Today, my son told me he wants to be a teacher

[Mom0012]

I asked him if there was anything he could do when he grew up, what would it be and he said, "Anything? Anything at all?". Of course, I said, "yes" and he said he wanted to be a teacher. Preferably a history or geography teacher, which is no big surprise considering his knowledge and interest in these areas. In many ways, I have always thought this would be a perfect job for him because he is very sociable, somewhat extroverted and really enjoys working with younger kids. He's also very insightful about other people's feelings and sensitive to them. He's working 40 hours at a cub scout camp this week and he is a den chief for a cub scout troop throughout the year and he loves it. He does have an expressive language disorder, but I see him getting better and better as he gets older and I really believe that if he works hard, he can find a way to do this, and he is a very hard worker.

 

I would love to hear what types of teaching options there are other than working at the public school since I think that with the way the system is right now, it is not a very rewarding way to teach. If there are teachers out there who disagree with that, I'd love to hear that side of things as well. Also, any ideas on how to help him reach this goal considering his disability would be greatly welcomed. Particular colleges to consider? We are in Virginia. I know this isn't a highly challenging STEM career, which so many seem to be shooting for, but I am very excited for my son and so happy he shared his dream with me.

[MorningGlory]

How exciting!!!!! He sounds like a perfect fit for a teaching career.

 

I taught for 9 years before "retiring" to teach my own children. Six of those years were in a large, urban public high school and three of those years were in an extremely elite and expensive all-girls private school. Talk about polar opposite jobs! The public high school job was physically and emotionally taxing, the work hours were long, and the red-tape was stifling, but the rewards were huge! Those kids "needed" me (at least that is how I felt). I became a mentor to many of them...dare I say it, I loved many of them like they were my own. After that experience, the private school job felt like a vacation. I am totally serious. At the public school, I would have 5 classes of 36+ kiddos and I would have to sub for other teachers during my plan period because no one would come sub at that school. But at the private school, the class size was limited to 16 girls, and I was only given 4 classes to teach with 2 planning periods. See what I mean about vacation? :) At the private school, I was allowed to leave campus during my lunch/planning times and I had very few outside-of-class responsibilities. It was a teacher's dream job. But honestly, I cannot remember very many of those girls' names. They certainly didn't "need" me in the same way as my former school kids did, so they all kind of run together now in my mind. :(

 

All that to say...there are ups and downs to both sectors. But I wouldn't worry one iota about that now. "Where to teach" is a long way off.

 

What your son is doing now with his camp and cub scout work will definitely help prepare him for a teaching career. You might look for opportunities for him to tutor, too. Also, see if he can help judge small local competitions like a spelling bee or geography bee or speech/debate.

 

I would be proud if any of my kids wanted to be teachers!! :) Good luck!

[Mom0012]

How exciting!!!!! He sounds like a perfect fit for a teaching career.

 

I taught for 9 years before "retiring" to teach my own children. Six of those years were in a large, urban public high school and three of those years were in an extremely elite and expensive all-girls private school. Talk about polar opposite jobs! The public high school job was physically and emotionally taxing, the work hours were long, and the red-tape was stifling, but the rewards were huge! Those kids "needed" me (at least that is how I felt). I became a mentor to many of them...dare I say it, I loved many of them like they were my own. After that experience, the private school job felt like a vacation. I am totally serious. At the public school, I would have 5 classes of 36+ kiddos and I would have to sub for other teachers during my plan period because no one would come sub at that school. But at the private school, the class size was limited to 16 girls, and I was only given 4 classes to teach with 2 planning periods. See what I mean about vacation? :) At the private school, I was allowed to leave campus during my lunch/planning times and I had very few outside-of-class responsibilities. It was a teacher's dream job. But honestly, I cannot remember very many of those girls' names. They certainly didn't "need" me in the same way as my former school kids did, so they all kind of run together now in my mind. :(

 

All that to say...there are ups and downs to both sectors. But I wouldn't worry one iota about that now. "Where to teach" is a long way off.

 

What your son is doing now with his camp and cub scout work will definitely help prepare him for a teaching career. You might look for opportunities for him to tutor, too. Also, see if he can help judge small local competitions like a spelling bee or geography bee or speech/debate.

 

I would be proud if any of my kids wanted to be teachers!! :) Good luck!

 

Thanks so much for he encouragement! I was just thinking about trying to find him opportunities to tutor in a few years. He's only in 8th grade now, so he's still young, but this has always seemed like the career that would make him happy. So many of his qualities would make him a great teacher. The communication skills are still somewhat of a worry, but my hope is that he will continue to improve and he is still young. After my original post last night, I got a little scared, though, because after doing a little googling, it really looks like the teaching profession is pretty saturated. I wonder how much that will change in the next ten years and whether it will be for the better or worse? Would you mind sharing where you went to school and what you thought of the teaching program (in a PM if you don't want to broadcast it on the message board)? There was a thread recently linking a study about how so many colleges aren't preparing students to be good teachers and my son will need to be in a program that gives him the skills he will need. My sister is currently getting her master's in special ed while teaching (this is her first year teaching and her undergrad is in business management), but she does not feel she is benefitting at all from the classes. Though I have to say my accounting courses didn't do much to prepare me for the day-to-day of my former CPA job. I really learned most of what I needed to know on the job. But, that may be because I was more interested in just getting through the courses rather than really interested in the subject. Also, is it more difficult to get a job in the private sector vs. the public? Thanks again! (Oh and sorry for the one long paragraph. I can't make paragraphs on this board with this browser.)

[MorningGlory]

Though I have to say my accounting courses didn't do much to prepare me for the day-to-day of my former CPA job. I really learned most of what I needed to know on the job.

 

I'd say this is definitely true in education! :) The only education course that actually helped me *teach* was my student teaching! lol! However, I did have a few professors...mostly in my subject matter of physics...that taught me how to teach through their own modeling. They were fabulous mentors and examples. But none of my education courses were particularly helpful (and most were mumbo-jumbo...but that is how education is). I graduated from a medium-sized SEC university. Most 4-year universities and many smaller, private lac schools have strong education departments.

 

Most of my preparation for teaching came through experience...tutoring, working as a camp counselor, teaching children/youth church classes, etc.

 

At this point, I would not worry about possible market saturation for teachers. I found it very easy to get a job in the public sector because physics teachers are few and far between; history/geography may be a little different...I don't know. It may be easy to find a job at a private school...but your son will probably be interested in the pay scale. Most private schools are going to pay less than the local public schools. There are exceptions (the private school that I mentioned in my first post actually paid me more than I was making in the public setting).

 

So my advice is to provide your son with opportunities to work with kids throughout his high school career, map out a 4 year high school plan with a wide variety of history and geography courses, and the rest will fall into place. :)