To Teach or Not to Teach

Have you ever considered becoming a teacher but you're unsure if it's really a good match for you? I have known more than a few individuals who make it all the way through four years of education classes and their student teaching before switching career paths. The truth is that teaching is not for everyone. Take the quiz below and look at your results to determine whether secondary education is the job for you.

Self-Assessment: What Type of Teacher Are You?

1. When a teenager tells you 2Pac is alive, you ______.
   
   • A. Laugh out loud
     
   • B. Adamantly agree and begin a class discussion
     
   • C. Nod your head to show you're listening before changing the subject
     
   • D. Ask who or what 2Pac is
2. Looking back at choice A above, high schoolers would most likely use this phrase in what context?
   
   • A. When they are in the hallways because they're allowed to laugh then.
     
   • B. When on Myspace®, Facebook®, and texting (in its abbreviated form)
     
   • C. Many of the teenagers I know don't really laugh out loud; they prefer to save face and keep their emotions hidden.
     
   • D. They might use it in research papers or journals.
3. In your high school math classroom what will happen to a student who forgets his pencil?
   
   • A. You will always have a supply ready for any and all who ask.
     
   • B. You will send the student to the office right away so he/she knows not to do it again in your class.
     
   • C. You will trade him/her (your pencil for something valuable of theirs) to be sure you get it back in usable condition.
     
   • D. You will call his parents and insist firmly that the problem be corrected by tomorrow.
4. It's April and you are standing outside your door during passing period monitoring the hallway. You overhear a “mild” cuss word from the private conversation between the two students who just walked by. You do what?
   
   • A. Tell the one who said it that he will have to stay for a detention because this is a clean-air campus.
     
   • B. Ask the one to kindly refrain from his/her choice of phrasing.
   • C. After your face turns red, you decide to write up the student and let the principal handle it.
     
   • D. Pull the student aside and give him “the riot act” until he knows who's boss and to respect the rules.
5. The reason you want to become an English teacher is so that . . .
   
   • A. You can share your passion for Shakespeare with them and inspire them to love classic literature.
     
   • B. You can have your summers off and be on the same schedule as your own kids.
     
   • C. You can start correcting all the bad grammar and writing in the world, one student at a time.
     
   • D. You love people and want to inspire them to become lifelong readers and writers.

Interpreting Your Results

Now that you've taken this simple test, let's break it down based on your responses.

The Authoritarian Teacher: Not a Politically Correct Blend to Today's Classrooms

If your answers were as follows below, you may closely resemble the character Red from That Seventies Show. Put him at the head of today's classroom and it spells trouble. Today's schools, in general, just aren't suited for the authoritarian style, and the classroom management strategies they tend to use might just result in escalations or in the extreme case even violence. Consider, instead, pursuing a degree in law enforcement or similar.

1. A
2. C
3. B
4. A
5. C

The Friend-to-All Teacher: A Little Too Politically Correct

Another scenario is the opposite extreme. If your answers were as follows, you are the enabling type teacher who tries too hard to get along, and students might just “eat you alive” so to speak. Without a backbone, you're likely to feel or be disrespected not only by your students, but also by parents, the community, and the administration. You may want to join the Peace Corp or teach at a private school where class sizes are very small.

1.  B
2.  A
3.  A
4.  C
5.  B

The Successful Teacher: Effective Responses and Rapport

The final answer scenario is for the ideal teaching candidate. If your answers match exactly, you have a knack for working with teens; you're the A+ teacher, the natural. Any other combination of answers means you have potential, but you may want to work on your reactions and interactions and on connecting to students at their level. To teach well, one must have the patience of Job, the heart of a saint, and a very strong backbone. If you're not there, just remind yourself that it's not about the curriculum; it's about your audience. Students will always listen to someone they know cares about them. Always.