What's it like being a High School Teacher? (Or Teacher in general)

To be honest, everyone hates teachers, except if they are hot chicks. :P

I'm not a teacher, but I have a few very good friends, and in general majority of students are negative towards school and learning process in general, so by definition towards teachers as well. Teaching is a very repetitive job, especially in high school, as you'll repeat the same material over and over again, just for different groups of students, for entire day. Most of my friends are "passionate" about teaching, which is a very nice talent/skill improving their patience, mood and other important factors when teaching, which IMHO is crucial for this job, otherwise you'll feel either bored, angry or heavily discouraged after some time.

I wanted to be a teacher when I was young, but I'm too impatient and too rude - I am somehow passionate about sharing knowledge, and some of my close friends really appreciate it, but I'm too impatient to repeat one thing too many times, I'd simply be a very bad teacher. That's why I respect all teachers for what they're doing, but I know that in general that job is not as good as most people think it is.

As a math teacher knowing math is only half the story. You have to handle kids well, especially in high school, they tend to be the most annoying there (I just remember how we were back then and actually wonder our teachers didn't just hang themselves).

I am a Professor at a college. I have no relatives that are a teacher that I know of. I don't really have any cool or interesting experiences to share either to be honest. You just have to get over any kind of fear of public speaking. A trick of the trade is if you get stumped on a question, open it to the class. Odds are someone will say something to jog your memory. I have to say I enjoy it when one of my classes falls on Halloween because even though they are adults, they often dress up. If you have any questions you can ask me, I don't mind chatting.

I've had a few experiences with really bad teachers, but I've also had several good ones. There's only been a couple teachers I could truly respect. The problem nowadays is that kids don't want to learn. They'd rather sit there in class and use their phones to chat instead of doing their work. The education system(at least in America) is really going downhill lately, and it's not the teachers fault for the most part, it's the damned students.

It was near impossible to learn in my school. Almost everything I know today I was self-taught. A lot of the stuff taught here is really simple, and yet none of the students seem capable of comprehending it. This is their own fault, of course, they don't choose to put in the effort. So that's something you'll likely need to deal with.

spent a year as a teacher's assistant. Most rewarding work I ever had.
It was in a horrendously bad school. Most depressing work I ever had.

I chose potato because it's not as simple as the other two options imply.

There are good teachers. There are teachers I've had that I still think about; I look back and consider how they've impacted my life even now, how they've not just taught me their subject but their attitudes, their analytical skills, their wisdom.

And there are bad teachers. Teachers who taught me that there are some people you just cannot ever see eye-to-eye with. Teachers who failed so utterly in their teachings that I learned more from skipping their class and going to the common room with the text book than attending.

But to be fair, that some people are an utter waste of skin is also an important lesson.

My friends and I generally had good relationships with most of our teachers from 7th grade on (they seemed more approachable and human, where when younger they were these strict adults in my eyes). We'd talk pretty openly and joke around occasionally, or ask for help/advice without being afraid of confronting them. "Good" teachers definitely made school more enjoyable and exciting to learn.

My only bad experiences (besides the couple teachers who clearly hated their jobs) were when the students would fool around or act up, but that happened way less in my honour classes.

Best of luck becoming a teacher, hope things work out. :)

I have been teaching Math since I was 16. Absolutely love it!

I substitute taught for a year after college and also for the first few months of this year. I taught mainly middle school and high school. (For anyone with a bachelor's degree, getting certified is super easy. It pays well and schools are always in need of subs.) While I was only a sub, I did have a long-term position as 6th grade English teacher for about 6 weeks while the actual teacher recovered from surgery.

Biggest advice I can give is to be mean right off the bat. It's more effective than being their friend, and every kid loves a mean teacher anyway. They go nuts when you give them the slightest bit of approval. I was mean as fuck every day and those kids loved me.

I was also offered a fully-paid opportunity to be a Montessori teacher back in 2013, but didn't end up taking the offer. While education has never been my focus, I do quite well as a teacher and may go back someday for my doctorate. Certainly look into Montessori if you haven't, I find the system incredibly interesting.

Again, I was never a full-time teacher but I was certainly a full-time sub in 2010/2011 and taught every day of the week. Feel free to ask anything as I'm just riffing here.

Teachers are one of the top highest depressing/stressful works out there, thats probably why you always hear bad experiences about it.
Good luck, if thats what you like, go after it, follow your dream :)

My experience with math teachers were extremely fucking boring, until i went to 10th grade, they either didnt care about the noisiness in the classroom or the way they teached didnt really captivated you at all.

But now my teacher is such a chill guy, i'd say he has more of a troll personality, joking around all the time but still teaching you how things are done. Still hate math tbh, but going to class is worth it for a good laugh.

