You Want To Be a Teacher? Why?

 

      The teaching profession has always elicited a large spectrum of opinions, running from the effusively complimentary (teachers are world changers who deserve much larger salaries) to the angrily negative (teachers are overpaid babysitters who get the summers off and complain constantly about their jobs).  Of course, there are many that fall in the more moderate category, and, honestly, each comment has some merit, depending on the teacher you’re talking about.  But, none can be applied fairly to the entire profession.  The last couple years of Covid have underscored the extremes, where teachers were seen as heroic (a term I find is vastly overused) at the beginning, and then slammed for pushing mask mandates and vaccination rates (also vastly simplified and overstated).  Working among these changing conditions has caused me to reflect on the past thirty years of teaching, and my soon to be retirement.  It also makes me look at the new teachers who are just entering the profession and wonder if this is what they signed up for.  Why would someone want to be a teacher now?

     My family has some teaching in its blood.  My dad was a Phys. Ed. teacher for years at Blackstone-Millville Regional.  My aunt, Claire LaChapelle, taught in Uxbridge for years.  Her husband, Ken, was a long time Phys. Ed. teacher in Northbridge.  My wife, Pam, has been teaching elementary school in Uxbridge as long as I have.  My sister also taught for a few years in Uxbridge.  My daughter, Lauren, just graduated from Springfield and is working a long term subbing position in Shrewsbury, and my younger son, Ryan, has decided to pursue a history and education degree at Westfield State.  Teaching has been a huge part of my life, and in many ways defines me, but if I was pressed to point to the moment when I knew I was going to teach for a living, I’d struggle.  I liked working with kids since a young age, and felt I was good at it.  The only reason I chose history was because it was the subject I sucked the least at in high school.  I heard Westfield State was a good state school for history teachers, so I rolled the dice.  Luckily, it has all worked out.

     Back in 1986, when I first entered Westfield State, my view of teaching involved the content and curriculum more than anything, with the occasional behavior issue that I would need to deal with. I pictured myself assigning pages in textbook and worksheet questions that corresponded, much like I had learned from my teachers.  By my junior year, I was obligated to observe a number of social studies classes, so I chose to visit my former eighth grade teacher, Tom Meagher at Whitin School.  I always liked Mr. Meagher.  He could be gruff (like many teachers were back then), but he was fair and funny.  After class, he told me how much he enjoyed teaching, but it was all the outside stuff that bogged him down (He said it in a much more colorful way).  He made it clear that if he could just close his door and teach and be left alone, the job would be perfect, but instead he had to add policies, politics, behavior issues, and faculty drama to the mix.  I have found myself feeling that way many times, and others that are closer to my age have said the same. I guess my main point is that teachers think they are getting into teaching to cover content that is interesting to them.  Instead, it is the outside static that pulls our energy and attention away from what we thought was the intended goal.

     The pandemic era has handed a megaphone to the outside issues.  If you ask any teacher, elementary to high school, I firmly believe you would find no one that feels their content is the main focus.  We have had any amount of focus on social/emotional status, stress, anxiety, standards based grading, traditional numbers based grading, civic education and obligations, data, NEASC visits, rubrics, new state curriculum standards, MCAS, PSAT’s, SAT’s, English as a Second Language students (ESL), close contact protocols, mask debates, vaccine debates, hatred of Republicans, hatred of Democrats, hatred of Trump, hatred of Biden, critical race theory, defund the police, defend the police, school lockdown protocols, ethical use of social media, vaping, tik tok challenges directly targeting schools, students on the spectrum, inflation, supply chain issues, and then (drum roll) please teach my kid about the Civil War.  Every one of these is a valid issue, but how do I achieve my goal as a teacher with a list of tasks like that?  More importantly, has the goal changed, and, if so, how drastically?

     There have always been obstacles to getting students to complete assigned work.  The year I started teaching, the biggest distractions students dealt with included boredom, lack of interest, drugs, thinking about sex (a lot), personal problems, and socially connecting with friends in class.  Now, the list of distractions includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube, FaceTime, an endless number of games available for free, and texting.  Most of these come with notifications that cause the phone to light up and demand their attention like a baby crying to be picked up.  These are all forces urgently pulling the already limited attention span of a teenager to the limits of breaking. So, now teach them how to solve an equation using Calculus.

     We are in desperate need of good teachers, and ironically we are making it much more difficult to become one.  Requirements include a bachelor’s degree in your discipline, a relevant master’s degree, and passing a series of MTEL’s that you will, more often than not, need to take (and pay for) multiple times to pass.  Include observation and student teaching time, and then have to give a series of interviews and mock classes at any school that is willing to even look at you after the resume process.  After all that, you will be rewarded with some of the most behaviorally difficult classes that the school can offer, and a salary that will mostly go to the student debt you incurred to get here, making it increasingly unlikely that you will move out of your parents’ home without a second job anytime soon.

     So, why do you want to be a teacher?  If your answer is the pay and summers off, you are very misguided, and will find that out quickly.  If you want to be able to instill a love and skill base of the discipline you have chosen in your students, you are closer to the mark, but will soon see the large bruise on your forehead from banging your head against the wall. If your answer is you feel like you can make a positive difference in the lives of future adults, and maybe teach some life skills that might touch on the required curriculum, then you just might be ready to be a modern day teacher.  

     If you think you can navigate the minefield of modern day education, I wish you all the luck in the world.  It needs you.