Secondary Thinking about becoming a teacher

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i_love_the_hoff said:
What qualities do you have to posess to become a teacher?
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The ability to be interested in every topic you're teaching. If you're not interested in it, find an angle on the topic that does interest you. If all that fails, learn to act :)

The ability not to take comments/actions by students personally or hold grudges. You are just a small part of the students' day - if they go off at you, it probably has very little to do with you and more to do with what is going on in their lives. Remember what it was like to be an adolescent?

The ability to know when you've lost 'the edge' so you can stop teaching. The saddest thing to see is teachers that have been working for many years who just come in and go through the motions. If you need a break or a change, take a break - your students will thank you and your life will be a whole lot easier.

The ability to spell 'possess'. Sorry, but being a pedant is a good trait to have as a teacher as well :)
 
volcboy said:
The ability to be interested in every topic you're teaching. If you're not interested in it, find an angle on the topic that does interest you. If all that fails, learn to act :)

The ability not to take comments/actions by students personally or hold grudges. You are just a small part of the students' day - if they go off at you, it probably has very little to do with you and more to do with what is going on in their lives. Remember what it was like to be an adolescent?

The ability to know when you've lost 'the edge' so you can stop teaching. The saddest thing to see is teachers that have been working for many years who just come in and go through the motions. If you need a break or a change, take a break - your students will thank you and your life will be a whole lot easier.

The ability to spell 'possess'. Sorry, but being a pedant is a good trait to have as a teacher as well :)
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Thanks man.
 

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OldMav said:
What frustrates me are the people that do a science degree, physc-social or arts degree then do a dip-ed at the end of it. The teachers I have come across or the students that are considering doing this think its easy, then can do it without a hitch. Dip-ed's should be at least 2 years long as you can't learn to become a competent teacher inside 1 year, and I am pretty sure I know which of my teachers had done a dep-ed. They were terrible!
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Every student is going to prefer the program they graduated from. It's natural. For the record, I did an Arts degree. Played around with the idea of becoming a teacher when I graduated from high school, but wasnt sure, so I played it safe and picked an Arts degree because that's where I thought my strengths were.

Anyway, so I'm now currently doing the Melbourne Uni MTeach. It's pretty good, two year dip-ed condensed into one year (accelerated mode, with the option of doing it in a reduced two year program) and the option of continuing on with the Masters program in 2010. It's a lot of work, basically did the equivalent of the dip-ed in Semester 1, but so far it's been mostly enjoyable.

Still deciding what my career path is going to be in 2010, so it's been good to read what other people have to say regarding teaching.
 
i_love_the_hoff said:
Hi all,

I'm in year 11 next year and it's time I started thinking of career options.

so just recently I was thinking about becoming a Secondary School Teacher for Maths, Italian and maybe Drama or something.

Is anyone here a teacher? Is it a fun job?

What would be the pro's and cons?

What is the pay like?

I don't know whether I should become a teacher though because when I told my Maths teacher she said my grades proove I can do something a little more extravagent.

I just think it would be intruiging job thats all.

Any thoughts?
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Really depends what type of schools you apply for. The schools with a bad reputations will pull in alot of rejects. Despite how talented you are, you would not want to be teaching there!

Teaching is a risky job IMO. I am not a teacher but remembering my previous school years, it has given me this conclusion.
 
OldMav said:
What frustrates me are the people that do a science degree, physc-social or arts degree then do a dip-ed at the end of it. The teachers I have come across or the students that are considering doing this think its easy, then can do it without a hitch. Dip-ed's should be at least 2 years long as you can't learn to become a competent teacher inside 1 year, and I am pretty sure I know which of my teachers had done a dep-ed. They were terrible!
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Way to sterotype:thumbsdown:. I did a Dip-Ed and I'm confident enough in my ability to say I'm a good teacher. IMO, It doesn't matter whether you do a Bachelor of Ed or a Dip.Ed you don't really start learning how to teach until you have a class of your own. As our lecturer used to say, a Dip.Ed is like an L plate. It means you are ready to start learning how to teach, not that you are already a competent teacher. I'd say personality and character traits have a lot more to do with being a good teacher than whether you have a degree or Dip.Ed in teaching.

Anyway, I love teaching. I can't see myself doing anything else. However, primary not secondary is the way to go. Primary kids are awesome.
 
