Should You Become a Teacher? A Clear-Eyed Look at the Path Ahead

.   Image by Tyli Jura from Pixabay

Should You Become a Teacher? A Clear-Eyed Look at the Path Ahead

By: Laura Pearson

Teaching is one of the few professions where your daily work directly shapes how other people see themselves and the world.

For young adults considering this path, the decision isn’t just about liking kids or loving a subject. It’s about understanding the real tradeoffs—impact and stability on one side, workload and stress on the other.

Quick Takeaways

• Teaching combines instruction, mentoring, planning, and constant decision-making.

• The impact on students can be lasting and meaningful.

• Stability and strong community are common benefits.

• The workload often extends well beyond school hours.

• Pay and stress levels vary widely depending on region and support systems.

     Image by kp yamu Jayanath from Pixabay

What Day-to-Day Teaching Actually Looks Like

A school day starts before students arrive. Teachers review lesson plans, prep materials, answer emails, and coordinate with colleagues. Once class begins, the pace rarely slows.

Teaching isn’t just explaining content. It’s reading the room, adjusting in real time, redirecting behavior, checking understanding, and maintaining energy across multiple periods. Between classes, there may be parent messages, quick meetings, or student check-ins.

After dismissal, the work often continues: grading, planning future lessons, entering data, attending meetings, or supervising extracurriculars.

There are moments that feel electric—a breakthrough, a heartfelt thank-you, a class discussion that takes off. There are also draining days when behavior issues, administrative tasks, or emotional strain pile up. The rhythm is dynamic, demanding, and deeply human.

        Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Weighing the Upsides and the Challenges

Every career has tradeoffs. Teaching simply makes them visible.

    

Area	The Benefit	The Reality
Impact	You directly influence growth, confidence, and skills.	Progress can be slow and uneven.
Stability	Predictable schedules and benefits in many districts.	Policy changes and budgets affect resources.
Community	Close bonds with colleagues and families.	Emotional intensity can be high.
Growth	Constant skill-building and leadership development.	Ongoing adaptation is expected.
Compensation	Benefits and pensions may add long-term value.	Salaries vary and may feel low in some areas.

Impact is the biggest draw. You see students change because of your effort. That kind of meaning is hard to replicate elsewhere.

The hardest reality is sustained workload. Planning, grading, and communication don’t neatly fit inside school hours. Classroom management can also test patience and emotional stamina, especially early in your career.

Does This Role Match Your Strengths?

Before committing to certification, reflect honestly. Consider the questions below and answer them without romanticizing the job.

• Do I enjoy explaining ideas repeatedly in new ways?

• Can I stay calm and firm when others are emotional or disruptive?

• Am I comfortable receiving feedback from parents and administrators?

• Do I value long-term impact over rapid financial growth?

• Am I willing to keep refining my skills year after year?

If most answers feel aligned, that’s a strong signal. If several raise doubts, that’s not failure—it’s useful information.

      Image by Ezequiel Octaviano from Pixabay

Teaching as a Launchpad, Not a Limitation

Education degrees often create opportunities beyond the classroom. Alumni recognition programs that celebrate leadership, community contribution, and professional achievement show how teaching skills transfer into many fields. 

The abilities built in the classroom—communication, resilience, mentorship, organization, and leadership—are widely valued. Many former teachers move into administration, nonprofit leadership, corporate training, or entrepreneurship. Explore this to learn how teaching can be a long-term career or a foundation for broader influence.

Practical Ways to Test the Path

Before enrolling in a program, take action.

1. Observe a full school day in a local classroom.

2. Work as a substitute teacher across grade levels.

3. Tutor students in a subject you enjoy.

4. Speak candidly with teachers in their first five years.

Real exposure will clarify whether the environment energizes or drains you.

Questions You Should Ask Before Committing

If you’re close to making a decision, these practical questions matter.

Is the Starting Salary Enough to Live On?

Salary varies significantly by location. In some districts, pay and benefits provide solid stability. In others, budgeting carefully or supplementing income may be necessary.

How Stressful Is the First Year?

The first year is widely considered the most demanding. Lesson planning and classroom management take time to master. Strong mentorship and supportive leadership make a significant difference.

Can I Leave the Classroom Later?

Yes. Many teachers transition into curriculum design, instructional coaching, educational consulting, or roles outside education entirely. The skills are portable.

What About Work-Life Balance?

Early in your career, evenings may include grading and planning. With experience, many teachers streamline systems and reclaim more personal time. Boundaries and school culture both matter.

Is It Emotionally Sustainable?

Teaching can be emotionally intense. Success long term depends on support networks, self-awareness, and healthy coping strategies. For many, the sense of purpose outweighs the strain.

Conclusion

Teaching is meaningful, structured, and demanding work. It offers impact, community, and stability—but requires resilience and sustained effort. The question isn’t whether it’s noble; it’s whether it fits who you are and how you want to spend your days. Step into the environment before you decide, and let experience—not assumptions—guide you.

