De-influencing Teachers

"Those that can't do, teach"

You hear these words all of the time growing up. Whether your in the educational field or not, you have most likely heard this phrase. "Those that can't do, teach".

Just to be clear here

Before I get into de-influencing teachers and the power that is behind that, I want to say something that I failed to mention in my previous post. I am not against teachers leaving the profession, I am against teachers leaving their job in the middle of their contract because of the chaos it causes for everyone else.

I say all of this because if you are not 100% fully in this profession, then you won't make it. I don't mean to sound harsh, but it really is true. (especially in today's world and youth). If this was your back up plan, you won't make it. If this was your "it looks so fun and cute", you won't make it. I don't say that to be mean, if you ask anyone that is close to me, mean is not a word to describe me. Passionate.. Loyal? Now those are words to describe me. I say all of this because teaching is hard work and if you ask me... Those that can't teach, find a 9-5 job elsewhere because this job is heart wrenching at times and it's HARD.

Nitty Gritty.. almost

Let's get into the nitty gritty about teaching so you can have most of the facts before you decide to become a teacher. I say most of the facts and not all because you wont be able to fully understand all of the ins and outs of teaching until you're actually put into that position. You can get a very good idea after you're done reading this blog post and if you have any questions, please fill out the contact section and I will do my best to answer it!

Background knowledge

So, there are multiple ways to get into the teaching profession. You either majored in education in college or you majored in something else and then went through an alternative certification program to gain your license/certification. I was the latter surprisingly.

How I got here.. Teaching that is;)

I come from a family where most of the women are in the educational field.. My mom has been a teacher for almost thirty years, and most of my aunts are all in the educational scheme of things. I was surrounded by this my entire life. So naturally when I went to college, I wanted to find my own right of passage and do something different.

Looking back now, it's funny to see it all span out how it did.

So here is a little background information and to how I became a teacher, it's not the most conventional way to do things in the educational world and I have to admit it was hard work to get here. I went to college down South and didn't really know what I wanted to do. I mean.. Who actually does at 18 years old?

Where I come from, nursing is what 90% of the girls decide to pursue. So I tried it.. Let's just say, blood is not for me and that was a very short lived dream. THEN I have always been interested in the nutrition field, I grew up running and working out an ate extremely healthy due to my body's inability to process certain types of food. I thought that MAN was this the perfect match for me! I had settled it, I would be a dietitian or a nutritionist. After about two semesters of that, I absolutely hated it. So then I thought I wanted to be a speech pathologist, the school I was at you had to also have a minor with this profession. SO, I minored in elementary education in the hopes that I would be working with children. I grew up having a lot of cousins that were younger than me and taking care of them, at that point I realized that I knew I wanted to work with children. I just didn't know on the level that I wanted to work with them at. I still had the mindset that I did not want to be a teacher because in my mind people looked down on teachers. You saw the saying at the very beginning of this blog post, those that can't do teach. I had heard people say it, I had seen it posted places, I thought people were going to look down on me if I became a teacher. Let's also preface this with the fact that my sister who is 2 years older than me was in school to become a doctor, so I thought I was failing my family if I "took the easy way out" and became a teacher. Now, I said before that my entire family for the most part was in the educational field, I never once looked down upon them and their job. I went to a very expensive college, and I thought that I should be coming out with a degree that would match that college. This was more of an internal battle that I was struggling with alone. So I ended up loving the major and minor that I was in at the time. I understood the material, I felt like I knew what I was going to do when I got out of college, I thought I was set. Fast forward to graduation, I was applying for graduate programs. As I was applying for these programs and having to write multiple pages of essays on why I should be chosen for this position, I found myself falling short on the reasonings why they should choose me. What I did find myself coming back to is how I wanted to help children communicate when they weren't able to. After a few essays, I didn't want to pursue that anymore.

Imagine having to tell your parents, especially my mom, that, after four years of college, that they have paid for, out of state tuition, and a sorority added to that, that I did not want to use the degree that I had earned.

At the time, a lot of my friends from college lived in the Nashville area so I decided to just get a job there that paid subpar and have a good time with my friends. I found a job in an industry that I probably would have hated.

Plot Twist

BUT a week before I was supposed to move my mom and I went on a hiking trip with my aunt and her family. While we were on that trip, my mom received a call from our superintendent that we were close to stating that there was a job available at an elementary school if I was interested. My mom relayed the information, and I decided why not just go on the interview. I decided to go into it with an open mind and that maybe this was a sign. I had to do a lot of research on curriculums and the area that I was going to be teaching in if I was to gain that job and accept it. I grew up going to a small private school, they did not follow a certain curriculum, or have any departments for students with differential needs, so the public school system was something brand new to me. I found myself asking my aunts and my mom a lot of questions because I just didn’t fully understand how much I was going to have to abide by the curriculum and what that meant. I felt like I was diving into an entire other world.

Some of you might say well you have a minor in education, especially in the elementary side, did they not teach you this? The answer is no they did not. Maybe if my major would have been education, but my minor was and it was more learning about the laws and snippets of the elementary classroom. When gaining a minor, you don’t really get the entire picture of what that entails.

