Mar 8, 2011

Past Midnight Meanderings

I was on campus until 5 today. I got home and graded for 3 hours. I made phone calls home to about 20 parents. It's a lil' past midnight now and I am not fully prepared for tomorrow's lesson(s) - (2 things to prep for - geometry & algebra). I've got some friends who request an update on my teaching life and half-expect a "yeah, it's easy now." When they don't get it, the follow-up question is usually "but, didn't you plan for everything last year? Can't you just re-use it.. and stuff?"

There's nothing quite like the first year, but the work load does not stop there. Yes, each year you get better & each year you get a better handle, but this will always be the job that never ends. One parent tonight said to me, "well, I thank you for your work. I don't think people give y'all teachers enough credit. I mean, you guys should be the ones w/ the salaries that these ball players get." "Thank you. Thank you. But, you know, I definitely don't do it for the money."

--

There's a lot on the teaching mind I'm bound to get on paper, but for now -

Did you know, each year...

1 in 57 doctors lose their license.
1 in 93 lawyers theirs.
but, for teachers, 1 in 2,500 lose their credential.

As an educator in public education thirsting for what next steps we can take towards positive reform of our schools, how do you think I digest this fact? Just food for thought that'll (hopefully) drive my next post...

4 comments:

Dave Orphal said...

I had a hard time buying into the "Waiting for Superman" numbers about doctors, lawyers and teachers loosing their jobs, so I did a lille fact checking...

Check this out.

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2010/12/fact-checking-waiting-for-superman.html

Eyawn said...

Bingo.

I saw the movie last Friday, and those attrition rate numbers were the ones that got the most "WTF!?" reactions from me. I appreciate the link. I realize the movie twisted the storyline to make it seem as if the quality of a student's education depends solely on a lottery (pro-charter), but nowhere did we see examples of great systems of public education nor even great teaching. Regardless, it was thought-provoking and I agreed with some pieces. More on the next post...

David said...

The other question to ask is, what percentage of teachers quit forever before they lose their license...

I don't think doctors and lawyers quit their careers in quite the same numbers as teachers.

Emily H said...

THANK YOU for this post. I still spend so much time preparing lessons and worksheets each day even though I'm a 4th year teacher (2 years were in a different state), and I really thought it was supposed to be "easier" by now. I'm actually putting in more after school hours than my 1st year! Add in the time spent on non-teaching related school responsibilities, it's no wonder I was in my classroom until 10pm last night and still didn't get everything done.

I read a lot of math teacher blogs because there are some great ideas to be found, but I find I can't relate to a lot of posts. Yours really spoke to me because there is nothing more frustrating than putting in so much time but still not being completely prepared for the following day! I hope you can sleep soon :)