You don't teach for the money, or the time off, or the respect from the community, or anything else. What keeps you teaching is the little thrill you get when you actually make a young person understand something they did not know about before. It's addictive. You get to help people grow up and give them some of the tools to have a good life. There is nothing better than that. I have been teaching history and social studies for two years in New Zealand to mostly polynesian kids and it is the best job I've ever had.
I want to be a girls Volleyball, girls softball, and girls soccer high school coach. I want to coach all the levels, from the young Freshmen team to the Varsity Squad. So have you teachers tapped your studens yet? Or other teachers?
Sorry, it took me a while to respond in this thread. I got the teaching job here in New Zealand only because I moved here to live with my wife. I had to go to teacher's college here for a year post grad course load. The training was pretty intensive, though there the best training is still in the classroom. I had several offers to teach at different schools when I graduated. I chose the school I am at now because I liked the warm atmosphere at the school between the students and the staff. I would search around for the best pedagogy training you can find and visit as many schools as possible when you are looking for work.
That's all well and good, and I can understand how teaching grateful students would be rewarding, especially foreigners, who typically are more polite and have a better work ethic than most North Americans. However, when you are stuck with a class full of disrespectful idiots, then the whole "good tingly feeling" starts turning into a jarring pain in the gut. One of my classes is actually pretty good. They're all great kids and well-behaved. Teaching them is in fact, rewarding. My last period class, though, are just monsters. They are loud, disrespectful and obnoxious. I can't see them getting anywhere in life with their current attitudes. I would like to go overseas and teach in Japan or Korea. People I have talked to have had great experiences over there.
I feel your pain. I teach college, which you'd think would be better (and I'm sure it is), but it totally depends on the class. Most of my classes are fine, but this semester my upper level class is a pain in the butt. They just come in with a negative attitude. If I give them too much work, I'm being hard and not being understanding and stressing them out. If I'm too easy on them, I'm failing in my job responsibilities and they're not learning anything. At least, so they say when they go complain to my boss behind my back. It's really only this one clique of three people, but when all you've got is a small sample size to begin with... The sad thing is that these people are my age or older. I think they just have this image of me not being a teacher they can respect, maybe for that reason. Of course, the bottom line is that we're still having class, we're still learning stuff, and I'm trying to be the perfect saint they expect me to be... to always put on a happy face, to never show any sign that I'm tired or fed up, to try not to hurt their feelings... but I have the feeling that it just doesn't matter and nothing will help. My other classes aren't like that... but sometimes all it takes is a few whiners to really ruin your day.
Isabel, Ha. I can relate to the whining. Since I started this placement, I have never seen so much whining in my life. The teachers whine about the kids, administration, other teachers... even the poor lad who does the morning announcements. Also, the kids whine non-stop about the lessons, grades, teachers, each other, etc.. It's hilarious. I'm to the point now where I just don't care as much as I used to, so I can just sit back and laugh at everything. You should have heard the whine parade when the kids got their midterm grades today! Only five more teaching days!
<<that's all well and good, and I can understand how teaching grateful students would be rewarding, especially foreigners, who typically are more polite and have a better work ethic than most North Americans. However, when you are stuck with a class full of disrespectful idiots, then the whole "good tingly feeling" starts turning into a jarring pain in the gut. One of my classes is actually pretty good. They're all great kids and well-behaved. Teaching them is in fact, rewarding. My last period class, though, are just monsters. They are loud, disrespectful and obnoxious. I can't see them getting anywhere in life with their current attitudes>> I taught in Texas for five years. The kids here in NZ are almost exactly the same. They can all be respectful and jerks and hard working and lazy at different times. They also have an uncanny ability to be able to tell when the teacher doesn't give a damn and respond in kind. If you think the students are a bunch of "disrespectful idiots" that you are "stuck with" then why would they bother giving you respect and working hard? This is basic group psychology 101, isn't it? Teaching is a process of finding what will make learning occur. It's not about babysitting, or control, or any of that other BS. I find that most (though, not all) disiplinary problems come from the planning. Kids usually start acting up when they are bored, or don't understand the lessons. It's a contant process of re-evaluating what works for different kids. That's the challenge and that's the point of it all for me.
All this talk about teachers and coaches has made think of the Coach on Mad TV. Now that guy is a little stressed out.
