Shannanigan's Search for More...

I truly understand why we have such a hard time finding and keeping good teachers.

Holy hell is this job hard.

I always loved the thought of teaching, ever since I was very, very young...and I'm talking elementary school. I remember telling my second grade teacher that I wanted to be a teacher. I knew from then, and it never changed.

I taught and tutored my four younger siblings and was a volunteer tutor through junior high and high school. I often coached friends in writing as the skill popped up in their jobs. I loved writing, that's why I decided to be an English major.

I knew teaching was hard. Coming up with creative ways to keep the kids interested, relating the content to their lives, writing lesson plans and fair tests, dealing with testy kids, parents, and even administrators.

But I had no idea it was THIS bad.

I had no idea that most teachers have to start from SCRATCH, with little resources, at the school I am student teaching at.

I had no idea that teachers were REQUIRED to to item analyses on their final exams, to have their lesson plans reviewed and critiqued at the beginning of every week, or that they were EXPECTED to spend their weekends planning. I had no idea the amount of documentation required for misbehavior, nor the expectations of regular teachers to tend to the needs of special needs students, including ESL students.

Public school teachers have it hard, man. Not that I'm complaining, I love a challenge...but not everyone does. I doubt that we have enough strong-willed, workaholic child-lovers out there patient enough to fill the amount of teacher positions we need filled in this country. Some kids are going to get the duds, the teachers who don't want to be there or who feel "stuck" there, and sadly those kids are usually the ones who need the most help...

God I can't wait to drop this whole "student" bit and become a full-time teacher. I feel like everything but teaching is just encroaching on the time I could be spending becoming a better teacher.

We need a TA system here though...BADLY.