Saturday, September 20, 2008

Perks of being a teacher


So according to Mrs. Cullen, becoming a teacher or going into the education field, is basically considered taking the "easy way out". I don't think she really means it. I hope she doesn't. Because in all actuality, becoming a teacher is not, I repeat, NOT, taking the easy way out. If anything, becoming a teacher is probably one of the hardest jobs and dumbest decisions a person can possibly make. Myself included. Yeah we occasionally do make a difference in a students' life and inspire them in some sort of way and get a long summer vacation-- big freaking whoop. Most teachers usually work EXTRA during the summer because our pay is crap. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. We are probably the most underpaid profession there is in the entire universe,and we have to deal with 30 plus children at the exact same time. Talk about a migraine!

However, going through the motions for the past two weeks, I realized that it really isn't that bad. Or at least it hasn't been yet. Ms. D, my cooperating teacher, or the teacher I'm working with rather, is an amazing mentor and shows me all these cool tricks. For example, the school I'm doing my student teaching at is in an innercity school district. And it is in the heart of one of the poorest cities in the USofA. That being said, the school doesn't have much money and/or resources to provide teachers with the appropriate materials needed in their classroom. So most teachers have to buy alot of their supplies with their own money. Ms. D, however, asks parents, yes parents, to buy things for her. Well, she doesn't directly ask them, more like she invites parents to her classroom for an open house, where she basically butters them up and serves them hors' dourves. Then once the parents are full and fed, WHAM!, she presents them with her Wish List. Yes, a wish list. This is basically a list that she puts together stating all the things she needs/wants for her classroom. And get this: The parents actually go out and buy these things for her!!! Pretty cool, huh?

Not only does Ms. D get parents to buy her stuff, but she gets the children to do whatever she wants. And you might be thinking that it would be pretty easy to get students to do what you want. You are the teacher, right? Wrong! Sometimes children don't care who the authoritative figure is, they just refuse to listen. Bratty kids that they are. But pull out some candy, stickers, treats or thoughts of painting (Oooooh!) or having free time on the computer(Ahhhh!) and they are hooked, line and sinker! Seriously. She let me try it. And believe you me, it worked! There was one day that I got to choose who got treats or candy, and I didn't choose some students because they were behaving horrendously. And when they came to ask me why they didn't get any treats, I told them they were behaving inappropriately. Lo and behold! the next day they were little angels.I swear. Seriously, sometimes candy works miracles. You should try it sometime.

One last thing I will leave you with is that if you ever hear a teacher complain about not getting a proper "lunch break", you should smack them. Lunch breaks (or "prep" time) for teachers at this school is not one, not two, but THREE WHOLE HOURS!! To THEMSELVES! Three entire hours to yourself. Can you believe that? I still can't get over it. Mind you, they are not three consecutive hours. But who cares! Three hours is still alot! I bet you no other profession can beat that!

4 comments:

Artistic Logic said...

are the lunch hours paid???????!?!!?
thats friggin amazing... thank Allah there's some perks to being a teacher... and i agree its the hardest job and the most unappreciated =\
at least in this country it is...
you should see the respect kids in other countries give to teachers...even if they don't want to, they HAVE to which is pretty awesome and teaches them discipline...thats how it should be!
its nice when education is actually taken seriously

Sana said...

Nice tricks :) But how come when I try that with my sister it doesn't work?

And mad rops for you being a teacher. My mom's friend taught kindergarten and while it's tecnically easy to teach them bc the concepts arent hard, it's the toughest job ever. SHe has to have 3 different groups one for slow kids, normal and accelerated. each with different homework and classwork. it's like juggling three classes at once!

I appreciate you. :)

controlled chaos said...

well duh candy and prizes work.
but it doesn't work smoothly unless you implement it correctly. so mrs. D gets more credit then just using treats.

Mrs. Cullen said...

i loved this post, cutie. and please love your job. please. learn to love it at least. thank bye