Why I Became a Teacher or My Experience in School

All my life I wanted to be a teacher.  Really, all my life.  For as long as I can remember, I read my books to my "students" who looked amazingly like my stuffed animals and my poor cat.  I got my best gift when I was about 4.  It was a blackboard.  I spent hours giving math problems to my students.  My older sister got into the act, "allowing" me to use her homework as my assignments.  So I did her homework with my class and she copied the answers off the board and got the credit for doing homework.  We were both happy.


My first real experience with school was nursery school. No preschool then.  Just a cooperative nursery school in the local church.  Each day we would play and build and run and laugh and sing songs.  And once a day, Miss Helen took me into a back room to read with her.  Apparently I was the only child in the class who could read.  I thank my sister who let me do her homework.  I loved nursery school and really looked forward to heading off to kindergarten.


Kindergarten lasted for about one month.  During that time, the school psychologist (he was a huge man who just walked in one day and told me to come with him to his office to talk) tested me, found out I had a high IQ and decided I needed more than kindergarten. They wanted to move me, a 5 year old, into second grade.  My parents said no only because my sister was in second grade and they didn't think we should be in the same grade.  So off to first grade I went.


My first grade teacher, Mrs. O, was near retirement age when she got me pushed into her room.  She made it very clear from the start that she did not think I belonged in first grade.  Whenever I did something "kindergartenish" the kids would laugh at me.  Her response, "Remember, she's just a baby."  That title lasted with me throughout my whole 12 years of schooling. She also allowed the kids to roll their eyes when I was the only one who knew the answer.  It was not cool to be smart. I hated first grade.  


Second grade, Miss P.  She was beautiful...a true flower child.  I remember absolutely nothing I learned but that The Partridge Family was THE show to watch and David Cassidy was a dream.  I loved second grade.


Third grade....nothing.  I remember nothing.  Not my teacher, not my classmates, not any curriculum.  Must have been a hell of a year.

Fourth grade I had Miss B.  She was strict.  She did things that when I look back on them were horrific.  She told poor Ross that if he could not sit in his seat, she would tie him into it.  He couldn't.  She did.  We all laughed, including Ross.  But it must have been humiliating.  Just as humiliating as it was for me to have my desk dumped out on a weekly basis because I couldn't keep it clean.  But I do remember her reading aloud to us each day.  She'd sit in her big rocking chair, we'd sit on the floor around her and she'd open up our world to Peter and Fudge.


Fifth grade was the last grade I had a teacher I remember.  Mr. C. was my first male teacher.  He told my mom at the beginning of the year that he knew I knew all the curriculum so it was fine with him if I sat in back and read all day.  I was thrilled.  But, thinking back on it, that was a disgrace.  And it certainly isolated me even more from my classmates.


Junior High was torture.  I was bullied daily, started meeting with the guidance counselor, and got into things no junior high student should get into.  The funny thing is, I still wanted to be a teacher.  But at this point, I had no idea why.


High school was another nightmare.  I did my best to disappear.  I got Cs in most of my classes, making sure people forgot I was the smart one from elementary school.  I barely graduated.  But I did.  And moved on to college where I got my education degree.  

I haven't regretted a single moment of that decision.  I love teaching.  I make sure that my brightest students get the enrichment and challenges they need to be engaged in school.  I make sure that teasing and bullying are completely unacceptable and not allowed in my classroom among my students.  I make sure that my hyperactive students can stand up if they want to without being laughed at or tied into their seats.  And I make sure that I read books that open the world for my students.  I love teaching.  I didn't have any good role models but I sure had some bad ones to help me figure out what not to do.  I love teaching and can't imagine doing anything else.  


Why did you become a teacher?

Image: 'blackboard easel' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32654149@N00/498963924
Image: 'DSCF1394' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18333991@N00/2386770223
Image: 'ick' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27039676@N06/4444972038
Image: 'The Partridge Family Shopping Bag' 
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Image: 'I Heart Flickr Pink Purple Nail Polish+in+Heart+Bottle+Creative+Commons' 
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All About Vacations

August's O, The Oprah Magazine gave some interesting statistics about Americans and vacations. The average polltaker on Oprah.com has 14 vacation days per year. 14!

As a teacher, I have the luxury of many more than 14 vacation days. Contractually, I work 183 days per year, 7 hours per day. That's what my contract says. My contract also gives me one hour of duty free lunch each day, although I do understand that many teachers in the country do not have that same privilege.

So what does that mean for me? Most non-teachers think it means I have a part-time job...that I work my 7 hours and go home, finished for the day, free to partake in hobbies, side jobs, fun. Most non-teachers think that three weeks of vacation per year, 2 months off in summer, and all those extra national holidays means that I have plenty of time for travel, visiting with family and friends, playing.

Why then, when my IGoogle countdown shows I have 25 days left of summer vacation, was I in school today working? And why, then, were most of the school staff with me? Why have I been talking all summer to my teacher friends online and finding that they all were in their classrooms, or in the library, or online doing work that would enhance their classroom next year? Why do I come to work an hour early each day, joining the majority of staff members? Why do so many of us work through that duty-free lunch, stay until dinner time, spend extra hours on district committees, taking education classes, meeting with students and parents?

When I first started teaching, I took a class with a teacher who laughingly told us all that every time she traveled, she searched for books and souvenirs that she could bring back to her classroom. She went sightseeing with her classroom in mind, taking pictures and choosing activities that would lend themselves to lessons. I remember thinking then that this teacher needs to get a life. How sad that she couldn't even enjoy her vacation.

Last week I went to Niagara Falls...the Canadian side. I was unplugged from the computer for four days (which was extremely difficult and is a whole other topic of conversation), with my husband and my daughter, away from all distractions. And, while thoroughly enjoying the time spent with my family touring the area, my mind kept wandering to my classroom. On the third day, I planned a trip to Welland Canal Lock 3 to watch a ship move through the lock system. I took video and many pictures and collected material from the museum. Afterall, I teach the Erie Canal and part of that unit is understanding the lock system.

So I realized that 22 years into my teaching career, I have become that teacher. And I understand that teachers need all those days off to regenerate, remove themselves from students for awhile and be with adults, having adult conversations. But mostly, teachers need the time to regroup, thinking about what they've been doing, revamping styles, replanning lessons, finding new material, thinking about their students' learning needs and preparing themselves to meet those needs head-on.

Teachers need all the extra hours before and after school to improve their teaching conditions (technology committees for better technology, staff development committees to design valuable staff development, etc.), rewrite lesson plans for this year's students, write new lessons to meet the new class' needs, meet with colleagues to plan new units, design field trips, create content for teaching curriculum.

This is not a part-time job, we do not have job free vacations, we do not shut down at the end of the day and turn on again the next morning. Teaching is very much a full time job, even without taking into account the emotional aspect of working with different children with different problems each day. And the longer I work in the field, and the more time I spend outside of my contractual school day on school, the more I take offense at those in this country who still believe teaching is an easy part-time job.

At least those of us in the field know better. Teaching is a challenging, always changing career that I relish. Even though I work long hours and use most of my vacation days on schoolwork, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I do love my job.