You WILL make a difference in lives. It’s just that you won’t make a difference in the lives of every single student you have and you have to be able to deal with that. There will even be students who think you are the worst teacher ever (just as you will have students who think you are the best). Accept and relish the successes and put aside the cases in which you are not that super teacher…none of us reach every student.

Some things get better, some don’t. Like you, I went into teaching after a previous career. I was 39 when I started so I will probably drop dead in the classroom (just kidding…I hope).

What gets better is your ability to anticipate and prepare for the challenges and the ability to deal with all the non-classroom issues that absorb so much time and energy. What never gets better is the fact that so many of your students will not be motivated, no matter how much effort you put into your lessons. You must be prepared to be disappointed at the lack of intellectual curiosity of your students and their disinterest in actually learning anything about our universe. For most of them (and 6 of the 7 classes I teach every day are supposedly honors level classes), their main concern is “earning” grades…nothing else.

You can create the greatest lessons in the world but if they don’t care, they don’t care.

I hate to post such a bummer message, but it is what you really need to know…most students are not actually interested in learning things (though in each class, there are a few), they are only interested in doing the minimum amount needed for them to move on to the next level. To me, this is the greatest frustration of teaching science.

However, this doesn’t stop me from always trying to teach at the highest level I can. My personal attitude is to teach the best lesson I can and assume the top students will benefit.

I hope this message doesn’t dissuade you from following through on your plans to become a teacher. Personally, I fortify my values, attitudes, interests and beliefs by reading the likes of Neil Postman and other dissident education writers. Just realize that the students who pass through your classroom are in need of knowledge about how the world actually works and need to know how science is actually accomplished. That is the best thing we can offer and we can only hope that everything turns out for the best.