Benefits of Author Classroom Visits Episode 5

 

Episode-5-School Visits: Offering teaching materials for your book to help busy educators and librarians prepare for your visit.

bit.ly/schlvis5

Benefits of Author Visits Episode 4

Episode-4-School Visits: Explore user-friendly resources that assist busy educators and librarians in planning and funding an author visit. 

bit.ly/schlvis4

Benefits of Author Classroom Visits

Join professor and author, Anthony Manna and me for our third episode where we discuss the benefits of author classroom visits.

Episode-3-School Visits: The study guides an author creates in tandem with their books are designed to motivate students or patrons to have meaningful engagement with the books.

bit.ly/schlvis3

Benefits of Author Classroom Visits

 

Join professor and author, Anthony Manna and me for our second episode where we discuss the benefits of author classroom visits.

Episode-2-School Visits: An author visit can help students learn how a budding or veteran author deals with constructive criticism and suggestions for improving their writing craft.

bit.ly/schlvis2 

Anger In The Classroom: Finding Freedom From Anger

Available on Amazon

Synopsis:

Teachers are given a great responsibility and challenge when they enter a classroom. The way they see, interpret, and act will determine the difference between effective or weak communication and teaching.

It is the task of the teacher to learn and prepare for this classroom setting, including the intrusion of trouble spots, such as anger in its many forms.

The overbearing emotion of anger has many faces and can lead to a complicated array of feelings, actions, and consequences. There is no set plan or technique that can address all of the hazards or nuances of anger.

Solutions may need to vary from one student to the next, or from one moment to the next for an angry student or teacher.

Although Anger in the Classroom is written specifically for teachers and other educational professionals, it also is an invaluable resource for parents and anyone else who works with the young.

Recognizing the difficulty that anger and similar strong emotions can cause in schools and in children’s lives, this book proposes techniques and practices aimed at preventing and circumventing the damaging effects of these destructive behaviors.

Goals of Anger in the Classroom for the Teacher/Reader:

- To realize the depths of knowledge, ability, and understanding currently hidden beneath one’s awareness
- To head off anger and its manifestations before it can take hold in the classroom or the individual
- To create a classroom environment that fosters appreciation, rather than resentment
- To provide specific practices for exploration and specific results
- To prepare the teacher for passing on experience and knowledge to students
- To rekindle the excitement and joy of teaching

Specific Features:

- Case stories illustrating concepts and techniques
- Specific exercises conducive to reader development and enriched classroom practices
- End-of-chapter questions for readers, especially college students on a path to teacher certification.

  From Kirkus Reviews

A practical manual that helps teachers manage their students’ anger—and their own.

According to debut author Nystrup, it’s hard to overestimate the potential influence teachers wield over their students—instructors incapable of controlling their own anger may pass that infirmity to pupils who do the same.

The good news, the author says, is that teachers can control their ire as well as that which emerges within a classroom. First, a teacher needs to rein in his or her own temper, a process that involves meticulous introspection.

To that end, Nystrup provides an Anger Manifestation Chart, a tool that tracks the various ways anger rises from, say, anxiety or a negative thought.

Once one looks inward and explores the sources of unrest, a “realm of deeper freedoms” can be experienced and imparted to a classroom that, while emotionally moderated, avoids devolving into “drab, torturous monotony.”

The author provides an abundance of practical counsel, using case histories to illustrate his principal points. He astutely acknowledges that “teaching is not an exact science” and so articulates broadly conceived advice that can be customized.

At the heart of Nystrup’s approach is the achievement of mindfulness, a sense of self-awareness that fosters mental and emotional equanimity.

He covers an impressive span of pedagogical territory, including special education classrooms, and incorporates a wide array of approaches, like yoga. His prose can be both vague and exuberantly optimistic.

His goal is to “facilitate teacher growth, including the ability to move through each teaching day with clear thinking, unclouded emotions, and a physical state of strength and endurance.”

Of course, no book or didactic strategy will deliver all that all the time, but Nystrup does thoughtfully examine the way in which a teacher can maintain a lively classroom that is also a peaceful “setting of trust.”

An intelligent, meditative, and effective guide to creating a productive classroom atmosphere.

-Kirkus Review - Posted on Aug. 16th, 2019

About The Author

Glenn Nystrup's passions have guided his teaching to numerous settings over a wide range of disciplines, including multiple academic subjects for all ages; the fine arts of stone carving, sculpting with teens and adults; technical rock climbing with teens; movement and dance with teens in New York City; and school navigation for struggling students.

Throughout, his aim has been to work with the heart as well as the mind and body, both for himself and students, sharpening perception and knowledge across all personal resources. 

