Walking One-Fourth of a Mile in a Teacher’s Shoes

Before I became a teacher, I pointed the finger at a fair amount of my children’s teachers. I did not understand why they did not have it all together and ready to go in the way that I am given to detail. After all, they don’t work all year long. What is it with these teachers?

Now that I am a teacher, I understand why there are a fair amount of teachers who are running around like chickens with their heads cut off as they go back to school. They may have spent a good part of their summer planning for the schedule they were given at the end of the school year, but all of sudden and unfortunately a few days before school starts, they have to teach other classes. Forget the trainings they took and paid for out of their pockets.

Now the teacher is pressed for time. They have to rewrite their syllabus, get the course description, guidelines, and benchmarks. They may even have to purchase materials like a classroom library. You mean they don’t provide one? Um, no! This is just the tip of the iceberg. They have to run copies, set up the grade book, and get new materials. They have to get ready for a whole new subject and get their new materials ready, as well as set up their classroom and go to meeting-after-meeting and training-after-training once teachers report. Some teachers are asked to move their room that week too. By the way, it is not in the janitor’s job description to move boxes. So, teachers do that too.

I do not fault our schools or the administrators. I want to make that clear! It’s the almighty dollar talking. If the numbers drop, a teacher has to go. Now they have to move teachers around based on what they are qualified to teach. In fact, sometimes teachers are not able to teach the subjects or grade level they love because of numbers and tedious staffing changes.

There are so many things that wear on teachers, and this is just one of them. So now I look at teachers and teaching much differently. I appreciate all of the hard work they do! You have no idea what it is like to be a teacher unless you do it. In fact, I invite Governor Rick Scott to shadow me and teach for two weeks. I guarantee he would change some of the laws he just passed. I have to remember that he is ignorant about being a teacher. He has to be. He has not walked a mile in a teacher’s shoe!

There has been a ruckus of information in the news about job cuts, benefits, changes in they way that teachers are assessed etc that I am finding it hard to muster up the gusto to go back to school with a smile on my face. The teacher supply allotment is cut every year. For a while there, every morning I would be greeted with another negative email about cuts, the union, etc. Often, I feel very unappreciated, but I keep going because I do it for the kids and not for the dollar.

Good thing I have saved every thank you note from my students and put them on the wall in my teacher closet. When I think about quitting, I go there and feel better! Then I can do it all over again because I do it for the kids!