Like many people in Montclair's MAT program, becoming a high school math teacher is my second career. Growing up, I always wanted to be a math teacher, but I ended up graduating from Penn State University with a degree in Management/Human Resources instead of a teaching degree. For the 5 years between undergrad and grad school I worked for two healthcare companies. Most recently, I worked at Johnson & Johnson recruiting students to work for my company. It was a great job, but I wanted to be passionate about my job/career and I wasn't.
So one day I was sitting by the pool and had one of "those moments" that I'll never forget when I decided to change my life and become a high school math teacher. I packed up my pool gear and started to research how to become a teacher. Less than a year later, I quit my job and started grad school at MSU.
Even though it's been almost 2 years since I've earned a real income (that's been tough), I'm confident that I made the right decision to change careers. I observed a high school classroom last semester and felt excitement for a job that I never experienced before. Every day, I left the school feeling completely energized. My hope is that this passion will continue once teaching is my full-time job!
Are there seasoned teachers out there who haven't lost their passion? I hope so!
I did my undergrad as PSU as well.
ReplyDelete"Are there seasoned teachers out there who haven't lost their passion?" -- Absolutely and lots of them (far more than the "burn outs"). Just attend an NCTM or AMTNJ conference sometime and you'll meet some amazing teachers that are incredibly devoted to teaching mathematics.