Why Be a Teacher At All ?

[Isis]

On 2/27/2018 at 8:53 PM, Mlle. Zabzie said:

 

 

It is my experience that in order to teach, you need to have a greater and deeper mastery of the subject matter in question than one who merely "does".  Doing can be learned by rote without a deep understanding.  Teaching involves understanding the subject matter so that it can be explained multiple ways, anticipating questions, being facile enough with the material to answer unanticipated questions on the fly.  It also requires strong project management skills, organization, and a really high EQ.  I am someone who enjoys teaching but has found something else to do with my life.  That doesn't mean that I don't completely understand why someone would teach.

Urgh. The 'those can't teach' thing is so revolting and smug.

Yes, you do need to know the topic in depth to teach it. What I see at work is a lot of academics who are rubbish at teaching because they are not capable of doing the technical lab work they cover in their lectures (they can only do the theory) yet we (non-academics) are expected to be able to do practice AND know the theory. Often they are rubbish lecturers too because they don't value teaching. That is very disappointing for the students.

Teaching is only a part of my role rather than my profession but it has taught me so much of what I know about communication, which has then served me well in other areas of my life. I also did a couple of years of voluntary tutoring (in my spare time lol) for A level students and that taught me a different set of skills, which informed my teaching.

Teaching is hard work. I don't think anyone chooses it as an easy option. But like any service profession people do it because they care.

[Mladen]

The past couple of years, I have dipped into teaching waters in order to finance my PhD course. I have been teaching English to Chinese and Japanese students online and I have to say that between language barrier, connection and computer problems and time difference, it hasn't been easy. I have found a new respect for people who are teaching. Talking about patience...

That said, my cousin in Montenegro thought it would be a great idea to be available to parents 24/7. She created a Viber group and you know what? It doesn't stop ringing. Last summer, when we were in Montenegro, enjoying the nice cocktails at 2:00 am, her phone rang and one of the mothers sent message asking whether Harry Potter books are suitable for 10-year-old. 

So, I can only bow down to people who teach.

[DMC]

19 minutes ago, Isis said:

Often they are rubbish lecturers too because they don't value teaching. That is very disappointing for the students.

Yeah there are a lot of faculty at R1 schools that view themselves as solely researchers, look down on teaching, and not surprisingly suck at it because they don't give a shit.  They have no incentive to care, and it sucks.

[Yukle]

On 2/27/2018 at 1:52 PM, GAROVORKIN said:

Given all difficulties that this profession entails, with students , parents, administrators   combined with the lack pay and benefits .  Why do people want to put themselves though all this for such a seemly thankless and  job when there are  better career options available  ?   Why be a teacher at all ? What's the big attraction to this particular profession ? 

 

Thoughts? 

 

On 2/28/2018 at 2:25 AM, Lily Valley said:

:sighs heavily:   Wow.  This is the, "Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach." line of thinking that is pretty damn prevalent  It's sexist and depressing.  I regularly have to convince my students that I actually understand problems that I assigned them and often wrote myself.

I have never, EVER met anyone who teaches because they couldn't get a different job.

I'm in this category, Lily! I could get a different job, and in fact I used to have one. I did research work, mostly, and still supplement myself with that in a much less full-time basis.

Teaching is much more fun!

It's nice that @GAROVORKIN acknowledges the really hard parts teaching. The actual classroom part I absolutely love. But 90% of teaching is emailing, photocopying and calling parents. It's tedious and difficult in that respect.

Teaching is a profession and people who suck at it don't last for very long.

Teaching is also a profession where most of our rules and regulations are written by people who don't know teaching, but went to school once and are therefore self-proclaimed experts. If you ever say that teaching, "Needs to get back to basics," or, "The curriculum is now filled with political correctness," or, "Kids are being given medals for doing nothing," then please accept this Lifetime Achievement Award for knowing absolutely nothing about what you're talking about.

To answer the OP: it's fun. Sure, it's hard, but it's fun. It's not thankless, it's just difficult, and there's a difference.  

Working with young people is also really uplifting. They tend to be so much more creative than older people, I've found.

