You’ve Always Wanted to Be a Teacher. Now You’re Not So Sure.

Teaching does not have a good reputation these days. There’s news about teacher burnout, student behavior, difficult parents, low pay, the literacy crisis, and AI. Teachers are leaving the profession.

You’ve wanted to be a teacher for years, but now that you’re actually in a position to pursue it, you’re hesitating. Suddenly, the career you imagined looks very different from the one in front of you.

So what do you do?

Before you give up on teaching, experience it for yourself.

I taught for over 15 years before leaving the classroom. Teaching is hard, and I would never tell someone considering it to ignore the warnings from current and former teachers.

But I also wouldn’t give up on a career I deeply wanted based entirely on other people’s experiences.

There isn’t one universal teaching experience. Teaching seventh grade is different from teaching seniors. Public school is different from private school. One school can be completely different from another school in the same district. Test the waters before you commit. You don’t have to enroll in a degree program tomorrow. You can substitute teach, tutor, volunteer, observe a classroom, or coach. Get close enough to the work to experience some of the good and the difficult parts.

Then ask yourself: Do I still want to come back?

That will tell you much more than absorbing other people’s experiences.

Teaching doesn’t have to mean public K–12 schools. You may discover that even though the traditional public school isn’t for you, there are many ways to teach beyond it.

Here are some other ways to explore teaching: private schools, community colleges, tutoring, homeschool co-ops, corporate training, coaching, online teaching, or even building something of your own.

You may discover that you love teaching, just not in the form you originally imagined. You don’t have to decide your whole career yet. You only need enough information to decide your next step.

Maybe you try substitute teaching and think, Absolutely not. That’s useful information.

Or maybe you walk into a classroom and think: Oh, this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.

Either way, you’re no longer making the decision based on fear or someone else’s experience.

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