Interview With School Counselor/Author Gabi Garcia

Photo courtesy of: Gabi Garica

Gabi Garcia is a woman whose accomplishments can inspire us all to set our goals high. As a young child, she and her family came to the United States from Mexico. 

When she first arrived, Gabi knew very little English, but she didn't let that hold her back. She applied herself and soon became bilingual in Spanish and English.

After high school, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Government and Spanish. Upon graduating, she became a teacher before getting a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology.

Today she is a licensed professional counselor, a prolific author and a proud mother.

She lives with her family in Austin, Texas.

Now that I've introduced you to Gabi, let's get to know her a little better.

Hello, Gabi, welcome to Lemon Drop Literary. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

Thank you for having me.

Why did you become an Elementary School Counselor?

I was a bilingual teacher for 4 years and realized that the students I worked with did not always have access to bilingual counseling services and there was such a great need.

What grades do you serve?

(K-3, K-5?) I worked on an elementary campus for 4 years and served students K-5. After that I became a Special Education Counselor in my district where I served students who received special education support in grades K-12! I did this for 12 years.

What are the responsibilities of an Elementary School Counselor?

So many! When I was on a campus, I provided classroom guidance lessons to all grade levels (weekly & biweekly), individual and group counseling, mentor/volunteer coordinator, 504 coordinator, parent and teacher support, ARDs and other duties as required that I am possibly forgetting.:)

What are your concerns regarding the mental health of young children?

I am concerned that there is not enough support to address these needs. 

Campus counselors are overburdened, and community resources seem to always have their funds scaled back, meanwhile it is our kids who pay the price.

Have cuts to education effected School Counselors? If yes, how so?

Most definitely! School counselors wear so many hats and one of the things I saw in my district was a great deal of burnout.

English Version 

                

How has your School Counseling experience influenced your writing?

My work has been a huge influence. I think it is critical that we give our students the tools to be caring, engaged, thoughtful individuals that see their worth beyond test taking. 

One of the reasons I wrote Listening with My Heart is because I saw how hard kids could be on themselves when they made mistakes or things didn’t go the way they wanted. 

I also realized that adults talk to kids a lot about how to be friends to others, but not about how to be friends to themselves and this is so important!

What inspired you to become a writer?

I have always had notebooks of stories or poems I was working on, but it took me a while to give myself permission to share my work with the world. 

In a way, I see my writing as an extension of my counseling work. It is my intention that my books will be of service somehow. This inspires me to keep writing.

English Version

Which genre do you write?

Currently I am only writing children’s picture books.

What do you find most challenging writing for your genre?

Children’s books need to be short otherwise, kids (and adults) can get bored. You need to convey the story/ message in 500-600 words, which can be tough.

What are you working on now?

I am working on a children’s picture book called Mateo Finds His Wow: A story of Wonder & Gratitude which will be out late April/early May.

                  

How many books have you written?

I have written 4 books: Listening to My Body, Listening with My Heart, I Can Do Hard Things, and my soon to be released book Mateo Finds His Wow.

What has been your most rewarding experience since publishing your work?

It has been incredibly rewarding to hear from kids, parents and educators who take the time to let me know that they my books have been useful to them or supported their work in some way. It is very humbling.

What advice would you give to authors just starting out?

Make the time to write and don’t worry about it being good. Write.

Spanish Version

What message are you sharing in your books?

All of my books have an underlying message I hope teaches children to be mindful and kind to themselves, although they all do it in different ways. 

Listening to My Body teaches kids that the better they get at paying attention to their bodies and their feelings, the better they’ll get at treating themselves with kindness and care, Listening with My Heart teaches kids to pay attention to how they talk to themselves and the importance of being a friend to themselves, and I Can Do Hard Things teaches them to pay attention to their inner voice and values so they can be true to themselves.

When you're not writing where can we find you?

I have an almost 6-year-old daughter, so I spend most of my time playing, riding bikes or otherwise engaged with her and my family. I also love going on walks, practicing yoga and reading.

What are your favorite books?

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnero, A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle, Trauma Through a Child’s Eyes by Peter Levine and Maggie Kline, The Body Keeps Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, and anything by Brene Brown.

What are your favorite TV shows/movies?

I really enjoy food shows like Chef’s Table, Ugly Delicious and most recently Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.

Spanish Version

Is there anything else you'd like your readers to know about you?

I am so deeply grateful for the work that teachers and counselors do. It is such important work and while I am not in a school at this time; I do hope that my books can be of use and support the work that educators do.

Do you have a website/Facebook page?

Yes! Gabigarciabooks.com has free downloadable reader’s guides that accompany all my books. 

My hope is that these materials will be useful to you (about 80%) even if you don’t have the books.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabigarciabooks/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabigarciabooks/

Where can we find your books?

Amazon

Thank you, Gabi, for spending time with us and sharing your story. We wish you continued success and lots of luck!