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Teaching is a dying profession
Filed Under The Way I See It
In a recent post , I can’t teach properly, Doug shares his frustrations about being a teacher
I’m growing increasingly frustrated in the teaching profession. I can’t teach the way that I want to, and I find it extraordinarily difficult to teach in the ‘traditional’ manner which is assumed and seemingly expected by all around me.
I’m sure that many teachers can relate to those words. I know I can. In fact, I’ve chosen to teach at-risk kids because I have more freedom to teach the way I want. My argument is that the traditional way of teaching didn’t work with these kids, so let me try my way. I’m given the freedom to do it my way because most of the time I get good outcomes. But as so many people tell me, teaching at-risk kids isn’t for everyone. That’s true enough. We all have our strengths and that’s good.
I was quite surprised by one thing that Doug said , “Apparently there’s more qualified teachers in the UK not teaching than there are qualified teachers in schools!”. That’s amazing. More qualified teachers not teaching than teaching! This thought was still rolling around in my head when I came upon this by Bonnie Bracey
Teaching is a dying profession. How do we know? Because it is not attracting new teachers. There is a shortage in the workforce. Is it the teachers? Well for years we have been virtual prisoners in our classrooms, with the experts talking for us. At last we are able, if we have technology, to talk back , to share, in limited ways, in the discourse on education. Teaching is about conveying a love of learning and discovery, and giving children the tools they can use throughout their lives to make their own discoveries.Today’s teachers must be ready to play a variety of roles in the classroom: educator, motivator, guide, counselor, coach, and disciplinarian.
I think that if Doug and Bonnie were to meet they would have a lot to talk about, especially about the new technology. Bonnie continues
Is this an invisible problem? I don’t think so. People not in teaching ignore the facts or blame teachers for the shortage, lack of training, and the national malaise about teaching and learning. It is all our fault.. we teachers? I don’t think so. Teachers have become the objects of scorn in the press. But let’s look at the facts.
Bonnie posits a number of reasons for the problems with education today. These problems include funding, the lack of recognition that learning is not only about getting a better job but also about “enriching the human spirit and advancing social health”, the lack of equal access to information and the net, and the the lack of training in certain areas.
I encourage you to read the entire article because she has hit the nail on the head, as far as I am concerned. As a special education teacher of at-risk kids, I especially agree with the following
I think teachers should also be called teachers/social workers because society gives us the problems to be solved. Teachers have become the new parents. Many urban kids get dropped off at seven in the AM, and are picked up at about six pm. That is not typical of all regions of the US, but there are more societal pushes to have teachers correct the problems, whatever they are from the classroom. People forget that each new addition, takes time from the teaching schedule. There is no appreciation of this work.
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Dear Teacher’s at Risk I
left teaching because I did not have the personality for teaching. I had all the credentials for teaching. I had the Master’s degree and competency at the time I was teaching needed. Yet, I did not have the personality to manage a classroom of students effectively. I came from business into teaching. I had problems not being able to manage my own classroom the way I wanted too. I was in Special Education and that was the problem, also.
I was told I had an “attitude”. I really tried to help my students, but the administrators did not see it that way. I guess I was also full of excuses for not being an effective teacher. That got me out of the classroom rather quickly.
I spent a great deal of time and money getting a M.Ed. That time could have been used more effectively if they had told me they did not want me to become a teacher. One school would not admitt me to graduate school, the other one would. I went to the school who would admitt me. Even though I failed, I grew through the experience.
Richard,
Thank you for sharing your experience and insights.
We all have different strengths and that’s a good thing. I hope you have found a career that allows you to use your strengths to succeed.