No Summers Off for Teachers
By Cody Willyard
There is this stigma that teachers are basically glorified, overpaid babysitters. One step into a classroom will tell you that is not the case. Teachers are valuable and deserve more respect for the hard work that they do. Being a teacher is harder than people think, and they work harder than most people.
Becoming a teacher has, over the years, become a longer and harder process. College students wanting to become a teacher have many hoops to jump through because the requirements to become a teacher are very strict and expensive.
One of the most stressful, and most difficult, test students must pass is the EdTPA. This is the test that determines if a student is qualified to become a teacher. In most states, a 39 is the minimum to pass, which is a tough thing to do. This is a test that takes weeks to complete with many complicated steps and if a student messes up on even one part, it could prevent them from achieving their goal.
For more info on the requirements to become a teacher click the link below to see the Illinois State Board of Education’s list of requirements. https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Professional-Educator-License-Teaching-Endorsements.aspx
People in the community think that teachers just sit around and do nothing during the summers. That is simply just not true and the fact is teachers never really stop working. Yes, they are not in a classroom teaching, but that does not mean they are not working hard to improve on their teaching. Many teachers go back to school to become more qualified teachers, while other teachers reflect on the things that did not go well during the year.
Even during the weekends teachers are working hard on next week's lesson plans. Also, with ever paper they assign, they have to grade those papers. Some teachers have over a hundred kids to grade and that can take a lot of time.
“As a whole, it was what I expected-hard. I anticipated it to be difficult, and it was. I was surprised by how… rude?…the kids were, like how much they could get away with,” said Rachel Eaton, a teacher at Plano High School in Illinois, in a response when asked to reflect on her first year of teaching.
“Many times I felt like a failure as a teacher, when students clearly didn’t meet the learning targets, or when I would make a mistake in grading, etc. The thing that surprised me the most was how petty other teachers are. I really didn’t think that other teachers would be so gossipy and unprofessional. However, that was only a handful. The majority of the teachers were wonderful and I knew they would rip their own arm off if it meant helping me”
When asked if she could change anything her answer was “I wish I would have thought ahead more on my classroom management style. They always told us ‘think about how you’re going to start class,’ but I never actually thought about it. It really is like, you have to COMMAND the classroom, or you will lose them. The kids don’t want to be there, but it is your job to get them to want to stay.”
One issue teachers face is the lack of support from the parents of the students they work with. Some parents have given up on the schools and their kids. So much so, that they have blocked the number from the school because they are tired of getting calls from teachers about their kid. This hurts the kid more than it does the teacher. Teachers are reaching out to parents for help so they can help these parents kids. An easy way to support these teachers is to simply answer their phone calls and work with them to help your kids.
Teachers need our support because they are the ones teaching our future. We need teachers, and if they keep being disrespected we will not have any. It is a tough job with many of hours put into it. A teacher’s job is to help students become better people and help give them the tools to succeed and become helpful members to our world. But the world sees these public servants as people that sit behind a desk and bark orders at kids. Teachers are not the enemies to these kids, they are trying to set them up for this world. And without the support of family, friends, and others they will not be able to do that.
I have provide a video at the end for those of thinking about becoming a teacher of the “25 Things You Should Know About Becoming a Teacher” just to give a little heads up on what is to come. Good luck to all future teachers and thank you.
