Okay, so a follow up rant/blog. I've taken over for a teacher that left over a month before I arrived but I walk into his classroom and there's nothing for me. NOTHING. No plans, no pacing, nothing that appears to have been given to the substitute teacher, again, NOTHING. And from what I hear from the students and other teachers, this was really how things were the entire semester. I know students will stretch the truth, but the consistent message from multiple students and different classes is "yeah we never really had to learn, we could pretty much do whatever we wanted" then obviously something was going wrong here. And I get that we're low on teachers, it's an unpopular profession, more of the emphasis is on everything terrible about it and God knows we're not paid anywhere close to our true value or worth....but still. If you can't motivate yourself enough to do your job, which is to advocate, teach, better our next generation, WHY ARE YOU TEACHING?!? You are much a part of the problem as all of the legislators and federal and state mandates that we all have to deal with. You are the lowest common denominator that some of these backwards rules and oversight are all directed at. Your job isn't to have to cushy job where you can hang out with high school kids (or younger) and be pals. Students need more than just a "friend." You can be the cool teacher without letting the students run the show. It's no wonder I have students that don't know how to act, for my freshman especially they've been allowed to do whatever they want since day one, and I get to clean up the mess. More importantly, how does this prepare students for the business world or college. Their bosses and professors aren't going to be their friends, they're not going to allow you to act petulant and just hang out doing nothing. No wonder the stereotype of this next generation is so terrible that they're lazy and unmotivated and incapable to caring about anything but themselves. Yes, parents and the individuals share a large portion of the responsbility but so do we. Even if it's just one kid that we can reach, that's our job, that's the role you chose, your profession. Not just some paycheck or something easy where you can talk history or math or science because you like it.
I don't know where the next generation of teachers are going to come from and I understand why so many look at the profession and say it's not worth the trouble or headaches. And some days they're right. But most of the time, for those of us that actually care and give a .... it's the best job. I can't image not teaching right now. Hell, I'm currently teaching at two schools technically since I'm helping my old students finish out the semester with a substitute until their new teacher comes in...and even then I'll be advising him somewhat from what it appears. And I'm totally okay and up for that. It's crazy the difference between my students from yesterday to today, and all I did was teach a little. Kids that are "problems" aren't, treat this job with the tenacity that it calls for and you'll rarely ever have a bad day or have a class that you hate. But if you're not willing to do that, maybe teaching isn't for you.
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