Teaching...

[Blarg]

I really liked your post, Sooga.

[bruin]

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Sup dude. I'll be starting my 6th year of teaching high school math in September, so I can answer most of your questions.

Teaching's great. I was a computer programmer for a couple years before I tried teaching, and that job was horrible. I don't know if teaching just seems good in comparison, but I enjoy it a lot.

What I love about it are the few times that you can really make a connection with a student. Every Xmas time, I write out holiday cards to each one of my students (about 150 kids, takes a while, but they seem to enjoy it so I do it). This year, a couple days after I passed them out, the parents of one of my kids e-mailed me to thank me for writing the card to their son. I had written to him about how I was proud he had tried so hard this year, and the parents told me that he was so proud of that, that as soon as he came home he rushed right in to show them. Haha...

Then the father of another student I had e-mailed me to tell me how much his son enjoyed my class, and that they were both extremely disappointed that I was leaving the school (I'm starting a new school in Sept.)

Those are the kinds of things that get me out of bed in the mornings. I won't lie to you - there are certainly bad days, with bad kids, but the good stuff like the stuff above can keep you happy for months.

What I hate about teaching is pretty much everything outside of the classroom. Staff/faculty politics can be ridiculous, and the administration at the school can really make a difference. The administration at the 1st school I was at was excellent; I always felt like they were there for me and had my back should anything go wrong. The school I was just at, was the complete opposite. I felt all alone, and on top of that, the administration was doing a lot of things at the school and making a lot of teachers (not just me) very unhappy.

The only advice I have to new teachers is that you need to have only 2 things to get started:

1) a love for the age group of kids you'll be teaching (this goes without saying, but a lot of teachers seem to not like kids, which doesn't make any sense), and

2) a true passion/love for the subject you'll be teaching. If you're teaching english and you don't like reading/writing that much, then trust me, you won't make it past 1 year as a teacher.

Everything else you can learn as you go along. Don't worry about f-ing up your first year; every one does. But the 2 things above are things that if you don't have to start with, you'll never make it.

Anyway, I know that was long, but hopefully I answered all your questions. If you have any other concerns, send me an IM!

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ARCADIA HIGH REPRESENT

[Sooga]

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WORST YEAR OF MY PROFESSIONAL LIFE REPRESENT

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FYP.

[bdf]

I'm starting my third year of teaching high school math at an urban/inner-city high school. Sooga did an outstanding job with his post, I'll just add a few thoughts of my own.

(1) Do whatever you can to earn the respect/trust of your students...not their friendship. Be friendly with them but don't be their friend.

(2) No matter what they might do one day, you have to come back the next day prepared to love them all over again -- i.e., don't hold grudges. In my mind, this is what separates good teachers from not good teachers.

(3) Always expect the best from them, both in the classroom, and more importantly in your own mind.

(4) Realize that high school students are growing/experiencing/living at a fast rate. What I mean by this is that the one entire school year you are with a high school sophomore is about 5% of his/her lifetime. You can actually watch them grow physically, emotionally and intellectually on a weekly/monthly basis. Remember back to your own high school experiences and try to understand how traumatic this can be at times. Empathize.

(5) Once you are teaching, you are a performer/entertainer every bit as much as a musician, actor, magician, etc. Your room is your stage, your students are your audience. Don't be afraid to make a fool out of yourself, don't be afraid to ham it up a little bit, don't be shy.

Sorry for the randomness of these thoughts, but they're what came to mind.

Enjoy.

[qwnu]

I'm sure there are many others, but the most influential and inspirational book about teaching I've ever read is Small Victories. It's a little dated (late 80s), but I highly recommend it to any teacher or prospective teacher, especially those working in urban "inner-city" environments.

[Brian]

Sooga, please make an "Ask me about being a teacher" thread. I really enjoyed reading your post. Will have to start a grassroots movement with polls to get you to make it if you don't. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Brian

[EDIT]:

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i thought i remembered sooga having a good thread about teaching a while back, those are excellent insights.

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I should read the whole thread through next time. Link pls?

[Wyrm2]

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Sup dude. I'll be starting my 6th year of teaching high school math in September, so I can answer most of your questions.