Tripwire said:
Really depends what type of schools you apply for. The schools with a bad reputations will pull in alot of rejects. Despite how talented you are, you would not want to be teaching there!

Teaching is a risky job IMO. I am not a teacher but remembering my previous school years, it has given me this conclusion.
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Mhm, I want to teach religion though, and if I continue with the study of religion through year 12 and then at uni, its said to give you a good chance of getting into private education, which isnt as bad.

Thanks for your comments.

Im still undecided.

The other day i was thinking I should become a pediatrician or a funeral director. lol
 
Raskolnikov said:
Way to sterotype:thumbsdown:. I did a Dip-Ed and I'm confident enough in my ability to say I'm a good teacher. IMO, It doesn't matter whether you do a Bachelor of Ed or a Dip.Ed you don't really start learning how to teach until you have a class of your own. As our lecturer used to say, a Dip.Ed is like an L plate. It means you are ready to start learning how to teach, not that you are already a competent teacher. I'd say personality and character traits have a lot more to do with being a good teacher than whether you have a degree or Dip.Ed in teaching.

Anyway, I love teaching. I can't see myself doing anything else. However, primary not secondary is the way to go. Primary kids are awesome.
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Perhaps the ones that I have come across taht have done a Dip-Ed have shown poor teaching practices, classroom management and discipline strategies. I don't know what it is like in primary school but this is what I have found during rounds at secondary schools in a few places of melbourne.

Agree that character traits are a massive part of how well you can teach and control your class. The way students react I feel is a lot to do with how your classroom character comes across.
 
i_love_the_hoff said:
Hi all,

I'm in year 11 next year and it's time I started thinking of career options.

so just recently I was thinking about becoming a Secondary School Teacher for Maths, Italian and maybe Drama or something.

Is anyone here a teacher? Is it a fun job?

What would be the pro's and cons?
Click to expand...

Now I will try and answer your questions being sensible.

Teaching can be a fun, rewarding and challenging occupation but like any job, it has its moments. As said earlier, it’s about building relationships with the students and other staff members. It’s how you position yourself in the school and if your personality is suited to that form of employment.

If you’re a shy type who has trouble talking in from of people, teaching may not be a good occupation for you. If you’re an extraverted person who gets bored doing the same thing every day, especially senior secondary teaching, teaching may not be your cup of tea. You do have room to move and allows you to be diverse in what you teach but the curriculum and pedagogy is still structured in a set direction.

However before worrying about working as a teacher, worry about university. What course is best suited to you and what university is best suited to you. There are plenty of different education degrees you can apply for, if you’re serious, do some research.

From my own perspective, at uniSA, to answer one of your queries, doing a senior secondary maths degree you don’t enter a classroom for prac teaching until your 4th year. This to me would be a major worry.

Teaching maths and science at the senior secondary level has the potential to be very unrewarding as so many teenager males dislike this area of the curriculum. If you don’t have enthusiasm for this subject, projecting your lesson to this demographic will make you days long and boring and your enjoyment for the job will not last.

If you’re personality isn’t suited to the occupation of teaching, potentially you have just wasted 4 years of your life. But the courses change every year.

But the best advice anyone could give you, do your own research and make your own mind up.
 
crows98 said:
Now I will try and answer your questions being sensible.

Teaching can be a fun, rewarding and challenging occupation but like any job, it has its moments. As said earlier, it’s about building relationships with the students and other staff members. It’s how you position yourself in the school and if your personality is suited to that form of employment.

If you’re a shy type who has trouble talking in from of people, teaching may not be a good occupation for you. If you’re an extraverted person who gets bored doing the same thing every day, especially senior secondary teaching, teaching may not be your cup of tea. You do have room to move and allows you to be diverse in what you teach but the curriculum and pedagogy is still structured in a set direction.

However before worrying about working as a teacher, worry about university. What course is best suited to you and what university is best suited to you. There are plenty of different education degrees you can apply for, if you’re serious, do some research.

From my own perspective, at uniSA, to answer one of your queries, doing a senior secondary maths degree you don’t enter a classroom for prac teaching until your 4th year. This to me would be a major worry.

