I completed 32 years as a high school Biology and Physics teacher. Due to health problems with Lyme disease (over sensitive nervous system) plus a lot of other health issues related to Lyme, I took the early retirement option. Teaching is demanding and stressful, and many administrators make it even more stressful than the job needs to be. Because I demanded honest work from every student (and most appreciated that fact), I got to visit personally with a bunch of laywers from the NAACP. Of course the administrators wanted me to cave in, but I held firm and the lawyers backed off...I had well documented evidence that I was prepared to present in court. So said administrators were very happy to see me retire.
For the most part I loved the job! I set my daily goal to find some humor with the kids every day, and I told them so. We had a very heady academic course to teach, but that didn't mean it had to be boring. What I miss most is the positive interaction with the kids. I had some very successful students in AP physics, and a record for that big suburban school district of having 2 kids score a perfect "5" and 1 scored a "4" on the AP physics exam in the same year. The 5 gets the student a full year college credit for calc based physics. The 4 will get at least a full semester of college credit.
Some colleges are requiring a 5 year program for new teachers. The 5th year includes a semester of monitored student teaching. All teaching licenses in MN require the student teaching experience. Many programs require 2 student teaching experiences. Life as a college student is relatively "on easy street" compared to the prep time, paper correcting, phone calls, planning, actual teaching, and related after hours requirements while student teaching. My student teachers said they had NEVER worked so hard in their lives. If you want to be successful, you need to set firm goals and never quit until you have achieved them.
Unfortunately there is a huge pool of "popular wisdom" that believes the teaching profession is a very easy, lazy man's career. Do not believe it!! Yes, I know that we all can cite some teacher who is or was a slacker, but most of the people I knew were very hard working, dedicated and talented teachers. I was proud to be among them. I have run a farm, a residential construction and remodeling business, have been a construction forman and found that I worked hardest at my teaching career.
You should go back to talk with some of your most respected teachers and get their perspective before investing your time and money in the teaching career. They will probably enjoy your visit and will probably give you a perspective that you never had as a student.
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