Reflections from an (Almost) Teacher.

The Hardest Job Everyone Thinks They Can Do

world-shaker:

buntsfromaleftcoastgirl:

This piece was inspired by a heated discussion I had with a man who believes that teachers have an easy job. Please feel free to share it with others if you agree with the message.

I used to be a molecular biologist. I spent my days culturing viruses. Sometimes, my experiments would fail miserably, and I’d swear to myself in frustration. Acquaintances would ask how my work was going. I’d explain how I was having a difficult time cloning this one gene. I couldn’t seem to figure out the exact recipe to use for my cloning cocktail.

Acquaintances would sigh sympathetically. And they’d say, “I know you’ll figure it out. I have faith in you.”

And then, they’d tilt their heads in a show of respect for my skills….

Today, I’m a high school teacher. I spend my days culturing teenagers. Sometimes, my students get disruptive, and I swear to myself in frustration. Acquaintances ask me how my work is going. I explain how I’m having a difficult time with a certain kid. I can’t seem to get him to pay attention in class.

Acquaintances smirk knowingly. And they say, “well, have you tried making it fun for the kids? That’s how you get through to them, you know?”

And then, they explain to me how I should do my job….

I realize now how little respect teachers get. Teaching is the toughest job everyone who’s never done it thinks they can do. I admit, I was guilty of these delusions myself. When I decided to make the switch from “doing” science to “teaching” science, I found out that I had to go back to school to get a teaching credential.

“What the f—?!?,” I screamed to any friends willing to put up with my griping. “I have a Ph.D.! Why do I need to go back to get a lousy teaching credential?!?”

I was baffled. How could I, with my advanced degree in biology, not be qualified to teach biology?!

Well, those school administrators were a stubborn bunch. I simply couldn’t get a job without a credential. And so, I begrudgingly enrolled in a secondary teaching credential program.

And boy, were my eyes opened. I understand now.

Teaching isn’t just “making it fun” for the kids. Teaching isn’t just academic content.

Teaching is understanding how the human brain processes information and preparing lessons with this understanding in mind.

Teaching is simultaneously instilling in a child the belief that she can accomplish anything she wants while admonishing her for producing shoddy work.

Teaching is understanding both the psychology and the physiology behind the changes the adolescent mind goes through.

Teaching is convincing a defiant teenager that the work he sees no value in does serve a greater purpose in preparing him for the rest of his life.

Teaching is offering a sympathetic ear while maintaining a stern voice.

Teaching is being both a role model and a mentor to someone who may have neither at home, and may not be looking for either.

Teaching is not easy. Teaching is not intuitive. Teaching is not something that anyone can figure out on their own. Education researchers spend lifetimes developing effective new teaching methods. Teaching takes hard work and constant training. I understand now.

Have you ever watched professional athletes and gawked at how easy they make it look? Kobe Bryant weaves through five opposing players, sinking the ball into the basket without even glancing in its direction. Brett Favre spirals a football 100 feet through the air, landing it in the arms of a teammate running at full speed. Does anyone have any delusions that they can do what Kobe and Brett do?

Yet, people have delusions that anyone can do what the typical teacher does on a typical day.

Maybe the problem is tangibility. Shooting a basketball isn’t easy, but it’s easy to measure how good someone is at shooting a basketball. Throwing a football isn’t easy, but it’s easy to measure how good someone is at throwing a football. Similarly, diagnosing illnesses isn’t easy to do, but it’s easy to measure. Winning court cases isn’t easy to do, but it’s easy to measure. Creating and designing technology isn’t easy to do, but it’s easy to measure.

Inspiring kids? Inspiring kids can be downright damned near close to impossible sometimes. And… it’s downright damned near close to impossible to measure. You can’t measure inspiration by a child’s test scores. You can’t measure inspiration by a child’s grades. You measure inspiration 25 years later when that hot-shot doctor, or lawyer, or entrepreneur thanks her fourth-grade teacher for having faith in her and encouraging her to pursue her dreams.

Maybe that’s why teachers get so little respect. It’s hard to respect a skill that is so hard to quantify.

So, maybe you just have to take our word for it. The next time you walk into a classroom, and you see the teacher calmly presiding over a room full of kids, all actively engaged in the lesson, realize that it’s not because the job is easy. It’s because we makeit look easy. And because we work our asses off to make it look easy.

And, yes, we make it fun, too.

I couldn’t pick the best part to highlight, so I copy and pasted the whole thing.  This was written by Dennis Hong, found here.

“It’s hard to respect a skill that is so hard to quantify.”  Is this part of the motivation behind high-stakes standardized testing? Having something to measure?  It seems so.  But like Hong states, kids and learning aren’t something that can be measured in a standardized method because kids aren’t standardized.

