Job Responsibilities
Job responsibilities include planning and executing high-
quality, multi-level lesson plans for Language Arts, Drawing,
and Sculpture classes. My first year, I often stayed in my
classroom until 6 or 7 pm working on lesson plans. The second
year, I had a base collection of materials to work with and was
able to spend less time on the basic planning and more time on
specifics, like improving my lessons, coming up with new and
exciting projects, and reading up on innovative education
practices. I was always modifying lessons and projects - even
from one class period to the next, and depending upon the skills
levels of students in each class.
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Job Requirements
I went to a private college, with about 2000 students, and so it
was easy for me to get the classes and professors that I wanted,
although I never had more than 15 people in any given class.
This was an ideal learning situation for me, since I believe
that discussion and individual attention is a very important
part of education.
I graduated Magna Cum Laude, and was very successful in my
student teaching, making it quite easy to find a job teaching
once I had finished. My certification program was a dual
master's degree program, so I was also able to begin my
coursework towards a MA in Diversity Education. The workload
was fairly heavy, with a lot of reading and practical coursework
required. It was a very academic environment, which I greatly
appreciated.
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Uppers
Helping students is the best part of teaching. I am a person who has always
related well to kids and am a very easy person to approach and talk to. Students
trust me and often come to me with their problems and concerns. After my first
two years of teaching sculpture for one class period a semester, 10 new sections
had to be added because of the popularity of the class. I had many students
transferring in to my classes all the time, which was a definite compliment. I
found it very important to view each student as an individual and to try not to
judge or compartmentalize any of my students.
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Downers
I had a problem with the jealousy of other teachers. They
didn't believe that it was possible to be a popular teacher if
you were doing your job correctly. They felt offended that
students wanted to leave their classes and come to mine. The
politics of education are also very draining. The morale is
typically very low among all of the faculty, and it is sometimes
difficult to remove oneself from such negativity. We also had
very serious funding problems, as is common for public
education, and were almost always lacking in necessary and basic
supplies and resources.
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Lifestyle
The work hours are very normal and nice - school hours - and having the summer
off is a definite bonus. I did a little traveling for conferences, which was
always nice, because meeting other teachers with similar interests is not often
possible in one's own school, even in one's own district depending on the size
and situation. We had few social events, although teaching is a very social job
and teachers often speak to each other between classes during hall duty and
during their preperatory hours. Dress code was business casual, although our
western region often saw jeans and sweaters as the norm. It is nice to have your
own classroom and to be able to pretty much "run the show."
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Compensation
The base salary for teachers is very low compared to other
professional fields. My first year pay was 22000, to increase
approximately 3000 a year. Benefits and retirement were very
good, but there were no bonuses or stock options to speak of.
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Advice to Jobseekers
In order to be successful in education, it is necessary to be a
very independent person, a hard worker, a self-motivated person,
and to have a thick skin. It is a high stress job that is never
predictable and teachers bear the brunt of many criticisms. It
is not uncommon for teachers to be expected to do MANY of the
jobs that parents should be doing for their children. The pay
is low, and so a posh lifestyle is out of the question,
especially if one is in a one-income situation. The job outlook
is fairly good, as long as public school continues to exist, and
it is possible to get a job pretty much anywhere you want, since
there are schools everywhere.
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