4 Important Questions to Consider Before Starting a Career in Education

Teaching is one of the most challenging professions you could possibly choose to enter into. At the same time, it’s also one of the most rewarding. Not everyone is cut out for a career in education, so it’s important to ask yourself a few important questions and consider these ideas before you become an educator. The more prepared you are as you go into education, the more effective a teacher you’ll become.

Do you like kids? What age group do you prefer?

Far too many people go into education because they think it’ll be easy and they’ll get good benefits. This mindset is what often sets up new teachers for failure. They randomly choose what age group or subject to teach instead of seriously considering what they prefer. Before you decide what grade level you’d like to teach, carefully think about if you’ll be happy spending 8 hours, five days a week with that age group. If you aren’t sure, you might want to try babysitting, volunteering with an after-school program, or some other way to be around each age group to see who you relate to better.

Can you talk in front of people all day?

While you do a lot as a teacher, a big part of your job is going to be standing in front of students and trying to teach them the knowledge they’ll later be tested on. You’re going to deal with at least some students who simply are not interested in the information you’re trying to impart. Can you handle talking in front of people for hours each day and knowing that a fair number of them aren’t really listening? While you’ll have awesome students who hang on your every word, you’ll also have some who don’t listen.

Do you feel confident about managing a classroom?

A big part of teaching is classroom management and it’s often something that you just cannot learn while in a class in college; you need to actually get into your own classroom. You need to be confident in disciplining students. You cannot rescind your rules or play favorites. You need to be able to handle any situation that might arise and keep your cool.

Are you passionate about what you want to teach?

For teaching, you’re going to be talking about a specific subject a lot or going over the same material from year to year and class to class, regardless of the age level you’re teaching. Are you passionate enough about teaching others or the specific topic that you can spend hours and years talking and teaching it? Make sure you choose something you genuinely care about as a teacher and your job becomes much easier.

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6 Ways Teachers Can Avoid Burnout in the Beginning of the Year

For teachers, burnout is entirely too common, especially if they do not practice self-care and prepare themselves for possible stressors throughout the year. In teaching, burnout not only affects you, but it also affects your students, since you’ll have to take time off to recover. There’s been a shortage of substitutes available for many districts as well, which means your students may not get consistent coverage while you’re gone, causing you to be even more stressed when you come back. Start the year off on the right foot and take care of yourself to avoid burnout.

Create a strong support system

The first step you should take as an educator to avoid burnout is creating a strong support system. Having people who are there for you and being there for others helps you in all aspects of teaching; find fellow teachers you can talk to about the profession and get their input for solutions to stress or other problems in the classroom. It’s also important to cultivate strong friendships and relationships outside of work for when you just need to get away from the world of teaching.

Stay organized

Most teachers are incredibly organized individuals, but even if you slip up on organization for a week or two, it can throw your entire year off track. Plan out each week at the beginning of it and create plenty of lists and schedules so you never forget what you need to get done. Manage your time like a champion and you’ll avoid lots of stress.

Remember the great moments

For teachers, there are going to be times when you find the job incredibly rewarding. You’ll see a former student achieve their dreams or you’ll witness a difficult concept click for someone. Whatever the great moments you experience are, remember them. Write them down so you can refer to them and give yourself a boost during the tough times.

Take care of yourself

Self-care is vitally important no matter what your job is. Remember to take days off for your mental health and find a little time in each day to relax. Whether you spend time exercising, participating in a hobby you love, or getting adequate sleep, you need to take proper care of yourself if you want to be effective and avoid burnout.

Enforce your rules

All too often, small classroom issues can escalate and cause more stress than they need to. By enforcing your classroom rules, you keep your students under control and can actually teach and meet goals. Letting your students know what’s expected of them makes your job easier and more fun.

Craft interesting lessons

Continue to make your job fun by creating interesting lessons for your students. They’ll be engaged learners and you get to do something unique in your class. Regularly change up your lesson plans so teaching doesn’t become boring and tedious.

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