Also, my teachers keep complaining about their salary, idk how much you are going to make monthly where you live, but, best of luck!

I currently am a high school mathematics teacher and honestly I really enjoy my job for the most part. Seeing my students every day is surprisingly enjoyable and I have a fun time getting to know them and being able to share my knowledge with them. One thing I've found very important to my success as an educator is being honest with every student and building a strong relationship with them early on. I never lie to any student, even if they ask polarizing questions, and I make it very clear that I have a great deal of respect for them as people and to me they are more than just bodies in a room or scores on a test. I've taught students who have made other teachers at the same school emotionally unable to teach them, yet I've never had a problem with those students myself. Most of my classes are filled with amusing comments and fun jokes among the students and myself; I love to laugh with them and see them all smile because it lets me know that we have an excellent relationship. On our campus, I'm known by many students as "the best math teacher at our school", and by many faculty as "consistent teacher-of-the-year material." Being completely honest with your students is so important; they will absolutely respect the hell out of you for it.

The biggest drawback to my job (other than how little we are paid) is that I am part of an education system that is utterly useless and doesn't know which way is up. The policies I legally have to follow because of national and state legislature make me despise working in education. A major reason why the system is trash is because we have politicians in charge of it who have never taught a day in their lives, as opposed to real life educators who (for the most part) know what's best in the classroom. What really brings my piss to a boil is the fact that I'm convinced that our principal has been brainwashed into thinking all the ridiculous federal and state guidelines are the holy grail of education. This school year, our state has implemented one of the most retarded teacher evaluation systems to ever be created. I could go on for hours about how awful it is, but to sum it up, we as teachers are put under a microscope in order to make sure we don't deviate from the only correct method of teaching the state seems to think is effective (and again, they are NOT educators). I feel like I am scrutinized so closely at work that I just can't do my fucking job; there is always some sort of impractical bullshit we are expected to do that I fell like I just can't show up and be a teacher.

Aside from that rant, the best part about teaching is knowing that you helped students grow as individual and tried to get them ready for the fucked up real world as best you could. I am required to teach them certain topics in mathematics, but more than that I stress to them about how to be a life-long learner and how to be successful in life. I've had students break down into tears and tell me that I was the only one who ever believed in them, or I was the only one who ever pushed them to be a great person. That's why I love what I do; I couldn't give a shit about my principal or what the departments of education have to say about my job, that shit means nothing compared to how you can make an impact on someone's life the way teachers can.

I could go on for hours... but I will refrain from doing so. In short, teaching can be so rewarding, but only if you go about it the correct way. In my case, I have to disregard a broken system in order to do what's best for the students kept captive by it. But I'm more than fine with that challenge.

Other than the students are trying to kill you everyday? None.. JK xD
I watched too many anime xD

Tbh you can't impressed all students, even if you're a good & nice teacher.. Some students bound to hate you
At least that was my problem when I was a student
An english teacher, his jokes aren't really that funny.. But he's a hard-worker and friendly teacher, I like him but that's not the case for my classmates
Another english teacher, you can say she's "popular" teacher.. Having chat app & other social media, making her likable?
Uhh I don't really know what my classmates are thinking
Nice teacher -> No good
Popular teacher -> Good

Hmm I'm not a teacher myself, but here's my advice xD

• Be a teacher that proud of your teaching job (In short liking your job)
• Test score is important, but the most important thing is teaching your students the important thing in real life (Like how to become a honest, good person, etc)
• Teacher with not so serious mood is likable.. probably (Like joking around, laughing, etc).. Be a strict teacher when needed
• Eh.. Still be yourself is the way you'll be comfortable

I remembered one time I like a math teacher from my middle school and I never like math teacher except that one
He's strict, very quick to angry for a simple mistake.. But outside class he's really nice, though his face is still angry-ish
I guess the gap between strict and nice got me xD

My wife and I both teach. But we're working in colleges rather than high-schools so I'm not sure if our experiences would be of much use to you. If there is any information of mine that would be of use, though, I'd be happy to share.

I'm a high school teacher too, but I'm in Canada, and our system is quite a bit different than in the US.

To be clear, I love what I do, but teaching is one of the most thankless jobs I've ever had. I just deleted my rant before I posted, but it takes thick skin, patience, compassion, passion in your subject area, and a desire to see people succeed.

My only warning about math is that most math teachers I know, including my colleagues who I really like, can't understand why student's can't understand math. Be the guy who accepts that they don't get it, and help them figure it out in another way. I hope I didn't offend NiiroKitsune ;)

I'm a teacher, and there are a few more in my family.

