Teaching is Rewarding, but Sometimes at a Price

I have done many jobs in my life, including bar-tending, waitressing, cooking, delivering mail, working in a lumber mill, driving school bus, and house-cleaning. I have always been a writer and that is my first and chosen profession, but it is not enough. I never felt at home until the first time I stood in front of a classroom and introduced myself as the teacher. Looking around that room at all those expectant faces and knowing that I had information or at least access to information that could help them become successful in their lives is probably the most rewarding thing about teaching.

Watching the Light Come On
The feeling that I get when I see that the students 'get it' is indescribable. As I am explaining a concept or illustrating a problem I see that the students are attentive, curious, and eager to learn, but it is not until the light comes on in their eyes that I see that they get it. Knowing that I have helped someone else learn something that will make their life easier or better somehow is a reward in itself. The other part of that is learning something new as I am teaching - I find that I always learn more when teaching than when just studying or learning. In order to teach someone something, one has to understand it him or herself first.

Are Their Drawbacks?
Yes, just as in anything, there are challenges. Being an educator means long hours, frustrating delays due to administrative barriers, and generally lower financial rewards than some other profession. In fact, there is an old saying that educators are very familiar with: "We don't become teachers because we want to get rich." Teaching is not a well-paid job, except for some notable exceptions at the University Professor level. But we are not in it for the money. Those that are, will soon leave to do something else.

But Teachers Don't work Summers, etc.
Teachers are often vilified when they ask for salary increases because from the outside it looks like we work five days a week, from about 8am until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. We get summers off, Spring, Fall, and Winter breaks, and all major holidays. All of that is true. We also work during our lunch hour doing cafeteria or playground duty, we stay at school after the students leave to grade papers and prepare lesson plans for the next day. We spend our weekends and evenings working on multiple project related to teaching our classes. During the summer we either work other jobs (the mortgage needs to be paid in the summer, too) or we go back to school (at our own expense) to satisfy certification requirements.

Student Discipline Problems
The students are with the teacher more than they are with their parents and often teachers need to become the disciplinarians, but their hands are usually tied when it comes to correcting behavior problems. Parents sometimes resist efforts by teachers to correct their children's behaviors, administrators don't always support the teacher's efforts and there are days when teachers wonder if it is all worth it. Teacher burnout is common, especially with the younger teachers.

Why Some of us Stay
There are those crystal moments when a student comes up to the teacher and says something like this: "Ms. Sullivan, if it were not for you in that communications class you taught last fall, I would not be walking in this graduation line today." That is why I teach. If I can make a difference in at least one life, it is all worth it. Some teachers work extra contracts like coaching and after school programs so they can add to their small paychecks and stay in the education field. Some teachers stay because they love to teach and they make due with the financial shortfall because the personal rewards are so much more important.