Compare and Contrast Essay on Teaching and Acting

Introduction

Teaching is a career that has great respect. Everybody respects the teachers for the work they do. They don't only teach children new concepts, but they prepare and nurture their pupils' growth all along the life span. Teachers positively impact the lives of children by helping them to learn how to respect other people, to have the desire to help others and make society a better place to live. They impact the critical thinking ability in young people which has benefits in the future. Teachers must, therefore, have potent characters such as leadership as they have a mandate to lead their student by example so as for them to emulate teachers. A teacher works alongside an audience which he or she must understand and be able to provide the need accordingly. Those are some few characters of a teacher that helps them in the proper dispensation of their day to day teaching activities.

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On the other hand, acting as a career involves more than just performing in the televisions or movies. Working as an actor may get one into a live performance in theaters, at theme parks, in commercial advertisements and working in televisions shows. (Chekhov, 13). Acting is a career just as teaching as most people are getting their livelihood from engaging in the acting activities. It is, therefore, a noble job that has ethics and professionalism as well. Therefore, this article seeks to unveil the similarities and differences between acting and teaching as careers.

Similarities Between Teaching and Acting

From afar, one might not notice that teaching and acting are so closely related. The more one tries to think about the relationship between the two carriers, the closer they come to find out the similarities. First, teaching is an art. Acting, on the other hand, is undoubtedly an act. The two careers heavily rely on acting skill where body movements, imitations, imaginations, use of stylistic devices are applied. (Bowell, Pamela, and Heap 21). A teacher would try to dramatize a specific idea to drive it home and the pupils to understand it. Acting is mostly about dramatization and bringing imaginations into some reality by trying to act them out. Silvana Richardson defines a teacher as a charismatic performer.

In both careers, teachers and actors have their audience to whom they must deliver a particular concept. The audience of a teacher is the class of pupils; the teacher needs to understand them so that as an actor he or she knows where to stress, how to approach and how to communicate to deliver his teaching activities effectively. A good actor should also have the qualities similar to those of a teacher such as adequate knowledge of the audience as well as having various points of approach to send the message of their action correctly. (Chekhov, 13).Every day, teachers spend significant time preparing for their classes. They read books and other literary materials to build on their knowledge that they will share with their students. This is often the same case with actors as they have to read, internalize and memorize scripts and other sources of literature depending on the topic they want to deliver. This takes the time as is the case with the teachers preparing lesson plans for their lessons. It is therefore agreed that the two careers require adequate preparations which are the key determinant of the success they will get at the end of their presentation.

Acting and teaching are careers that are bound to specific ethical considerations. For one to be a good teacher, they must completely adhere to the ethics stipulated to guide the practice of teaching and to help in maintaining the respect that is attributed to the profession. The professionalism of a high degree must be shown throughout teaching. Acting is also bound to specific ethics that govern it to ensure high-quality acting and to ensure that they give contents that are not harmful or detrimental to the audience. An actor has to maintain high levels of professionalism to keep a good image of the acting career and for all to accept that it is as noble as any other career.

Teaching has its stresses such as working with a diverse group of pupils from various backgrounds, ages, races, tribes, and abilities to understand new instructions. The teachers, therefore, engage in a variety of activities that help them discharge their mandates smoothly. These activities include planning for lessons, teaching, and engaging students, assessing their students as well as classroom management. Similarly, actors have their stresses such as coping with aggressive audiences and differences that the audience may have such as visual and audio problems. They must not leave these particular groups of the audience out of context but must ensure that they are also at par. This could be a stressing part for actors. (Dias, et al 14). They also have their day to day activities such as preparation of themselves as well as their audiences.

Differences Between Teaching and Acting

However, there are some significant differences between these two careers. The society tends to place the teacher in a higher position then actors. The community has learned to respect teachers more then it appreciates actors. The teachers are generally paid well as compare to actors. Teachers can get better pay from the government or well-established private learning institutions.

The teachers have better chances of using technology in varied ways than actors. Both actors and teacher might be working for the same amount of money and for similar time lengths. (Skinner, and Burrhus 16).However, they don't work during the same periods of the day. Mostly, the teachers will work from morning to mid-afternoon while actors will work primarily at nights making it an unsuitable career for the people who have other commitments such as families.

Acting is more of a talent than acquiring formal education. For one to be a good teacher, they must undergo rigorous formal training in colleges and universities. For one to be a good actor, they need to have the talent of acting and not necessarily acquired in any formal learning institutions. Therefore teachers are perceived to be more educated than the actors. This probably earns teachers more respect than that of an actor.

Conclusion

According to the information in the article, I tend to think that teaching is slightly better than acting due to the many lives that a teacher transforms. Due to the passion I have in converting to society and the lives of many children, I would prefer teaching than acting since education is vital when it comes to the transformation of a society in aspects such as economic, social and morally. The teachers also have better earning, and they work during good times of the day which is suitable for a person who has other commitments such as a family. The respect that the society accord to the teaching profession is another factor strong enough to bring conviction that teaching is a better profession.

Work Cited

Bowell, Pamela, and Brian S. Heap. Planning process drama: Enriching teaching and learning. Routledge, 2013.Chekhov, Michael. To the actor: On the technique of acting. Routledge, 2013.

Dias, Patrick, et al. Worlds apart: Acting and writing in academic and workplace contexts. Routledge, 2013.Skinner, Burrhus Frederic. The technology of teaching. BF Skinner Foundation, 2016.