Teacher Wannabes, Usetabes, and Ares: Questions, please.

Hey ROG!!!!

Christmas Eve 2004. Ha. That first post.

I'm nearing the end of my first year teaching. I'm in a middle school in NorCal - teaching in a "socio-economically disadvantaged" community close to SF. I adore the kids and the content. You can all breathe a sigh of relief about my skills. I see I was ill-equipped just reading my posts. Fortunately, researching to teach reminds you of stuff.

Meanwhile, we are having a blast. Teaching Animal Farm now. Required a bit of front-loading in the Russian Revolution. They are eating it up - coming to the classroom begging for me to give out info on who's who in the allegory. I'm not the best teacher walking around - but they are learning - and excited about it (by "they," I mean about 80% of them.)

Teaching is a bitch, though. I spend FAR too much of my own time and money to facilitate this.

Also, I have to say I would not suggest a career in teaching to anyone. That may change during my second year - it HAS to be easier . The intrinsic rewards are incredible, but you lose life. A lot of it.

Thanks for the 1 year report, Lash. I'm happy for you for the good stuff and figure, I hope, that it won't always eat away your own time and money, that you can get a handle on that part.

Animal Farm, I remember that, didn't read it in school. Middle school? Cool. And they're excited. Cooler.

Glad you are enjoying the teaching experience, at least with the students, even if it has zapped your social life. It will get better and it will get worse and then worse and then better and so on. Teaching is a constantly changing sea as you welcome in new students who come with their own personalities and abilities. .

As you adjust to the routine and rigors of teaching, you will find your personal life returning. (Your bank will stay depleted)

Perhaps it's already happened, maybe it will take a few years; but, one day you will have that moment where the seemingly impossible to reach student, not only grasps the material, they want more.

One other thing, there's no such thing as the best teacher. All the teachers that truly want to be in the field and make the effort daily to educate share the title of best.

Teaching is your passion, Lash and I am certain you're a darn good teacher too! I hope "you lose life" doesn't mean what I think it means....

You're a teacher and no one tells you how lazy and overpaid you are?



(Congratulations on taking on one of the toughest, most rewarding, and under appreciated jobs there is.)

Hopefully you'll get to re-use all of your lesson plans next year, so your work load will be diminished.

Go you!

I just had a discussion with my husband about teaching.

Sozlet wants to be a teacher. She's in a gifted class and has told that teacher (Mrs. G) about her goal.

Mrs. G was talking to my husband about sozlet (just chatting) and said that sozlet should set her career goals higher. That she's far too smart etc. to "just" be a teacher.

When my husband relayed this to me I said now hold on just a cottonpicking minute.

Good K-12 teachers are vitally important. It's this whole "just" thing that's driving out the best and the brightest, and there are few jobs that need the best and the brightest more than K-12 education.

He actually agreed with me pretty quickly so I couldn't get into full rant mode. But I'm feeling a little ranty about that one.

It's a vitally important job, and I'm glad that you're doing it and doing it well.

Funny, I told my son the same thing when he said that he wanted to be a teacher - not that he was too smart, because some of the smartest people I've ever met are and have been teachers, but in terms of making a living and payment for his time, I thought that as a man, he should aim higher.

I know it sounds sexist, but for me, being a married woman, I felt that I had the luxury of doing what I wanted and not worrying about being the primary income, as my husband had always made at least twice and sometimes three times what I made in terms of salary.

But as far as job satisfaction, I couldn't have made a better choice. I've never felt that I've lost my life teaching - I've always felt that teaching IS my life and I've been extremely lucky to find that and to have been able to have enjoyed it as much as I have.

I literally look forward to going to work every day.

I know this will make a huge difference, DD. I just can't believe the strain of originating plans the first year - but next year will be so much more manageable.

Good for you, aidan. I just had tennis and sailing and weekends to myself previously. A life outside of, or in addition to, my career or job or primary money-making concern.

I lost all of that this year. I would come home at 7 or 8 - after a 12 to 14 hour day - with no energy to do anything but drop in to bed. Meanwhile, my guy is on the couch alone. This was the case more often than not much of this year. Not complaining - but reporting factually.

It has improved, though. (recently)

The good side is fabulous. The bad side is damaging.

I appreciate the good words!!!

Its been 8 years since youve begun your career. I left the tenure world and cashed in and went out for myself another 10 years before you . ALthough I still do adjunct teaching(another name for low pay and no further benefits) , I believe Ive missed the entire new ways of teaching that all the technology has availed. Im actually a late bloomer on applications in the college class.

We often just work off the wifinet and dispense with prepared lectures.
I sw a neat phrase spoken by a kindergarten teacher in FLorida that was in the NYT the other day.
"With all this technology (I call it teachnology)" (She was talking about all the kids were being armed with iPads), "Ive dispensed with texbooks and whats neater is that Im no longer the KEEPER of all the knowledge"(she said)

Cool eh?
And she was talking about kindergarten.

My style has always been minimal lecturing and maximum discussion entering upon "topical bullshit" . I expect them to play off their text sections and my syllabus by reading selected papaers in the literature and then we shoot the breeze about em and that often leads to lab work or field work.