Have you ever been a teacher? Do you find it rewarding or taxing? What ages were your students? Do you like teaching groups or people one on one?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Answers

Yep, groups and one on one.

Groups is probably more fun, but more intimidating to start off with. I'm 5'3" - so it takes a while to gain the respect of a group of 18-21 know it all guys who average 6'4" in height.

But I still bump into them sometimes and get dragged off to have a drink. It was a fun year.

One on one I've always found easier - but waaay intense.

So spill the beans, what's the new job ?? You must be the most organised person ever to manage to do so much - I'm struggling to keep up in the one job I have.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Oh, no beans to spill. I started by volunteering to teach html to kids at the Children's Museum, and they asked me to teach a class instead. I think they want me to continue doing this through the summer, but after this month, as the class ends next week, I think I'm through. It's too much to teach in too little time. If it were an intermediate html class that would be different, or if i could just discuss journals, but starting from scratch with girls who didn't want to take the class to begin with is very difficult.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Hey, one of those pages made my browser crash, too. Punish that child. Make her clean blackboards.

I've never taught, but I was a day care/preschool aide, and I coached Little League. I also did different kinds of volunteer work that involved kids -- tutoring at a Youth Authority facility, teaching English to Chinese-American kids (no, I speak no Chinese), and hanging out with kids at a children's home. I actually loved it all, and I was pretty good at all of it except for the part in baseball where the coach tosses the ball in the air and swings the bat one-handed and whacks it into the outfield during practice. That part is harder than it looks.

I do fine with kids. I have no idea why I thought I should go to law school instead of being a teacher, unless maybe it was that whole money issue.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Just read your entry - ok you win 11-13 year old girls are way worse then 19 year old boys.

At least you survived.
C.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I taught adults, and they still had all the behaviors Pamie described in her entry. They were still squirmy, they still questioned my authority (possibly because I was younger than many of them), they still went off on tangents. I tried to make it fun, and I had some great groups, but some days it was hell.

The details were, I taught adults in groups of anywhere from 5 to 10, in a four day training course. Two of those days were computer training and two were not. It taught me to be flexible (for those days when the network was down or Pagemaker wouldn't load, or the IT people changed the OS without informing me or lunch delivery got cancelled and I had to deal with 8 starving students...you get the idea).

I did about two sessions per month and I always dreaded them, but once I was in front of them, teaching, I always enjoyed it. And I like to think I was pretty good at it. I got lots of letters and e- mails from former students telling me how helpful it was, and my student evaluations were pretty positive. That doesn't mean I want to go into training or teaching as a profession though.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I haven't taught, but in 3rd and 4th I tutored 2nd graders in reading. They did not respect ma authoratay!
In college, I once gave a tour of the local paper (it's actually pretty good size, considering this is a suburb of L.A.) and it sucked ass. Or I did, not sure which. The kids were not only 11-14 and very smart-alecky, but they were also problem kids of some sort (it wasn't fully explained to us) and a big pain in the ass. I did OK and got through the tour 20 minutes early. I realized I forgot to show the the sorting and distribution area, where pull-out ads are inserted and the papers snake their way out to the distribution trucks, which I thought would be really interesting. Unfortunately, I took that opportunity to get lost, which they whined and teased me about. It was the hardest $12 I ever earned. (I just mistyped that "learned," anyone eve notice that "earned" is part of "learned" before? I never have, there's got to be something to that word root. But I digress, which is why I was a bad guide.)

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

i started out with elementary school kids as an aide for 5 years and now i teach high school continuation ages 12 to 19. and yes, the girls are the hardest. they are petty and hormonal and in my case, ususally either pregnant or at least sexually active. hard age indeed. you just have to take a deep breath and remember that no matter how old they look or seem to be, they are just children who need guidance and nurturing. when i started at the high school i had the same difficulties with advice for my female students. i had to bite my tongue on several occasions to keep from saying, "dude, he is a dick, dump his ass! you are too good for him". i am still learning. i think you should keep at the job though... you have a fabulous sense of humor and are a real person.... kids need teachers like you pamie. learning is retained much more from a cool person than a strict overlord. teaching is a very rewarding job. you may be only one person in this world, but to one person you may be the world.
just sayin...
*caitlyn


-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I love to teach. I've been an outdoor education teacher for 3 years now, with students ranging from 6 to 60, and now I'm going back to school so I can hopefully teach college someday.

