Colorado Technical University

Let's try this again... when teaching *isn't* your first career choice?

I posted this question earlier and not only did I get few answers, but the answers I didn't seem credible. I am currently majoring in Liberal Arts. I have many different interest but they all go back to English, Literature, Language Arts and the like. I have an interest in Journalism, possibly being a Technical Writer or even a Primary or Early Elementary school teacher. The biggest concern that I have is mostly about the salary that teachers are paid, in contrast to that of a Technical Writer's annual salary (apparently it starts at 50k.) Are there any teachers or teacher's aides out there who had another profession prior to choosing Education? I really don't find, "Either you pick teaching or you don't. That's it," to be a credible answer, seeing as how half of my professors at college initially did something else. For example, my Journalism teacher majored in Communications and Literature, had every intention of becoming a journalist but had to change careers. I have a Math professor who was a senior financial consultant for a large corporation and when he was laid off, he went into teaching. I have another professor who worked for Ford for 30+ years and since he was laid off he has now gone on to teach Business courses. Hell, even my significant other is in the IT field and has taught classes here and there for computer systems and software applications. I know for a fact that you don't HAVE to choose teaching as a major or even a first career choice to end up in Education. I just want to hear someone's personal experience. Cecilia - Thank you. That really helped a lot.

Public Comments

1. You don't have to be born with a burning desire to be a teacher in order to become a teacher. I am a teacher, and have been doing it happily (and according to admin, colleagues, and students, doing it well) for 10 years. I didn't start university with a plan to become a teacher, and finished an M.A. in English with no intention of becoming a teacher. However, plans change, and here I am, not regretting a thing. A new colleague of mine is in her 40s, and just finished her B.Ed. She became a teacher after years of being a landscape architect. I can't speak for how well she'll enjoy it, but she's certainly motivated. I think it's something that can grow on you, even if you don't start with a holy mission to Bring Enlightenment to the Nation's Children. You just have to be willing to put in some blood, sweat and tears. And then some more. If you can do that, and keep on smiling, go for it. btw - I wouldn't use university or college professors as a standard to measure how to go into teaching, because generally their primary job is not teaching but research/writing. Teaching is just a side thing that brings in money for the school, and it's a whole other set of politics at that level. They're dealing with privileged adults. You'll be dealing with children, with parents who will want to know what's going on all the time, or worse, who don't want to know what's going on. These kids maybe came to school not having eaten for a day or two. They'll be bringing baggage that's quite different from what a college instructor deals with, and you will have to deal with curriculum and instructional materials and standardized testing in a way that college instructors don't have to worry about.
2. There is a big difference between teachers and university professors. Professors often go into education because they find a problem they want to research on the job and realize that they are cut out to be academics, or if you are at a community college, it may be that they did something for years and now want to teach others about what they learned. Those are rarely the reasons that someone would choose to go into primary or early childhood education. There certainly are teachers who did something else first, but rather than leveraging their prior careers into their teaching, it is usually because they either had a passion for teaching that they initially denied, or because they discovered they disliked their first jobs and teaching was preferable for them. Very often those first jobs had little to do with what they teach. There is one big difference between professors, even those who work at non-reasearch schools, and teachers. The professors' focus is on their subject matter. Very few have taken any classes in education at all, so their teaching is based upon their knowledge base. Teachers, especially in the early grades, focus on teaching techniques. They aren't great experts in their fields, for the most part, and they don't need to be, but they do need to take coursework in pedagogy in order to be credentialled.
3. I was an Anthropology major in college. My very first "real" job was as a receivables clerk for an insurance company and then a jewelry manufacturer. I had taken the civil service exam, and was waiting to move up the hiring list. Within the year I got a job as a tax auditor. I enjoyed that, and did it for five years, but I got bored, so I became a stockbroker. I was able to use the knowledge I gained, but I did not like cold-calling and being on commission. Then I tried retail, and worked as a manager for a major art store chain, and then a major home improvement chain. I did not really like retail. After 5 years I found myself on unemployment and used that time on to take an aptitude test that pointed me towards teaching. As I look back at the various places I worked, they all involved teaching of some sort. So I supplemented my unemployment as a cashier, while I got my credential. I have been teaching for 15 years. The end.
4. I have the inverse. I was a teacher and the field got poorer with pay and benefits. I had to work two jobs, etc. I am moving into the medical field.