Yes... I became a teacher

So fast forward, I accepted the job offer after the interview and a few months later I was walking into a classroom full of students as their fourth grade English teacher. The area that I was teaching in, was in a different side of town and the students grew up completely different than I did. School to them was what they looked forward to, it was a warm meal, it was a safe place, it was their everything.

Two weeks into teaching fourth grade, I felt like I was drowning. I couldn’t connect to the students because I feel like we had nothing in common, I didn’t know how to teach or what I was teaching, and we had multiple lockdowns due to shootings outside of the school. My curriculum coordinator at the time was my saving grace. Her and the admin that I had saw what I was going through and asked me if I wanted to switch positions and become a second grade teacher.

Yes, I was extremely excited about switching positions, but in my eyes, I thought I had failed. I felt like I wasn’t good enough to teach fourth grade, I came home crying almost every day because I felt like I was falling short. This was an extremely rough time for me, and I just felt like this is not what I was supposed to be doing. I decided to give second grade a shot, and it really opened my eyes to what I could do in this profession. My curriculum coordinator walked me through everything that I needed to be doing, and really aided me every step of the way. I owe a lot of my success as a teacher to her.

Today's Experience

The rest of the story is for another time, but fast forward to today. I am in love with my job, and I fully believe that what I do matters not only in the grand scheme of things, but on a day-to-day basis. I just wanted to give you some insight that I did not come from an easy background of teaching. If anyone should have wanted to leave the profession, I feel like it should have been me. I am so glad that I PUSHED myself to stick with it, because I would not be in the position that I am in today without learning those hardships in the beginning.

Back to the nitty gritty

I say all of that, and give you my background experience because I genuinely don’t want you to think that I’ve had it easy. That I’ve had this easy stride into teaching. I haven’t, I could go on and on about my first few years of teaching, and how hard it was for me. The truth is, my story is not one in 1 million, it’s not even one in 1000. My story is what teachers go through every day. I am on year five and a lot of days are still very hard. Yes, some days we are cutting out and gluing things and working on our fine motor skills, other days, I’m teaching students how to analyze their data in their classroom. I’m teaching eight-year-olds how to form multi-paragraph essays with questions from the state test (that they have to type by the way) that some adults probably couldn’t even answer. We are having to go to meetings constantly on how to better accommodate students with certain needs, that also still take the state test. We have to check in mentally with the students, because after Covid our children are struggling and they don’t always know how to process their emotions. We are having to bridge gaps that are almost 3 years old, you are having to plan your lessons, your accommodations, your differential learning students accommodations, your ESL students needs, your small groups, your WIN time, you’re having to relay information to parents, you’re having to work with parents that might not want to work with you, you’re having to appease the state as well as your district on what you are teaching and why and how.. I literally could go on all day about the expectations that teachers have today in the public education system.

That brings me back to say, I love my job, I love what I do, it has purpose, it has meaning, it is important. Some days I leave with a smile on my face, others I might leave with tears because the day was so overwhelming. Does that mean it’s time to quit when you have overwhelming days? no. If you don’t think that you can carry the weight that your students have, that your admin expects of you, what the district expects of you as well as the state, this job is not for you. It can be emotionally and physically draining. This is not a bash at my profession, this is the truth. If you cannot do all of these things, and still take care of yourself and your family, this job is not for you. If you cannot meet the demands of teaching, 21st-century learners, I definitely would look elsewhere because yes, your happiness matters. But think of all of this before you become a teacher, not after.

Sunshine and Rainbows

Back to the sunshine and rainbows. No, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows, especially in the elementary side of education (where everyone thinks sunshine and rainbows are). But it is a handshake in the morning when your students walk in, and one of the sweetest hugs on the way out of the door. It’s looking at a student that has struggled with a concept for days or weeks, and you see that lightbulb when it’s finally clicked for them in their eyes. It’s watching your students analyze their data and realizing that they’ve met their goals for the semester, and watching them cheer as a class and cheer each other on. It’s checking in on your students independent read time, and having a student who struggled with the want to read, give you every detail of a book that they are in love with. It’s watching a student who hated to write at the beginning of the year, get upset when writing time is over for the day because he wanted to write more. It’s the last day of school, especially when you move states, and you receive some of the most heart wrenching, loving letters from all of your students talking about how you changed them personally, and how much they are going to miss you (I'm crying thinking about all of them).

Your students become your family for a short period of time, they lean on you like a parent and a friend, they depend on you, and they will love you unconditionally if you show up for them.

Those are what you fall in love with, unlocking different dimensions for your students within your classroom and even outside of your classroom and watching their entire day and world change.

That’s what you fall in love with, that’s why you teach.

So, stop promoting young people to become teachers when they don't know what to do with their life. This is not a back up plan or an in-the-meantime plan. Stop promoting to people that this profession is rainbows and sunshine and it's about decorating your room and teaching sounds and numbers in the sand. It's so much more. If you're ever in this position, maybe de-influence a teaching career to someone and see what they enjoy doing before this option is given to them. It's definitely a work of the heart so make sure that's always at the center of your decision.

xoxo,

Spilling the Tea