When I was a Teacher…
My day started at 5 AM, when I would get up. I would arrive at school between 6:30 AM and 7. The kids usually came in from the first buses around 7:15. From 7:30 until the bell rang at 8 I would be helping kids with their math.
For the 11 years I taught math to 7th and 8th graders, I saw five classes a day with anywhere from 28 to 35 kids in each class. I had high expectations for my students and I tried to hold them accountable for their behaviour and their learning. BUT-they were RESPONSIBLE for their behaviour and their learning.
I spent two hours almost every night on the phone talking to parents about their child’s academic progress (or lack thereof) or behaviour issues. I sent home an extra progress report each quarter in addition to the one we were required to send. I made sure that communication with parents was constant so that they were always informed about their child’s progress.
When the bell rang at 3:10 for school to be let out, I stayed in my classroom helping kids with their work. When the last kid left my room, I graded papers and then began planning the next day’s lesson. I never got it done before 4:30 or 5, so I would go home for dinner and then return to school to try to finish my tasks. usually, I wouldn’t get it all done and I’d go back home, exhausted. It just seemed that all the work finally would get done in June when school let out for the summer.
Summer? There would be professional development, some additional training in curriculum or teaching summer school. Folks who had families took second jobs to make ends meet.
I left teaching in 1997 for personal reasons; to do what I have always wanted to do: sing.
But the music aside, the best part about teaching and the bit I mis the most were the kids. It was the grownups that drove me out.