Fourteen Things Teachers Want You To Know

Fourteen Things Teachers Want You To Know

1) We don't think our job is harder than yours. All jobs are challenging in different ways.

2) We only get paid for ten months of work. We do not get paid over the summer, but some of us choose to have our ten months of pay spread out so that we can pay the mortgage and life expenses.

And yes, we do work during the summer (although not as much as we do during the school year). Most of us teach summer school or do professional development during the summer. But even if we didn't, that doesn't make us lazy.

3) We are professionals. We are trained in pedagogy. We have college degrees. We know what we're doing. Trust us, please.

4) We don't mind being held accountable. What we DO mind is our time and effort being wasted in the name of "more accountability." Because then that means our kids suffer.

5) We love our kids. We can comment on their ignorance and weirdness. But don't you dare insult them. We'll usually stand up for them and defend them.

6) Getting breaks around the holidays is nice, as are snow days. Sometimes we need those breaks to keep from going insane, or to grade papers, or to revamp a lesson. You know, things we don't get to do during "planning" time.

7) No, just because we're not new teachers anymore does NOT mean all our lessons are just ready to go and that we just walk into school, lecture, and walk out. A good teacher constantly updates lessons, projects, assessments, and activities to meet the needs of each year's students or to incorporate new teaching techniques.

8) All these "education reform laws" will not get to the root issues and fix the broken system or the faulty attitudes surrounding education.

9) While none of us teach for the money, it is discouraging and demoralizing to know that you can work your tail off for years and years in a row and still never get a raise (even though we're supposed to).

10) Things that don't seem like they take a long time (making copies, tutoring, allowing kids to make up tests before and after school, calling/emailing parents, IEP meetings, etc.) add up and take time away from our ability to do what we do best: teach.

11)  We leave teaching not because we don't like teaching anymore. It's because we don't get to teach because of ALL of the other crud we have to do.

12) There's much more to learning than grades and test scores. We want our kids to learn to think for themselves, problem solve, and be able to teach themselves anything. But...we are judged based on our kids' grades and test scores...so we have to find balance in the classroom, and it's hard.

13) Almost all of us coach or sponsor a club in addition to teaching. Many of us do multiple clubs or sports. We do not just work 8-4.

14) We like to be involved in our school community. We love to make a difference. It's why we became teachers. 

We want to leave the world  better than we found it.


Teacher friends, what else would you add? 

The Pledge, Theologically Unsound Lyrics, and Other Words

I spend hours convincing my students that words are important. Words have the power to incite a revolution, to touch a heart, to change the world. You should write what you mean, using the exact vocabulary that conveys your intentions. 

So yes, maybe as an English teacher I’m particularly sensitive to the words I say, hear, and read, or maybe it's a personality issue. I'm not entirely certain. 

I’ll never forget the time we were in chapel at college. We were singing during praise and worship, a song directed to God, and the lyrics of the song went something like this:

"You’ve stolen my heart, yes, You have.

You’ve stolen my heart, yes, You have.

You’ve wiped away the stains

Broke away the chains

Yes, You have."

I stopped singing in the middle of the song as my schoolmates continued to belt out the lyrics around me, furrowing my eyebrows, pondering the first two lines of the chorus.

No, God has not stolen my heart. He doesn’t steal from us; we have free will.

And yes, I get that it’s a figurative phrase (English teacher, remember?)…but I felt uncomfortable with it. So, I stopped singing those lines of the song.

Call me crazy. Call me too literal. Call me whatever you want.

I’m ok   trying to be ok with that. I’m learning to be comfortable following my convictions, no matter what my family, husband, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, or baristas think. 

Song lyrics with bad theology aren’t the only words I do not say. It’s hard for me to admit that I also do not say the Pledge of Allegiance. I know that people will call me ungrateful. They’ll say I’m not “American” and I’m not patriotic. It’s happened before.

If you do say the Pledge, I will not call you a Socialist or say you are brainwashed or whatever. I respect your decision. It’d be nice if you could extend the same to me. Generic “you” here.

I always stand for the Pledge, out of respect. I don't make a big deal out of the fact that I don't say it. I am quiet and reflective every single morning when it is recited over the speakers at school every single morning. 

But I don’t say the words, those words penned by a Socialist minister in the 19^th century, intended to be chanted by schoolchildren across America, land of the free, protector of rights such as the freedom of speech (P.S. if you're looking for some light reading, http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/319/624/case.html is the majority opinion of the 1943 court case West Virginia State Board of Ed. vs. Barnette regarding forcing students to say it in school). 

And frankly, I think that exercising my right to not say the Pledge is a pretty American action to take. Just like I think being careful of the words I sing about and to God is a pretty Christian thing to do.

I know I need to take this one step further, too. I need to make sure my conversation is edifying, uplifting, and beneficial for those hearing it. I need to remember the power of words in every area of my life, not just my "soapbox issues."

Words are powerful. I just want to use them intentionally.