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Volunteering TeachingSpeaking and standing in front of an audience with all eyes on you may be very uncomfortable and may take some getting used to. Others however, may feel that being in the spotlight is the most comfortable place to be. Practice makes perfect and in order to become the teacher one strives to be, it is good to experience how different teachers work in the classroom. Everyone has their own techniques. What works best for someone may not work best for you so it is best to observe a wide range of teachers and apply some of their teaching techniques to yours. Volunteer teaching is a good way to start your teaching career because you are able to find out if you are cut out for the job. I have considered becoming a teacher for quite some time but before actually doing so, I volunteered quite a bit. Being a student and observing the dynamics of a classroom is very different than volunteering in a classroom. I have volunteered as a teacher in an Indian orphanage, as a teacher/tutor at a youth center-library in the Dominican Republic, and at a Montessori preschool in the US. Along with having all the tools to be a good teacher, one also must possess a kind of charisma that keeps the students motivated and present. When volunteering, I took the role as a teacher but it was more laid back because not all the students depended on me, the class didn?t revolve around me, I wasn?t expected to do anything extraordinary because I was just a volunteer. When you volunteer, anything that you do that is above and beyond comes from you, it is not expected. When you are getting paid to teach, all the pressure is on you to succeed by having your students succeed. You have to know the material well and be able to answer any questions. When volunteering you are able to observe everything from how students behave to how they react. You can discipline techniques, relations between respected teachers and students, why certain teachers are respected and others are not, the schedule, and decide in your own mind what you would do differently and what you believe works well. Volunteering is useful because you get an understanding of the teaching atmosphere without people expecting the absolute most of you. You can learn and absorb freely and learn to be the best teacher you can be when volunteering, without having the pressure from your boss expecting you to know everything because you are getting paid. Volunteering is a great way to gain experience before finding a job in teaching. Volunteering is also a good way to find out if teaching is the best career choice for an individual. A few people I went to college with who were studying to become teachers decided to do an internship in the midst of their studies. Before their internships, while they were taking classes, they were very sure and excited about their career choice. However, in the middle or by the end of their internships, they were fed up and realized they weren?t cut out to be teachers. It would have been a shame to study without putting into practice what they were learning or had learned, and finished with a degree they were not happy with. The thought of doing something and actually doing it are two very different things. Reading about someone?s experience is different than experiencing it on your own. Being a volunteer teacher is not only an eye opening experience for new or inexperienced teachers, but it is also a very generous and fulfilling act in which you are assisting and guiding others for the sake of helping.
