Teaching

5th grade, 19 years now. At the end of my first year I was hesitant to go back for a second. But... somehow I have kept coming back year after year, one year at a time.

Teaching is rewarding. There's that deeply satisfying sense of contributing to the greater good of society; the opportunity to use so many talents; and the joy of having former students return after many years to share their successes in life and to thank me for the role I played. Of course, there are also those "long" summer vacations that everyone, it seems, has to comment on when they first learn that I'm a teacher. The fact that we're not paid for two months is never mentioned. My union views summer as a "forced layoff," and they have a good point. I view summer as one of the only things that has allowed me to regain my sanity enough to return each year.

Although teaching is rewarding, it's much more stressful than I ever imagined it would be. Whether I'm at school or even just out shopping for groceries, I always have to always be "on". I have to be consistently patient, fair, firm, diplomatic, and totally selfless- and that's just with the parents! The worst thing, though, is the "experts." Everyone in the world is an expert on education. Most of the "experts" have had their opinions terribly distorted by the rampant negative media reports about our "failing" public schools. (Hey- just ask anyone whether they'd prefer to put their kid in a public school in any other country in the world- end of story.) Nonetheless, the "experts" all know what's wrong with my classroom and how to fix it.

The truth is that most people wouldn't last a week in my classroom. Although most kids are terrific, all it takes is those one or two (or three or four...) each year to throw a monkeywrench in everything we do. Guns in class!? Alcohol? Yes, I've dealt with those. Kids who break into the school, vandalize classrooms, and defecate on teachers' desks? Ya, that too. Kids who live in cars? Parents in prison? Kids who play the "my teacher is prejudiced against me" card, demand their Miranda rights, and then grin at you behind their parents' backs during the conference? Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh... all that, and lots, lots more. And now to top it off there's this "No Child Left Behind" thing, full of unrealistic goals, heavy on mandates, and void of funding or support. Don't even get me started here- our legislators on both side of the aisle are the worst "experts" of the bunch. Just look at these pictures of my classroom, and then explain to me exactly why I'm a poor teacher.

Somehow, despite the mess created by NCLB and our know-it-all politicians- and by all of the special-interest groups that work to force their social agendas on our public schools- at the end of the day I still feel like I have accomplished something important in the lives of real kids who will one day be out there running the circus.

I am not here by accident. I will continue doing this as long as I can hold up. But honestly, I'm just not as energetic as I was when I was younger... and it takes an awful lot of energy to stay a step ahead of 32 ten- and eleven-year olds. I'm not as naïve as I once was either. I have learned not to be a martyr just because it's an unwritten part of the job description. And I refuse to succumb to the political policies du jour even though they continue to batter us senseless. I've seen so many "new" teaching methods "based on research" come and go that I can no longer put my faith in anyone who has a PhD, especially those who haughtily spout off the latest buzzwords and claim to have the answer to everything.

The real issue is not our "failing" public schools- it is our public, failing schools. Just give me the resources I need, and then leave me alone and let me teach.

Sometime before I die it would be nice to hear someone in a leadership role stop playing the game of political correctness and simply say it: our students themselves- and their parents- and our government- and NOT ONLY our teachers- all need to take their share of responsibility and be held accountable for our students' progress. Good teachers are tired of being blamed for the failures of those few students who have made it their goal to fail in spite of all we do to cater just to them.

All told, I'm very proud of what the vast majority of my kids have accomplished over the years. And I'm proud of what I have accomplished too. Teaching remains a noble profession, despite the lack of respect it receives.