Isabel, I am currently taking upper level classes for my teaching certification and my masters. All I can tell you is stand firm and disciplined when it comes to these whiners. I admit some professors are very hard, but looking back, those are the ones I remember most because I had to rise to the occassion. The main thing that gets me is this is freaking "college." The one thing I love about college is the sink or swim philosophy. In my opinion if there is a class that you need to take and you sign up for it, you are committing yourself to that class. Just because you pay for the class does not mean you get an A. Believe me I know the difference between an A and an F, (a 4.0 vs 0.0). I have made some F's in my time at college. And to be honest I would love to trade them in for better grades, but in reality those F's showed me that I need a better commitment from myself to perform at the level that I know I am capable of. They were essentially a wake up call. Second point, I generally have a better rapport with my professors when I see them as "Human" (i.e. - cracking jokes, talking about real life, being personable with the students). But when I read your point about always wearing a happy face and not showing signs of fatigue, that almost sounds fake. I understand that we always want our best side to show, but we all are human and if others only see you in this "perfect and always happy" light, that can be intimidating, because it just seems too unreal to always be like that. clink-clink, my two cents
Here's an idea for you Isabel. I majored in Education with a reading specialization. Because there is no college of reading, reading specs have to take a mix of different classes. I ended up with a reading specialization, an earth science specialization, and I am 3 hours short of a history specialization. In one of my geology classes I ended up in the back row of the auditorium. One row below me was a couple who did nothing but talk through the lecture. The prof got so pissed off at them one day that he stopped his lecture, walked up tp them and told them to stand up. He proceeded to seperate them and move one to the front row on the far right and one to the front row on the far left. He told them that every class they were to sit in those seats. The next class he came in and they were back up top. He told them class would not start until they moved to their seats or left. They refused so he filled out a drop slip and sent it to his dean. They complained and he told them to take it up with the dean. They never returned. I asked him at the end of the semester what had happened. He told me that he had already reported them to the dean before he moved them. They went and complained to the dean who told them to grow up and quit wasting everyone's time in class. They're main complaint was that they had paid for the course and shouldn't have been dropped (they did get their money refunded). He told them to grow up and that everyone else in the class had paid for the course too, and that through their actions they were wasting our money. That ended up being one of the best classes I ever took.
Thanks for the support. I also thought college was supposed to be a privilege and a challenge... not according to some of these big babies. Yesterday I gave someone a 78 on a paper because she made a lot of grammar errors and didn't include something she was supposed to include. (Most people in the class got better grades than that.) She did not like it. She has emailed me and called me several times already wanting to talk about it. Now, I might could find a point or two to give back to her, but it certainly won't be the B+ or A- she thinks she deserves. I'm apparently supposed to raise her grade because: -she's an English major -her writing is very important to her -she wrote a similar paper for an English class and got about a 90 maybe there are some subtle psychological reasons she's trying to use: -because she's persuasive -because she's in a sorority -because she's "cooler" than me; therefore, she should be in charge -because the other faculty member who graded her paper easier was necessarily right. Apparently this made her so traumatized when she got it back that she couldn't even present in front of the class that day. Sigh. There's one every semester, too. Actually, I agree with you. I hate fakeness and BS. Usually, I'm guilty of not enough of it and being too honest. (as this board might know by now ) But apparently that's how I got in trouble. They said I was "complaining" to them and looked "tired" in class. (well, I'm teaching almost 50% over the amount you're supposed to teach in one semester. Of course, it's still my fault. ) They complained to my boss, whom they must like better. She's always really fake cheery with people. (good way to thinly mask b*tchiness) I'm insulted when people treat me like that - we're not in nursery school - but apparently it is what you're supposed to do around here. I try to be nice, but I think they are testing me. This has all caused me to burn out on the whole job. I probably never did like science as much as I should, to be a Ph.D. science teacher that people look up to. Somehow I do better teaching lower level classes and even things outside my discipline. Maybe it's the personalities of the students which are more compatible with mine in other fields. I don't know. One positive step would probably be to go teach at a different school... maybe a community college... fine, but what if it's the same thing all over again there? It's just a bummer when your hard work isn't appreciated... especially for sensitive people like me. And maybe sensitive and science don't mix. I don't know about sensitive and teaching.