Personally, I find it much easier to teach a group than to work one on one. With a group, you have their interactions to make things interesting, and they can often build on each others ideas. One on one feels like more pressure to me, but I know many people feel the opposite.

I definitely agree, Pamie, that it's much more interesting and rewarding to teach people who want to learn. It's a big piece of why I love outdoor ed - most students have a good time, and are relatively enthusiastic about what they're doing. Fun is such an important learning tool, and one that's highly underused by most traditional education.

Why don't your students want to learn about online diaries? Sounds like a pretty interesting project for a teenager to me. Did their parents force them to sign up, or what? Although I have to admit, the 11-14 age range is one of the toughest to work with. Sounds to me like you're doing a great job :)

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Pamie - My mom sends her thoughts and feelings out to your mom, she's cleaning out her aunts house as well (another huge packrat), but that's besides the point. In the winters I substitute teach for the parish, read county, where I live, and will only teach high school. Why? Because the one's who don't give a shit don't show up when there's a sub, and the ones who do actually care can help me out with the assignment that the teacher gives, and I can study for my own classes. I refuse to teach kids because of the one time I took over for a friend's Bible school class. She was deathly ill, like menegitis or something and I told her I would earlier that week. Forgot I had to do it, went out the night before. Got really drunk. Really drunk. Six year olds. I never thought that I would cry in front of kids, but they broke me. Running around, screaming, throwing things. Who would of thought that this went on at a Sunday school. I was so close to pullin a Margaret Cho, and putting a list of who was going to hell on the board, but sanity and a Disney movie saved the day. Hallelujah,

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

wow, I was an HTML instructor too! I did a summer camp thingy in Seattle a few summers ago, and it wasn't all that bad I guess, it's just impossible to engage kids of all ages with one lesson plan. It was a computer camp, so the kids at least wanted to learn computer stuff, and my class was the "fun" class. The kids ranged from about 8 to 16, different class every week, and we started on HTML and went on to Java if the kids could handle it.

The summer before that, I was a TA at a summer camp for gifted children. So I didn't do much teaching, I was the "helper" one-on-one kind of thing. I infinitely prefer that, except these kids were far less well-behaved. But one kid at a time is just so much easier than eight or so...

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I will be returning to teach preschool this fall. I'm actually looking foward to it. I love three and four year olds. They're extremely honest. Totally loyal. They think everything is hilarious. Scratch that--they think I'm hilarious.

I appreciate everything about being three and four.

One of my student teaching assignments was with a class of third graders. I was terrified as I never had a class of students over 5 years old. However, the first day I was there I laid down the law (like I was a bad-ass) and that was that. I won their respect and we had a great relationship.

After I left that assignment I found out from my supervising teacher that one of the boys in the class cried for three days after I stopped coming because he missed me. I didn't have a particularly close relationship with that child but I was totally touched. It made me feel like I really had made a difference in their lives. :)

Okay, enough with the treacle. Pamie, I have a feeling that you bring a lot of positive energy in a classroom. I also think you identify with that age group better than most adults--I do and as a result, could never teach that age group. I side with them wayyyyy too much! Adults Suck! Question Authority! I'm such a bad influence. My friend who teaches 7th grade actually kicked me out of her classroom when I was visiting once because I got the kids all riled up.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I have taught high school English for the past 4 years. I quit my job at a school I love last week. I can't do this for another year. Like you said, Pamie, there is just too much to teach in too little time. It's very frustrating when the kids clearly don't want to be there or don't want to learn what you have to teach. There is something to be said for intrinsic motivation--and most kids don't have it. They want good grades wth little effort. Not to mention how draining it is to work from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., then go home and face another full-time job: grading and planning. I'm a mess. It's too much. And it doesn't pay enough for how much of my time, effort, and heart I put into it.

