How is it that teachers get such a bad rap? I am the queen of randomness, but with my madness there is reason. I was surfing the web today, reading about the pearls (or maybe more appropriately, the perils) of NCLB, and I am amazed at some of the responses that parents gave to NCLB. I guess I have to realize that perspectives are always different. Whose fault is it that kids fall through the cracks? That's right, my friends! Us incompetent, good for nothing, lounging around the pool at summer with our margaritas, teacher folks!
There is the saying that a bad apple can ruin the whole bunch. I suppose that is true for us teacher people. Sure, I won't lie, there are people who should have their teaching certificate revoked and burned to ashes. There are people who speak horribly to the kids (or maybe just all mankind for that matter. Ones that don't know their content, are unwilling to grow, or maybe just downright arrogant know it alls who could give a damn about what anyone thinks about what they do. Ones who won't collaborate, and others who are there for the awesome $40,000 a year.
Are we ready for the reality check? Yes, I think we are....*approaches soap box and positions self after taking a deep breath.*
Teacher Myth #1-Teachers don't want parents involved in their kid's education.
Real Deal: I would love it if more of my parents could do more with their kids. Some of mine do lots with them. If anything, I think parents are the most important teachers that a kid can have. Please read with your children. Take them places (like libraries, museums, etc.) so they can have experiences to connect to learning. Include them in everyday tasks, like cooking and going to the store so they can learn that a measuring cup is used to measure volume and capacity, and that it is not reasonable for three boxes of cereal at $2.39 a box to cost less than 5 bucks. Be active, but don't stalk me. Don't call me 5 times a day to make sure Pookie is breathing. Don't always assume that we are out to get your child if we say one negative thing about your child. On the other extreme, don't make me have to hunt you down with the SWAT team for parent conferences, but show up for Track and Field. I am just saying. Let's keep it real. Kids are kids, and sometimes they do things, both good and bad. I tell you the good things, but accept that your angel darling pie is also capable of getting into some mischief while you are not calling those 5 times a day. Yeah.
Teacher Myth #2-Teachers want to cover more and more content at a quicker pace rather than teach a few things well.
Real Deal: Each state has its own standards for what a teacher is supposed to teach at each grade level. Contrary to popular belief, teachers don't just get to go all willy nilly and teach whatever tickles them pink. The idea is that each year gets harder because the content of the material consists of things from the previous year and makes it a little harder while also adding new concepts. So before people-like parents, politicians, and the like start burning crosses in our classes and throwing rocks at our windows, let's take a moment and think (hey, you aren;t supposed to think at school!) . NCLB requires that students pass test aligned to state standards. Stop getting angry at us teachers because Jimbo has to learn more than you did when you were in school. I am sorry. Is it my decision that he be required to learn so much in one grade? No, I am mandated by state standards. That is why they are called standards-it is a common ground for all students-a minimum.
What implications do those standards have for the struggling and the advanced? Well, if you are advanced it doesn't matter because we are only concerned that you can do 5 million basic things rather than just 5 things in great depth. If you struggle, well, I am going to give you face time more than anyone else practically cause you demand it, but you will keep on struggling year after year unless you finally catch up. But the beauty of NCLB is that once you catch up or go beyond, no one cares what you do, so you have to bomb out before you can get attention.
Is this what I want as a teacher? No, but unfortunately, it becomes the reality in some cases. There were times I felt like I didn't do enough with Mel or Petey cause I had to lasso down Bill to help him understand one math problem at a time. It is a system. I have observed priority being placed on what are we going to do to catch the ones falling behind. There is little effort focused on the ones doing just "ok" or the ones above and beyond. What does a teacher do when she has between 14-22 kids all looking at her at once and have 15 different needs at the same moment? A doctor treats one patient at a time. Good teachers use that same precision with at least ten times that many patients at once all day every day at any given moment. Every lesson I consider what every kid is doing and what they need to be successful in that moment. Teachers don't want kids to fail. I personally want to be Wonder Woman, and I want to save them all. Sometimes there are a lot of hazards that I think the outside world doesn't see...
Teacher Myth #3-Teachers are people who can't do other things/not knowledgeable/are babysitters/I have kids and I'd make a better teacher/etc.....
Real Deal: Many teachers are among the talented people that I know! In elementary, it isn't enough to be good at say, just reading or math. If you are like me, you teach every content area (except specials) which means you better be smarter than a 5th grader to get those kids to learn! Even in one content area, like math, you have to understand many types-geometry, algebra, probability and statistics, measurement, basic computation, and just plain logic. Not only that, but you have to know both the content and how kids learn it. Just because you were in 6th grade once doesn't mean you can teach it. You don't see people saying "Oh, I treated a cold, I could be a doctor.." Why do some people seem to think that teaching is so damn easy? I challenge those people to spend one day in my classroom, perhaps even on a good day. Let's see how long it takes before paperwork stacks up, administration asks you to do something with no explanation, three new kids show up, Bill barfs on your shoes, and then, oh yeah, you still have to make sure all your kids learn not just one thing, but many things. Many of those new things also require that they learned something about it the previous year, and yeah, none of them got that key idea that will make all the learning go down smoothly.
Teacher Myth #4 Paid summers and Margaritas by the pool! A cool 40 G's for nothing!
Real Deal: I have not had a free summer EVER while teaching. In fact, the summer before my first year teaching, I spent student teaching in an ESL classroom after just graduating college and student teaching with my last semester. I always get suckered into working on things for school-like review materials or planning curriculum. Either that or I get sent somewhere for conferences and PD. So contrary to popular belief, I will not be tanning by the pool in 2 weeks with a cool alcoholic beverage. Not even remotely close. My district wanted to have me doing summer school, so I would be doing that, only I have to get ready to go to an academy instead for NSTA (National Science Teachers Association for those not in the know) because I was chosen to go. Don't even get me started on money! I am looking for a sugar daddy. I am tired of "finding" things for the kids and "borrowing." I will be paying off my Bachelor's degree till the cows come home, and I will go into the red financially if I go for my Masters out of pocket. The only way financially that my Masters would be worth anything is if I leave the classroom. That is pretty sad. With that said, I guess I'd better rule out another teacher as a potential mate, cause then I'll be eating beans for the rest of my life while we both keep paying off degrees. And a correction-we don't get paid for regular clock work for the summer. During the 9 months or so that we teach, we have so many duty days and hours. That is where our salary comes from. That salary is then paid in 12 month installments. So yeah. The only extra money in summer (Ha! I dare you to find it!) comes from the aforementioned additional activities that I am annually suckered into.
And here is where I will stop for now. Perhaps some other day I will continue to dispel other myths such as the one that states that all teachers are really androids void of emotion, failing kids is fun, and we all leave as soon as the dismissal bell rings (my kids don't even leave everyday at exactly dismissal, so how can I high tail it?). *Drags soap box in a corner and walks away with some sense of satisfaction..*