|
|
  Independent Cuss
Posts: 3978
    
Location: Dearing, GA | I have to decide what I want to be when I grow up. I'm really leaning towards becoming a high school history teacher. My dad taught theatre at a high school level, and my mother teaches elementary school music. Neither of those subjects have a typical classroom setting, and they both require insane hours outside normal school. Anyway, with that being my example of a teacher, what is it like to teach a more normal subject? What type of hours do you put in beyond the normal school day? Do you have time to ride regularly? |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1035
Location: TN | I teach first grade and it is still very time consuming. Even though school lets out at 3, I stay after school for anywhere from 15 min. to 3 hours (depending on what I need to get done) every day. Teaching is very rewarding, but it is also more challenging than many people realize. I'm sure you know from your parents' teaching background. However, in the summer it is wonderful because you are free to ride for a few weeks. I'm normally not very good about getting to ride after school because I'm usually so tired from teaching 22 6-year-olds all day - I'm going to try harder to ride after school this year though. |
|
| |
|
The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | KatieMac88 - 2014-01-20 1:09 PM
I teach first grade and it is still very time consuming. Even though school lets out at 3, I stay after school for anywhere from 15 min. to 3 hours (depending on what I need to get done) every day. Teaching is very rewarding, but it is also more challenging than many people realize. I'm sure you know from your parents' teaching background. However, in the summer it is wonderful because you are free to ride for a few weeks. I'm normally not very good about getting to ride after school because I'm usually so tired from teaching 22 6-year-olds all day - I'm going to try harder to ride after school this year though.
My contracted hours are 8-4, but I usually arrive around 7:30 and definitely rarely leave before 4:30. I refuse to take work home - so I stay until everything is done. This way, when I am home, if can focus on my family 100%.
The hardest part is dealing with the parents/families - not everybody cares as much about their kid as you do.
It also helps if you are organized. There is a lot of paper work that goes into being a teacher. You have to have some system to manage it all, or you will drown.
Definitely make sure of WHAT you want to teach, because there are different degrees/routes to take depending on what grade level you want to teach.
Good luck! |
|
| |
|
Independent Cuss
Posts: 3978
Location: Dearing, GA | svincent - 2014-01-20 1:17 PM
KatieMac88 - 2014-01-20 1:09 PM
I teach first grade and it is still very time consuming. Even though school lets out at 3, I stay after school for anywhere from 15 min. to 3 hours (depending on what I need to get done) every day. Teaching is very rewarding, but it is also more challenging than many people realize. I'm sure you know from your parents' teaching background. However, in the summer it is wonderful because you are free to ride for a few weeks. I'm normally not very good about getting to ride after school because I'm usually so tired from teaching 22 6-year-olds all day - I'm going to try harder to ride after school this year though.
My contracted hours are 8-4, but I usually arrive around 7:30 and definitely rarely leave before 4:30. I refuse to take work home - so I stay until everything is done. This way, when I am home, if can focus on my family 100%.
The hardest part is dealing with the parents/families - not everybody cares as much about their kid as you do.
It also helps if you are organized. There is a lot of paper work that goes into being a teacher. You have to have some system to manage it all, or you will drown.
Definitely make sure of WHAT you want to teach, because there are different degrees/routes to take depending on what grade level you want to teach.
Good luck!
Thanks for the replies. I definitely want to teach history or geography, as those are two things I am very passionate about and I love to travel. I could not handle such young kids, and would prefer to teach kids older than 13. The biggest concern I have is definitely finding a job in a GOOD school after graduation. I'm located in Memphis now, where either no one is hiring or the schools that are require bullet proof vests to survive the school day. |
|
| |
|
Independent Cuss
Posts: 3978
Location: Dearing, GA | Just a little bump, looking for anyone with thoughts on the matter (: |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1119
| Where I went to school, all the high school history teachers were male and typically coached at least one sport. I have no idea if that's "the norm" for most school districts, but it definitely was for ours! I went to a fairly small school though.
Good luck in whatever you decide! |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| I am a teacher. The hours are insane, and getting worse. If I was looking at high school, it would be something not related to ccr. Perhaps PE. |
|
| |
|
 IMA No Hair Style Gal
Posts: 2594
| MissouriJen - 2014-01-20 9:19 PM Where I went to school, all the high school history teachers were male and typically coached at least one sport. I have no idea if that's "the norm" for most school districts, but it definitely was for ours! I went to a fairly small school though.
Good luck in whatever you decide!
This is because "history" is not "tested," so they don't have to put the "hours" in that other teachers do...so more time can go into coaching vs. planning...
That is why most coaches aim for history positions......
NOW I am not saying they do or don't put more/less hours in...all teachers are different....but the demands are not as much as say reading and math.
I am an encore teacher, so I do my best to support the core teachers, but do not have the demands that a core teacher does. I taught writing my first year of teaching...and boy can I say I put in every bit of 60 hours a week! PHEW! |
|
| |
|
IMA No Hair Style Gal
Posts: 2594
| To the OP...I love, love, love my job!
Hate the paperwork, but I have a system that works. I ride no less than three days a week, and as much as six days a week.
I go in around 7:15 and stay until 3:30...sometimes later. I am contracted to work from 7:25 to 3:00. Sometimes I take work home, but not often. I am great at putting things off. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 696
Location: Sunny California | History is usually a harder subject to get into mainly because of what others have said about coaches being hired as history/geography teachers (of course this depends on where you teach, when I was in Texas those positions were "reserved" for coaches but out here in CA it isn't like that). But, History teachers seem to be a dime a dozen which is another reason it can be hard to land one of those positions. Good luck! |
|
| |
|
 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | I went to college to be a high school biology teacher. My first job after graduation was long term subbing mid year for IPC and science tutorials. I had already had the bug in my ear about vet school, but decided to graduate and get a job to make sure I was sure about my decision. I went ahead and turned down the job I was offered to teach in order to go to vet school. The next semesters while I was finishing my pre reqs, I took another long term sub job for chemistry (in February getting them ready for the STAAR test) and then I was hired to tutor students after the teacher returned from maternity leave.
