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18 votes
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The parents in my classroom
25 votes -
France plans mobile school force after headteacher resigns over death threats
21 votes -
Where are all the teachers? Breaking down America's teacher shortage crisis in five charts.
34 votes -
American teachers are missing more school, and there are too few substitutes
46 votes -
AI can do your homework. Now what? We interviewed students and teachers on how schools should handle the rise of the chatbots.
22 votes -
With one of the lowest rates of bullying in Europe, we speak to teachers, pupils and parents to find out how Denmark is managing to stamp out harassment in schools
17 votes -
Sweden's schools minister Lotta Edholm aims to limit the profit-making ability of friskolor/free schools in her plans for education reform
8 votes -
The boom of artificial intelligence chatbots prompted one Danish teacher to start incorporating it into the classroom, rather than blocking it
8 votes -
South Korean teachers seek protection from harassment by students' parents
38 votes -
Why am I becoming a teacher?
First of all, this is a lot about me and myself and I'm sorry it's a bit self-centered; it's been bouncing around my head and I want to get it out somewhere. Please let me know if this isn't...
First of all, this is a lot about me and myself and I'm sorry it's a bit self-centered; it's been bouncing around my head and I want to get it out somewhere. Please let me know if this isn't appropriate here.
Secondly, teachers or those in training to become one: I want to hear your thoughts on this question.
Why am I becoming a teacher?
I've been finding that I'm asking this question of myself a lot lately. My goal is and always has been the same for years: I want to teach, I feel good teaching, I feel I have a purpose and that purpose has been what's driven me forward when I wanted to give up. Truly though - why do I want to be a teacher?
I could do the same style of work in other settings. I could become a tutor, self-employed or otherwise, and assist students in a specific capacity. I could be a YouTuber, creating video essays on self-researched subjects of passion. I could be a writer, bringing the same content through literature to a wholly different audience. In all of these, there is the potential to make more money, reach a wider audience, and leave a more indelible impact upon the world.
So, why am I becoming a teacher?
15 years ago, I dropped out of college, suffering depression. I wasn't the only one depressed; aside from the millions of others reeling from mental health issues, the economy was entering a recession in 2008. I was a NEET - jobless, out of school, and seemingly stuck. My family (read: my dad, stepmom, and sisters) had abandoned me - they had other matters to worry about than their wayward son - and I was fortunate my mother whom I'd dissociated from years before reached out to me. With her help, I got back on my feet, moved across the country, and began looking for work with slight hope. I volunteered one day to read at the school she worked at, and the teacher in the room went to the admins and demanded I be hired on the spot. I was.
Thus began a journey of discovery. I was good at something, and I felt good about doing it. I felt something to replace my depression and self doubt: worthiness.
Over the years, I honed my craft and continued sporadically attending school - when I could afford it - in order to become able to lead my own classroom in our private school/daycare. That was 7 years ago, and I've been teaching prek (4-5 year olds) since then. I'm able to teach reading, writing, mathematics, chess, life lessons, history, biology, astronomy, geology, entomology... the list goes on and on. I have a passion for learning, and for sharing that learning.
Is that why I am becoming a teacher?
The biggest obstacle to achieving my ultimate dream - teaching in public schools - was always the degree. I had dropped out of college twice - in 2008 and again in 2013 - before finally completing an Associates degree in 2016. I felt that, financially, getting my bachelor's would never happen. Massive student loan debt (private debt north of $30k) and low wages in childcare meant I wasn't getting anywhere. Life changes though, and the stars aligned - the private debt was written off, I got out of defaulting on my federal loans, and just in time to qualify for a state program to get me in school again and have a full ride scholarship. It was happening!
Now we live in a post-pandemic world... Do I still want to become a teacher?
At first, attitudes were siding with teachers. There was sympathy for their struggles and worries, the low pay and high barrier to entry. That quickly changed, as it did for medical workers and others in the pandemic world. Teachers struggle more now than they have before. Fewer resources, more troubled students that desperately need help, more resistance from parents and communities trying to prove that teachers and schools aren't necessary in the way they have been, and more burnout and shortages across the nation.
I see all this and yet I press on. Why?
The thing is, I'm not sure. My resolve is strong and I've been persistent and diligent in my schooling. I've worked too long and hard to give up this opportunity. Why do I still want to teach, though? Why not find an administrative job with potentially more pay and better work environment? Why not leave education altogether and use my skills elsewhere?
It comes back to what drove me forward in the first place: purpose. I feel in direct connection with the future by doing what I do. I feel like in some miniscule, imperceptible, but meaningful way, I can help create a better world tomorrow by doing what I do today. It gives my life meaning, and nobody and nothing can take that from me. I've changed hundreds, potentially thousands, of lives already. Students return years later to tell how much I meant to them - these are students I had known at ages 4 and 5 who still remember me a decade later!
So, why am I becoming a teacher?
Because someone has to do it, and that someone might as well be me. I enjoy my work, I enjoy the ups and downs, I enjoy the struggles and challenges and overcoming them, I enjoy making difficult topics understandable to young minds, I enjoy what I do even when I hate it. To me, that's love.
