“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.” - Jacques Barzun
it really upsets me when people take teaching for granted, as if teaching is such an easy job.
this is especially worse when your friend blatantly says this to your face.
there are so many things teachers have to take into account for at school;
it’s not just about designing lessons. it’s not just the schoolwork we have to assign. it’s not just the report cards we have to explain. it’s not just the exams we have to monitor/mark. it’s not just the extra co-curricular activities we have to attend and be responsible of. it’s not just the student discipline and student-student relationships we have to take notice of. it’s not just the student-teacher relationship we have to establish and keep without being unprofessional. it’s not just the students’ personal lives we have to take into consideration/intervene if they’ll affect their academic performance. it’s not just the amount of things you need to know about your students so that you can try your best to cater your lessons to their needs and interests. it’s all of that and so much more.
every year, there are so many things you need to know, so many names to remember, so many people you should care for. there are so many things to do all the time involving so many people. and you have to deal with these people, all of them, personally. and you have to think of the consequences of your actions and decisions on them individually. one. by. one. because these very people are the future.
imagine this. the future is in your very hands. do you have any idea how much burden that is?
think about how many hundreds of students’ futures are in your small, petty hands. your hands that are undervalued, overworked, and underpaid. and as you are trying to cope with all these things happening at the same time, you hear people lamenting how teaching is such an effortless occupation. no sweat, no need for real education, no need to take it seriously. it’s just a thing you get paid to do.
there’s so much emotional and physical involvement in teaching, but many people don’t see that. many don’t even care. what they don’t know is that seeing students’ smiles, laughs and faces light up with excitement and happiness after they learn/understand something new means so much to a teacher. it certainly means a lot to me. i feel happy when they’re happy, and if they don’t understand certain things i try to empathise with them as much as i can so that i can help them find the solution. but when other people make teaching sound as like a no-brainer, i feel like my heart is breaking into pieces. it’s like i’m not expected to do/care all those things above. it’s like my role is just to spew out stuff from my mouth, nothing more.
“If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job”. - Donald D. Quinn
you think you know, but you have absolutely no effing idea.
Today, I went for a job interview today. As soon as I got off the elevator, I saw there was a nerf gun war going on in the office. I walked up to the front desk and asked if I should come at a later time. She said no and handed me a gun “this is your interview”. - MLIA
- wow. i can’t even begin to guess what job s/he was applying for, lol.