Quitting was a very painful decision. I truly love my chickens, but there are just so many of them. I don't feel like I'm helping enough of them to matter. I am very successful--I get great reviews, have been nominated for awards, most of my chickens seem to like my classes--but if it's not for me, it's not for me. That was a hard thing to be able to admit.

Oh, do I have the issues. WORK THEM OUT, AMY. Yes yes.

So Pamie, if you don't feel like teaching HTML to 12-year-olds is for you, don't do it. It's OK to be good at something, but not want to do it.

Off to grade freshman poetry portfolios.

Amy

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Amy, please don't feel like you're a failure for quitting. I admire you for lasting as long as you have. I taught high school English for ONE year, and it nearly sent me off the deep end.

Teaching is the most thankless profession you can enter, because you give all of yourself to it, and you usually don't get squat in return. It would be nice if we didn't need to see some results or gratitude for our tireless efforts, but as human beings, it's really difficult to toil and sweat our hearts out every day and see minimal results and zero gratitude -- and get paid jack shit for it.

My biggest frustration as a teacher was the widely held misconception of the job. Friends and family constantly barraged me with arguments like, "But you get off at 3:00," or "Quit complaining, you have summers off!" Little does anyone comprehend that teachers work well into the night whether they're on campus or at home, and that very few young teachers set sail for Tahiti come June. Most teachers I knew worked all summer, too, just to make ends meet.

There are wonderful things about teaching. Most of my students were hilarious and chock full o' character, and I miss them dearly, but I cannot even express the joy I still experience every afternoon at 5:00 when I go home, put my feet up, and don't think about work until 8:00 the next day. And Sunday nights no longer make me want to kill myself (tm Angela Chase), as I am free to watch The X-Files and The Practice instead of suffering near-panic attacks over next week's lesson plans.

I feel for you, Amy. I bawled in the principal's office when I quit, because I loved her, and I loved the school. I just didn't love having gray hair at the age of twenty-four that sprung to my head every day while I restrained myself from having a nervous breakdown or throwing one of my students out of the classroom window.

Teaching. Unless you've done it, you'll never, ever understand. Now, back to my regularly scheduled therapy.

words diminish

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I use to teach dance. I taught children (2 and up) and adults.

I taught preschool.

I taught special needs preschool (mostly autistic).

I can relate.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Har de har. Try coaching a high school debate squad sometime. Most of the time it's rewarding, but dealing with all the relationship issues and bad ass kids can be a bit stressful (you wouldn't think kids on the debate squad would be so interested in trying recreational drugs - who knew?). Every once in a while, you get one or two kids that you really connect with, though, and that makes it completely worthwhile.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

just monday morning i accepted a position as a teacher for middle school and high school kids. starting in june, i'll be teaching computer applications. fortunately for me, this is a charter school with exceptionally motivated and bright kids. i work with a lot of them already in my nonprofit work. (a free summer theater program for middle schoolers)

reading some of these horror stories is a bit daunting. however, in my exprience, dealing with adults in the corporate world is just as stressful sometimes. i'll take a whiny, apathetic, mouthy teenager over a superiority-complexed, sadistic, micromanaging boss any day of the week and twice on sunday.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Teaching is the most exhausting yet rewarding job in the world. Primary aged kids steal away fibers of your soul without you even noticing; but, down the road you realize that they have weaved them into the tapestry of their lives, and that makes for a pretty good feeling indeed.

Until someone sticks a marble in their nose! Again!

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I was a substitute teacher for awhile back in Indiana and I mostly loved it. I would only take highschool or elementary school classes however, as 11-13 year olds are evil. No! They are! The thing is, you can't go beheading them, since they grow out of it and all . . .

One time I had an assignment that was half music at the high school and half 7th grade music at the middle school. How I hated those 7th graders! I thought I was pretty sharp, but they managed to throw books out the windows when I wasn't looking. True, they never threw a pencil at my face (which happened in a remedial High School English class), but they were much harder to control.

My favorite story comes from subbing for a 5th grade class. We were doing madlibs, and one little girl had used a dictionary to fill hers out. One of her words was "incomprehensible" and when I asked her what it meant, she told me she didn't know. "Right! Sort of!" I answered with a smile, "that's ironic, isn't it?"