Teaching's great. I was a computer programmer for a couple years before I tried teaching, and that job was horrible. I don't know if teaching just seems good in comparison, but I enjoy it a lot.

What I love about it are the few times that you can really make a connection with a student. Every Xmas time, I write out holiday cards to each one of my students (about 150 kids, takes a while, but they seem to enjoy it so I do it). This year, a couple days after I passed them out, the parents of one of my kids e-mailed me to thank me for writing the card to their son. I had written to him about how I was proud he had tried so hard this year, and the parents told me that he was so proud of that, that as soon as he came home he rushed right in to show them. Haha...

Then the father of another student I had e-mailed me to tell me how much his son enjoyed my class, and that they were both extremely disappointed that I was leaving the school (I'm starting a new school in Sept.)

Those are the kinds of things that get me out of bed in the mornings. I won't lie to you - there are certainly bad days, with bad kids, but the good stuff like the stuff above can keep you happy for months.

What I hate about teaching is pretty much everything outside of the classroom. Staff/faculty politics can be ridiculous, and the administration at the school can really make a difference. The administration at the 1st school I was at was excellent; I always felt like they were there for me and had my back should anything go wrong. The school I was just at, was the complete opposite. I felt all alone, and on top of that, the administration was doing a lot of things at the school and making a lot of teachers (not just me) very unhappy.

The only advice I have to new teachers is that you need to have only 2 things to get started:

1) a love for the age group of kids you'll be teaching (this goes without saying, but a lot of teachers seem to not like kids, which doesn't make any sense), and

2) a true passion/love for the subject you'll be teaching. If you're teaching english and you don't like reading/writing that much, then trust me, you won't make it past 1 year as a teacher.

Everything else you can learn as you go along. Don't worry about f-ing up your first year; every one does. But the 2 things above are things that if you don't have to start with, you'll never make it.

Anyway, I know that was long, but hopefully I answered all your questions. If you have any other concerns, send me an IM!

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I'm going into my 7th year teaching HS math in Washington DC and he says it better then I can. The administration makes a HUGE difference, as mine sucks and it makes a lot of things more difficult then they need to be.

The only other thing I'd say is that you are going to struggle your first year, it's normal and more importantly the 2nd year is a lot easier, especially if you are in the same school. It's amazing how much it helps to come into a school and know 140 kids who will say hi (and are much more friendly when they aren't your students)

[mason55]

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important age group and we 'lose' a lot of kids during the middle school years. as an age group, they are very needy but they don't really know what they want and are hard to satisfy. by virtue of their developmental status, they really don't show a lot of affection for you even when they love you and need you very badly. it's not an age range where you will get a lot of cuddly stuff.

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i didn't run with the best crowd when i was in school and when i think of all of my friends who were "lost" i would say 95% of them were lost in middle school.

[Sooga]

haha, funny you should mention that. I DID do one of those 'ask a teacher' threads back when everyone was doing one. I can't find it now (probably got deleted when 2p2 did all their archiving stuff), but if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in here and I'm sure I or the other teachers here can help you out. Or you can just send me an IM.

[Sooga]

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The only other thing I'd say is that you are going to struggle your first year, it's normal and more importantly the 2nd year is a lot easier, especially if you are in the same school. It's amazing how much it helps to come into a school and know 140 kids who will say hi (and are much more friendly when they aren't your students)

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Yea I didn't emphasize this enough in my first post, but it's so true. After your first year, you'll have a good handle on what kind of lessons you should be doing, and what should be in those lessons, so that when you do them again (assuming you get the same courses to teach), it'll be SO much easier. By the time you get past your 3rd or 4th year, you should be able to teach the material on cruise control, and while you should never stay stagnant, any changes/adjustments you make will probably be pretty minor.

Plus like Wyrm said, after your first year, word gets around at a school, and kids will know you (even kids who you didn't teach). Kids talk; word spreads quickly about teachers, especially first-year teachers, so try to make a good impression. You don't have to try to be the greatest teacher in the world your first year (because that's not going to happen), but if you can make it obvious that you care about the material and care about your students, then the kids will respect that, even if you're brand new.