, these opportunities will be open to you. Plus, don’t forget that your students will be teaching you new things all the time.
It’s A Creative Career
If you are looking for a rewarding career that also allows you to be creative, teaching will certainly tick all the right boxes. Once, teaching involved a lot of learning by rote, and the same lessons would be given time and time again. This was deemed to be the right thing at the time, but as the educational system has advanced, it has become more and more obvious that this is not the best way to teach. This means that today’s teachers have a lot more scope when it comes to creating amazing and memorable lessons that will keep children engaged and will teach them at the same time.
If you want to be able to teach in a way that works for you and that you know will help your students, you can do this. Even if the subject is a difficult one, this kind of teaching can make a real difference in terms of how well students remember the information and also in how much they enjoy the subject. A teacher who makes lessons fun and is creative in how they impart information is always going to do better than one who simply reads from a book or hands out the same worksheets they’ve used year after year.
When you teach, the most rewarding thing you can do is see children engaging with the lessons you are giving them. If this means you can express your creative side more, that’s a wonderful – and freeing – thing.
A Varied Job
No one wants a boring job. Some might like a job that is very regular, where the same things happen every day, and you can rely on a schedule, but that’s not the same as being boring, in many cases, at least. Of course, this might not be enough for some people; they would see this kind of work as fairly dull, and they actually would prefer something much more interesting and varied. This is great; everyone is different, and that means that all people are catered for, and there should be an ideal job (or perhaps many ideal jobs) for everyone.
So, where does teaching fall? You might think it’s the kind of job that is the same every day. You’ll teach the same students, you’ll teach the same subjects, you’ll have the same timings, and so on. However, as we’ve seen above, teaching is actually a creative kind of career, and this goes hand in hand with the fact that it’s also a highly varied kind of job.
How varied will depend on you. It’s down to you how much variety you put into your own job when you’re a teacher in some respects, although it’s also important to know that you will still have a structure to work to.
What’s great about the freedom that you’ll have within this curriculum structure is that you will be able to keep things interesting for both the students and you. Imagine saying and doing exactly the same things year after year; it would soon become difficult to find much enjoyment. So having the chance to enjoy a varied career is crucial in terms of job satisfaction and longevity.
Not only does teaching being a varied job mean you won’t get bored, but it also means there is a lot of scope for you. You can teach anyone from the age of five to adulthood, and you can teach any subject (assuming you have the knowledge). You can teach in a school, but you can also teach in other settings such as colleges, night classes, and you can even become a private tutor. You’ll have a lot of choices so you can find your own rewarding way to be a teacher.
You Will Be There For Milestones
Every child – every learner, in fact – will achieve certain milestones in their learning lives. As a teacher, you can be there for many of them. Whether it’s the loss of their first tooth or learning a complicated concept, as their teacher, you will see it all. This is hugely rewarding; how many other people can say they were there for so many milestones, whether big or small, for so many eager young minds?
It’s no wonder that teachers feel their career is a rewarding one and feel positive about going to work every day. When you can be this involved in your students’ lives, you’ll feel as though you can accomplish anything, especially when those same students are glad you were there for them at these important times.
Teaching is Fun
Is it important to have fun when you’re working? You may not have pondered this question before, but the truth is that yes, it is important. That doesn’t mean you have to be rolling with laughter at every moment, and it doesn’t mean there won’t be bad days and days when you seriously think about what you are doing, but if you can have more fun than not, you will be doing well, and you will have a rewarding career.
Teaching can offer you this fun. Teaching is hard work, and it can certainly be stressful. There are long hours and hard decisions to make. However, being with children who make you happy and provide fun times in your day-to-day job means that teaching will also be fun and, importantly, rewarding.