Too good to not reblog the whole thing. I’m sorry for killing your dash.

kicksandgiggles:

Never Gonna Give You Up: Things I’ve learned about teaching:

positivelypersistantteach:

• If you surround yourself with teachers who are regularly negative, they will bring you down as well.   It will affect your teaching.   Be professional, but stay out of negative discussions when possible.
• Always, always communicate with parents about the GOOD things.   If a problem ever arises, they aren’t so much on the defensive if they know you like and respect their kid.
• Document, document, document.   Any important notes that go home, I make photo copies of first.  I keep e-mails I have sent to parents.  I document meetings and phone calls as well on a communication log.
• Find a good lunch group.   They will be professional and personal support.  They will provide comic relief, and always be people you can count on.  Some of my best friends are the teachers that I eat/ate lunch with.
• Make time for yourself.   This is very hard to do, especially in your first year.  However, if you are not taking care of yourself, you can’t take care of the kids.
• Personally, I almost always wear my hair up.   I’ve never gotten lice.   Lice like clean hair, so if there is an outbreak in your school use lots of gel and hairspray.
• What works once, might not work twice.
• Run things by your principal.  Keep that door of communication open. (This will also help you be less nervous during observations).
• Ebay can be your best friend.
• Praise.  Praise is the key to even the toughest kids.
• Consistency. 
• Being fair does not mean everyone gets the same things.  It means everyone gets what they need.
• When a kid thinks he/she is dumb, use the theory of multiple intelligences to explain that they are not.
• Incorporate their strengths into their weaknesses.
• Be happy to see your students.  Tell them that you are.
• Don’t be afraid to make a mistake.  Use it as a learning opportunity.  Especially for those students who think they do everything wrong.  ”See, even *I* make mistakes sometimes.”
• Be joyful.  
• Especially in the younger grades, the more excited YOU are about an activity, the more excited your kids will be.
• They all become *your* kids by the end of the year.

I love this.

(Source: positivelypersistentteach)

Becoming a teacher:

… still terrifies me. 

It’s been a while since my last post. Since finishing my prac and final assignments I have:

• Picked up a week of work teacher aiding at a state school (covering for long service leave)
• Moved house
• Found out that I got an A for the assignment I was sure I would fail (bringing me to an HD overall for that course. yay!)
• gone further into debt (finding out that a car accident a year ago now costs us nearly $4000)
• Started work on my honours again. 
• had to prove to centerlink that I am still studying so I can keep receiving benefits

So I’ve officially finished all of my core content subjects for my Bachelors, Passed everything first go (with plenty of HDs in there), and now the only things standing between me and graduating is my Honours Thesis, which I’m completing as my electives in the degree. 

I feel very lost though. I feel almost certain that being a teacher is not for me. There are so many things I love about working with children, but I definitely don’t feel passionate enough to deal with all the garbage that school teachers are expected to put up with, and I know that it is not in my personality to take the job of a full-time teacher. While I was on prac, I saw myself turning into a person that I just couldn’t stand, and while I learned so much from that experience, I feel like it became more and more obvious that I cannot do that job. 

I don’t know what this means. I desperately need the money, and I could earn so much more from working as a teacher than anything else I’m qualified to do. But should I do it for that reason when I recognise I have no love for that job? I don’t want to turn bitter and resentful and be doing a job just because I have the degree. 

Maybe I’m just weak and scared and that’s what’s stopping me. 

Maybe I first need to learn to take care of myself before deciding what I need to do. Because right now, I don’t feel like I’ll be able to succeed at anything. 

I’m done.

Tuesday the 26th of October, I completed the 30 days of my final Internship teaching grade 5.

I passed.

I was so unsure and so unconfident. I thought I may fail. I thought that I had really done a pretty average job, and could not be certain that I had done well enough to pass. But I did.

Friday the 29th of October, I submitted my last ever university assignment. It was a 4000 word project based on research conducted during my Internship.

I still fear I may not have completed this properly, unsure about the requirements and expecations. I followed the marking criteria carefully, though did not attach my ongoing reflections (as it was not included in the criteria) and I fear that I was actually supposed to. But there is little I can do about it now. I simply must be sure to check for emails… All I want is to pass.

That makes me sad. There was once a time that a B was unacceptable. That I would always put in my all to get a 85%+ score, and now, now I’m content to simply not have to do it again.

I have more to reflect on, and should really, at least, type up the reflections I have been doing for the PRI 4001 course and assignment. Just in case I’m required to show proof. I was just really hard put for time and prioritised re-typing a number of reflections at the bottom of the list, as there was nothing about it in the marking criteria. I just can’t help shake the feeling that they were supposed to be included anyway.

I just don’t want to worry about it any more. I worry too much.

