I think I read that you were planning on taking math?
What attracts you to the profession?
Yeah, I plan on teaching math. I tutor math and a few other subjects right now, and my fellow tutors and some students think I'm good at explaining things and would make a good teacher. Of course everyone says nice things...
I'm interested in teaching for a variety of reasons, none with more pull than another. I really am interesting in the subject. If I abstract it enough, I can be interested in high school math. I'm interested in understanding how other brains can come to understand math.
I'm also patient and generally want to help people. I tend to go off helping people with no thought of financial concerns... which seems to be a good personality trait for a teacher. If someone needs help and I have the time, I'm more than willing to help them understand something... It would be nice to have a job where I can do this and not have to worry about where the pay check will come from. I'm naturally going to teach anyways... so why not get payed for it?
While I can understand advanced math, I'm not so far beyond the level of students that I can't break down a subject. I'm frequently having to convert the rigid definitions in the book into something more intuitive that I can understand... once I have my own understanding then I go and forth and conquer. I'm finding my job as at teacher is to take that formulaic, cold description into something a student can understand.
And despite my love of the subject I do have my difficulties with math that causes me to work more slowly through rather simple problems. This is actually a good thing when it comes to teaching I think, because I can see and anticipate little problems that I might have and show how I can overcome them.
I hear stories about schools being so hard up for math teachers, that often teachers teaching math don't know the subject as well as they should. And certainly some don't know how it can all connect and become interesting down the line. I believe that high school students deserve a teacher that really knows the material: Frontwards and backwards, from a simple common perspective down to the abstract, rigorous foundations. I don't want to be arrogant, but I do believe I understand math in both these ways very well... and I can fill that need of teachers.
Also sort of related, I'd like to perhaps reach out to students like myself. Maybe spark their interest in a different kind of mathematics than the stuff they are learning in school. I don't know if school curriculum and politics will let me do this... but I want to attempt to.
With schools being so hard up for math teachers, hopefully I can find a school where I can do this.
And if not, I'll just become another jaded person with a day job.
But in any advent, I'm a person with a goal now. I've never had a goal that directed right into a career... so whether it's good or bad I got to do something and right now teaching is it. No more wavering... this is my path...
Hopefully post-graduation I will be able to seek employment as a behind the scenes marketing manager who makes decisions and analyzes trends. In addition, I want to eventually publish a book. (Not a novel, but an educational book) It is tentatively titled "The Land of the Blind." I also want to continue to write articles and poetry online, and hopefully one day see that being profitable. But even if my writing doesn't turn profitable, I still plan to write on the side while pursuing my marketing career.