I'm a language teacher, which is generally much less hassle than teaching in a normal school (far less attitude and far more focus from most students) but I'd summarise teaching overall as a monumentally challenging job, which is usually extremely poorly compensated, and the garbage you have to put up with from your least favourite classes often doesn't come close to the garbage you have to put up with from school management or the bureaucracy forced on you by the government - BUT - the more you put into it, the more you get out of it, even when it's driving you crazy it's still better than dying of boredom in a bleak office, and at times it is so overwhelmingly fulfilling that many teachers I know wouldn't dream of doing anything else.

Even if you're in a country with a terrible education system, at a school in a horrible area with appalling students - if you're making an effort, there will always be at least 1 kid who appreciates it, and every step you help them take towards a better future is infinitely more rewarding than the kind of compensation I used to see in the finance sector.

If I had to give a piece of advice to someone starting out, it'd be to avoid joining the daily moaning sessions from the group of teachers (and if there's any school which doesn't have such a group I'd be completely floored) who will almost certainly spend the vast majority of their time complaining about every aspect of the job. Yeah, it's hard, and there's aspects of the work that really suck - but it's too damn hard for you to have time to indulge in negativity. That will destroy you, every time.

I've never been a teacher, but I do remember the teachers I liked and why i liked them. My favorite teacher always tried to teach creatively, making games and such when he was allowed. There were a few times where he wanted to do something cool or fun, but had to cancel because the school system wouldn't let him, which made me feel bad for him, because i think his gift in being a teacher was trying to make learning a fun experience.

Also, since every person doesn't learn exactly the same, I liked teachers that tried to learn the students and help them to understand the subject, instead of just applying the curriculum and giving tests impersonally.

I was always a bright kid and often learned the subject at a quicker pace than the rest of the class. throughout elementary school I would usually do my homework in class, and the teachers would let me since I almost always aced all my tests.

When i got to middle school though, the teachers didn't like me doing homework in class, so I would end up sitting in class bored, since I already understood what the teacher was talking about, but I wasn't allowed to do homework. Since I got so used to doing homework in class through elementary school, I never wanted to actually do it at home. This led to me getting C's, D's and sometimes even F's, despite the fact that I still aced all of my tests.

I thought this was unfair, since the grade should have been based on my knowledge of the subject, and not how much homework I completed. This made me very disenchanted with the whole school system, so I chose to be home-schooled throughout high school entirely.

Before that though, in 8th grade, I was part of a small charter school. Instead of telling me I couldn't do homework in class, the teachers admired my efforts, and one of them asked if I would come up with some test questions for The Hobbit, since I had already read the whole book. Most other teachers would have just told me to read along at the same pace as the rest of the class, but this one took the opportunity to take it to the next level. I always admired him for that.

I also remember arguing with the math teacher, because we were doing long division, and I could usually do a long division problem in my head, if it wasn't too complicated. The teacher insisted that i show my work, and I insisted that i did the work in my head. She couldn't wrap her mind around the idea that I could do it in my head, and eventually I had to win the argument by telling her I could do the math problem in my head, right in front of her. So I did, and to this day (this was over 15 years ago) she remembers me as 'that guy who can do long division in his head.'

Sorry if this post was too long, though I suppose if you're set on becoming a teacher, some of what I said might at least be amusing, if not helpful. On the whole, most teachers probably don't get the respect they deserve, but when people come across a teacher that inspires them, they remember that teacher for the rest of their lives. I hope it all works out for you, my friend.

I worked as a teacher for 2 years at 16-17 year old classes. That was a good experience! I really loved my students, they was like friends to me. Everybody loved my lessons! But there is another side of coin! All other teachers hates me for that! So at the start of work I had to decide who is my friends! Teachers or students! Hard choice. But maybe you will find some middle between them. Good luck! :)
(And sorry for my bad English)

I was a teacher n a high school for a few years and i hated it. It was the most stressful and least rewarding job I ever had. I still do teaching (well, training, technically), but since I'm working with adults, it's a completely different experience and I really enjoy it. Maybe I just don't know how to communicate with kids?

I'm teacher for maths and geography.
Mostly middle school and like some said before, it's not only about the subject. In general you teach for about 50% of your time. The rest is preparation and review, parentwork, conferences... All that stuff, that most people don't see. :)

In the 50% teaching you have also to deal with kids that are unfriendly, don't understand anything, super lazy, loud, harsh... all that

But in the end I love my job. But the first year (3 years now) it was a nightmare tbh. It will get better from year to year I guess.

I was an University Teacher for 8 years, doing high school now. While its not easy at all, i didnt find it THAT unrewarding - mainly because we do projects here, and you see students looking for projects to do, to use what they've been taught.

One a+ student can compensate for a few f ones ;)

Btw, computer classes mostly :)

they expect you to feed them the solution.
if you don't they misbehave...