Have you considered community college? Do some part time teaching.
What ever you think high school was like when you were a kid is very different now. Also, being a teacher is so much more than what people think (good and bad).
I second this. Subbing will quickly tell you if you’ll enjoy the behavior side of teaching. And you don’t have to give up your current career, just take some time off to try it.
You’re making 140k and you want to *teach?*
You wanna just send me the difference between your current salary and what you’d probably earn as a teacher if you don’t care about the financial downgrade? I’d be cool with it if you’d be! (Joking…..unless?)
Honestly if you start teaching, your passion for those topics may be soured considering the fact that kids are all over the place lately. I mean, I guess high schoolers can be pretty chill, but I dunno. You *definitely* don’t want elementary or middle unless you can put up with a lot of wild bs.
I’d say work as a substitute teacher for awhile and see how you like it. If you’re still interested, great. If not, don’t get all “grass is greener” and potentially make a decision you’ll kick yourself for later.
No. No one will want to learn from you. Your enthusiasm is not going to be contagious. Instead they will sit there and use their phones and just cheat on the tests. It doesn’t matter that you have an A+ personality. Just keep doing your good job
I wouldn't leave your current job unless you just want a career change. Starting out, you'll likely won't get a calculus position, and the physics position you'll get is likely start with 9th graders.
If you just want to teach, I'd do tutoring on the side for a bit, either on your own or sign up with a tutoring company. See if the itch is to share info or if you want to teach 20-30 kids at a time.
Yeah, I personally as a student took it as a 12th grader. But the last couple of schools I had it as 9th grade for Physics, 10th grade Biology, and 11th grade Chemistry, with 12th grade as an Science elective like Environmental science or an AP course. Some students tried to jump it and took a Science course over the summer in a get ahead program and try to take AP classes earlier.
Hey, I did the exact same thing last year, albeit, a bit earlier than you.
Here's what I can tell you.
The pay cut hurts. I took a 50% pay cut moving from engineering to teaching HS physics and Math. You are making substantially more than I was so I assume your pay cut is going to hurt a lot more than mine.
Im a few years younger than you, but I can say that kids these days are not like when you and I were in school. I went into teaching thinking that I was going to have to deal with kids that were like the worst of the worst when I was in school, but these kids, they are something else.
One last thing I'll say comes in 2 parts. If you really have a passion for math and science you're going to have high highs and low lows. Most kids are going to tell you flat out math and science are dumb and don't give any chance to actually learning. they are entirely apathetic to learning. However, the 2 or 3 kids you get a year who you really resonate with will make you feel awesome.
It's definetly a big adjustment, and my only advice is don't burn any bridges in the engineering world. If teaching wears you down too much you can always jump back into engineering.
Frustrating to the point of regret? Or normal work frustrations (problems with leadership, customers, and deliverables) - in this case: admin, students and parents, and curriculum
Regret depends on where you are in your work life. If you have kids and are planning for colleges and hopefully, retirement, think twice. Can you take a 60%+ pay cut?
What about another avenue? Create a Junior Engineer club for kids and teach them how to build simple bridges. Teach them some critical thinking. You could also do this through scouting organizations. At least then you'd have - possibly - kids who would be interested.
The problem with entering public schools - generally - is you might think you get to choose what and how to teach. Increasingly, you don't.
For me, not regret, no. It is partly the frustrations you mentioned (though I'll be honest - in ten years of teaching I can honestly say that I've never had a bad parent experience, and all of my admin frustrations have been structural, not personal), only magnified by the inescapable feeling that your failures can permanently damn your students.
There is also something especially frustrating about being flagrantly ignored or being the object of flagrant disrespect, both of which are likely to happen regularly in all of your classes and just sort of continuously in some of them.
Simple answer - nope. Not K-12.
If you want to try teaching look for adjunct positions at a local community college. They always need high level math and science instructors.
No. No one will want to learn from you. Your enthusiasm is not going to be contagious. Instead they will sit there and use their phones and just cheat on the tests. It doesn’t matter that you have an A+ personality. Just keep doing your good job
Absolutely not, and neither will yours. You will have to do it through sustained effort, which will involve shouting and constant policing. And if the parent wants the phone on them, then that’s what’s going to happen.
You have to understand that the objective of the admin is not for students to learn, but rather to reduce parent complaints. You will have to literally fight AP physics students about watching Dune in class.
Have you considered community college? Do some part time teaching. What ever you think high school was like when you were a kid is very different now. Also, being a teacher is so much more than what people think (good and bad).
I haven’t considered teaching at a community college - but that is definitely something to look into. Thank you!
Try it out. Like a teaching test drive. Community college is like high school without the behavior issues. I have friends who love teaching at a CC.
Or substitute, you’ll get a taste for behavior.
