This article is a great little refresher for those of us who are becoming teachers to read and remind ourselves why we are choosing to do what we do. It is also something that could have a few good additions to our talks about what “good teaching” really is. A fox business panelist on the Daily Show was quoted saying “Teaching is a part-time job! Their work is done at 2:30 in the afternoon and they don’t work summers…” The article went on to list off 20 things that teaching really “is” and how all of those specific things make a good teacher. I really loved all of the things that connected us to our students and all of the extracurricular things that we involve ourselves in to show our investment in our students (time we don’t get paid for). Spending countless hours creating fun and inspirational lessons at home, attending sporting events to support students, staying late to meet with a parent who can’t come in to talk during your contracted hours, pretty much everything that a teacher does outside of their actual subject area and the “job” they are supposed to be doing. Teaching is an incredibly important thing that, only a few professions can say, has an impact on EVERYONE at some point in time in their lives.
Many times this semester we have talked about how important making connections are and truly investing in your students and caring about their education inside and outside of your classroom. This article is a great pick-me-up and reminder of why we do what we do.
The first thing the person making the statement,” teaching is a part time job” should have been asked is, “Have you or a close family member ever been a teacher.”
ReplyDeleteFunny you should say that. This is the actualy quote from the article - "It’s a part-time job! Their job is done at 2:30 in the afternoon and they don’t work summers ... Oh please, my mom was a teacher and I was shopping with her at 3:00."
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