Wednesday 21st

Should have looked like:

• Ball games carnival
• Morning Tea
• 2 hour literacy block - me teaching
• Lunch
• Computers - students working  on finishing reports and assessment activities

Actually looked like:

• Rain
• Ball Games Carnival cancelled
• Finishing work - Sound Waves, Maths, Visit from Japanese teacher RE an assignment due tomorrow
• Unorganised morning tea (with students inside finishing Japanese assignment)
• Ball Games announced to be on during middle session
• Ball Games Carnival started
• Rain
• Ball Games Carnival too wet, stopped and cancelled
• Back to class
• Fruit break to settle students
• Quiet reading time
• Start part of planned literacy block
• More rain
• Run into Lunch a bit (it’s ok, inside lunch anyway)
• Fire Alarm set off
• Gather students and walk onto oval
• Still raining
• Allowed to go back to class - students wet, tired and fussy
• Quiet reading and extra time to finish lunch and settle
• Attempt to finish literacy block
• End of school. 

*sigh*

Wow, the week gets away from me…

Monday: Rained. Testing, but the students could get started on their contract work while small groups were tested by J. It was J’s first day back after her trip away, it had been almost 4 weeks since the kids had seen her, and they were quite unsettled (the rain didn’t help). We got through some lessons I had planned but due to the testing it was out of routine. I got to see the students in quite a different light - with me taking on more authority, and how unsettling the day was. I feel like I managed them quite ok - I really wanted to find a balance between giving them some freedom, but keeping it peaceful enough to be a good learning environment. Watched some of the commonwealth games from the projector attached to the teacher’s computer, and students really enjoyed that, and produced some great writing inspired by watching the athletes. 

Tuesday: Still Raining. More testing, but this time completed as a whole class. I love Tuesdays - Primary Parade, PE, Music, and Library leaves us with very few teaching sessions, which was a nice break. Especially with the rain. We had a grade 5 meeting and I learnt so much - I was able to type into the unit planning document while the teachers discussed it, and it was really good for grounding my understanding in the PYP unit planning. I followed up on the writing task they’d begun the day before, and in the afternoon directed a discussion on the appropriate use of contractions. I felt I didn’t do so well in these lessons, even though I’d planned the contractions one over the weekend. 

Feedback from J included - Give clear instructions, be brief, use visual aides. These are what I need to work on most. My management is improving, and lesson transitions are ok, but my instructions get all tangled up, and the students lose focus waiting for me to say what I really mean (my words, not my teacher’s). 

Wednesday: I taught most of the day. And it really wasn’t that bad. I got some excellent feedback from J and she even got me to open up to sharing my stresses, worries and what was making me nervous. I didn’t get as much work done as I’d planned, but we got through everything important. The sun also came out and the kids could play outside, so that was a huge relief. My great discussion with J this afternoon included planning the rest of the week with her (for when I’m teaching with D), and her telling me what she saw in me that made her believe I’d be a good teacher.  I’m listing this to remind myself.

1. I have great one-on-one manner with the students
2. I am relational and connect naturally with the students
3. I am teachable. Other teachers who I’ve interacted with at this school even mentioned this fact to J. And J said that if she was employing a teacher, she’s not going to go for a beginning teacher who thinks they know everything, but someone who is open and teachable. 

I really just need to work on demonstrating a little more confidence and certainty in  the content I’m teaching, and give clearer instructions. 

I can’t believe I have 8 days left. It feels like forever, but it feels like it will over in a flash. Wow. 

Thursday & Friday

Thursday went much better than I expected. I had everything together for my day with my male mentor (D), planned out and ready for anything. Was able to record some great observations of the students doing maths, and picked up some great teaching strategies from D. Taught some lessons that with D there for a bit, away for a bit, and I just felt fairly comfortable for most of the day. 

Friday went less well. D taught maths again so I could observe, and it was great. There were a number of times though where he’d expected me to have done something, and I hadn’t (whether because I’d never seen it done before/I didn’t know I had to do it/I’d taken advice from someone else…) and he seemed disappointed. He gave me feedback from the day before, which was positive. As it was, it almost seemed as though I’d have no time to do my lesson finishing some work from the previous day, but as sport was cancelled, D suddenly handed the class over to me. Caught off-guard, I stumbled my way through a not-at-all-thought-out lesson on writing the body of a newspaper story. I felt like I did a terrible job, though the work that students produced was really very good. I feel like I get so nervous around D, he seems to always catch me on the incredibly rare occasions I do something stupid… or maybe I just do something stupid because I’m so nervous. I realised that day that I do not perform well. I really don’t. I never have. I always screw up, and I don’t know how to counter that. 

Some advice D gave me on Friday is something that will always stick with me - we as teachers, are there for the kids. We do everything for them. Not for us, for them. It’s hard to get out of the mind frame that ‘we know better, do what we say’ and start thinking about what the kids need over our own sense of what is more convenient. 

There is such a fine line, such a perfect balance, that I still can’t get my head around. 

2 weeks + 2 days left :)