Why Opt to Take a Degree in Teaching?


 


 


            This paper discusses why you should decide on taking a degree in teaching. An introduction provides the reader sufficient background on the topic and it is where the major points on the reasons on pursuing a degree on education is presented. The personal and professional benefits of the said degree are also included, together with the possible plans for you to utilize what you have learned in the program. As a closing, a conclusion paragraph is presented summarizing the thesis and its main points.


Introduction


            A lot of challenges arise in the selection of one’s career path. In spite of this, it is also exciting since there are many things to be considered before making your final decision on the said matter. The career that you should be taking by now will define what you will be in the future. Since what you are considering here is not just a short time, but also a lasting career for your whole lifetime.


            A self-assessment will help you know yourself better. Your interests and talents are a good place to start your self-assessment. You might consider asking yourself: Do I have a love for (continuous) learning? Do I enjoy being with children? Do I like the feeling of being smarter than others, even if the “others” are younger than I am (mostly below 8 years old or above, it depends)? Do I receive unlimited satisfaction from helping others learn new things? Do I enjoy challenges and ever-changing opportunities? If you have answered all or most of these questions with a yes, then teaching might be the one for you.


            Challenges for you are exciting, and the rewards of it are priceless.  A simple smile from the face of a young boy as a sign of his realization that he can now read are only a few of the numerous accomplishments in life teaching can give you. Therefore, if you want to be one of the inspirations of our future musicians, mathematicians, scientists, and other future professionals of the next generation, consider the profession of teaching.


Teaching as a Noble Profession


            One of the noblest professions is the teaching career. Parents will be entrusting you with their children for almost eight hours a day. In other words, it is your duty to make them smart. You should be able to mold them into responsible human beings that will not shoot other people. As you slowly recall your past teachers from elementary up to the last time of your student days, you will soon realize that being a good teacher is not that easy as you think. It takes a lot of work, sacrifices, patience and dedication. The only thing that is truly rewarding is that you really can create a positive impact on your community, if you have done an excellent job. Being a teacher is a wonderful responsibility.


            However, the pursuance of a degree in teaching should not be taken for granted. Your reasons on why you want to be in the field of teaching should always be with a purpose. Still, for you to have a purpose, you should have a better and definite view of the nature of your job, the challenges and difficulties that come along with it. You should be ready to face these challenges. Think of it like there is no turning back.


            Then from here, you can now base your purpose. Good purposes are said to be specific and personally meaningful. They represent your own bedrock convictions, things that you will never compromise. They are your deep abiding beliefs that may be buried within you for most of your life. You just barely know its existence. They affect the way you value some things over the other, unconsciously. In other words, they are considered personal to each individual.


            Teaching is a job that if you let it, can take more out of you than gets put back in. As we all know, the benefits of the teacher nowadays seems to be low and they deserve more considering the sacrifices and dedication they put on their profession. Even if the demands of the job are not always equal to the rewards you are going to get, this should not be a reason for you to be less effective or worse, totally ineffective. Instead, you should be thinking the other way around, getting something back even more than what you put in. In this way, you are discovering your own purpose in teaching that goes beyond just doing your job.


            Teaching is an interesting and challenging profession. It is not for the meek or faint of heart. With it come great challenges, opportunities and big responsibilities. You can choose from a number of alternatives. First, if you have the love or passion being with little kids, you can choose to teach young children in pre-school up to the elementary grades. However, if you opt to be with a little bit more mature children, you can work with middle and high school students. You can even specialize in different fields like arts, sciences, math, or technology education. You can also teach at a technical college or university level. Moreover if you still want a more challenging one, you can also work with special children. It includes cases like physically, emotionally or intellectually challenged children. You can act as a teacher, guidance counselor, psychologist, physical or occupational therapist, or as a social worker.


            Teaching is a demanding, yet rewarding profession. It takes your heart and passion to be an effective teacher to your students. They all depend on you. That is why it is not enough for you to have good purposes for teaching. You should also make those purposes come alive by letting them influence what you do and the way of your teaching.  


The Benefits of a Teaching Career


Personal Benefits


            Nothing can be compared to the joy brought about by a simple smile from the face of a little boy, from his delight that he can now read and enjoy reading fairytale books by himself. Knowing that you have imparted some of your knowledge to other people, especially the young ones, bring good feelings in our heart. Through the simple ABCs he uttered, the simple arithmetic he can now solve and the progress he undergoes are proofs in it. From there, we know that are sacrifices are now bearing its fruits and that we have completed a job well done. The best thing about being a teacher is simply the pure joy of working with kids. If you really work with your students, they can also mold you into being a great teacher.


