The past month or so, I have found that I have really been missing my old career, teaching. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy my current career developing math assessments, but working as a math content specialist doesn't give me the same sense of accomplishment that teaching sometimes did. I really miss the personal satisfaction I got by helping a student to learn something new and to really understand it.
This feeling I have had that I miss teaching has really intensified this week. On Sunday I saw a job listing in the newspaper for a math teaching position at a local high school. The job includes teaching Algebra 2 and more advanced classes. This would be a great job as I don't think it would have some of the issues that I had problems with when I taught. From previous experience, students who take these upper-level classes are usually more serious about them and really want to learn. The same isn't necessarily true of students in lower-level, required classes. However, leaving my current job to return to teaching isn't really an option for me at this point. For starters, it would result in my taking a pay cut of about twenty percent! Even if it weren't for the quickly approaching arrival of our baby, a pay cut of this magnitude would be hard to manage. Besides, as Mel pointed out to me earlier tonight, quite often I was not all that happy teaching.
2 comments:
I agree with your wife. Also, I think you have this tendancy to idealize teaching every single time you've stopped doing it. I hate to tell you this, but I just don't think you are meant to be a teacher. It made you miserable. So quit thinking you miss it. You just miss the three month vacation.
Later!
Ana
I would suggest looking into tutoring opportunities. I am sure there are kids in our schools who need extra help on those higher level courses. It could fulfill that teaching need while not breaking your bank.
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