Let’s just start with this: I LOVE what I do. I love being a teacher and making an impact on children’s lives everyday. I get to teach, inspire, encourage, and love on 23 impressionable kiddo’s every single day - I probably spend more time with them then their own parents. It’s a very rewarding job, but it is also not an easy job. Around the end of May I saw someone post on their Facebook status something along the lines of, “It’s about this time of year that I wish I had gone into teaching.” I know that whenever teachers see/hear things like this, they just cringe. At least I do. I may have my summers off, to help keep my sanity in check mind you, but trust me - it’s well deserved. Now I am fully aware that teaching is not the only profession that requires all of the outside, extra work we do, but we often get the “You’re done at 3 everyday and you have summers off! I should have gone into teaching!” HA! Good luck is all I have to say. I may have summers off, but trust me I don’t think I was ever finished with my job at 3 and my husband can attest to that! People don’t understand the dedication, time, and effort it takes to be an effective teacher. It’s not easy managing 23 nine-year olds on a daily basis, and quite frankly I am exhausted at the end of everyday. And when the children leave at 3, I still have to plan, grade, examine data, reflect on my practices, answer 10 parent emails, file all of last weeks work, and the list could go on and on and on. I can remember in college when I used to come up with a lesson plan, just ONE lesson plan to turn in, I would spend hours making sure it aligned to the GLE’s, trying to come up with an anticipatory set, an engaging activity to practice and some sort of evaluations/assessment to check their knowledge. Now I have to come up with 4 lessons A DAY. That’s 20 lesson a week - reading, math, science or social studies, and writing. It takes a lot of time. And let’s just say, when I signed up for this, I wasn’t aware of the GROSSness that comes with the job. Trust me, elementary teachers encounter some of the most interesting smells. This past year I have dealt with poop in the pants, poop on the floor (yes that was one of worst!), smelly farts, smelly burps, smelly sweat after recess, the list goes on and on. So needless to say, it really bugs me when people make comments like that - if only they knew the time teachers put into their work. I know half of our third grade team was up at the school every weekend working on lesson plans and getting their classroom ready for the next week. It’s not an 8-3 job with weekends and summers off, I can guarantee you that.
Having said all that, I am now going to look at the flip side. It has become a thing lately in which I have seen articles warning young people not to become a teacher. In fact, I was speaking with another teacher and her middle school daughter when I asked if she wanted to be a teacher like her mom, to which her mom replied, “I told her she can do anything she wants, just DON’T go into teaching!” I understand why people say this, I fully agree that teachers are overworked and underpaid. The demands of a teacher are ever increasing and things change yearly so that just as you are getting the hang of one way of doing things - you have to change it. It’s hard, it’s stressful, it’s time consuming, but overall I have to say it’s worth it. Granted, there are some days I can’t even convince myself it’s worth it; when a parent chews me out for something trivial, when the students are awful all day long, when I stay til 10:00 at night planning and then the students complain that I forgot to change out the student jobs - I can’t do it all!!! But then I think, if I didn’t do it, who would? If the really good teachers didn’t put in the time and effort, what would we be left with? I know teachers that went into teaching because they wanted summers off or wanted more time at home with their kids, well if that is why are you going into teaching, please don’t. It’s easy to get burnt out and not care, and then we have students with ineffective, lack luster teachers. I also know some pretty fantastic, passionate teachers and I have to say, we need more teachers that are willing to push through the hard stuff to make a difference in a kids life. If you’ve ever heard the saying that teachers are paid with hugs, it is so true. I can be having the crummiest morning, but the students come in with the biggest smiles on their faces and almost every single one gives me a hug first thing, how could I possibly stay in a crummy mood? When I see the lightbulbs go off, when I see another student treating others with compassion, sharing their learning, when I watch as their independence grows from day to day, I know its worth it. I know that is why I went into teaching. If we keep encouraging those that are passionate about teaching to enter into a different field, what kind of teachers will we be left with? We need teachers that have the desire, the passion, and the patience to be a teacher. Just show them where the coffee pot is and encourage them to marry someone very understanding. :)
