5 Reasons Why Teaching Is Still the Best Job in the World

Being a teacher can have its drawbacks. There are parents that expect us to work miracles with their kids when they themselves refuse to get involved at home. Teachers often use their own money to ensure their students have the proper supplies and food each day without any thanks at all. We are expected to teach until we are 65 years old to receive our full pension (less than a third of all teachers are able to retire with a full pension by the way). And the pay does not commiserate with what we do and our educational background. What other profession has someone with a Master’s degree start off at $30,000 if they are lucky? Plus, if I hear one more person say “those who can’t do, teach”, I may throw that unlucky individual through a window.

But with all that said, all the problems facing us as educators, teaching is still the best job in the world. Here are five reasons why being in the wonderful world of education should still make you smile.

When You Make a Real Difference in a Child’s Life

All of us can look at various students in our classroom each year and pinpoint some of the valuable differences we have made in their lives. However, it feels life-changing amazing when you are able to make such a huge difference that it changes their life forever. I once had a student enter into my fourth-grade classroom with all of her previous teachers informing me that she might say five words the entire school year. The student was too shy and all her emotions were shelled up they said. By the end of the first month of the school year with me, this student was up making speeches, sharing her stories, and generally just being one of the most enjoyable students I have ever had. Her parents spoke of the astonishing transformation every time I would see them. The best part is this little girl has continued the change as she has grown older. Very little in my life has ever made me smile quite as much as this.

Every Week Is Different

No two days are the same in teaching. One day you may be patting a kid on the back and being their counselor after their beloved pet passed away and the next you could be running school drills for emergency situations where all of your students’ lives are in your hands. If you like having every little thing planned out every day, teaching may not be for you. If you enjoy a little spice in your life, your role as an educator will definitely supply this.

The Classroom Is Your World

After teaching for a couple years, you will realize your classroom can be exactly what you want it to be. A place where you have the final say (more or less) and can conduct the class like the perfect society that you have always wanted to live in. It will be a place for you to escape to (along with your students) when you want to shut out everything else in the outside world. Being able to build an entire society in a small room is not something you get to do at other jobs.

One Year at a Time

We may get frustrated now and then in the classroom. No teacher is absolutely perfect and a bad day can spiral out of control quickly. But it is refreshing to know, even if you have difficult parents or students that are sometimes trying, you will receive a whole new group of students year after year. There are going to be times when you will want to hold on to all of your students and you will wish that time had frozen still because you love them all so much. This is all part of teaching. There will be years that you are ready to see those kids go on to the next grade and then there will be years that you will cry on the final day. Learn to appreciate these times.

The Day Will Come Before You Know It

When it is all said and done and your days of teaching are over, you are going to miss it. How many other jobs that you have had in your life can you say this about? You will still have dreams about being in the classroom and enjoying times with your students. If you are lucky, they will be having these same dreams as well.

Before the day comes when it is your time to retire, if you would like to get your classroom running like a fine-tuned machine and could use some ideas to do so, iAchieve can help. We offer workshops and professional development that will assist you in perfecting your classroom.