There are a lot of things I learned from teaching.
-its very rewarding in the relationships you build with students
-my subject was hard to get students to love, especially when I taught the remedial classes or tutorial classes. by the time they had me they already had one science class and they were pretty burned out.
- I got to work at least 30 min early every day and on a good day would leave 30 min after the kids did.
- the income can make it very hard to support the horse habit on your own. you don't make a lot
If teaching is your passion, go for it! It can be a thankless job, a rewarding job, a heart breaking job, and a heart warming job… all in the same day. LOL. |
|
| |
|
 Winner winner chicken dinner
Posts: 2047
Location: California | I'm a history teacher and I love it! It is such a fun subject to teach and it is so awesome to see kids "get" it. I work a lot...too much probably, but I struggle with balance in general and have a hard time saying no. I think history is actually a pretty hard subject to teach well...many people think it's just about notes and memorizing dates and facts, but it is so much more than that. The sources that are out there these days make it so interesting, but there are always ways to make your lessons better. I am constantly improving and retooling my lessons. During the fall and spring I can usually ride a couple nights a week. During the winter months, I will get to school super early to do my copying and planning so I can leave right at 3:30. Unfortunately many afternoons are filled with meetings so I still don't ride as much as I'd like. I also take classes in the summer and complete a lot of professional development seminars so I am not "free" during the summer, but I can get away for races and such.
If you need advice I'm happy to help. I'm fortunate to work in a town right next to a university so I work with young teachers all of the time. Please feel free to PM me anytime! |
|
| |
|
 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | MissouriJen - 2014-01-20 8:19 PM Where I went to school, all the high school history teachers were male and typically coached at least one sport. I have no idea if that's "the norm" for most school districts, but it definitely was for ours! I went to a fairly small school though.
Good luck in whatever you decide!
Pretty much the same at our school... The coaches for the most part were history teachers. One year we had a football coach as a science teacher... softball coach was the computer lab teacher.
Kudos for you, I could never be a teacher.
|
|
| |
|
Independent Cuss
Posts: 3978
Location: Dearing, GA | Thanks for the responses. I am not a coach by any means... guess I need to get more involved in sports because this is really what I want to do with my life. |
|
| |
|
I Really Love Jeans
Posts: 3173
Location: North Dakota | Get a Masters degree in History!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't just get a teaching certificate go all out and get your Masters!!!!! |
|
| |
|
 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | phillyincal - 2014-01-20 10:32 PM I'm a history teacher and I love it! It is such a fun subject to teach and it is so awesome to see kids "get" it. I work a lot...too much probably, but I struggle with balance in general and have a hard time saying no. I think history is actually a pretty hard subject to teach well...many people think it's just about notes and memorizing dates and facts, but it is so much more than that. The sources that are out there these days make it so interesting, but there are always ways to make your lessons better. I am constantly improving and retooling my lessons. During the fall and spring I can usually ride a couple nights a week. During the winter months, I will get to school super early to do my copying and planning so I can leave right at 3:30. Unfortunately many afternoons are filled with meetings so I still don't ride as much as I'd like. I also take classes in the summer and complete a lot of professional development seminars so I am not "free" during the summer, but I can get away for races and such.
If you need advice I'm happy to help. I'm fortunate to work in a town right next to a university so I work with young teachers all of the time. Please feel free to PM me anytime!
I was fortunate to have a couple of really good history teachers who made history fun and relevant. I still love it thanks to the foundation they gave me. I agree that it's a subject that's difficult to teach well, which probably has a lot to do with so many people disliking it and having no clue why it was taught to them in the first place. Btw, my teachers were female and not coaches. |
|
| |
|
 The One
Posts: 7998
Location: South Georgia | I am a high school English and Science teacher at an alternative school. I have virtually NO after hours work. I love my job! |
|
| |
|
Independent Cuss
Posts: 3978
Location: Dearing, GA | horsegirl - 2014-01-21 10:46 AM
I am a high school English and Science teacher at an alternative school. I have virtually NO after hours work. I love my job!
So you get to ride regularly? Do you make enough to support your horse hobby? |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 1074
| I teach Middle School Math. It is very rewarding and can be heartbreaking. The worst part is dealing with the parents. You have the overbearing parents, the parents that just don't care and then the parents that are wonderful to deal with. For the most part, I am here during my contracted day. I do not take work home if at all possible. Some districts are worse than others about extra stuff you are required to do. When you get a system in place to handle the paperwork and grades, then you will have time to ride and do other things that you wish before and after school. |
|
| |
|
The One
Posts: 7998
Location: South Georgia | Just Let Me Run - 2014-01-21 1:09 PM horsegirl - 2014-01-21 10:46 AM I am a high school English and Science teacher at an alternative school. I have virtually NO after hours work. I love my job! So you get to ride regularly? Do you make enough to support your horse hobby?
I currently do not have any horses. However, yes, I could ride daily if I so chose to.
Georgia pays on a state-wide pay scale. The scale increases based on degree and years experience. Yes, I could quite comfortably afford to ride if that is what I wanted to do. (I have taught 7 years now and I have my bachelor's degree.)
Some states pay better than others. Also, some counties offer a larger local supplement than others. |
|
| |
Folks on-line