"Do you like teaching?"
I really don't have anything profound to say right now other than it's my final Saturday before the students come back to school. My plan for today is to try on some new clothes I bought (on credit--bad, bad girl!!), buy a few last minute things for my classroom, and then stop by my school to drop those things off and take a last glance around my classroom to make sure everything is in order for Monday.
Someone asked me the other day, "Do you like teaching?" My immediate response is "Yeah, I do." I actually do enjoy my job. Unfortunately I don't live in a state that supports their teachers or values education. In fact, I think the state legislature is trying to make the public school system crumble. I don't have a lot of factual evidence to support that statement, just personal experience, but when I get some evidence, I'll share it with you.
Teaching is a very unique career--you are in charge of making sure a group of students master the curriculum you present them within 10 months. High school is a weird age group because you would expect that these teenagers are ready to take on responsibilty and you can challenge their minds to expand, but in many cases lately, they are not. I've been out of the public school system as a student for ten years now. It has changed dramatically, in my opinion. There is very little respect from parents and students, you are responsible for every little thing that child does in and out of your presence, and even though many of these kids have grown up quicker than they should have, they cannot handle the responsibilty you place on them (seriously, how difficult is it to take home a novel and read 20 pages?!). The state is constantly changing their standards and expectations and forget to tell you about the changes, you cannot say anything, think anything, have an out-loud opinion about anything, or else you will be brought up on charges. You work your butt off to make sure your classroom is a safe, inviting place to be, that your teaching style is challenging yet attention-grabbing, that you state your expectations up front only to have a parent or child complain and then a superintendent or school board member side with the parent or student, and that you cover every single benchmark/standard that state expects you to cover. On the other side, you've got people in the profession sleeping with their students, molesting children on a bus or in their classroom, stealing money from the buget, and solisiting prositutes on OBT!
Do I like teaching? Yes I do, because I know that in most cases I am a respected professional. I make a difference, both educationally and personally. I work hard at what I do and I am damn good a what I do!! School starts on Monday--BRING IT ON!!
Someone asked me the other day, "Do you like teaching?" My immediate response is "Yeah, I do." I actually do enjoy my job. Unfortunately I don't live in a state that supports their teachers or values education. In fact, I think the state legislature is trying to make the public school system crumble. I don't have a lot of factual evidence to support that statement, just personal experience, but when I get some evidence, I'll share it with you.
Teaching is a very unique career--you are in charge of making sure a group of students master the curriculum you present them within 10 months. High school is a weird age group because you would expect that these teenagers are ready to take on responsibilty and you can challenge their minds to expand, but in many cases lately, they are not. I've been out of the public school system as a student for ten years now. It has changed dramatically, in my opinion. There is very little respect from parents and students, you are responsible for every little thing that child does in and out of your presence, and even though many of these kids have grown up quicker than they should have, they cannot handle the responsibilty you place on them (seriously, how difficult is it to take home a novel and read 20 pages?!). The state is constantly changing their standards and expectations and forget to tell you about the changes, you cannot say anything, think anything, have an out-loud opinion about anything, or else you will be brought up on charges. You work your butt off to make sure your classroom is a safe, inviting place to be, that your teaching style is challenging yet attention-grabbing, that you state your expectations up front only to have a parent or child complain and then a superintendent or school board member side with the parent or student, and that you cover every single benchmark/standard that state expects you to cover. On the other side, you've got people in the profession sleeping with their students, molesting children on a bus or in their classroom, stealing money from the buget, and solisiting prositutes on OBT!
Do I like teaching? Yes I do, because I know that in most cases I am a respected professional. I make a difference, both educationally and personally. I work hard at what I do and I am damn good a what I do!! School starts on Monday--BRING IT ON!!
posted by Jessie @ 8:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home