With good luck and a positive outlook, I'll be graduating with a degree in Early Childhood Education next September. It may not be prestigious, it may not make me a lot of money, but it will allow me to continue on the path I've set myself. Thanks for reading.
26 votes -
The housing crisis driving America’s teacher shortage
27 votes -
All work and no pay: Findings from the 2023 State of the American Teacher survey
14 votes -
Swedish schools minister Lotta Edholm moves students off digital devices and on to books and handwriting, with teachers and experts debating the pros and cons
20 votes -
Should AI be permitted in college classrooms? Four scholars weigh in.
13 votes -
New Jersey court sides with Catholic school that fired unmarried pregnant teacher
24 votes -
Headteachers warn UK facing ‘dangerous’ teacher shortage as recruitment crisis deepens
26 votes -
Indiana governor signs “Don’t Say Gay” bill that forces teachers to out trans kids to their parents
12 votes -
Teachers in Denmark are using apps to audit their students' moods – some experts are heavily skeptical of the approach
7 votes -
A ‘Most Outstanding Teacher’ from the Philippines tries to help save a struggling school in rural Arizona
11 votes -
Inside the massive effort to change the way kids are taught to read in the US
12 votes -
I no longer grade my students’ work – and I wish I had stopped sooner
18 votes -
Denmark says it will take measures to protect teachers' freedom of expression and prevent the risks of self-censorship
8 votes -
Finnish teacher Ilona Taimela secretly taught IS children in Syrian camps by text through the Lifelong Learning Foundation
12 votes -
Faced with soaring Ds and Fs, schools are ditching the old way of grading
12 votes -
Inderkum High School teacher to be fired after allegedly indoctrinating students with "antifa" ideals
6 votes -
He taught a Ta-Nehisi Coates essay. Then he was fired.
12 votes -
2021 United States teacher shortage survey overview
6 votes -
Furor over Pennsylvania teacher's pension fund widens with push to oust leaders
7 votes -
Teachers in Africa are using radio to keep remote learning affordable and accessible, since many households have no access to internet or a computer
7 votes -
Terror inquiry after teacher beheaded near Paris
13 votes -
The kids are alt-right: Teachers know the warning signs when students are radicalized by online hate movements. They just don’t know how to stop it — or if it’s a power struggle they can ever win
29 votes -
Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk: "Most parents have no idea how bad this is going to be"
40 votes -
US schools lay off hundreds of thousands
8 votes -
Momentum builds for NYC teacher ‘sickout’ mutiny over de Blasio’s refusal to close schools
5 votes -
Demoted and placed on probation
5 votes -
What's the education system like in your country?
Ok I'll start: Brazil: here the schools are split between the fundamental level, which is 1-9th grade, which is then subdivided onto fundamental I and II, which range from 1-5th (ages 6-11) and...
Ok I'll start:
Brazil: here the schools are split between the fundamental level, which is 1-9th grade, which is then subdivided onto fundamental I and II, which range from 1-5th (ages 6-11) and 6-9th grades (ages 11-15) respectively. Then we have 'medium' level ("Ensino Médio") which goes from 10th-12th grade, and then we have a national test called ENEM, where everyone takes a test to be able to enroll in the many colleges/universities which accept it, where you then reach 'superior' class and take technical courses and the like.
Class goes from 7-12:20 Am for fundamental II and 1-5:20 pm for fundamental I. This is because each day is divided into six periods of 50 minutes (+a 20 minute break, like in most places) for the sake of making subject distribution easier.
There are 8 subjects in fundamental class, Portuguese (grammar), math, geography, history, science, physical education, English (still mostly grammar) and arts. (Unsurprisingly it's more about culture & music than how to draw)
In 'medium' class, 3 more subjects are added, which are biology, physics and chemistry.Funding for education is reserved for the states to decide, although it usually goes from 15-25% of total tax revenue.
16 votes -
Teacher effects on student achievement and height: A cautionary tale
13 votes -
Bay Area students and teachers rally for school funding and Prop 13 reform
6 votes -
What teaching ethics in Appalachia taught me about bridging America’s partisan divide
23 votes -
How to keep teachers from leaving the profession
9 votes -
Teacher sues Christian School over marriage equality beliefs
6 votes -
The process of arming teachers in one Ohio school district: ‘You understand that you might have to shoot a student?’
8 votes -
The revenge of the poverty-stricken college professors is underway in Florida. And it's big.
20 votes -
West Virginia Senate passes sweeping education bill to ban teacher strikes
11 votes -
How one Colorado art teacher inspires kids by leaning into chaos, not control
8 votes -
What it felt like: If “living history” role-plays in the classroom can so easily go wrong, why do teachers keep assigning them?
6 votes -
California teachers pay for their own substitutes during extended sick leave
10 votes -
Math teachers should be more like football coaches
7 votes -
I’m a North Carolina public school teacher. Here’s why I’m walking out today.
6 votes