You make enough.
I went to school 30 years ago to be a teacher.
That was a mistake.
I had no idea what I was getting into for a career.
You see, teacher work nine months a year from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. They have summers and most holiday off to rest. Teachers write concise lesson plans and teach students to memorize the text for 'the test". They enforce the rules, do the paperwork and attend the PTO meeting because it is required.
I'm not that person.
And even after a 27 year career in this field... I know very few teachers. But, to be quite honest... the ones I do know I dislike immensely.
If you are a teacher please, resign immediately. Put your students on a computer program and allow it to "teach" them the standards and objectives your state deems needed for "the test" After all, the technology has improved tremendously. Right? Pack up your apple paper weight and "I teach. What's your superpower?" coffee mug and leave the building.
We have no need for more teachers in the field. Instead, we need educators: facilitators, collaborators and advocates.
Educators want students to comprehend what they read and know they are only successful when that student slips down to the library without permission during class change so as to checkout a new book in the series. Educators challenge the student struggling in "2 digit subtraction without borrowing" to show their work. This is not so they can check off the box for "showed his/her work" but instead so they (as the educator) can look for patterns in the student's understanding (or lack thereof). They then reteach the concept with the newly acquired knowledge and challenge this student to improve by just 2 questions on daily practice. They do this because they know that asking this student to make an A at the moment is unattainable and overwhelming and counterproductive.
Educators facilitate when two students have a conflict over preconceived notions of race and instead of solving it for them he/she acts as a guide for revealing bias and teaching empathy. They also facilitate when one or both students return the next school day with angry parents because you did not support the bias that exists in their home(s).
Educators refuse to invest in weekly planning meetings with grade level faculty so as to write matching lesson plans; instead they collaborate with faculty on grade level as well as up a grade and down a grade so as to form a better understanding of the continuum of learning. They do so without an assigned after school time slot. These folks collaborate with the cafeteria staff so as to teach nutrition and with the recycling office down the street to teach true life applications for math concepts.
Educators build relationships and act as advocates when a student doesn't have a safe living environment or clean clothing or simply a snack. They advocate with parents when the student has zero (or too much) responsibility at home. They advocate with district office when the student needs to be tested and the red tape is blocking the process.
Educators take a group of twenty-five students and model how to operate in a small community with both self and mutual respect. They scaffold learning experiences based on prior knowledge and take students as far as they are capable of traveling regardless of the ending page of the assigned textbook. They demonstrate reading as something to do to acquire information and writing as something to do to communicate a point. They produce students that understand that math is to sole real life problems and not just to bubble a, b, c, or d.
Teachers obsess over the test while educators know what is on the test and they don't care.
Educators require students to find their own answers and create lifelong learners.
If you're a teacher then you make enough.
cmw@2016
