It’s been a few decades since I taught HS English and people tell me a lot has changed. However, I would second the comment that the best part is the students that you actually help or inspire. The worst part, IMHO, was the bureaucracy and the paperwork. I was fortunate that the schools I worked in were good at backing up the teachers when it came to disciplinary issues.
I also second the notion of interning or some such thing. Back in the day, in order to get a NJ teaching certificate, it was required that a potential teacher participate a period of observation in junior year, and of course there was a half semester of supervised practice teaching in senior year. We were specifically required to do our observation in an urban and underserved school district so that we saw “for real” something besides the nice pretty suburban high schools that most of us had graduated from. Both of these experiences were excellent in giving us an idea of what we would really be in for.
I understand that the demand for math & science teachers has remained high. I’m sure you realize that the salary for a starting teacher still is probably not anywhere near what an IT business analyst makes. You also will not have autonomy, but will be ruled by someone else’s time and performance standards.
In addition, don’t believe what anybody may have told you about a short work day! As a starting teacher you will most likely have the most difficult and least desirable classes. You will also have a large amount of prep work to do since of course you can’t fall back on last year’s lesson plans. Grading students’ tests, homework and classwork may take hours beyone the official end of the school day. That’s without even starting on the submission and recording of grades, homeroom and study hall supervision, extracurricular activities, and so on.
It is absolutely true that teaching can be extraordinarily rewarding; it can also be difficult, physically and mentally tiring. When was the last time you had to be on your feet all day? You need to keep the students’ attention, add some entertainment, watch out what’s going on where you can’t see it, and you can’t really let down your energy level for a minute. It’s like being on stage. Every day.
You said you’re hoping for a private school or an affluent suburb. I taught in two different school systems. One had a very mixed student population, ranging from very poor and uneducated families to middle class. Some of my students’ parents were college-educated but most were blue-collar workers and homemakers. Some were receiving public assistance. There were a few hard core problems and a whole set of kids that we were advised not to bother giving homework to because they had no place at home in which to do it. However, the majority of the families were very supportive of the idea of aspiring to further education as a means of improving their children’s opportunities. Later, I taught in a middle- to upper middle-class community. Some of the parents were wealthy enough to send their kids and their friends on a trip to Hawaii as a graduation present or for Spring Break. Many of the parents were very successful in business without having any post-high school education. These kids, although not lacking in intelligence, were more difficult to deal with than those in the poorer community. They were often arrogant and snobbish. They saw no particular reason to have a lot of respect for some drudge who didn’t make half of what their daddy did. Nor did Daddy.
Just my out-of-date experience; YMMV.