Being a teacher for almost 30 years, I have a clear idea of how demanding, time-consuming, and rewarding this profession is...and how tough and disappointing it can get sometimes. If you’ve been teaching for a couple of years, you probably have this idea already.

Yes, I gave up my Psychologist career to become a teacher. Being in the market for a long time, I’ve attended and presented in many seminars and webinars and conferences, delivered lots of presentations, published articles, written materials, and become a teacher trainer after doing lots of TD and post graduate courses, taking language certificates and teachers’ diplomas.  And feel I still have so much to learn. I’m just walking the path.

Photo by James Taylor  from ELT pics Creative commons

Choosing to become a teacher was not easy, as I had to give up my other career and deal with two young children, husband, and housework. So it was just the first step, but developing as a professional and keeping on believing that I am on the ‘right track’  has been a daily challenge we all have to face. It has to do with making choices and focusing on what really matters: your principles and beliefs as a person and as an educator, staying active in the market, building a high or low profile and deciding how brave you are to face the changes, institutional policies, the governmental decisions in your area, and how you are physically and  emotionally prepared to deal with parents, students’ misbehaviour and lack of interest, and low salaries, among other things.

Photo by Ugur Dinçer from ELTpics creative commons

Regarding professional development, I’ve noticed that lots of teachers do not realize the long magic trip they’ll have to do in order to get real and consistent professional development. Teacher training courses such as BTTCs (basic teacher training courses), CELTA, or even DELTA are of great help and consistence, but stopping studying and developing would be a huge mistake.

I believe Professional development is an ongoing and endless process and we teachers will never stop being learners.

Having said that, I have some suggestions* for those who are starting and/or are on the way:

^{*(Inspired by JJ Wilson’s ideas at the 14th Braz-TESOL International conference)}

·         Plan your career – set goals and deadlines

·         Read deeply

·         Learn from great educators ( Paulo Freire, Piaget, Vygotsky )

·         Do action research

·         Write your own materials and articles

·         Collaborate, share, and care about sharing

·         Build up a PLN (Professional learning Network ) and make the most of it – your PLN and colleagues are great resources and they are there for you, believe me!

·        Give workshops for colleagues and presentations in conferences (yes, you can!). Remember you learn from books - and from doing as well.  It’s a rewarding sensation!

·        Go to conferences, do courses, and apply what you’ve learned from them.

·         Mentor – It’s a great way to develop professionally because it forces you to devise your practice

Photo by @fionamau from ELTpics creative commons

·         Observe and be observed

·         Examine critical moments in your teaching

·         Be brave and be flexible!

To sum up,  your professional development continues when your formal training is over.  It’s about grabbing the opportunities, creating them, and embracing the idea that ongoing renewal is a need for humans to develop both professionally and personally.  After all, learning and teaching are always in constant change. It’s part of our living process.

And yes, I am a teacher and I teach. It’s not a bed of roses, but it’s worth it, indeed!

Enjoy your teaching!

Roseli Serra, the ESL Editor for Wandering Educators, is an educator from Recife, Brazil, where  she lives and works. She started as a private teacher of English and Portugues at the age of 17 years, and has a degree in Psychology and in Arts & Humanities, majoring in English, Portuguese, and Literature in English and Portuguese. She’s post graduate in Applied Linguistics for ELT. She’s also an ELT and consultant, E-Moderator, teacher, teacher trainer, mentor, Cambridge Examiner, and Materials Writer. Roseli has been in the field of ELT/ ESL and EFL for over 30 years now. She loves writing, mentoring, and mainly sharing about education. She loves working with technology and teaches different age groups, from 10 year-old students to adults. She has also experienced being the DOS of a language institute in Brazil for many years. You can find her online at http://roseliserra.blogspot.com.br

All photos courtesy and copyright Roseli Serra, except where noted