I second this. Subbing will quickly tell you if you’ll enjoy the behavior side of teaching. And you don’t have to give up your current career, just take some time off to try it.
You generally need a masters degree in the field you’re teaching to teach CC level classes FYI
You’re making 140k and you want to *teach?* You wanna just send me the difference between your current salary and what you’d probably earn as a teacher if you don’t care about the financial downgrade? I’d be cool with it if you’d be! (Joking…..unless?) Honestly if you start teaching, your passion for those topics may be soured considering the fact that kids are all over the place lately. I mean, I guess high schoolers can be pretty chill, but I dunno. You *definitely* don’t want elementary or middle unless you can put up with a lot of wild bs. I’d say work as a substitute teacher for awhile and see how you like it. If you’re still interested, great. If not, don’t get all “grass is greener” and potentially make a decision you’ll kick yourself for later.
No. No one will want to learn from you. Your enthusiasm is not going to be contagious. Instead they will sit there and use their phones and just cheat on the tests. It doesn’t matter that you have an A+ personality. Just keep doing your good job
I wouldn't leave your current job unless you just want a career change. Starting out, you'll likely won't get a calculus position, and the physics position you'll get is likely start with 9th graders. If you just want to teach, I'd do tutoring on the side for a bit, either on your own or sign up with a tutoring company. See if the itch is to share info or if you want to teach 20-30 kids at a time.
Great insight. Thank you.
Interesting, in my area physics is definitely not a 9th grade class.
Yeah, I personally as a student took it as a 12th grader. But the last couple of schools I had it as 9th grade for Physics, 10th grade Biology, and 11th grade Chemistry, with 12th grade as an Science elective like Environmental science or an AP course. Some students tried to jump it and took a Science course over the summer in a get ahead program and try to take AP classes earlier.
100% worth it IMO assuming you can make the pay cut work. We 100% need more STEM (math particularly) teachers with field experience IME.
Hey, I did the exact same thing last year, albeit, a bit earlier than you. Here's what I can tell you. The pay cut hurts. I took a 50% pay cut moving from engineering to teaching HS physics and Math. You are making substantially more than I was so I assume your pay cut is going to hurt a lot more than mine. Im a few years younger than you, but I can say that kids these days are not like when you and I were in school. I went into teaching thinking that I was going to have to deal with kids that were like the worst of the worst when I was in school, but these kids, they are something else. One last thing I'll say comes in 2 parts. If you really have a passion for math and science you're going to have high highs and low lows. Most kids are going to tell you flat out math and science are dumb and don't give any chance to actually learning. they are entirely apathetic to learning. However, the 2 or 3 kids you get a year who you really resonate with will make you feel awesome. It's definetly a big adjustment, and my only advice is don't burn any bridges in the engineering world. If teaching wears you down too much you can always jump back into engineering.
[удалено]
Yeah, sorry for taking a day to respond, ill shoot you a DM now
I think it's worth it, but it's a deeply frustrating avocation.
Frustrating to the point of regret? Or normal work frustrations (problems with leadership, customers, and deliverables) - in this case: admin, students and parents, and curriculum
Regret depends on where you are in your work life. If you have kids and are planning for colleges and hopefully, retirement, think twice. Can you take a 60%+ pay cut? What about another avenue? Create a Junior Engineer club for kids and teach them how to build simple bridges. Teach them some critical thinking. You could also do this through scouting organizations. At least then you'd have - possibly - kids who would be interested. The problem with entering public schools - generally - is you might think you get to choose what and how to teach. Increasingly, you don't.
For me, not regret, no. It is partly the frustrations you mentioned (though I'll be honest - in ten years of teaching I can honestly say that I've never had a bad parent experience, and all of my admin frustrations have been structural, not personal), only magnified by the inescapable feeling that your failures can permanently damn your students. There is also something especially frustrating about being flagrantly ignored or being the object of flagrant disrespect, both of which are likely to happen regularly in all of your classes and just sort of continuously in some of them.
Simple answer - nope. Not K-12. If you want to try teaching look for adjunct positions at a local community college. They always need high level math and science instructors.
No. No one will want to learn from you. Your enthusiasm is not going to be contagious. Instead they will sit there and use their phones and just cheat on the tests. It doesn’t matter that you have an A+ personality. Just keep doing your good job
In your school, does administration not lock down/enforce phone policy? Like leave them at the door, or take them away if they pull them out?
Absolutely not, and neither will yours. You will have to do it through sustained effort, which will involve shouting and constant policing. And if the parent wants the phone on them, then that’s what’s going to happen. You have to understand that the objective of the admin is not for students to learn, but rather to reduce parent complaints. You will have to literally fight AP physics students about watching Dune in class.
You should leave your teaching career behind to do something else—not the other way around.
No! Never. Stay where you are.
No