Teaching maths and science at the senior secondary level has the potential to be very unrewarding as so many teenager males dislike this area of the curriculum. If you don’t have enthusiasm for this subject, projecting your lesson to this demographic will make you days long and boring and your enjoyment for the job will not last.

If you’re personality isn’t suited to the occupation of teaching, potentially you have just wasted 4 years of your life. But the courses change every year.

But the best advice anyone could give you, do your own research and make your own mind up.
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thank you very much crows98, i didnt know you had it in you. :p
 
I have applied for the Masters of Education at Melb. Uni next year after having completed a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science last year and an honours year in anthropology this year. I have elected biology and history as my required teaching fields (you must chose 2 in the VTAC application). I have been at uni for 6 years and I am looking foward to some practical participation.
 

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I love teaching primary and would recommend it any day but if you are going into it for the purpose of making your workload lighter sorry but you are in for a rude shock. During my first three years teaching I spent almost every weekend at school.
 
Raskolnikov said:
Way to sterotype:thumbsdown:. I did a Dip-Ed and I'm confident enough in my ability to say I'm a good teacher. IMO, It doesn't matter whether you do a Bachelor of Ed or a Dip.Ed you don't really start learning how to teach until you have a class of your own. As our lecturer used to say, a Dip.Ed is like an L plate. It means you are ready to start learning how to teach, not that you are already a competent teacher. I'd say personality and character traits have a lot more to do with being a good teacher than whether you have a degree or Dip.Ed in teaching.

Anyway, I love teaching. I can't see myself doing anything else. However, primary not secondary is the way to go. Primary kids are awesome.
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I am in my 4th year next year but have 3 semester to go as i did part time study this semester and this is just an opinion but i believe the main differences in those doing a Bachelor of Ed or a Dip.Ed is in a Bachelor of Ed you learn more things about teaching (the teaching and learning strategies, learning theroies, in depth teaching philosophies, withitness, how child / teenagers learn these are all studied in depth). I feel the weakness in Bachelor of Ed is learning the content of specialised areas (secondary teaching). I am majoring in HPE (and it's all i want to teach) but you need a minor and mine is science. Sure i have a sound knowledge of human biology / performance in terms of science but lack the chemisty, physics side of things (these were not covered enough to learn to teach they were mearly only touched on).

Now the Dip.Ed study with another core degree like surf science or bachelor of science or a double maths/science degree it is the opposite to a Bachelor of Ed. You have the content and are well knowledgeable to teach the subject but lack delivery and all the key points i touched on earlier (the teaching and learning strategies, learning theroies, in depth teaching philosophies, withitness, how child / teenagers learn these are all studied in depth) It would be difficult to learn all of this and more in one year study.

So ATM i am a fully qualified teacher in three semesters time, i am confident in my teaching strategies, making things engaging, enjoyable, catering for diverse learning, I know most of the skills for teaching in terms of sport as i did prior to becoming a HPE teacher, i have a good understanding of the health side of things, but in terms of teaching science I feel i will not have the content knowledge for year 10 or above but have the ability to create fun for learning with a variety of investigations. I should add my education degree only allows me to teach from 1 -10 so a district school would be ideal for me:thumbsu::thumbsu:
 
i'm not quite sure where else to post this, and after having spent half an hour reading this, i thought this may be the best place to post...

i'm a high school english/esl teacher, graduated at the end of 2004. didn't get a job, and only got into relief teaching during the middle of the year (vit reg took FOREVER! are they still as inept?). got my vit reg, and joined up with 'essential personnel' and another agency somewhere in hawthorn. anyway, i did one day in a western suburbs school, and it totally scarred me. all the control and command i had during rounds (the entire "don't smile until easter" routine -- and it worked) was gone. kids squaring up to me (i thought one was going to hit me!), others calling me a paedophile, swearing in front of me (at me, too!), and so i didn't go much further...

lucky for me, i had a TESOL qualification part of my degree, so i was lucky enough to get into ELICOS teaching at a private language centre in the city. working with international students is/was great; totally motivated and FUN work (i love dissecting grammar -- modal verbs and inseperable phrasal verbs are my passion!), and highly rewarding. i did that for a few years, then i tried my luck overseas and taught in asia for the last few years. anyway, i've recently returned, and i'm totally shocked and disappointed at how 'casualised' everything's become! caught up with an old friend from uni, and she told me that after 5 years of signing on for 12 month contracts and reapplying every september, she was offered an 'on-going position'.

