It's funny when you go into teaching, no one tells you all the valuable information you should have been given before you committed to a five or six year university career. Everyone knows the basic things like there will be marking and report cards and you'll have to deal with students and parents and most of us are even aware of the long hours and preparation time that will be involved. But there are some things that no one prepares you for.
1) There's the societal aspect. If you want to be a teacher, chances are you've always generally liked teachers (at least one) and so when you do become a teacher you're suddenly faced with the reality that a lot of people hate teachers. Okay, so maybe hate is a strong term. Dislike? Under-appreciate? Mock? Belittle? Begrudge? There are a lot of adjectives that could be used, but basically, you find out that a lot of people don't want to give you a high-five when they see you. Instead, you get a lot of 'oh, you're a teacher? This has always left me a bit bewildered. I want to say, "Yes, yes I am a teacher. You're welcome," but I don't have the audacity and I don't feel like getting punched in the face.
However, most teachers don't teach for 'society'. They teach for the children and that's what makes it all worth it, so we deal with the sneers and up-turned noses because we know we're making a difference (and we can fail your children if you're too mean to us.... just kidding).
2) The political aspect. This one sucks. I'm pretty sure politics is an evil entity that was dreamt up by some anthropologist who, after it was instituted, sat back and took a lot of notes and was bemused at how we decided to govern ourselves. Seriously, why do we pay people to be mean to us?
Anyways, politics in education is nothing new. Everyone who's grown up probably remembers a time when the teachers were forced to protest or do something because the government was being a jerk to them. As a student, I never really got it. Sure, I knew the teachers were unhappy, but I didn't really understand why. I just knew I liked my teachers and wanted them to be happy. Now, as a teacher, I'm more aware of the politics, but no one mentioned going into this business that this was something to look out for. Even now as I speak to student teachers, they've told me that the politics happening right now in our very province isn't being touched upon a lot by teacher's college. Why not? I don't know. Ah, politics.
3) The 'I have no idea what I'm doing' aspect otherwise known as 'I'm going to get fired' aspect. This is when you're faced with moments in your teaching career where a student (or students) throw you a curve ball you didn't see coming. These come in all shapes and sizes from serious things that leave you heart broken to things that make your turn bright red and you hope to God no administration will be walking in the door right now because your students have decided to have a loud discussion about genitals and it's a math class you're teaching.
This one is the one no one really thinks about. This is the one they're supposed to teach you in teachers college, but they don't even seem to get in the same time zone of this. No one is given guidelines or coping mechanism. One time I asked my professor in teachers college what to do if you notice a student is touching themselves inappropriate. My professor's response was to eye roll and tell me this was unrealistic. That "that never happens". Well, guess what professor.
The number three aspect is why I think all teachers should go through at least one acting course because that is what we do - we act. We might be behind in our mortgage payments, or have sick children at home, or, if you're like me, just got into a car accident two hours ago, but we come in and we teach like everything's awesome. We're up 'on stage' every day. It's not like an office job where you get to go hide in your cubicle if you feel like crap. Oh no. You could just have broken your new and expensive watch by moving heavy risers with a student and while you feel like crying and being upset, you just continue making jokes and smiling because you, as a teacher, are not about to put any of that icky feeling stuff on a student.
I'm not really sure how this blog is going to evolve, but it will definitely be teaching-related. Stories of the weird and crazy thing students do, thoughts on the stupid or brilliant things that happen in the teaching world, and maybe some political things (but probably not a lot since politics are evil, as I said). Hopefully this will provide other teachers a good laugh and a place to feel like they're not the only one who went through some of teaching's most crazy moments.
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