I am an elementary education major and I plan on becoming a second-grade teacher. Currently, I tutor a second grade ESL student; last semester, I tutored two third graders in math and reading. I enjoy crafting and making people smile.
I absolutely LOVE kids; my nieces and nephews are my life. People often tell me that they can see me becoming a teacher and that honestly makes my day. What bothers me is when people take a look at my classes and think that my major is not difficult.
You cannot determine how easy a major is by looking at a course load. The things taught in elementary education classes are equally as difficult as pre-med or engineering classes. By that, I mean if someone in pre-med took the classes I take, they would struggle. If I took pre-med classes, I would struggle. Like many educators, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher at a very young age.
A lot of people do not know what they want to do as an adult until they are already an adult, but some people are lucky and can major in things that truly interest them. For some that is design while others are interested in engineering; I have a good friend who is majoring in biology with a minor in animal science: pre-vet. She wants to be a veterinarian.The point I'm trying to make is that things come easy when you know what you want in life and what you need to do to get those things.
Many people, especially business majors for some reason, seem to think that majoring in elementary education is easy and therefore the profession of teaching is easy. Let me tell you something: writing a lesson plan for 20 children and then having that plan fall flat is stressful.
You can't just stop teaching them; you need to work on the fly and be able to accommodate all types of learning types and ability levels. When you have a student with a learning disability, there are certain steps you have to follow that are specific to each individual student. It's hard, but it's part of the job.
Next time someone tells you they're a teacher, or studying to be one, please don't belittle their hard work. The same goes for other "easy sounding" majors. Also, please no snide comments about how we will have to marry someone rich because teachers don't make a hefty salary. Teachers don't work for money. Kids have tantrums, they scream, and they make messes.
Every soon-to-be teacher knows that, so stop saying you could never handle that job. We already know. It takes a special kind of person to be a teacher, and really, isn't that for the best? You want your child's teacher to be passionate about their job, not someone who dreads coming into work every day. That's detrimental to everyone's education.
