[quote name='lordxixor101']I'll try not to regail you with my life story (which is hard, since I like to talk/type).
Basically, I have had a thought for about 3 years or so that I may be in the wrong career field (accounting) and I might be better as a teacher. I won't go into everything, but this is something that supervisors I have had (more than 1) has independently brought up to me at various points, so I think there is something there.
Here are the "issues" I have (and none are the money). I have a bachelors degree in accounting (minor in psych), along with an MBA (and unfortunately, student loans). If I went this route, I would like to find a way to (hopefully) not have to go back to school for long periods of time.
Is there any organizations or people I could talk to to figure out a career path? I'm afraid to talk to a University about this, only because I have a feeling that it's in their best interest to keep me in school for long periods of time.
Thanks for whatever help you can give me.
(also since someone will bring it up. Yes, i realize I am asking for some career guildance, etc from a video game site's off topic area. However, I have posted other questions here, and there are some very intellegent people on the site that I respect. To hear from a few of them, I will gladly sift through the number of useless posts I'm bound to receive.)[/QUOTE]
Well from experience, I am going to give you the good and bad. Since each state is different, you will have to check with your state department of education. I know that I had to send my college transcripts in before they would tell me if I would even qualify for the teaching program. In the end I was given about 6-7 classes to take.
Anyways I have worked in the education system for 4 years, 2 as a lab tech, and 2 as an INSTRUCTIONAL ASSISTANT, with various summer and independent enrichment programs I have taught in Computer Graphics between the two
counties I worked for.
There is more to it then just getting the requirements done. Depending on your state, you might have to get a test called PRAXIS done. I have been told it's like the SAT but harder. Then the county that you are applying for *might* be picky at the test scores.
Once you get those requirements done and if they grant you a teaching license and you are given a classroom this is where the real fun begins.
It's not just about teaching the materials to the kids. It's not like it was 10-15 years ago. There is some very weird shit out there with some of these kids and their parents. I thought as an art teacher, I wouldn't have to deal with that shit or the political bullshit, but every teacher has to, even the PE teachers :O
For every 4-5 kids you have in the classroom, 1 of them will have some sort of special needs. So if you had a class of 20 kids, expect to have like 4 or so kids who are Autistic, ED, LD, ADHD, and so on. Unless your major is in Special Education, it's going to be extremely hard on you the first year or two unless you have an assistant. I was an Instructional Assistant for Special Education (Learning Disabled) students, and believed me the teachers would constantly thank us for helping them out because without us, they couldn't do their job properly. If you have kids who have those listed problems, expect a lot of talk back/attitude. Expect parent support to be minimum/non-existent. Also expect administrators to barely get involved.
Avoid Title 1 schools or schools with low-income housing in the area. I taught at one school a few weeks ago that was title 1 and man that was a mess. Those kids were nothing but lazy, unmotivated, did not care to learn
heads that I had to put up with for 2 weeks. Can you imagine doing that for 10 months?!?!!?
A lot of these kids are very unmotivated and therefore you have to bribe them to get there work done. It isn't about getting good grades anymore to get into a good college that motivates them, it's the candy, pizza, and prize rewards that get them to do there work. So sad
Also becareful of the parents. They can be your biggest supporter or your worst enemy. They don't care if their kids have those problems listed or not. They will believe everything and anything the kids say, even if they are lying or not telling the whole side of the story. So if a kid named Marcus starts misbehaving in class and you warned him several times to get his act together and then you change is discipline card, and he has a hissy fit about it, expect him to say to his parents "My teacher changed my card for no reason!!". The parents will respond by either calling you OR your administrator. Watch out what you do with the kids these days as well. In the last 4 years I have seen some seriously
ed up shit both in the counties I have worked at and on the news and it seems to be getting worse. Whatever you do, DO NOT TOUCH THE KID with the exception of a handshake and keep it brief. Don't hug the kid or anything even if they want the hug first.
You might want to consider joining a teachers union to get your ass covered. They take some money out of your paycheck, but in the long run it's worth it. I was told that a few years ago one of my co-workers was accused by an Autistic child's parent that the guy touched his penis when he didn't do that. Of course the principal got involved and wanted to destroy this guy and not take his side. He had to go through a long investigation and use his union to protect his career from being destroyed by this incident. Long story short, it was learned that it was a scam by the parent to extort money from the county because she was getting ready to file a major lawsuit against them. The aftermath of that incident was that the child is still in that school and that co-worker still works there.
Expect a lot of your co-workers to be alcoholics as well. Believe me there is enough stress in that job to make you want to become one.
Also expect the average teaching career of a new teacher to be around 4 or 5 years before they decide to move on to something else other then a classroom teacher.
As one of my former teachers once said "Being a teacher is not as rewarding as it use to be..expect a lot of bullshit and very little thank you's, if any!"
Out of all the kids I helped out last year, only one kid came to me on the last day with a very special thank you card and gave me a boat load of gift cards to blockbuster, starbucks(I don't drink coffee) and target. Basically in the card the students said "Thank you for helping me to understand the assignments and being patient with me even though I was sick a lot this year." That was very rewarding and I hope the best for her in whatever she does.