We got off on a tangent about the meaning of the word ironic, which brought up that Alanis Morrisette song. I decided we should go through the lyrics and decide just how much of Ms. Morrissette's song was *actually* ironic:

"'It's like rain on your wedding day.' Kids, rain on your wedding day isn't ironic; that just . . . " I struggled for the right word, "that just sucks, but it's not ironic."

I'd forgotten "suck" was a bad word to a 10-year-old.

I was their hero, and at recess that day all the other classes heard about how the sub in room 29 had used the word "suck" out loud in front of the whole classroom. They instantly trusted me, and I had the best friends whenever I went back to teach at that school.

So, Pam, yeah I understand the urge to just say, "Fuck that" to kids. If you can not get reported for swearing, I really do think they trust you more for having let your guard down . . .

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I am a counselor at a music and arts week-long summer camp session. My first year I had six 11 year old girls. Nightmare. They would not shut up. They were so cute but just HAD to ask me several burning questions a minute.

I finally started making deals with them - "Girls, if you would just let me get through explaining this one thing, we can talk about anything you want."

Big mistake. They literally shook with anticipation until I said "ok, now what was it you wanted to discuss?" In unison, they looked at me and screamed "BOYS!!"

Yikes. It was this: "Doyouhaveaboyfriend? What'shisname? Isheagoodkisser? gigglegigglegiggle Doyoukisswithyourmouthopen? Doyoulethimtouchyourboobs?" I mean, it went on and on, people. I thought I was going to have to beat them off me.

This year, I am going to be a counselor AND teach writing. Horror. I think my charges will be a little older, though. Pray for me.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Better than teach - I was a camp counselor - which is like teaching & more.

Church camp. Palestine, Texas. Middle of July!!! Me & like 10 12 year old girls.

I was cool though. Not smart, but cool. I let them skip breakfast. I let them sneak out at night to meet boyfriends. I played along as they tried to set me up with the boy's cabin counselor - a guy I'd grown up with. The girls wanted to know everything - how old I was, had I kissed a boy, how I did my make up & hair, who I had a crush on, how I was going to go to the farewell dance with out a date.

The only part that stunk was when I actually had to convey information to them. First, they talked the whole time. Second, when they stopped talking, they still didn't listen. Third, well, I don't remember, but teaching the classes/activities wasn't as easy as the other stuff. Participation was next to nil.... But I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I think I am a lucky boy. I have not really taught, but I do lectures about native culture and stuff when envited. So far all the kids have been great, in fact the youngest class, 10 yearolds was the best. They asked the best questions and seemed quite knowledgable They gave me a class picture in a giant card with all their signatures in it. The next best was at an Alternative High School. Mostly problem kids and kids that did not fit in to regular schools. They also had excelent questions and appeared really interested in a lecture that I though went a bit long. I like doing the guest lecture thing but I guess up to this point I am quite spoiled.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Man, I can't jibe with high school teachers. They're all burnt out jesuits who settled for teaching because they couldn't pass the bar exam, or get a fellowship, or have children themselves...something like that. Embittered, they sit at their desks and stare at you over their cup of Folgers till the room smells like the inside of an airplane, making nose-whistling noises. They're really such a pathetic breed. Have you ever seen a teacher eat his or her lunch? They take out their Lean Cuisine, or their tupperware full of pineapple slices and they sit there and eat, so quietly. I once had a teacher who went into his back room and ate his tuna sandwich all by himself, every day. He was so lonely, sitting there with his head down...it made me want to cry. It was so pathetic that he had allowed himself to be reduced to that in front of me. They put up these posters that say, "I make a difference. I teach." to reassure themselves. Whatever. Who do they think they're fooling? What an abysmal existence. Luckily, I only have to take it for one more year.

At least, that's been my experience. There are exceptions, of course. The vast majority, however, can find itself referred to somewhere in the above paragraph.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Phobear, the bitterest little moppet.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Yes indeed... been there, done that, got the t-shirt...

