I remember.....

Both why I wanted to and why I chose not to become a teacher.....

From a young age I always wanted to be a teacher.... then it was a lawyer and a social worker.... But when it came to deciding my future that day filling out the Uni enrolment form I chose teacher.

Along the way I realised that although I love kids and working with kids that teaching wasn't the occupation for me.

I have always remained working with children in one way or another. When I had a 6 month break with Uni towards the end, and went and studied Child Care at TAFE. Both of my jobs have me working with children in various capacities, and I have just started doing parent help at school.

Standing in the classroom today (in a grade 3/4) I remembered what I liked about teaching - the interaction with the kids, teaching new things, seeing them learning new things. What I didn't like about teaching was the politics and the paperwork that went with it.

It's amazing how many people think that teaching is a 9:00-3:00pm job... Don't all teachers wish that this was true - also that they got all the holidays that the kids get. But that doesn't happen - there is all the planning, recording, assessment, meetings etc etc etc. So more like 7am - 12am were how my days ran when I was on prac - even when I was super organised.

I really, really enjoyed today - and part of me considered putting my hand up for more time in the classroom. Part of my brain then went let's get back into teaching, before the sensible part of my brain spoke up and went - "Are you nuts?!?!?!"

I might just stick to my mornings of parent help..... This afternoon, after school, I had to deal with a stubborn child who "couldn't" read his home reader - it made me realise that while I can send my own children to their rooms for a bit of time out (for both of us) when they're being difficult, doing that in a classroom is a little more difficult.

But here's to remembering what we wanted to do, but then realising things aren't always what they seem!