If you don't mind, and you still have it, I'd like to read it. The more I tutor and work with the teachers at my college the more I realize teaching might be the perfect fit for me. The only other activiy that leaves me feeling as satisfied is hiking.
Since you are a teacher at college level (which is the level I'd be most interested in teaching) I value your input and experience here.
Sorry Mike, I didn't save it. It was a little inflammatory anyways. It had little to do with actual teaching and more to do with the system side.
In case there is any confusion, I teach at a community college (
Durham College) with 2 and 3 yrs programs. We share a campus and have unusually close partnership with a university (
UOIT) that offers 4 yr and post-graduate programs. There are several cross-over professors, but I personally don't have much to do with the university side of the house at this point. I have taught a little bit at the secondary school level. First, before I started at the college through a military co-op program, and later as a college professor through a kind of exchange program. I've also taught one course at the masters level as an adjunct professor back when I was a corporate training contractor. I only point this out because I know there is some discrepancy between what the word "college" means to a Canadian and what it means in the states. I don't want to misrepresent myself.
I love my job. For me, it's ideal. First and foremost, I find it very fulfilling to help people self-improve and to have a small part in creating a better future for themselves. After doing this job for a dozen years, I have many former students that have gone on to have wildly successful careers. Of course, there are also those that haven't, which is a downer.
Another really cool part of my job is the opportunity for my own personal growth. The are virtually endless opportunities to upgrade my education, my technical skills, my professional development, etc. Not only is their financial support (nominal fees for courses, tuition reimbursement, free workshops, sponsored conferences, unlimited access to college/university facilities, free books, etc), but also the kind of work schedule to actually do this kind of thing and genuine encouragement from management.
In my job, I have a huge degree of autonomy, which is very important to me. It's not the kind of job where your supervisor is micro-managing your every move. I would generously estimate that I meet with my Dean maybe a four times a year, tops. I have coordination meetings with my colleagues maybe a little more than a half-dozen times. The rest of the time it's just me and my students; they're really the only ones I'm responsible to.
The students themselves are a huge plus as well. It's very energizing to work with so many young, motivated people. Even after teaching for so long, there is never a semester that goes by in which some student hasn't taught me something or other. In my mind, one key difference between my job and a high-school teacher is that all my students are considered adults and all my students laid their money down and chose to come to school. Those two facts totally change the dynamic of the job. I generally don't have to worry about parents or problem kids; I'm not responsible for my student's discipline or whereabouts. I'm just there to help facilitate their learning, not police them. As similar as the job is to my own, I wouldn't consider teaching high-school as a career. Plus, it doesn't pay as well. :wink:
On the other hand, I don't have the "publish-or-perish" pressure my university counterparts do, nor do I have to deal with the highly political world of academics. Certainly not every university professor is like this but I know way too many of them that consider teaching students a detestable but necessary evil. I know I'm biased but that's only one of several things I find challenging about certain university professors. I find some (again, not all) tend to have an exaggerated sense of themselves combined with a lack of respect for those that chose a different path. Some I find tediously immature and surprisingly ignorant, which I attribute to spending their whole lives in the insulated and artificial world of academics. To be fair, I also know just as many incredibly gifted and interesting people too. I once flirted with the idea of working towards a university teaching career, but I have too many broad interests and not nearly enough dedication to make it work.
Another thing I love about my job is it's cyclical. Every semester is like starting out brand-new, usually with a new group of students. Every semester is unique. If I do end up with a group of students that drive me up the wall, it's no biggie because in 14 weeks or less I get a break and roll the dice again. I've had jobs where one work cycle just rolls into the next without any noticeable beginnings and endings and very little sense of progress. Personally, I need to periodically have a sense the effect my work is having.
As much as my job is ideal for me, I have seen some people fail miserably at it. First and foremost you need to be at least as adept at dealing with people as you are with your subject material. In fact, I would argue people skills are more important than subject specific knowledge at the community college level, although many of my colleagues would disagree. Although I'm a mildly introverted guy socially, I've always taken for granted that I can communicate with people. I have no issue with speaking to large groups, and I'm usually perceptive enough to make connections with a wide variety of individuals. Public speaking is a pretty common phobia and I've seen very knowledgeable, dedicated people thunder in because of it. I've also seen well-meaning colleagues that are virtually oblivious to the cues the students are sending get incredibly frustrated because they can't understand why they aren't performing.
I have my buttons like everybody else, but I'm usually easy-going enough to avoid confrontations with my students, but I like to think I'm rigid enough to provide a challenging learning environment. I have some colleagues that are constantly fighting with students because of what I call "chicken-shyt" reasons. Treating the students like children, being overly inflexible, never giving the benefit of the doubt, etc are common problems that IMHO can really make the job much more difficult than it needs to be.
The third attribute I think is pretty handy in my job is just enough of an ego to give you a slight "fear-of-looking-foolish". Not a paralysing fear but something to keep the short term motivation high. It takes a lot of work sometimes to be prepared for class and actually delivering a lecture can take a lot more energy than you might think, particularly if you are tired or sick. Some people can say, "screw it, I'll wing it" or whatever, but I find it nearly impossible to go to class without being at least minimally prepared. Of course, being "minimally prepared" has become much easier of the years, but I digress.
To sum up, it's the best job in the world if you can hack it. :yup:
