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Job Title: School Teacher
Type of Company: I work for a small private school, grades K through 8.
Education: BS, Computer Science, Franklin Pierce College (Concord, NH) •• MS, Education, Cambridge College (Cambridge, MA)
Previous Experience: I worked for fifteen years as a computer programmer before getting laid off. I then worked as a substitute teacher while I earned a teacher's degree.
Job Tasks: I am a middle school teacher. I teach sixth grade religion, math, reading and science, seventh grade science and eighth grade grammar. I have been working at this school for five years.
The school day starts at 7:55AM and goes until 2:10 PM. I always get to work at 7 AM. The first thing I do is check my email to see if any parents have any questions or concerns. This is also the time I make copies of any worksheets or test that I need for that day. My class schedule is different every day but I stay in the same classroom. I usually use my lunch break time to help any students with extra help. At dismissal time I go outside for twenty minutes for bus duty. I then return to my class and spend the next hour either correcting papers or getting things organized for the next day. Sometimes I meet with the other teachers to discuss students and teaching methods. On average I'm at school nine and a half hours a day.
Best and Worst Parts of the Job: The best part of the job is working with the students. Over the course of the year I get to see them grow and mature. Students learn at different levels and it is very rewarding when you're working with some kids and they finally understand what you're teaching. You can almost see the light bulb go on in their heads.
The worst part of the job is how time-consuming it is. Before becoming a teacher I thought that teachers had it made. Teach for six hours and you're done for the day. But that's not true. There are always papers to correct.
Job Tips: First piece of advice I would give to someone that is thinking about teaching would be to explain to them how demanding the job is. A good teacher has to do a lot of extra things besides correcting. They must always be looking for new and better ways to get teach. Second, a teacher must love to work with children. They need to understand how to motivate kids to want to learn. And lastly I recommend that you should work as a substitute for at least a year to see if this job is right for you
Additional Thoughts: I have had several teaching students come to my class to observe and they all say that they did not realize how much work is involved and how much energy one needs.
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