How I have found the change between my previous career and teacher training

All in all, I have found the change into teaching fulfilling, challenging, joyful, overwhelming, motivating and tiring.  And it’s been amazing!

The deep sense of fulfilment I get in the classroom is unlike any feeling I’ve had in previous roles.  I had intimations of this when I was engaged with a tough problem; but they were few and far between, and it doesn’t really compare to how I feel now.  This kind of change is exactly what I needed and was looking for in a career.

While writing this blog, I remembered a lesson I taught a few weeks ago.  At one point in the lesson, I suddenly just started smiling as I watched my students engage completely on the questions I had spent hours preparing for them.  That’s certainly never happened before!  Sure, I felt good and even proud about some pieces of work that I’ve produced over the last few years.  But that hasn’t come close to the joy I experience when I’m teaching.

Since I’ve started planning and delivering lessons, I’ve been happy to see how motivated I am to put in all the time I am able into planning my lessons.  This has everything to do with the fact that the work I’m putting in has a far bigger impact to people, and I can see this impact first-hand.  My work before did have some sense of a wider positive impact on broader society, but not even close to this magnitude.

Other aspects of teaching that I’ve enjoyed are not spending as much time in front of a computer. In my previous career in the data science industry, I would spend 8+ hours a day glued to a screen.  I didn’t mind it at the time, but I much prefer spending large amounts of time physically interacting with other people.

One of the biggest differences between teaching and my previous career, is how tiring doing all the work is.  I’ve found that difficult; but I also like that that’s the case.  To have something in my life that really takes everything I have to give tells me that I’m developing myself as much as I can.

When I think about everything so far, the change into teaching has been amazing. Almost everything that I was looking for in a career, I have found in this profession.  I’ve found a sense of true engagement, joy and motivation in my work.  Even though the work can often be overwhelming and tiring, the knowledge that it will positively impact tens of students this year - and hundreds more in years to come – is the greatest change I’ve experienced in my transition into teacher training.

By Rhys Rawlings

 

Find Rhys on Instagram as @r271828r, on Linkedin as Rhys Rawlings, or on Twitter as @r271828r

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