As a teacher of 25 years, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing in the classroom. Unfortunately, there are many people who disagree. They don't disagree with me personally, but with the teaching profession in general. There are a lot of things about teachers that people either don't know or have completely wrong. With full disclosure, this is not all original thinking. I took a post from the internet and tweaked it with some of my own thoughts. Here goes:
People tend to think we have it easy. We are just glorified babysitters who assign work for students to do while we sit at our desks and drink coffee.
People think we only work from 8:00-3:00. (Oh how I WISH! I spend countless hours grading papers and doing mounds of paperwork on my own time. It is impossible to do this when students are in the classroom, because I'm like, you know, actually teaching.)
People think we have 3 months off in the summer with absolutely nothing to do. (Oh REALLY?)
If we teach younger kids, all we do is color all day. (I think you’d be shocked at today’s kindergarten curriculum).
If we teach older kids all we do is feed them information all day. (Oh sure! As if it were THAT easy).
We only teach our own subject matter. (In reality teachers are nurses, mediators, judges, juries, fill-in parents, referees, nurturers, psychologists, providers, supporters, advocates, therapists, coaches and many other things).
People think because they’ve been to school, they know how to do a teacher’s job. (Six words… I’d like to see you try!)
People think we are teachers because we are too dumb to do anything else. (I can only laugh at this one!)
People actually blame teachers for children misbehaving in school or earning failing grades. (Yup! They are angels at home and only misbehave because I have no classroom management skills. Yeah, right!)
Many parents believe if their child is doing poorly in school it’s because the teacher doesn’t LIKE their child. (Oh please! Give me a break! I like your child just fine. It’s their behavior I don’t like!)
People actually believe teachers are out to get kids. (As if I wake up every morning plotting which kids I want to pick on that day… In reality my first thought in the morning is to thank the Lord for another day of His mercy and grace. My second thought involves coffee.)
People believe teachers give students their grades. (NOPE! Students earn their grades. I do not arbitrarily assign A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s and F’s).
People think teachers know everything. (Actually I’m okay with this one, but aren’t these the same people who think teachers are too dumb to do anything else? Make up you mind, people!)
People think kids are little sponges who sit quietly and soak up all our knowledge. (Uhhhh no. Kids resist everything I do, all day, every day.)
People think teachers are caring, hard-working people who try to make a difference every day. (Ok, you caught me. I made that one up myself. True as it is though, most people don't really think that.)
Author's Note--- Teaching is not the the only under appreciated profession. I only mention teaching because it's what I know about. Cops, firefighters, nurses and social workers fall into this category as well.
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