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Got class?; Becoming a teacher takes more than a desire for summer vacation

By Jason Lee, Source: Tribune Media Services

Unless you have an open mind, a good sense of humor, patience and excellent people skills, teaching may not be your calling. Perks like job security, geographical mobility and lengthy holidays often act as powerful incentives before prospective teachers realize the demands of the profession.

However, if you have what it takes, teaching can certainly be an extremely satisfying career full of opportunities for personal and professional development, and few other professions allow you to make such a positive and lasting impact on people’s lives and help shape the minds of the future.

So, whether you’re a young person looking to embark on your first career path, or a Baby Boomer considering a second career in education, consider these five keys to a promising teaching career:

1. Open mind

Learning and adapting are two of the biggest parts of being a successful teacher. Each day will bring new and unexpected obstacles to overcome and adapt to, so you must be able to handle a significant amount of adversity – especially early in your career.

Lynn Columba, program coordinator of the College of Education at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., says the best teachers consider themselves “lifelong learners” who are “willing to explore new teaching strategies and methods” as well as “act on current research in the classroom.”

“Effective teachers are not born, they are made after an enormous amount of hard work and dedication,” Columba says. “Just like their students become more academically mature, so must teachers expect to grow and develop as educational professionals each and every day of their career.”

2. Flexibility and patience

One of the core doctrines of teaching should be that everything is in a constant state of change. Interruptions and disruptions are the norm and very few days are “typical”. Therefore, a flexible and patient attitude is important not only for your stress level but also for your students who expect you to be in charge and take control of any situation.

“We must all be more and more flexible and have the ability to go with the ‘teachable moment,’” Columba says. “That’s not easy, especially after spending hours on developing a highly-structured lesson plan.”

3. Dedication

Sure, those extended vacations are nice. Any profession that offers paid summers off is definitely going to peak the interest of many looking for a job.

But don’t go scheduling that three-month European getaway just yet. Summers are a time when many teachers learn new skills, teach at summer school, attend teaching seminars or work on earning a graduate degree.

And being a teacher doesn’t stop when the final bell rings for the school day, says Phyllis Mendenhall, coordinator of advising in the teacher education department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

“I tell people that even though the bell might ring at 3 p.m., you are grading papers and preparing lessons at night,” Mendenhall says. “I tell them you’ll be taking graduate classes between mid- to late-June when school gets out until early August when you have to report back.”

4. Positive attitude

You will be thrown many curveballs in life and especially in the teaching profession. A positive outlook will help you deal with these in the best way.

At the same time, some of your students will likely come to class with a negative attitude toward the class, so it’s best to try and counteract it with a positive attitude and a sense of humor.

5. High expectations

An effective teacher should have high expectations and strive to raise the bar for his or her students. If you go in expecting less effort, you will undoubtedly receive less effort.

You should focus on an approach that says you know students can achieve to your level of expectations, thereby giving them a sense of confidence. This is not to suggest you should create unrealistic expectations. However, your expectations will be one of the key factors in helping students learn and achieve.

© 2008, Tribune Media Services