How I decided

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How I decided
By Vivat

Not that I'm a teacher yet (I do my student teaching next year), but there were several things that helped me in deciding what area and age I wanted to teach. As far as area...I have always liked math and science. While
getting my first degree, I did alot of calculus, biology, and chemistry. So, I knew I wanted to do something with those subjects. By the same token, I despise social studies and english (sorry to all those history and english majors). I just have always found the two subjects boring. Therefore, I don't think that I could adequately teach about english and social studies. Instead, I'd

probably make the students hate the subjects just like myself. To me, being a good teacher means liking and being excited about the subjects you teach. I'm definitely not excited about english and social studies but am about math and science. Not liking these two subjects also helped me make a decision of what grade's I'd teach. The lower grades require that you teach all subjects. Therefore, I knew I couldn't teach in the lower grades. In addition, I want to teach at a higher level of math and science rather than to just stay at the basics so that I am stimulated by the material along with my students. I can't teach the levels of science and math that I want to with younger kids. Now the debate is whether to teach middle school or high school. Well that decision came because of my physical stature. I'm 5ft, very petite, and probably look like I'm 18. Teaching, high school, at least to me, would be difficult because I think it would be difficlut for me to establish a teacher vs. student barrier. You know what I mean? Half the kids in high school could just tear me apart. Not to say that there aren't any big children in middle school, but there'd be alot more in high school. Plus,while working in a school as a computer assistant, I was mistaken for one of the students, thus leading me to decide that I better stay away from high school. So, my decision has been to teach math and sci for the middle grades (wish me luck everyone). You may want to take everything about yourself into consideration i.e. do you like younger kids? Do you like certain subjects? Do you want a more adult environment? etc etc This may help you decide where and what you want to teach.