Chrystal D'Angelo wanted a career that involved working with young children. So after graduating from high school, D'Angelo enrolled at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania to study pediatric nursing. What D'Angelo discovered during her first two years of college was that it was children's minds, not their physical health, for which she was destined to care.
"Once I entered the nursing program, I knew my heart was not in the right place," D'Angelo says. "My second year of college I decided to try teaching, and I knew from the first class that this was where I should have been all along."
D'Angelo's college courses consisted of classes in teaching literature, math, science, and social studies to children in the primary grades. In her third year of the teaching program, D'Angelo worked more closely with children. "Two days a week for one semester, I attended a local elementary school in grade two and kindergarten," D'Angelo says. "During my last year in the program, I completed student teaching, which involves planning and implementing lessons every day of the week."
D'Angelo completed her degree, received her teaching certification, and has been teaching fifth grade at Bethlehem Elementary in Bethlehem, NC, for three years.
Teaching is not just about reciting words from a book or writing them on a blackboard. While D'Angelo enjoys creating fun and informative projects and activities in which her students may participate, developing and carrying out lessons is just the beginning of this teacher's duties. "I try to provide a warm, caring environment and an atmosphere where all children can be successful as learners and as people," she says. "Keeping open communication between the parents and the school is very important."
Work often extends beyond the classroom walls. Teachers may be required to cover bus or lunch duty. And students aren't the only ones with homework. "On average, I can spend anywhere from one to three hours a night on activities that involve school, like planning lessons and grading papers," D'Angelo says. "As a beginning teacher, you may spend more time than an experienced teacher since you are trying to build your own style of teaching." Given the amount of responsibility and work involved, one might imagine that a teacher can earn a very good living.
Unfortunately, teachers often aren't paid what they are worth, and that can be especially difficult for someone coming right out of college. If you're really interested in teaching, you must be willing to move where the jobs are. Salaries depend depending on the school's location, such as whether it is in a rural or urban area. It can also depend on the state in which you live. You may need to relocate depending on your salary expectations.
It can also be more difficult to get a job in an area with a high-paying teacher salary, since there are few openings. "If you are doing what you want to do, the salary is probably worthwhile," D'Angelo says. After all, job satisfaction is key in any profession.
From the sounds of it, D'Angelo gets as much fulfillment from her students as the knowledge she gives. "Watching children's faces as they discover something new, or making children want to learn outside of the classroom, these really are the positive aspects of teaching," she says. "I also think providing a child with confidence in his/her own ability and actually watching him/her follow through on it is very rewarding."
D'Angelo has had the opportunity to see just how important her encouragement and one-on-one interaction with the students can be: "I had a child who loved science but wasn't able to show how much," she says. "The science fair was occurring, and I asked him if he was going to participate. He replied that he wasn't because he didn't have the ability to do a good project. For the next few weeks, we worked together to find an experiment. He completed a great project with some help from home. Although he did not place, he was awarded a participation ribbon, which he proudly wore the rest of the day. This is one of my most memorable moments in teaching."
D'Angelo feels strongly that viewing each child as an individual is imperative to the success of both students and teachers. "All children are expected to learn at grade level," she says. "There are so many different levels of children's achievement that this can actually set them up for failure. All children are expected to learn the same way, but not all children do. Some students learn by using their hands, while others learn by seeing written examples. We need to provide children with a way of learning where they can all have the chances to succeed."
Large class sizes are another problem teachers must face. In most schools, classes have too many students for teachers to be able to teach them the way we might like," D'Angelo says. D'Angelo can't see herself not being a teacher. She plans continue teaching using new concepts, and to get her master's degree in education. If you'd like to work with children and inspire young minds to grow and achieve their full potential, D'Angelo recommends that you do volunteer work with children. She also suggests talking with someone who is a teacher to ensure that you enter a good teaching program.
Teaching may not be the most glamorous job, but it comes with awesome responsibility. Each teacher has influence over the children he/she teaches. Your influence, no matter how minor it may seem at the time, can be powerful enough to change a child's outlook on life and learning. "People who are looking in on teachers often say it is an easy job," D'Angelo says. "But until you actually do it, you'll never know."
