Teaching, still a great career?

Teacher: a person who teaches, especially in a school.

"a history teacher"

This post was prompted by a recent blog , 'Would you recommend teaching?' ( find it here ) courtesy of @secretteacher6.

With 23 years of teaching , I feel reasonably qualified to express my views.

Yes, I would heartily recommend teaching as a career if you are:-

1) Passionate about your subject/specialism
2) Genuinely like young people/children and have patience and humour by the bucket load
3) Self motivated and very well organised
4) Thick skinned enough to cope with difficult patents/managers/colleagues/students but human enough to care
5) A risk taker and prepared to learn alongside the children
6) Adaptable and flexible

I could go on with this list almost indefinitely-I love those T shirts that you can buy which "sum up" what being a teacher entails e.g...

. 
 Perhaps being a teacher is most like being a parent in so far as it is a highly complex, multi faceted, not a  one-fits-all but an ever changing role.

But, to address the question, is teaching still a great career?

Yes, in my opinion.

Hear me out- OK, there is a lot going on at the moment that isn't great and there have been blog posts a-plenty about those.

BUT, I honestly think that it is a privilege to work with children, the job IS ever changing but that is part of the appeal. No getting bored on the job allowed! (or possible)  I was on a course the other day and when asked how long I had been in my present post was asked, "Isn't it time to move on now?"  Um, well no. Not for the time being at least. It is the fact that the job does change so often that makes it fresh and exciting. (Yes, really) I couldn't imagine how dull it would be to drag the same old lessons out year after year. It's great if some themes/topics stay the same as I rally get to know all about them, but when things change it gives an opportunity to learn alongside the children and to model how to find things out.

To me that is one of the great aspects of the job. Seeing children progress, being there when they grasp a new concept, hearing them at play time, hearing about them when they have moved on to secondary school and beyond. Making a difference, no matter how small that might be, makes teaching what it is.

Recently someone spent a few weeks in our school , uncertain of what career path to take. Being in school, talking to the children and teachers, made that decision easy. He has just been accepted for teacher training. Fab :)

I am not deluded, not wearing rose tinted spectacles, not bonkers. But I AM passionate about being a teacher. Helping shape the children of today into the next generation. It is tragic that so many teachers leave in the early stages of their careers (see here )

Does the job get easier with experience? Not easier, you have a larger bank of resources, are less fazed by change, have a bit more patience, but no, it doesn't get easier. And I can't see myself being effective at 67 to be honest, or that the children will feel they can relate to teachers of that age (ha, I feel that now sometimes!)
I have had enough of the constant negative media . Social media all too often degenerates into negativity. I can moan as well as the next person and if I could wave a magic wand there are plenty of things that I would change (see previous post here ) but life is too short .

Warts and all, teaching is my career of choice, I am still excited, challenged, daunted,thrilled, scared,optimistic... by it. I look forward to the next ITT student that I work with and hope that I will be able to prepare them for a career that is incredibly rewarding. Hard work. Oh yes, more than words can ever get close to saying, but worth it.  Yes.

100 words for grown ups week 35

http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-week-35/  This is the link to Julia's page with this week's prompt... the red box...
Topical pieces will be a-plenty I'm sure with the budget tomorrow, however, finances not really my thing so I have gone back to my character , Kit (previous pieces about her can be found http://mrshalford.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/100-words-for-grown-ups-week-21.html and http://mrshalford.blogspot.com/2011/09/100-words-for-grown-ups-week-10.html

Would welcome any comments , critiques welcomed .

Find the rest at: http://www.linkytools.com/wordpress_list.aspx?id=136717&type=basic

An unexpected turn of events

The last mourners had gone. Alone at last, Kit  kicked off her shoes and sank into the comfort of her Grandmother's armchair. Her racing mind was filled with an array of unanswered questions.

 The doorbell’s chime interrupted her thoughts, but she was surprised to find no visitor, just a battered red box on the doorstep.

She carried it inside and placed it on the table. Opening the lid she pushed aside the layers of tissue to reveal a smaller box and a letter with her name written in a hand she instantly recognised.

With trembling hands she began to read,

 "My dearest Kit...

Another year...

Two more weeks with my class until they move onto their next class... Two more weeks of talking to parents that I have built up a partnership with before the summer break and return to new children.
It's a strange time of year; children feeling all sorts of feelings , teachers too. Why is that? We teach children to challenge themselves, meet new opportunities, look for the positive... But that sometimes falls on deaf ears.


I told my class that I had finished their reports and given them to the Head to read and comment on. Their faces fell, one or two put their heads in their hands. What was going on? I abandoned plans and went straight into a circle time to address this. My class looked at me in disbelief when I said that I had enjoyed writing their reports (bear with me) as it was a great opportunity to celebrate all the things they had done well over the year. Still one or two looking anxiously at me. "There wont be anything I havent already told you in them!" I continued. One of the boys piped up, "You're always telling us what we do well..."
 Another, "and we know what we need to get better at..." (Hurrah)
 "Exactly!" I replied, and went on to explain how the reports are for their parents to have an overview of the year. The discussion carried on with children talking about things they had achieved over the year and we made a start on the child report comment.


What this made me stop and think about was, with all the changes we have made in schools, all the technology, some things have not changed at all- there are still children (and parents?) who have a built in fear/dread of reports. Where does this come from? We try so hard to build a positive learning environment, celebrating achievements, having clear learning goals...So why do children still worry about taking the end of year report home? And how can I overcome this?


Well, next year I am going to talk to the children much earlier about reports and maybe ask them to write their own in the style of the school one. Our reports go home really late- last week- get them out earlier so we can talk about them in class (if they want to ? or just go for it?)


I felt that somehow I had missed a trick when I saw this response; not for the first time. Talking to colleagues it seems that many children respond similarly. I would love to know how others have dealt with this; are reports looked on in this way widely? And how can it be changed if that's the case.


I suppose it can be compared to a teacher having performance management. "Tell me what has gone really well this year." Much foot shuffling and fidgetting; we spend so much time looking at ways to improve that it seems self indulgent to talk about successes. Maybe this is the issue here, and something to look at how to change.


Target setting, assessments, top tips; all dwell on what needs to be done. I think I need to spend more time asking children to focus on the things that they can do really well. We have celebration assemblies, reflection time...but maybe celebration time is missing.  Something to think about over the summer and see where to go from now...


Next summer I don't want anyone in my class looking alarmed at the prospect of receiving their report . (And I WILL look my head right in the eye and say what I have done well too :) )