Becoming a Teacher

Strengths:

• Teachers are making a difference in the lives of so many different students, whether it be by helping them through one of the hardest parts of their lives, inspiring them to pursue a certain career or continue their path of learning, or help them get past the understanding of topics they have always struggled with.  Teachers are there to help influence students to become the best they can be. 
• The joy of working with children, and the creativity it requires to help get lessons across in a fun and unique way to help engage them in lessons and seeing their joy in learning and the fun they have with the creative lessons is definitely a strength when it comes to teaching. 
• The intellectual and creative stimulation that comes along with planning good lessons and giving them to students, while also having them add to the discussion in the classroom and promote intellectual growth not just among the other students but also for the teacher. 
• The appreciation that comes from the students, even if it is just a small number that show it, is most of what makes teaching such a fulfilling job. 

Weaknesses:

• The salary is probably one of the worst weaknesses. Teachers are radically underpaid for the amount and the importance of the work that they do. 
• The workload and the amount of time teachers spend outside of the classroom working on their job takes up most of the space in a teacher's life. 
• Teachers don't get the amount of respect that they deserve in the adult world. People believe that teaching is easy and anyone can do it, even though it is most definitely not true. Sometimes this can even come from the students as well.
• Administration and bureaucracy constantly keep teachers in check and limit their creativity which can start wearing teachers down and take the joy and fun out of teaching. 

While becoming a teacher has a lot of both strengths and weaknesses, it really takes a special kind of person to get past all of the negatives that are out there. Teachers are the kind of people who are working because they care, not because of money, and certainly not for status. Teachers do what they do because they know they are making a difference in the world and that's all that they need to motivate them. Being a teacher can be hard, with all of the people saying we are useless and administration making our jobs so much harder, but a good teacher does not stop and keeps pushing to make sure that they can educate their students as best as they can. 

Questions for further discussion: 

1. Do you think there will be any change in the near future about the public perception of the importance of teachers?
2. What are things that teachers can do to bring joy back into their work when it gets hard?
3. What should teachers do to make sure they are always growing and becoming better in their work?