Teaching is its own reward.
You heard that one before. Teachers are in it for the reward of training the future movers and shakers of the world. But once in a while, teachers are moved and shaken right out of the classroom. It’s tough. There are overcrowded schools in roughnecks, administrators run the campus like a fiefdom, the other teachers are counting the days till tenure, and standard testing runs the curriculum into the ground.
When the classroom’s four walls start converging in on you like parallel light traveling through a convex prism toward a focal point, what’s a math major to do if they can’t kick the habit of teaching?
A couple of possibilities.
Jobs for Teachers Alternative #1
One is to specialize in teaching select groups of pupils. Your public or private school may have driven you up the wall, but some kids are eager and want to learn. This is extremely easy to do with websites like StudyGate, which offers an online tutoring platform for teachers who got there and want to help others do the same. You need an Internet connection, a laptop, and the gray matter between your ears. StudyGate takes care of the marketing and funnels the students right to you. The ones who want to learn. The ones with parents encouraging them every step of the way. Scholars already knew in the 1980s that 1:1 tutoring was the most effective method of teaching. If you want to truly make a difference in the life of a student, teaching online maximizes convenience and still lets you get paid a reasonable fee for the effort.
Jobs for Teachers Alternative #2
One place is in prison or a youth detention center. Yeah, it’s scary. Prisons are not the free-flowing information centers of academia. After all, prisons are not places to learn—they’re punishment zones that emphasize security above all else. There’s no internet. There are very few computers, and all are monitored. Teachers are subject to body searches, office hours are non-existent, attendance is not reliable when students are shifted on to work crews, subjected to lock down, or are otherwise subject to transfers, discipline, and court dates.
And forget about teaching kids to question authority!
But, teaching in a youth detention center has its own rewards. If you’re the type of teacher who doesn’t give up on kids, then a youth detention center has its rewards. Kids are starved for education—they may be doing hard time, but if they want to turn their life around, then you’re their last hope…the last one who believes in them. If you’re the type of teacher who inspires others, who see the classroom as a place for students to grow emotionally and psychologically, then the life skill you impart will help the kid who someday wants to rejoin his community and family. Where the system may let them down, the right teacher might be all it takes.
But prison education isn’t for everyone. Teaching itself may not be for everyone. Dreams can die hard, but if you know you can’t (or don’t want to) stand up before a bunch of kids, then maybe its time to move beyond the classroom.’
Jobs for Teachers Alternative #3
Don’t despair! There are other opportunities out there.
There’s another old expression: those who can’t, teach. That goes for teachers, too. Teachers can design educational material for other teachers. Do you have a passion for teaching the water cycle? Programs such as Teach for America or STEM AmeriCorps Initiative are looking for science teachers to help K-12 students across the country develop core science skills. If you have a hankering to see Mississippi or take a field trip into the Great Plains, this might be the way to go. Or, if you have great ideas for a hands-on video game about the fall of Rome, Encyclopedia Britannica Kids might be interested in hearing you out.
Great teaching tools come from great teachers who know what works. For those who find the classroom stifling—or the eager eyes of dozens of kids a bit intimidating—a degree in education goes far, far beyond the classroom.