Do I want to be a Teacher?

The answer for me is yes, but there are definitely days when I question becoming a teacher? What is the trigger that gets me questioning, the teachers that are jaded and do nothing but complain. Then I realize that complaining gets you nowhere. I am realistic enough to know that teaching can be hard, sometimes there is frustration, but it is all worth it when you have a student come back to you ten years later and tells you as teacher had a huge impact on their lives. In this section we will look at the rewards and challenges, the teaching profession, diversity in the American classroom and the modern reform movement in Education.

The rewards of being a teacher can be satisfying for emotional or intellectual reason, which we call intrinsic rewards. Extrinsic are the outside rewards, such as job security and vacations. The majority of teachers enter the teaching field because of intrinsic rewards. In a survey conducted 8 out of 10 teachers said they "love to teach". The emotional aspect that is receiving letters, hugs, high fives, and laughing from students makes it worth while. Teachers also look at the intellectual aspect as the opportunity for self-growth, and this kind of stimulation keeps teachers going. The extrinsic rewards are another aspect that teachers look for in teaching. Job security, receiving tenure, family having the same schedule, and salary increase with each year that you teach, or increase with the more education you receive.

The challenges in teaching can be the complexity in the classroom, and always having to make decisions. The characteristics of the classroom that make teaching more complex and demanding are defined in the following areas. The multidimensional, the large number of events that happen in a classroom. The simultaneous, events and tasks that happen at the same time. The immediate, the events that occur rapidly or sometimes to rapidly. There is the unpredictable, the classroom often takes unexpected turns. Then finally, the public watching your every move, referred to the "Fishbowl".

The teaching profession has the characteristics of professionalism. These characteristics include the specialized body of knowledge, knowledge of learners and they learn, extending training for licensure, autonomy, the emphasis on decision making and reflection, and ethics. In the four forms of knowledge content there is the pedagogical content knowledge, which the science and art of teaching, the teacher has the ability to illustrate abstract concepts, such as nationalism in history. Then general pedagogical knowledge is order in teaching. There is the knowledge content of understanding how people learn and develop. The teacher must have bachelor's degree, clinical experience and internships. There must be a demonstration of autonomy, control