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I was a classroom teacher for almost twenty years. Eighth grade Language Arts. A very common question I hear is, “Why aren’t you teaching anymore?” It is not an easy question to answer because it is one of those things that if you haven’t been there, the answer often doesn’t make sense to the questioner. And if you have been there, you understand that.

I usually respond jokingly that TWENTY years is long enough for ANYTHING! The fact that I was working with 8th graders almost all those years (yes, by choice) I was acting more and more like a 14 year old with each passing year! Which explains why my first inclination when asked the question why I am not teaching anymore was to blurt out, “That’s a STUPID question!!” LOL (Stupid is a fact of life to an 8th grader.)

Teaching is truly a wonderful job. I enjoyed that each day was so unique. I currently consult and advise those enrolled in teacher preparation degree programs. Their enthusiasm and energy is the key to their success in the classroom. I heard recently that the average career of a classroom teacher is just THREE years now. The challenge of longevity will be how they are able to deal with the very thing that took me out of it.

Politics.

Now I know there are politics in every profession, but the state of affairs challenging the classroom teacher today is oppressive. The educator is slammed on all sides from the parents, administration, school boards, government, kids, and the worse of all, the general public. The teacher is at the mercy of the standardized test score of their kids, which are now published in the local newspaper each year for all to judge them. Those results, let me only mention at this time, often are not the sole result of the classroom teacher, meaning if they are great or low, there are many factors involved in their determination. Yet, it is the teacher that gets either way too much credit or undeserved criticism.

I got the following announcement in an email awhile back. What do you think?

Next Season’s Survivor: School Classroom Island

Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in a school classroom for 6 weeks. They will be assigned 2 weeks to an elementary school, 2 weeks to a middle school, and 2 weeks to a high school. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum and a class of 28-32 students.

Each class will have seven learning-disabled children, four with A.D.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also, at all times be ready to supervise any “unsupervised” students and monitor the hallways.

In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks.

They must attend workshops, donate 24 hours of professional development to the district, attend faculty meetings, union meetings, attend curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor those students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the CATS test and meet satisfactory goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into all areas of study. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment at all times.

The business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends, but on their new salary they will not be able to afford it anyway. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to 20 minutes. The business people will be permitted to use the staff restroom during their planning period, and if they need the bathroom any other time, they may go as long as another survival candidate is supervising their class.

They will be provided with one 40-minute planning each day while their students are at special areas.

If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials at this time. They cannot surpass their daily limit. The business people must continually advance their education on their own time and with their own money.

The winner will be allowed to return to his or her job.

Sound exaggerated? Not really. I can relate to every part of it. The worst part, is that I could actually ADD to it.

I am grateful for the opportunity I had to work with my students over the years. They have a place in your life for the rest of your life. That’s why those that are working presently toward gaining certification to enter the profession have all my respect. They are better prepared to meet the challenges and issues in today’s world of education.