maybe i'm being idealistic, but isn't this sort of teaching regarded as 'professional? working at language/elicos centres has become like the new seasonal fruit picking job; the level of professionality i see is just SHOCKING. people going into work in jeans and sneakers, even fisherman's pants! it's all become so casual and non-committal. here today, gone tomorrow...it makes me wonder if i chose the right industry...

i just wanted to post this for the topic-starter who was keen on getting into teaching. a lot of other people have mentioned the 'on-job' conditions well, but the actual job security is a big problem; even with 5+ years of esl teaching, i can't get more than a few days a week (casual, of course) at insitutions.

does anyone else have experiences like these? does anyone else work at language centres? are there message boards for jobs like these? would love to discuss stuff; seems like everything's gone to crap in the last few years...
 
I bloody love teaching. Bloody love it.

Be positive, be kind, be fair and be honest.

Have a laugh with students once in a while. Let them have a laugh at your expense once in a while.

I wouldn't be doing anything else ...

(Is it that obvious that I'm a graduate?)
 
The best teachers in highschool i found were the ones who ignored the kids who didnt want to learn. not really ethical, however, in some classes, particularly in the later years, there are kids who are there to get the the minimum pass and just dont care.

Best teacher i had was a P.E teacher in yr 11 and 12 for that reason, she actually told students at the door to go away and she would mark them present for the purpose of teaching those who wanted to learn.
 
Mitchell Madness said:
The best teachers in highschool i found were the ones who ignored the kids who didnt want to learn. not really ethical, however, in some classes, particularly in the later years, there are kids who are there to get the the minimum pass and just dont care.

Best teacher i had was a P.E teacher in yr 11 and 12 for that reason, she actually told students at the door to go away and she would mark them present for the purpose of teaching those who wanted to learn.
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But that’s the direct opposite of what a teachers ethos is supposed to be, an educator is supposed to support and inspire those who have no inspiration to learn and make it an enjoyable experience. Not send them away because they are difficult. i understand you said it wasn’t ethical but IMO this person is not a good teacher, she is a lazy one.
 
Yeah a difficult situation. I am a PE teacher in training and I guess it is for me to get the students who don't want to partake in sport to join in and enjoy there PE classes.

I notice your point must be in the theroy of things. If a class is enjoyable, motivated lessons, and you have a sence of humour then things should be alright. Sure you are going to have to put up with the odd 3 or 4 who don't want to partake in either but it is the teachers job to find ways to include them and make it enjoyable for them.

It is in year 11 and 12 where PE is not a required unit, if there are students who don't want to do the physical AND theroy side of things I would first let them know that these are both required, and if this doesnt work then it would be time to show them the door. But this is only in year 11 and 12
 
brisbanelioness said:
If you're good at Maths, do NOT become a Maths teacher! You could take your skills achieve a far more satisfying career (and pay packet) in another field. If you want to know about pay, it goes up each year until you've taught for 10 years where you'll earn around $65,000. It's not much when you compare it to what engineers, for example, earn.
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As of Feb 2011, After 5 years service in WA, base pay is $84 863. To progress beyond this requires a move to admin or level 3 teacher status.
 
I've applied for a Dip. Ed. next year with my first preference being UQ, they seem to have the best program of Qld's Dip.Ed. courses. Though, despite having spent the past seven years teaching ESL in South Korea, I'm still quite daunted about being a teacher here. I know I'm capable of being a good teacher as I've been able to gain rapport, 'win' kids over to me and the subject I was teaching, and was able to create an interest in the subject - which most didn't want to study - for many of my students.

But, having said that, my greatest classes were always the 'easy' classes where you had a bunch of highly committed, intelligent students who actively wanted to improve their English, and as result everything was in place for a great learning environment (not just for the students but myself, too, I learnt just as much from teaching them). But, my achilles heel was always the trouble classes where the kids didn't want to be there, though I was able to get things done though not nearly to the same degree as the high achieving classes.

Perhaps, this is all a bit of anxiety and it will be better once I'm in the course, and eventually in front of the classrooms. I guess in a way it's good to know beforehand the areas in which you need to work to become the best teacher you can.
 
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