Walk a Mile

I've said it again and again and let me say it one more time: People in the United States hate teachers. It seems to be the one of three professions (the others being salesmen and lawyers) where one bad apple seems to spoil it for the whole bunch...indefinitely. So you had a bad teacher once in high school? Wow, get over it. Having a bad waitress doesn't make you detest waitresses wherever you go, does it? One bad accountant doesn't make you claim they're all lazy, right? So why is it that teachers are so hated?

I have two reasons which seem to be repeated to me over and over again. The first being summers off. Everyone is bitter about summer vacation. The second is the teacher who everyone seems to have had that did their job poorly, singled them out for verbal abuse, ridiculed them...the list could go on and on.

The issue of summer just isn't going to go away. Summer vacation is such an institution, a part of the past, nostalgic even. Sure, some schools are going to a year-round system, but that's only because they've spaced out the time off. The amount of time off a student gets is about the same. What most people just don't understand is that few teachers lounge around all summer long. In fact, I don't know a single one who doesn't work during the summer. We have lesson plans to revise, new activities to create, seminars to attend, our files to organize, our brains to unfry... Not to mention the emotional recuperation all of us need after a year of forming emotional, caring relationships with students. You think teaching is easy? Try forming a personal bond with 175 teenagers, appealing to them on a personal level, being concerned about their homework and work ethic, understanding when they've had a bad day, dealing with parents who expect us to raise their child for them, grading all their papers and putting constructive comments on them.... I'll just stop there. At the end of it all, I need a break emotionally and mentally.

The second issue is the important issue though. Everyone seems to have had a teacher which spoiled it for them. Everyone seems to have had that one teacher who scarred them or turned them off of school. My response to this isn't original, but it's sincere. Of course you have. Remember the saying that you can't please everyone? Well neither can teachers! No one can even get along with everyone else! However, that being said.... I will agree....some teachers just aren't cut out for the job. However, if you insist on keeping the profession one in which you are rewarded with little pay, little respect and for which it basically needs to be a calling for anyone to want to do the job... then you're always going to get mediocre or bottom of the barrel people involved in the profession. Sure, you're going to have some great teachers. Education is lucky that so many wonderful, creative, compassionate and passionate people want to work in the field. But there are so many others who seek out the education world because they know it's an easy ride if you want it to be. You're always going to have them until you change the perception of what being a teacher is. Until you can compete with the salaries the best and brightest can get out there in the "real" world.... you're not going to get an applicant pool of the best and the brightest. Until then... thank the good teachers out there for dedicating their lives to this, because I guarantee you... behind every good teacher is a person who chose this profession because they want to make a difference. They chose it over something higher paying with more respect and less hassle. They chose you and your children.

And for the love of everything good, stop assuming all teachers are bad before you make it so that they are.

It's a Foreign Language, Apparently

You know how they say that if you have a problem with one person, that's one thing... but if you have a problem with several people that the problem is likely you? Yeah... I have that problem.

It began as a problem between my boss and I. No matter how many good ideas I've thrown at the man over the past 8 years, he never really hears a single one of them. I still remember my fourth year here when I suggested changing Advanced Biology to Advanced Placement Biology. He kind of looked at me funny and said he wasn't sold on AP courses. Then last year he comes and says he really wants to implement an AP science and have I ever thought about making Advanced Biology AP Biology? Really? Really.

Another thing I've been trying to hammer into my that man's head over the years is the fact that the ACT Science portion doesn't require you to know anything for content. It is all data interpretation and being able to read a graph and data tables. I've been saying this regularly for years. Years! Then last week, and again this week he's said that he read in a book that the ACT Science portion is all about data interpretation and the students don't actually need to know content for it. He now believes it. He also has no recollection of me ever saying such a thing. Infuriating. I absolutely loathe it when I have good ideas and/or points and they get ignored and I really thought it was an isolated situation between my boss and I.

It's not.

Enter the technology guy.

The first incident occurred when he emailed me to ask about the blogging I do in my classroom and mentioned he was looking into online classroom environments. I talked about the blog and then mentioned studeous.com which I thought was excellent and free. He responded and basically said free sites weren't worth looking at. So then this past summer he asked me to review blackboard.com for him since I'm one of the more technology literate people here (frightening). I mentioned it was clunky and that I would probably continue to use studeous.com anyway. He acted as though he had never heard of studeous. When I let him check it out he said it was great and then proceeded to recommend it to one of the principals in the district.

Ok fine, whatever, right? No. Last year I sent him a link to a video about how to make cheap smart boards using the ninetendo wii remote. I remember the email very specifically because he had to tell me I forgot to attach the video link. So I sent him another one. Then today he pulls me aside and procedes to detail how for about $100 bucks he can get me a decent equivalent to a smart board by using a nintendo wii remote. He said he first heard about it from a student. Again, he fails to remember that I've brought this very idea to him a year ago.

Do you see my problem? It's two people and more than just four incidents. What am I doing wrong here? Should I be pushier? Do I need to harass people? It doesn't matter if I speak up because I have and no one remembers me saying any of these things. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone and I'm incredibly frustrated. It's not that I want the world for my ideas or suggestions or contributions, I would just like a little bit of credit where credit is due... maybe a "hekovajobtherebrownie."