by Elizabeth Olivier

Created on: March 05, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Whether you had an in-school practical experience every semester in college or a few dozen teacher preparation courses, there is still the possibility that you will reach student teaching and begin to have your doubts about this whole teaching thing. In fact, it may be the practicals and the teacher preparation courses that push you to the point of burn out. Or, it may be the many directions you are pulled while student teaching that make you doubt your abilities. Whatever it is, the next question you ask yourself is "What now?".

The first step for any student teacher who realizes they do not want to teach is to keep at it. Do not quit. Yes, student teaching is hard and feels like a really big waste of time if you are not going to teach, but it is important that you graduate and apply for your license. After all the time put in, the last thing you want to do is throw everything away because you had a bad day at school. There is still a possibility that you will change your mind by the end of the experience or that you will need to teach for a while until you get another job. There is also a good possibility that you will want a college degree in something. If you do not finish student teaching, many universities have it set up that would-be teachers do not qualify for any other bachelor's degree. It will be easier to explain to prospective employers why you are not teaching than why you quit one semester short of a degree.

Your next step will be to figure out why you no longer want to teach. This process may take you a while. You might try doing some reflective writing or talking to a friend, but figure it out. While you may have an epiphany that leads you to your new career where you live happily ever after, it is not likely to happen that way. Something drew you into the field of teaching in the first place. What was it? What changed? It is possible that you still want to teach, just not in the traditional way you were trying. Before moving on, you need to figure out what went wrong in your plans.

Once you have decided why your plans failed in the past, you can begin making new plans for the future. What do you want to do? A licensed teacher is completely qualified to tutor or work with a homeschooling group. Are you interested in these types of jobs? If you have a minor or specialization, explore careers in these areas. Maybe you knew you wanted to work in a certain subject area, but teaching was the only job that came to mind when you applied for college.

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