The reluctant teacher.
So I have had this problem for a while now; what the heck do I want to do with the rest of my life?
Right now as most of you know I am on the Secondary Education/Social Studies path. I have almost 3 years down and still 2 to go. Once or twice I have mused about whether or not I want to be a teacher, at first the question was should I be a history teacher? Which sparked a blog post quite a while back and after it was said and done I decided maybe I would be an economics teacher, then it changed to what it is at right now, political science. The problem however is that I am still having these questions about my future which makes me think maybe it is not what I am going to teach that I have a problem with, but rather teaching itself. This leaves me with a big problem with registration for next semester only 2 weeks away; what do I do with the rest of my life?
The problem is not helped by my not having any idea what I want to do, I look around and so many people have passion for one thing or another (biology, chemistry, theology, engineering) and I just... don't. So yeah that is my problem and with time ticking away I do not really have a solution.
On a side not I am an now a kinda-uncle; congrats to Gina and Josh on their little boy!
6 comments:
Eric, do NOT go into teaching unless you have a passion for it. Do you even like high school kids? Screw the material; in some ways it's incidental. But the process, that's what's important. We've all had those teachers who are going through the motions, who know their subject matter and give out good information, maybe even have one or two great lessons on the subject (a stimulating simulation, an engrossing project, a pretty good video), but are just not inspiring. I think too many mediocre teachers are in our schools, probably because they felt trapped in that major and then it just became a pretty good routine that they could manage once they got into a teaching position. Don't be one of those. You need to love what you do.
You said it Cal. I spent a month as an assistant teacher for third grade at an elementary school in Boston, I loved the kids...loved working with 'em...but the faculty was depressing. A couple of the teachers really loved their jobs, but most of them were just playing out the string so to speak.
The good thing though is you clearly have a grounding in econ and Poli-sci, so it's not like you lack choices once you do graduate...and a strength of learning education is that it means you have good skills in terms of knowing how to talk to people and explain yourself...so I wouldn't worry so much.
I would make sure I really loved teaching before I decided to do it though. That was a decision I made myself a few years ago; that it just wasn't for me.
There's always law school...
oh matt. although, you might have something there. eric would probably be really good at that.
Not going to law school. And thanks for the advice Cindy and Ryan.
Look for a new post later tonight.
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