Should You Be a Teacher? (eBook)

Chapter 2

REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

Introduction

Just as having a realistic view of your own temperament is valuable before entering teaching, it’s also worthwhile to give some thought to your expectations about teaching. A phrase to keep in mind is “expectation leads to frustration,” meaning that the higher your expectations are of something, the easier it is to be disappointed. You should certainly be excited and enthusiastic about becoming a teacher. Teaching is a great job, so in order for you to go into it with as clear a view as possible, think about what you expect to like about teaching, the type of work environment you’re expecting, your sense of the demands that will be placed on you, and how confident you feel your education classes prepared you to meet the challenges you’ll face in the classroom. You’ll never truly know how well your expectations match up with the reality of your first teaching job, but it will certainly make things easier for you if you at least give it some thought.

Realize the positive aspects of teaching

One of our assumptions is that since you want to be a teacher, you enjoyed school and did well in the subject you plan on teaching. It follows, then, that one of the perks of teaching is you’ll not only have the opportunity to talk about one of your main areas of interests every day but also learn that subject in greater breadth and depth. Every year you teach, you should know a little bit more about the complexities of your subject and why it’s of value to study. You plan on devoting a large part of your adult life to teaching a particular subject, so you must believe it’s worth the time and effort to delve more deeply into it. Increasing your knowledge is also necessary because in order to teach a subject you really have to know it forwards, backwards, and sideways, if for no other reason than students will have questions. There will always be things you don’t know, of course, and there’s no shame in admitting you don’t know something, but students will quickly lose faith in you if you’re consistently unable to answer their questions.

Another assumption we make is that since your job involves learning, you value knowing more about a variety of topics and may even need a high degree of mental stimulation. Part of the enjoyment of teaching is having those familiar classes to teach but also having new challenges every now and again. You might be a Biology teacher assigned a class of Environmental Science or you may be a U.S. History teacher assigned to teach Economics or Psychology and find that it opens up an entirely new area of interest for you. Teaching those new classes will also keep your brain fresh and active and make your day and year more interesting. Students will definitely pick up on your excitement about teaching something new and hopefully feed off that energy. You’ll also be modeling the concept of being a “lifelong learner,” which is unquestionably one of the goals of education.

Besides the mental workout you get from teaching, another positive aspect of the job is you will never be bored. We’ve both been in jobs where we were sitting at our desk an hour after lunch, wondering how we were going to stay awake for the rest of the afternoon. You will never have those days in teaching because you will never have the same day or same year twice. Even though you’ll be teaching the same students every day, young people’s moods can change dramatically during the course of the day or week, so they always present you with something new. You may also consider coaching or sponsoring an activity or club, which gives you exciting opportunities to see students in a whole new light and interact with them in a different dynamic. It may be difficult to coach a sports team or something well-established, such as the fall play or spring musical, but schools normally have ways for you to get involved in an activity. If all else fails, you can start your own club or activity.

Students will also keep you young at heart with their unique culture and, at times, quirky interests. Even if you don’t mean to, you’ll find yourself well-versed in the latest slang, music, and culture. You might also find yourself, intentionally or not, using a little current slang in class, much to the delight of your students. It seems very few things are as funny as an “old” person using young people’s slang, so have fun with it every once in a while. You may also find you become something of a folk hero by singlehandedly bringing back old slang. One year, for example, students had never heard the expression “old as dirt” and thought it was hilarious. If nothing else, you may find the exchange of different cultures invigorating and even entertaining. It’s also the case that their enthusiasm can be infectious and lead you in a completely unexpected direction.

One such case of the unexpected involved a student who’d spent the summer working at the home of Henry Clay, an important American statesman during the Antebellum period. For some unknown reason, the class was surprisingly interested in her stories about the details of his life and his significance to U.S. History. Since it was an Advanced Placement U.S. History class, it was quite appropriate to spend some time on him. Henry Clay quickly became a sort of class mascot, with students bringing in a poster they made of him and hanging it on the wall. Since his birthday was right at the time we finished new material and were about to begin reviewing for the AP test, I decided to designate it “Henry Clay Day” and have the students plan a party in his honor. When the day arrived, I was shocked at what an extravaganza they put on. Besides lovely decorations, they brought in a variety of food, held a Henry Clay trivia contest that actually was an excellent review of important material on the AP test, and generally had a blast. Henry Clay Day became an annual celebration from that point on and expanded to include honored guests, such as the principal, other teachers, and even students who’d graduated who wanted to come back. It was a wonderful way to build a positive and cohesive class atmosphere every year, and it was all because one student had the enthusiasm to share one of her interests.

Kids will also make you laugh. You’re going to meet a wide variety of interesting people during your career, and you’ll swear that some of them are destined to be standup comedians. One student, in particular, comes to mind. He was a senior who liked to dress in leather jackets and big, heavy boots. He was pretty scary looking, and a couple of the administrators gave him a hard time about how his heavy boots might be used as weapons if he was ever in a fight. He quickly earned the nickname of “The Kicker,” even though he was one of the nicest students in the building. Toward the end of his senior year, the principal walked by our room with a couple of very official looking visitors and stopped right outside the doorway. The Kicker asked if he could use the restroom, which didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary. As he walked by the principal, The Kicker said loudly, “I love you, man!” gave the principal a huge hug, and then walked away toward the restroom. Needless to say, the entire class was laughing and the principal looked thoroughly aghast. It’s hard to say why students do some of the things they do, but little incidents like that can certainly make your day and might actually stay with you years after the fact.

Another positive aspect of teaching is that you will most likely have a family-friendly schedule and at times may even be on the same schedule as your own children. You’ll definitely have part of June, all of July, and part of August to enjoy with your family and won’t have to think about daycare during the summer months. One issue you may run into, though, is how early you start, particularly if you teach high school. It might be necessary to drop your own kids off at daycare before 6:30 a.m., which can certainly present a problem. If you’re lucky enough to have a family member who can drop your kids off, then that’s a real plus, but if you don’t you should really give a serious thought on the logistics of getting your kids to daycare. The good news is that if you do have to be at work by 7 a.m. or so, you’ll be able to pick your kids up before rush hour most days and not have to fight as much traffic getting home. Also, since you’re home relatively early, you can help your kids with their homework before you’re completely exhausted.

A final selling point of teaching, and perhaps the most important, is you will never have to wonder if you made a difference. Think about it. You may be teaching a future president of the United States, a future doctor who will develop a procedure that saves millions of lives, or any other of a variety of people who’ll impact others in a significant way. Even though the vast majority of students you teach will never reach the pinnacle of fame or achievement in their lives, you can be assured what you do matters in ways you will rarely know. You might be one of the few stable adults in a student’s life, and that word of encouragement you quickly forgot about might just help carry that student through the day. You might also find the student who gives you a hard time every single day might be the one most upset if you’re out sick. There will always be those students who never tell you how much you mean to them.

It’s also the case some students who really need you will never say a word about what’s going on in...