In theory,
teaching looks like the ideal job. All those school holidays. In Europe, every
six weeks we have vacation. We even shut down for the week long ski break to
hit the slopes. But there is no escape. Even on mountaintops, teachers obsess
about how to reach kids. For today’s students, conditioned by instant
gratification in a society wired 24/7, attention spans last no longer than 15
seconds, the time it takes to microwave a muffin.
Academic staples like reading, writing, ‘rithmetic? Forget
it. Kids learn grammar off twitter, spelling by MSN, and math on
calculators.
At conferences, parents plead, “Rescue our child.” How do you save a kid that hates to
read and write? Fill the house with books and unplug TVs. Students that read the most, write
best. Children who were read to in
homes with books learn to value the old fashioned printed word. At the rate we are going, I fear that
reading, like letter writing, will become a lost art!
At my school, report writing requires a special language
degree. Every trimester, teachers
write novelettes on each child’s progress in all disciplines. Between marking
periods, we remain on call available round the clock via email and cell phones.
Teaching is tougher than ever. Even once loved courses, like physical education, are a hard
sell. Getting kids to move these
days is like pulling teeth. Why put one foot in front of the other when the
world beckons at one’s fingertips without budging an inch? Competing with
Internet, wifi, and 1001 channels on television screens the size of football
fields; teaching has become a losing battle.
In real life drama, people relocate, families’ collapse,
loved ones die; educators deal with the fall out. Sh** happens.
Educators
fill gaps in a world gone wild. As kids whiz through childhood at a reckless
pace during rapid social change, teachers’ roles altered drastically. Information abounds. Yet kids still need adults to help
interpret the « info-net. » With more attention deficit kids (i.e.
regular children craving adult attention not ADD), never has the need for good
teachers been greater, the kind of teacher that lies awake at night concerned
about students’ well being. There
is no time off. Teachers are
always updating lesson plans, grading papers, counseling kids, answering late
night phone calls and early morning emails.
Yet the
worst part about teaching is not the day, but the night. In endless nightmares,
I thrash about, looking for classroom doors, searching for mid term papers,
forgetting locker combinations (I
don’t even own a locker!) One
night I dream that I lost control of a classroom full of ADHD kids while my new
principal observed. The next, I am scribbling on the board with my hand
severed at the wrist. Then, I wake up and start over again. After a gulp of coffee, I head back on
the front line, saving lives, one lesson at a time. No child left behind.
