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What You Don't Learn in the Ed Program

Insight Into Teaching

By HutchPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Each year, many eager future teachers enter their college years ready to become the next group to teach our next generation. I was one. I walked into school and had all these ideas about what becoming a teacher would be like. I sat through hours and hours of classes, went through the apprenticeships, and did my two weeks of solo lessons, but NOTHING prepares you for what teaching is truly like.

Sure, we use the skills we learned in college. Sure, we lean on the different things our mentor teachers showed and taught us, but that isn't enough. Teaching isn't singing the ABCs or counting 1, 2, 3. It's not sunshine, gumdrops, and rainbows. Teaching is hard.

I don't say these things to scare you away from teaching. I say them to open your eyes to the true reality that isn't taught in school. So let's get started on what you will learn as a teacher and what you will do as a teacher.

  1. Teaching is a work of heart. Yes. HEART. It's not for the weak. Teaching will tear your heart into a million pieces and then build it back up again.
  2. You are MORE than a teacher. You will work more jobs than anyone else.
  3. You will never truly feel supported and appreciated by everyone. You will always find a Negative Nancy in the bunch.
  4. You do not get summers off. Don't even think that from the start.
  5. You will have to fight for everything and anything you want.

So, what do I mean by all of this? Well, let's start with numero uno. Teaching is a work of heart. You need to LOVE what you do and LOVE your kids. If you don't love teaching or working with kids...don't waste your time.

Numero dos: You will be doing every job you can think of. You are the teacher, mother, father, friend, counselor, janitor, nurse, and shoulder to cry on. I say janitor because you'll spend many days cleaning up after yourself and the kids. You're the mother and father because they need it. You are the counselor because kids today come from various backgrounds.

Numero tres: There will always be people who think you could do better or that you're not doing enough or that you get summers off so why do you complain... yada yada yada. DON'T LISTEN TO THEM.

You NEVER truly get summers off. You work each day whether they realize it or not. Summers are for you to get ready for the next year and honestly there will be times when you're not ready. There will be times when you are. There will be days where you go to school and stay there for the day. There will be days where you sit at home and work on crafts for the classroom. So on.

Lastly, you have to fight for what you want. Today we live in an age where students can go online to learn, parents aren't supportive of teachers, and lawmakers have their own opinions. We make too much, we complain too much, and we get so much time off...Guess what, you want funding for your classroom... go make a DonorsChoose. It's much easier. I promise.

So when you walk into those classrooms at college or you walk into your first ever classroom, please make sure to remember that you are a human and these kids need you to be that MORE than they need what you have in your planning book.

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Hutch

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