            Aside from the said benefits, we can also consider other things as benefits of being in the field of teaching. One thing is the massive summer vacation. Another is the fact that there is no teaching during weekends and holidays. In addition, there is the feeling of superiority over them, you feel smarter even if you are far older than they are.  There is the feeling of self-fulfillment, a feeling that you have made a difference. It is worth the sacrifices especially if you can now see your former students to be professionals already, successful in their respective chosen careers. Isn’t that fulfilling that it even brings tears to our eyes brought by the happiness?


Professional Benefits


            Education degrees can prepare you to work in any of the various areas inside the field of education. Whatever your interest may be, be it in early childhood education, adult education, distance learning, or anything in between, there are education degree programs out there according to your specific training needs. These educational degrees are available in all levels. There are those for associate and bachelor’s level, as well as those for the advanced degree level. They can be found in different communities around the country. Due to the increased technology nowadays, there are also existing programs online. There is now the possibility of earning valuable degree programs from anyplace of your choice, in the country, without compromising the quality of education.


            For the individuals who earn education degrees, there exist a lot of opportunities for you upon graduation. Possible career paths include teaching in public and private schools, teaching adults in post-secondary settings, working as a school administrator or counselor, working in education policy, or taking a number of career paths in related fields, such as designing corporate training programs.


            In choosing this career path, you can also have additional opportunities in exercising your talents. You can act as a coach or an adviser to extra-curricular activities from groups like foreign language clubs. You can also use your leadership skills to mentor other teachers, on leading curriculum design teams or pursue building and district leadership options as a principal or superintendent. They can also use their leadership talents in advocating for others through the involvement in the teachers’ union, professional associations and community organizations.


            If these selections are still not enough for you, do not worry because teacher’s skills are transferable to other professions. Government, as well as the business-and-industry employers preferred hiring teachers due to their ability to work and communicate effectively with people. These abilities, together with other abilities on planning, organizing and acting as inspirations, make them even more attractive as employees. Although great teachers are badly needed to be in the classrooms, choosing this career path gives you a wide range of options aside from being in the classroom.     


            The benefits stated above are considered as non-monetary. Aside from those, being in the field of teaching entitles you also to certain monetary benefits. According to the National Education Association, the national average salary of a teacher for the years 2000-2001 was ,335. You can even earn as high as ,281 (in New Jersey) or as low as ,265 (in South Dakota). Starting pay ranges from ,126 to ,601.


            Aside from this, other benefits include health insurance, sick leave and dental coverage, depending on the agreement. Other contracts may even include long-term disability insurance, life insurance, emergency or personal leave and investment options. You might also receive private scholarships and federal funding for teaching programs, as well as funding for teaching supplies. There are also available retirement benefits for those who dedicated most of their time to the teaching profession. For the present teachers, there are employee assistance programs for them in cases of emergencies and times of financial crisis. Membership to some unions is also required. They also assist its members in times of difficult situations. 


Conclusion


            Teaching is one of the noblest professions existing in this world. We should be thinking of teaching like this. When you teach an adult, you are going to the bank of a river. Any attempt on either widening it a little or narrowing it a little, you are making a little change in the river. However, it already got the direction. When you work with little streams, a small change in direction makes a small exposure to something new. The whole course of the future river changes for good or for bad. It is exciting to work with little streams. They admit their need on learning things. They hunger for knowledge. They even got excited when they learn something new. They actually squeal when they are happy.


            The teacher is the hope of the land. He must be a person that can be counted upon when others have left. He is a shoulder, a heart, and a mind rolled into one. This is what makes the difference between a teacher and a government official. To the teacher, work comes in first, last, and in between.


            Teaching, like learning, requires the engagement of the whole person: hand and eye, mind and heart. It is not a job for the second-rate or the uncommitted. It is a job for high achievers. Teachers are mothers, philosophers, police officers, doctors, nurses, counselors. You have to be prepared to take on those roles, to handle them and to go about the job of teaching.


            Despite these difficulties, many teachers survive; even thrive, in today’s complicated educational milieu. The key to their success, according to teachers already in the field, are professional dedication and perseverance. Another key is that good teachers enjoy transferable skills that can give them valuable career flexibility and mobility.


            To be in the field of teaching requires dedication and perseverance. Therefore, teaching profession should not be taken for granted. You should always see to it that through teaching, you are sharing or imparting some of your knowledge to your students. They can apply this knowledge in their course of life. Your main reason for taking up an education degree should be because of a good, personal purpose. However, having a purpose is not enough. These purposes should serve as a guide and influence on the way of your teaching and all of your actions. Therefore, for most (effective) teachers, they value teaching not because of its benefits (monetary, etc.) to them, but simply because of their self-fulfillment in this field, the way they are able to share in the role of molding the youth, the future of the next generation.     




Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com


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