Secondary Thinking about becoming a teacher

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Drummond said:
In my final year of primary teaching degree. I'm still far from confident, I really don't know if I can do it. Is that bad, or is that natural? Shouldn't I know and have more confidence by now? First two placements were great however my last one knocked my confidence a bit, the school/year level and mentor were a struggle.

I have doubts about my knowledge of the curriculum, dealing with difficult behaviour, adapting lessons to fit the needs to varying students, and interacting with parents. Yeah, quite an extensive list.

Basically, is it just me or do/did others have the same doubts?
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Going into my final year of High School Teaching and I am having similar feelings. I guess a poor experience on my second placement put a lot of doubts in my mind.
 
After reading your post- A lot of what you wrote is what a lot of student teachers go through. I had simiiar experiences when I was a student teacher- on my last round I had a bitch for a supervising teacher- who was a bad teacher and impossible to please. If you come this far stick it through- You learn how to be a teacher when you teach in a school, not at uni, knowing what to teach- you develop those skills the more you teach and you can find everything on the internet. Speaking to parents and dealing with parents is actually a good part- most are great and will support you. Give it a go- the first term you teach will be hectic but it will settle down. Oh yer I have been teaching 23 years- its all commonsense and getting along with people
 
StingBitten said:
What have teachers experiences been like with School Psychologists? I have a 4 year Psych degree and have worked in Education Outreach (re-engagement into alternative education, training and employment).

I really wouldn't want to spend my entire day sorting out behavioural nightmares, that's all I'd do right?
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Coordinators would tend to deal with behavioural issues.

You'd deal with far more difficult situations, you'd deal with students who have experienced abuse and neglect at home, students with severe mental health issues.

Based on your follow on post, don't work in a school.

Kids need someone who's prepared to go over and above, you sound like you're after a cushy job.
 

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Has anyone gone from teaching into working in the Business sector, or vice-versa?

If you went a Business career into teaching - what made you decide to do that, and which have you preferred?

But probably more relevant for me - if you went from teaching to a Business-related career...
- What did you move into?
- How did you do it?
- Which one have you preferred?

I'm a 2nd-year teacher, mid 20's in age, and I don't "hate" teaching, but I know it's just not for me. I have a Commerce degree under my belt, with a major in HR, and a minor in accounting (although I'm not sure what that's worth).
But yeah - I think I'm keen to make a transition into the business sector, and just wanted to hear any advice or experiences people have had.
 
superfraser said:
Coordinators would tend to deal with behavioural issues.

You'd deal with far more difficult situations, you'd deal with students who have experienced abuse and neglect at home, students with severe mental health issues.

Based on your follow on post, don't work in a school.

Kids need someone who's prepared to go over and above, you sound like you're after a cushy job.
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I’m not assuming I’m just asking questions about teachers experiences. I have no idea what to expect in a school, hence why I’ve read every post in this forum.
 
ashley76 said:
Wow.....us Primary School teachers will be out for your blood now....
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Again, not an assumption but a question. It can hard to decipher plain text and if it came out that way I apologise.

My background is social work and I’ve worked in urban and remote Indigenous communities for 10 years. I’ve seen the effect a positive teacher can have in disadvantage areas and am curious about a career change.

I am however a little scared of the structure of the school environment and not identifying strongly with a mainstream curriculum. I know I can’t play ‘big-brother’ in a school environment but I know it might be possible to connect young people to something greater than what they thought they could achieve.

Or maybe that’s not the place of the teacher? I don’t know.
 
Im home and taking the dog for a walk and the local primary school staff carpark is still full. Im sure its a 75/25 lesson prep and gossip split but staying back 1 to 2 hours most days, * that. Guess thats the trade off as they dont get told to get ****ed as much as high school teachers!
 
Interesting - me and my girlfriend are both teachers (Me High School, she is Primary). And we both agree we couldn't do each other's job.

I've never taught Primary but I feel as though High School teachers have more planning and marking in general to do (especially if you have a few VCE subjects like I do). But I feel like the constant-nature of energetic, screaming kids in Primary School would be more tiring and draining.

Also from my little experience, parents seem to have more input in Primary Schools (and not necessarily in a good way).
 
cAsEy_18 said:
Interesting - me and my girlfriend are both teachers (Me High School, she is Primary). And we both agree we couldn't do each other's job.

I've never taught Primary but I feel as though High School teachers have more planning and marking in general to do (especially if you have a few VCE subjects like I do). But I feel like the constant-nature of energetic, screaming kids in Primary School would be more tiring and draining.

Also from my little experience, parents seem to have more input in Primary Schools (and not necessarily in a good way).
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Pretty much nailed it.

It would s**t me planning really engaging lessons for all subjects if I was a Primary Teacher. Parents still think their kid is God's gift at younger ages as well.
 
chunkylover said:
Im home and taking the dog for a walk and the local primary school staff carpark is still full. Im sure its a 75/25 lesson prep and gossip split but staying back 1 to 2 hours most days, **** that. Guess thats the trade off as they dont get told to get ****** as much as high school teachers!
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Seriously? Lucky. I'm grade 6...
I'm two hours back every night.
Arrive 7.30 out by 5.15.
Work through lunch too - usually check some basketball etc too.
 

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pepsi said:
It baffles me that primary teachers have less planning time allocated to them during the week, compared to secondary teachers.
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In WA they opted not to sign on for the part of the reward agreement that included an extra hour of planning time. We went on a half day strike, they didnt and in the end high school got an extra hour planning time
 
Maylandsman said:
You aren’t superman and can’t make every kid smart. You have to work with what you have got and help as best you can.
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I wish mine would adopt this. His is "Dont waste a minute letting the kids in the class. Thats a minute loss of valuable learning" and "Each child should make 12 months growth if they are at school 98% of the time or dont have a learning impairment."

And he wonders why staff are low on self esteem. We even have our own P&D goals set for us because he wants it their way and its set for the whole year level team. So staff cant individually choose what they want to work on.
 
pepsi said:
It baffles me that primary teachers have less planning time allocated to them during the week, compared to secondary teachers.
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My school have given staff 2 hours. They docked one hour to look at student Data because technically APT is not just for planning.

They also expect us to plan using a whiteboard (first hour) prior to typing the document (second hour) all of which needs to be uploaded to the sever by C.O.B Friday.

The kicker is we only have 1 meeting during the week so in their eyes we have time to do it after work because they cut one from previous years.
 
Jack Richards said:
I wish mine would adopt this. His is "Dont waste a minute letting the kids in the class. Thats a minute loss of valuable learning" and "Each child should make 12 months growth if they are at school 98% of the time or dont have a learning impairment."

And he wonders why staff are low on self esteem. We even have our own P&D goals set for us because he wants it their way and its set for the whole year level team. So staff cant individually choose what they want to work on.
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is your school IPS school? principals seem to have a knack for lowering esteem. your principals goals are unrealistic and seem to take a narrow view rather than holistic. I agree we should be encouraging children to achieve their best and there are many ways to skin a cat.
 
Maylandsman said:
is your school IPS school? principals seem to have a knack for lowering esteem. your principals goals are unrealistic and seem to take a narrow view rather than holistic. I agree we should be encouraging children to achieve their best and there are many ways to skin a cat.
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I agree. But he is very dictatorial in his role.. stick to the plan. Know your role and Delegates roles and encourages team leaders to delegate jobs to us. Hardly leaves his office and never is in the staffroom with us for lunch. As soon as we enter, even for us to fill drink bottles, they all leave.
 
What about relief teaching...

no meetings
no planning
no preparation
hardly any marking if any
no parents
no bullshit to deal with

350/400 a day
 
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