Is it worth being a teacher?

Answer 1

That depends on a number of factors. If you are a perfectionist in nature, or have a tendency towards impatience, you will find teaching very frustrating. Children will make mistakes, and they will upset your plans and your good intentions. A good teacher is patient and understanding in such matters. And when a child says "thank you" for helping them, then it's all worth it. If you like to control others, you would find teaching very frustrating. We can try to "make" children do certain things, but until we accept that they are individuals with individual personalities and motives, we will find ourselves up against a brick wall. If we can enjoy and appreciate individual differences, and work with those differences, then teaching is worth it. If you expect others to understand what you mean after one instruction, or follow your instructions the first time, you will be disillusioned by the fact that you need to repeat instructions several times, and often in different ways. But when you see the dawning understanding in a child's eyes or expression - then it's worth it. If you are disorganised, you may find teaching very frustrating. Organising and marking papers and other assessment, reports, your desk, administration issues will cause you to sink into a morass of being behind in all things. You need to learn to prioritise what's important: and ultimately, the only thing that's important is the welfare and education of the students. But the satisfaction in a job well done, a job complete, is immense. If you do not have a sense of humour, you will find teaching puzzling. Children have amazing creativity and the most marvellous sense of humour. They will say, do and write things that will leave you chuckling long after the last student has gone home. If you do not want to be anyone's role model, forget being a teacher. Every action you make, every word you say is scrutinised somewhere, by someone, and remembered long after the event. To develop rapport with students and know you are a guiding influence in their lives is a unique and awesome responsibility. Even the most introspective personality can gain a great deal of pleasure out of socialising with the students they teach, or out of "acting out" a story in front of the class. There is a special reward in recognising even the tiniest spark of potential in an unwilling or underconfident student, and coaxing it out until that child realises that there are different ways to be "smart" - and that very few of those ways rely on academic achievement. Ultimately, to answer the question, "Is it worth it?", the answer is a resounding "Yes!"