When you determine that you want to be a teacher of children or teenagers, it is much more than a career decision.  It is a commitment to the future generation and an expression of a nobility in you that would not be seen in any other way.  Unlike many other lines of work, people go into teaching for other reasons than just an interest in a career field or a way to make a paycheck.

Teaching may not be among the most dangerous jobs in the world, but it can be demanding, challenging as well as rewarding. 

It's sometimes difficult to put into words what your motivations are that drive you to pick teaching as your career.  This is especially true if you are asked by friends why you made that choice.  In many ways, teaching is misunderstood and if you voiced what that inner calling to teach feels like, that urge to educate the young takes on the trappings of the calling of a missionary or a martyr.  So, you probably don’t voice your real motivations because they might sound corny to someone who is not carrying that special calling as you are.

Part of that urge to teach the young is a bond between you and the next coming up generation that makes you driven to offer your talents, your education and your life to teach the young important information and to model life skills for them as well.  That bond with the very young may have originated in you when you had children yourself.  However, for a teacher who is called to the profession at a very deep level, that calling does not go away which is why so many teachers stay with the job decade after decade only willing to lay it down when health issues brought on by age forces the issues.

Nonetheless, the teaching calling is not entirely altruistic. There are some real rewards that also exist on the emotional and ethical level to being a teacher.  Just seeing young people respond to knowledge and to your leadership as their teacher is deeply gratifying to one who is called to this profession.  Moreover, when you are teaching a classroom of 20-30 kids, that gratification can become magnified many times over.  It is a great experience of excitement when you see so many children do well and move on to their next grade all because of what you offered to them as their teacher. 

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” --(Carl Jung)

Teaching young people is also a tremendous amount of fun.  Yes, as their teacher it is your task to keep them on task to complete their lessons and keep moving toward their goal of finishing their educational objectives of the day and of the year.  However, along the way you become a friend of the child and the child a friend of yours. 

There are literally scores of moments of the sheer joy of play between teacher and student that is grounded in a pure form of friendship that is a hidden benefit to committing to a classroom of children to teach and mentor them to success.

The calling to teach is one that is buried deep in the soul of the teacher and for many, it goes unfulfilled.  The difficulties of teaching or the rigorous training that society requires of teachers often keeps away many talented teachers who cannot make those kind of sacrifices. Nevertheless, for those that can, the sense of fulfillment of a mission and the pride and satisfaction of seeing your students do well is a reward for teaching that is impossible to describe and impossible to replace as well.

Pretty soon you will be scouring the Internet looking for your international teaching jobs; you’ve got to follow your dreams, wherever they take you! Contact us at Chelsea Recruits to help you along your teaching journey.

If you are interested in becoming a teacher, sign up for our FREE workshop: "How to Rapidly Get that International Teaching Job WITHOUT any hassle in as little as 90 Days" to learn more HERE and also check out our 140-hour, internationally-accredited TEFL Tycoon course HERE. PLUS, if you would like to become an international teacher but, you are a bit strapped for cash (because, let's be honest, TEFL courses and traveling overseas are great things to do, but they do cost money!) then check out our Teach & Travel crowdfunding page HERE.