This pisses me off, too. I quit asking "ok, I'll buy this for you but, is the school going to reimburse my butt?" after last year when I found out how much the reimbursement budget was. I'm about to write a nasty letter to Dr. Grier about this... YEARGH. This is good advice. Listen to ima.
True, true. I am also a teacher at a Title 1 school, at the elementary level, and while I wouldn't trade it for anything, it can be brutally difficult. The hardest thing for me to wrap my brain around is the concept that you can do your job to the best of your ability, go above and beyond the call of duty for a student, and they still may not succeed. There are so many factors that are outside of your control (physical, congnitive, developmental, and learning disabilities and/or disorders, home environment, economic conditions, etc.) that you have to, to a certain extent, accept the things you cannot change and work around them. I agree: it never gets easy. But it's never dull, either. And there's always a new challenge, if you're ready to take it on. Teaching is the greatest career in the world. I just wish it payed like it. :grin:
I can't possibly fathom how the classroom teachers do it. I'm exhausted, and I teach K-5 PE. It definitely has its own challenges, but I don't have to deal with the many, many stresses of TAKS and Stanford, nor do I have to spend a lot of time on grading and lesson planning (can knock that out during the day). I like the line that teachers do about a years worth of work in about a 9-month span. Very true. And I'd probably go nuts if I didn't have that vacation time.
Pretty much the same boat I'm in. I teach 3rd grade at a title I school, and it is very difficult and time consuming to do it right. It sounds like you have great dedication, and that can't be understated. You are doing something that really matters and making a difference for students. Keep up the good work.
