Teachers have an important role in society, therefore they need essential skills to succeed in their field. A math teacher has to be able to explain the material and perform multiple problems in order to ensure that their class is ready for life after school. After speaking with Kevin Walsh, math teacher at Bremen High School, it can be noted that there are numerous factors to consider when choosing the profession of a math teacher. Being a math teacher has its advantages and disadvantages, as well as different levels of work.
A typical day for a math teacher includes many different tasks. The common schedule for Mr. Walsh is from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., having to teach 5 different classes that vary in different levels of math throughout the day. Other math teachers may have less classes to focus on one level, however, the school might assign the teacher different level classes. Also, a math teacher takes his time off during work to perform other tasks that he is not able to complete during class. According to Mr. Walsh, he takes his two periods off to “spend time prepping usually for class… there’s lunch at some point and I just been helping some kids out there learn how to graph.” In addition, there’s clubs and other activities that a math teacher might be involved in such as Mathletes. Mr. Walsh has Mathletes practice every Tuesday and a meeting on Wednesday every month. A typical day comes with different tasks that have to be done throughout the day.
There’s many features in the field that a teacher might find enjoyable about the job. One of the main reasons why Mr. Walsh decided to teach math because he loves to “interact with the students”. Most people going into the teaching profession have an incredible understanding towards students and teaching is second nature for them. Also, Mr. Walsh mentioned his passion for math which drove him to become a math teacher. A teacher has to find their passion in order to start teaching, they have to find that spark that drives them into the classroom just like Mr. Walsh because it wouldn’t be a great decision to teach a class that the teacher doesn’t enjoy.
A math teacher has to consider multiple factors before making a decision. As Mr. Walsh said, there has to be some planning done before teaching a lesson, therefore a math teacher, or any teacher, has to think about what the students should know already, how to introduce the topic, how to present it, etc. In regards to the students, a teacher has to deal with simple questions that are asked multiple times throughout the day. In a typical day, Mr. Walsh has to decide whether to “let a kid go to the bathroom for the fifth time” or decide how to control the classroom’s behavior. Not only that, but there’s other things like grading assignments and exams. There’s minor details that a teacher has to pay attention to when grading, and the decision making comes into place when a student gets a question wrong or the process is different from the answer key. Making decisions as a math teacher is a lot of work.
There’s many career paths that follow a math major. Engineering is the biggest career path for those who love math, thus this career path requires a lot of math skills. Another example is computer science, which involves the ability to create hardware and software, programming, and sequences that include a lot of numbers. All of these components lead to math, and they can be exceptionally useful in any field, most of the best paid jobs involve some kind of knowledge in math. Mr. Walsh’s dad is an electrical engineer, and he gave Mr. Walsh an opportunity to work on mathematical problems and to follow math in the future. Again, a math major or just a big mathematical background leads to a number of career paths.
Many people have their own reasons for how they became interested in their field. In the case of Mr. Walsh, he was interested in math because it was the only thing he was good at. Reading and writing were not his strongest qualities, and “the only thing that ever made sense was math.” When students go into college, they usually find a subject of their interest and take courses depending on their choice, just like Mr. Walsh decided to take more math classes rather than English classes because math was the only subject he enjoyed.
Multiple factors have an effect on a math teacher’s general lifestyle. The biggest effect of a teacher’s lifestyle is the time off they get from school to be able to spend quality time with their families. Mr. Walsh mentioned the summer break and how it allowed him to spend more time with his kids and go on trips with his family. It truly gives the teacher an opportunity to connect more with his family and to enjoy the summer. Summer break and time off is one of the many ways that teaching affects the individual’s lifestyle.
There’s multiple skills and abilities that a math teacher needs to become successful in his field. As a math teacher, Mr. Walsh needs to be able to break down math and understand it at its core in order to teach students that probably have never seen that math before. An engineer just applies math and knows how to use it, however, a math teacher has to understand every aspect of the math so the class is learning properly. Being a math teacher is not easy, it requires experience and many skills to achieve the ultimate goal of a math teacher.
After everything that’s been said, Mr. Walsh shares what he would do if he had the chance to do it all over again. It’s been a long time since Mr. Walsh started working as a teacher, and after everything he has been through, he does not regret having become a teacher because the time off he gets it’s very important to him and his family since the idea of working all year long sounds exhausting to him. Many people might agree with Mr. Walsh, others might not, but at the end it all depends on the individual and their own experiences with the job.
