Do You Really Want To Be A Teacher?

What It Means To Be A Teacher

Teaching is typically not considered as a valid career path, but instead is looked down upon as a hobby or an option for people without talent to pursue something better. However, teaching is the profession that all other professions are born from. A teacher once educated the greatest minds ever known; doctors, lawyers, and politicians would not be where they are today without the teachers working diligently to expand their minds. At teacher educated every single person who will read this.

The quote above ” A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops.” encapsulates an atypical outlook on teaching. Most people recognize other influences long before they do school teachers. Teachers do not get glory for their job and good teachers do not validate the greatness they are doing by asking for recognition. Teaching is being the invisible glue that holds society together.  It is doing everything required with limits and expectations seemingly out of reach, but doing it out of a love for children. Being a teacher means loving and believing in children.

Being A English Teacher In Louisville Kentucky:

In Louisville, Kentucky there are teacher shortages in almost every subject, English and English as a second language are two of of them. The goal of a Kentucky English teacher is to prepare students for college by teaching them to be good readers and writers. Communicative skills are important in order for teens to successfully transitions into college and careers.

Teaching Requires,

Intellect.

Someone pursuing teaching should be knowledgeable in more then just the content area they teach. A high school English teacher should not only know about literature and grammar; they should have a variety of skills and experiences that can be used to reach individuals who may struggle and to help provide better examples in their teaching. Teachers need to be well versed and have basic understandings of the complex ideas in different subject areas.

This means that teachers also need life experience. Students will walk into classrooms from a variety of different backgrounds. It is important to understand or at least sympathize with every student and any struggles they may face that hinder their education.

The formal education requirements for teaching include:

1. Completing a bachelors degree or other required prerequisite coursework.
2. Completing a Kentucky approved teachers preparation program.
3. Passing required exams for Kentucky.
4. Submitting Kentucky teaching creditable application.

Teachers must meet a continuing education requirement , and can apply to become national board certified. Certifications for teachers are Rank 1 -new teacher, 2- 32 credit hours of continued education , and 3- 60 semesters of graduate credit .

   Patience. 

In Kentucky the average student/ teacher ratio is 1:25. This is a larger class size and because of that teachers must have patience. However, being patient with students does not mean exhibiting the poor classroom management skills that allows students to talk over teachers. While it is important to be patient with students and try your hardest to allow them to learn, it is good to remember that discipline is the only thing that will keep the students from controlling the classroom and ruining the potential education of students.

      Heart.

A good teacher loves children more then the subject matter. Teaching is a profession that is for those with large hearts. For some students teachers are their greatest motivators, other student just might need a little love and forgiveness from teachers. At the end of the day students and teachers need to hold a mutual respect for one another, and teachers need to be mature enough to love every student the same regardless of how well or poorly they do in the class. With this in mind, it is also important to consider that a teacher should never show favoritism to students or treat some better then others.

Job Outlook

Considering the nationwide teacher shortage finding a job is going to be relatively easy. Because more teachers are retiring then young people are entering the profession the job outlook for teaching and need for teachers is only growing. There is a expected 6% job growth in the next ten years.

The important thing to remember about the job outlook of teaching is that because fewer people want to do it, more teachers are underqualified and uninspired then ever. Your future colleagues might not being doing the job with the intentions of a good teacher and there will be people that are hard to work with because of that.

Salary and Benefits

The estimated median salary of a teacher is 57,200. However salary can range depending on what rank a teacher is and what certifications and qualifications they have. The more valuable to a school a teacher is the more they will be paid. While starting pay for this career is nothing glorious it is livable wage. Believe it or not, but the pay for teaching is not the hardest aspect of the career.

Some of the benefits a teacher may receive include:

• Health Care Coverage
• Summers off
• Sick leave and Vacation Days

Mobility

Teachers are needed everywhere all the time. As long as a teacher has the required certifications and a job is available it is relatively easy to teach anywhere.