Taught junior high English, taught senior high English. I had recurring dream for many years afterward: I am in a classroom, suddenly and without advance preparation, but I have a good idea for a lesson and I want to get started but I am constantly being interrupted by announcements on the PA system, students coming into class late, students asking for permission to leave the room, students wandering out of their seats, students talking, sleeping, singing, messengers coming in with notes from the office, ever- increasing frustration and pressure. Gee, just like the real thing.

One year I taught in a state prison. My students were mostly in the same age range as college students, but they tended to have fourth or fifth grade math and reading skills and were serving time for things like burglary, assault, drug dealing, murder, etc. In many ways it was easier than teaching in a typical public high school, but it was also quite depressing.

I left teaching to get into the computer field but somehow after a decade or so away from the classroom I found myself agreeing to fill in for a class or two for a friend who was teaching a college programming course. That led to several semesters as adjunct faculty (i.e., part time) teaching Introduction to COBOL Programming. It was a heck of a lot easier than teaching high school.

A few years ago I moved out of hands-on programming to take a job in training for a major software and hardware company. I develop courses, write the books, train instructors, and teach courses myself. A typical class might average eight to ten students, usually experienced programmers who have come to spend a week learning how to develop applications using our software solutions. I think it's fun. It is very different from teaching public schools. My students are not just adults, they are very interested in the subject matter as it is something they need to know for their jobs. It is important enough to their jobs that their employers are spending $2500 on tuition for the each student, plus airfare, hotel and meal expenses, etc., and they are, of course, being paid to be here. Another difference from public school: my students grade me. Every course ends not with a final exam, but with each student being asked to fill out a survey rating the course and the instructor.

I don't think they could pay me enough to go back into junior or senior high teaching, especially not in today's public schools. My wife, on the other hand, left a senior database architect position to become a middle school math teacher at less than half her old salary. She is finishing her second year of teaching. She puts in three or four hours of work every night and more on weekends, grading papers and preparing lessons.

Jim

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

P.S. -- Phobear: You say you only have one more year of high school? That means you must be over sixteen. So if it is that miserable an experience just drop out. Go and enjoy a few years of burger-flipping and get an education later when you might be mature enough to get something out of it.

No, I'm not saying that all teachers are wonderful. I can remember some bad teachers from when I was a student; there were some bad teachers when I was teaching. Two of my kids are in high school and they have some good teachers and some bad teachers. I agree with my daughter that her English teacher is an incompetent jerk. Guess what... you can find good and bad in any profession. You do realize, of course, that your teachers are not faced with classrooms filled with eager and respectful students who have come in search of education. Sometimes they have to put up with some arrogant snots.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

phobear - yes, a lot of high school teachers suck. a lot of high school students suck as well. it's taken me teaching for the past few months to understand quite what an arrogant, irritating little shit i must have been to teach when i was in high school. perhaps your teacher eats his tuna sandwich all alone because it's the only chance that he has during his working today to have some time to himself. perhaps they put up their posters because they really think, or hope, or pray that they are making a difference.

i don't want to criticise you because i remember very clearly that i felt pretty much exactly the same way as you did in high school. i thought that all of my teachers were infinitely less intelligent and insightful than i was. i thought that none of them could understand me or 'see my pain'. i thought they were all (well, most) shrivelled up little souls who were only teaching because they'd failed at actually *doing* the subject that they were teaching. i may well have been right, and you may well be right about all the teachers at your school. but i can tell you one thing - that teaching is the hardest fucking job in the world. it can be very rewarding, but it can also be incredibly dispiriting and depressing (you try walking into a room full of people looking at you in the way that you look at your teachers - not a whole lot of fun) and stressful, and i have a hell of a lot of respect for the people who make it their career - on the whole, i think they really *do* think that they're making a difference because that's the only reward that the job offers (good pay? forget it. shorter hours? hey, just more time to spend worrying about the next day's classes). i'm only teaching for another three weeks and i will be very happy to leave, but i'm glad i've done it - it makes me want to write letters to all my high school teachers and apologise for my behaviour, as i know what it's like from the other side now.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000

Ranting about some of the recent problems I've had in the classroom in my May 4 entry:

www.parsley.org

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000