[James Arryn]

I have known many teachers, and I have yet to meet one who went into it for the money. I’ve met plenty of burnouts who have stuck it out for the security a la civil servant treadmill, but that’s a different thing, and often the burnout itself is actually the result of having such a stressful job for so long, teachers ranking at the top along with police, prison service and social work, even ahead of fields recognized for stress/burnout like nursing/emergency response, etc. 

And, speaking from personal knowledge, the big factor non-teachers fail to account for is how fucking long a teacher’s day is. There’s all the stuff you see and then the hours at home on marking or preparation. Summer vacation isn’t so much a boondoggle as a basic sanity check. 

[mankytoes]

On 07/03/2018 at 11:00 AM, Yukle said:

 

"Kids are being given medals for doing nothing," then please accept this Lifetime Achievement Award for knowing absolutely nothing about what you're talking about.

Can you explain, then? Because I got a load of participation medals, and they all meant absolutely nothing to me, or to any of my peers, as far as I could tell. The only reason I pretended to care even a little was because my parents seemed to care.

I don't think that they cause egotism, because children aren't dumb enough to think they are of any value. I just think they're a patronising waste of time.

[Yukle]

1 hour ago, mankytoes said:

Can you explain, then? Because I got a load of participation medals, and they all meant absolutely nothing to me, or to any of my peers, as far as I could tell. The only reason I pretended to care even a little was because my parents seemed to care.

The phrase doesn't refer to literal sport medals, but the idea that children are too precious to receive failing grades. There's an assumption that teachers will not fail students as they lack the resilience to accept failure.

Teachers really do reward good learning practice and really do assess work that isn't good enough as failing. It doesn't mean that we're brutal and harsh about it, any more than you would be in the workplace to a colleague whose work is rubbish.

[mankytoes]

25 minutes ago, Yukle said:

The phrase doesn't refer to literal sport medals, but the idea that children are too precious to receive failing grades. There's an assumption that teachers will not fail students as they lack the resilience to accept failure.

Teachers really do reward good learning practice and really do assess work that isn't good enough as failing. It doesn't mean that we're brutal and harsh about it, any more than you would be in the workplace to a colleague whose work is rubbish.

Oh, fair enough. Here, we literally get medals, and people criticise it a lot. There is also a lot of debate about whether competition, in sports or academia, is good for children. I think it is.

To me (I have done a little teaching) telling someone they are failing is like telling someone they are ugly or fat. They are almost certainly more aware of it than you are. Kids, mainly boys (in my experience) may tough it out and pretend they are proud of doing badly, but they almost certainly aren't, I don't think many people enjoy failing, and seeing their peers exceed them.

[Darth Richard II]

Remember when they tried to ban red ink?

[IheartIheartTesla]

On 3/4/2018 at 3:11 PM, dmc515 said:

Yeah there are a lot of faculty at R1 schools that view themselves as solely researchers, look down on teaching, and not surprisingly suck at it because they don't give a shit.  They have no incentive to care, and it sucks.

The joke I've heard about faculty at R1 universities is that 15% of them are good at research, 15% good at teaching and 15% good at service, and oftentimes it is the same 15%.

[Which Tyler]

7 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

The joke I've heard about faculty at R1 universities is that 15% of them are good at research, 15% good at teaching and 15% good at service, and oftentimes it is the same 15%.

What's always said about Oxbridge is that you get the best education in the world from the worst educators in the world

[Yukle]

3 hours ago, mankytoes said:

They are almost certainly more aware of it than you are. Kids, mainly boys (in my experience) may tough it out and pretend they are proud of doing badly, but they almost certainly aren't, I don't think many people enjoy failing, and seeing their peers exceed them.

In most cases, yes. I think it's human nature to prefer to fail on your own terms than to only partially succeed on somebody else's. It's easier to save face because you didn't apply yourself to a task than to try hard at it and not succeed.

Competent teachers do teach how to cope with failure, and how to build on success.

[DMC]

4 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

The joke I've heard about faculty at R1 universities is that 15% of them are good at research, 15% good at teaching and 15% good at service, and oftentimes it is the same 15%.

Yup.  I think one clarification is in order, at least in my field.  R1 faculty may DGAF undergrad courses, but they are interested in grad students as it's viewed as an apprenticeship.