I come from a math and science background, and worked for a software programming company for 4 years. If you look at my resume, you'd notice my volunteer time has been with working with kids in teacher assisting and mentoring. I recently had an ambulance experience that made me want to change careers to something more meaningful if I survived, and thankfully I did! It really seems to me like I'd be good at either teaching 4-6th grade or school psychology. Deciding which one has been tricky...

What happened was my computer science background made me interested in artificial intelligence, and I became interested in how the brain works. It's organic versus mechanical, obviously, but it was still very impressive to me how it learns, problem solves, has memory, etc. I took some psychology classes and excelled in them in college, and I looked into school psychology. School psychology seems interesting because it combines that interest in testing and focusing on cognitive psychology. However, I looked into it more and there seems to be a lack of interaction with kids, something I feel I would value with my background. So I wondered about teaching.

I was a TA for a elementary school and seemed to enjoy it. Maybe just lack of experience, I found myself enjoying teaching but at a one-to-one level. It was short term, but the kids that would recognize me at a grocery store or something and telling their parents was really rewarding. Another came up to me on the last day and hugged me. I think things like that are really confirming.

I recently moved and have a few volunteer opportunities already in line. One is a math tutor for 4-5th grade after-school club. The other is community mentoring with an at-risk boy. My mindset is the more experience I get I can tell which path to go for certain, either 5th grade teaching or school psychology.

As far as personality goes,
I'm a calm, quiet type.
My voice is kind of deep, so it's hard to shout really loud in front of an entire class.
I seem to enjoy one-to-one or small group teaching/tutoring.
I think my calm type helps me to be easy to talk to.

My possibilities I'm considering:
1) Become a 5th grade teacher
2) Become a school psychologist - Teachers have this idea you should teach and then become a school psychologist or counselor, but that's rubbish in my opinion. Teachers coming into this field are arguably less qualified due to lack of a biological psychology background - it's not all hugs, but it does help understanding educational psychology (school psych is education + psychology). So, if I focus on this I would have a good focus while I still volunteer with kids at some level while studying perhaps as a TA again. It was good observing the classroom last time to me. Lot of this is testing and staff meetings though, so my feeling is interaction with kids wouldn't be too great. However, I am a tester and analyzer in my computer science background, so I wouldn't mind having that same mindset at work, and still working with kids is always a benefit with the job description even if it's little.
3) Lastly, become a school psychologist but also tutor in the school so I get that interaction and that enjoyment for one-to-one and small group teaching. This might balance the two interests in cognitive/biological psychology and teaching.

I gave a lot of info, but I hope it can help. With my thoughts what do you see me in?