I've had a lot of jobs in my life and several careers with a new one developing as I write. But the toughest one I ever had was that of the classroom teacher. I've known this for quite a while but I got a great reminder this week when I guest lectured Monday at my old high school.
I had forgotten how early teachers get up. I had forgotten how the teacher (or the presenter in my case) has to keep changing the pace of the lesson and the style of presenting every ten minutes or so to hold the attention of teeens - teens who are used to the fast pace of IM's, Ipods, the internet and TIVO. I had forgotten how there literally is no time to run to the lav so no drinking tea or water that morning, how hard it is on the voice to talk that long. I had forgotten all the non teaching duties - emails to answer, new grading software that must be updated constantly, student achievement reports from guidance, court, special education professionals, student recommendations - that take away from the reason teachers teach - to share their knowledge and connect with students.
To be honest, I haven't really forgotten (except for the getting up early part) because I only left teaching 2 years ago and part of what I do now is to help teachers connect and engage their students better. I'm glad I got to go back to the subject I created (Strategies of Success) because it's important to support those that use my program and it's important to keep current if I'm going to be sharing my teaching strategies with others.
No one truly understands what anyone else's job is like but many have an opinion about what it's like to be a teacher. I suppose it's because we all sat in front of teachers for years and they made it look easy.
But of all the jobs I've had, teaching is without a doubt the toughest...and the most rewarding.
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