Advice from a Birth-Kindergarten Teacher
When I went to college I had no intention of going into education. I found the Birth-Kindergarten program and absolutely fell in love with it. The program wasn’t only about education young children but about the development of young children that would guide my teaching. I can remember knowing I had decided on the right profession when I could walk the halls of my department and have the “feeling” of satisfaction and comfort. I loved young children and I found I loved learning about why young children acted they way they did. Later I realized to educate the young child wasn’t just about ABC’s and 1,2,3’s. I really had to understand their development before they could learn. And that lead me to being a better teacher.
Pros of teaching:
1. First and foremost, you teach because you love your job! It’s one of those professions you don’t get paid much but you will find no one teaches for the money. You teach for the satisfaction of your job. The satisfaction of your creativity of producing a lesson to guide a young child’s brain to grow and develop is an incredible event.
2. You do get your summers off. This is great for rejuvenating your “batteries” for your next years group of children. It also benefits you when you have a family. You can be home with your children on their holidays and summer vacations.
3. You get to see an amazing venture from August – June of development and growth among 18 (hopefully no more than 18) wonderful individualized children.
4. Teaching is exciting AND different every day. If you don’t like to sit behind a desk all day then you’ll enjoy the classroom. Every day your challenges will change. Your problem solving skills will be at work in different ways each and every day…. I promise!
Cons of teaching:
1. Well, you put in a lot of hard work and time for what seems like every minute you’re at work and what free time you may have at home for what can feel like very little money. Well, let’s face it. In the beginning of your teaching career you will not get paid much. But as the years increase, so will your pay. You do have to keep in mind you most likely are more satisfied with your job than your neighbor who is getting paid 3x’s as much as you.
2. Administration. Ninty-nine percent of the people who are dissatisfied with their job is because of their administration. When you are interviewing for your first teaching position, make sure your philosophy matches their philosophy. It will make a better working environment, and you’ll thrive in your profession as a teacher. I promise!
Advice for you:
When the going gets rough, remind yourself why you teach. Remind yourself how satisfying it is when you create an awesome lesson, or when you see the spark of interest to a new topic you introduced to the children, or how satisfying it is to see how much a child grows from the moment they enter your classroom on the first day of school to the last day. It really is amazing! Just you wait; you’ll see.
Also, when you are interviewing for the first time for your very first teaching job it’s hard to know what kind of questions you need to ask. It’s ok. You’ve had very little experience to know what kind of questions to ask. So, here is a question I found to be VERY important during an interview. Ask your principal, “How do you keep your teachers up to date on the most current information on how to teach children AND on how children learn.” Because I promise you you’ll be surprised at how fast information changes. Every day there is changing information and because you are passionate about teaching children you need to know how they keep YOU on top of the changes.
My last piece of advice is this. LOVE every minute. When the going gets rough, laugh it off. Teaching is the best profession there is. Guarantee!
Caroline Dosher
Birth-Kindergarten Teacher
NC