Working with young people gives you the power to make a difference. This ‘difference’ can be anything from nurturing academic success to helping develop a skill or sport. Sometimes, without even realising it, your words of wisdom can make a huge difference and can really be taken to heart by your students - even so much that they'll start using them!
Teaching is an opportunity to inspire others by being passionate for a subject that you love — meanwhile empowering your students to realise their potential and discover their talents. This is something to never lose sight of, regardless of the pressures that make teaching difficult!
Although they may put grey hairs on your head, being around young people can keep you feeling young in many ways. Being surrounded by youngsters helps us maintain a relevant vocabulary and keeps us on top of the latest fashion, music and social trends — even if that does mean doing ‘the floss’ dance on a daily basis!
No day in the classroom is ever the same. This means that it’s practically impossible for the job to be boring, with so many different activities keeping us on our toes.This is just one reason why most teachers can do the same job for years with a smile on their faces!
As a teacher, you continually build relationships with students, colleagues, parents and the wider community. The colleagues you meet will become friends for life as you share a passion for teaching equal to yours – and more importantly, they’ll become the staple of your Friday night drinks…
As much as you teach the children, they teach you too. Every teacher will have experienced the moment when an innocent comment from a child really hits home and changes their perspective on something.
As a teacher, you are a role model — having people look to you for advice and guidance is one of the best feelings. Seeing the excitement in children who are thrilled by a topic or seeing a class full of faces hanging on your every word fills you with pride. It may not always seem this way (particularly when teaching a maths lesson), but when you do get a captive audience it really makes your day worthwhile. Other satisfying aspects of the job are watching friendships blossom between children, the challenge and success of getting the child that hates you to like you and making your pupils laugh!
And lastly seeing students ‘make it’ and achieve their dreams, knowing the small – or large – part you played in it gives you the ultimate job satisfaction.
Have we missed anything on why being a primary school teacher is so great? Let us know on our Facebook or Twitter page!
Sign up as a FREE STAEDTLER Teachers’ Club member to access curriculum-linked teaching resources and fun classroom competitions.
