Is A Career In Teaching Right For You?

There are so many career paths you can choose and various times in your life when you choose them. And, depending on your passions and your present life season, it is something to consider with great care. Most women, if they choose to work outside the home, desire to do something they are passionate about. And, one of those passions may be helping people. If this is the case, teaching may be a wonderful career choice.  Also consider the varying forms of teaching, locations, groups and ages of your students, and the material in which you share.

Here are a few things that may point in the direction of doing some form of teaching as a career:

You enjoy a challenge

I won’t lie to you: teaching is not an easy job. It’s a career where you have to gain the attention and respect of your pupils. And, as some teachers will tell you, that can often be a big hurdle to jump. But, if you enjoy challenges, it’s likely you’ll find a way to be in perfect harmony with your students. All teachers have different styles they use in the classroom. The trick is to find one that helps you to engage with your pupils. This is a career that is diverse and creatively challenging, especially if you teach children.

You like helping others

If you crave sharing your thoughts and wisdom with others and watching them change or learn from you, you likely have some teaching mojo in you. Teachers are greatly rewarded by helping their students become better at something, or simply just better people in general. I have had some teachers that I knew were 100% dedicated to helping me grow and learn. Their desire to serve made a huge difference in how I learned and perceived the lessons. On the other hand, I’ve also had teachers who seemed to care very little about the results of their lessons. As a result, not only did I not care I didn’t understand what they were teaching. So, you can see the importance of wanting to help others if you are considering teaching.

You are a good student

As you can appreciate, becoming a teacher of any kind can be an involved process. First of all, you need to gain qualifications from mentors, courses and university. You’ll then need to embark on some teaching credential programs. It is usually only then you can even apply for teaching jobs in your local area. Again, this depends on the type of teaching and where it will be done. Regardless of the position you seek, there will be much academic study involved; therefore, being a good student yourself will come in handy. Though I am not an academic teacher, I teach women the skills and wisdom they need to move forward in life and business. And, yes, I have done a whole hell of a lot of studying myself! You can’t teach what you don’t know.

You want to make good use of your other skills

One of the interesting things to note about teachers is that many of them have done other things in their lives. Again, it is a whole lot easier to teach something that you have actually done or experienced. For example: a technology teacher might have an engineering background. Geography teachers might have degrees in physics or biology.One thing that makes a superior teacher is when she or he has an intimate knowledge of the chosen subject. This helps to better illustrate problems and solutions to pupils. I’ve always loved object lessons and good life stories to go along with lessons.

You want to be inspirational 

We all have memories of certain teachers from our school years. As, I mentioned above, the ones that usually stick out the most are the quirky, funny, engaged ones or the really bad ones! But I prefer to remember the great ones! My seventh grade English teacher made me love writing and actually enjoy creating with words. Teachers like her are remembered a lifetime and talked about years after their careers are over and they have been laid to rest. That’s because they were inspirational to those pupils.

There are so many facets that make up an outstanding teacher, but these are really a must. A career as a teacher is a brave path but one that could be the most rewarding thing you ever do in your life. Be true to who you are and follow your heart above all else.