I get the feeling that people (and by people, I mean people who are not teachers and don't live with a teacher) are tired of hearing about teacher's low salaries and heavy workload. For some reason, it seems that teachers have gotten a bad reputation for being, well, bad. While I admit that I have worked with some bad teachers, I have found in my years of experience that the majority of teachers I have come across are good at what they do and truly strive to do it well.
I consider myself to be among those teachers who are talented and working hard. I can tell you that I, and others like me, have become increasingly frustrated over the years as we have watched our salaries and benefits decrease while our workload has increased. Surely, by anyone's standards, that is backwards. "We will pay you less money and you will be required to put in more hours." That doesn't seem right.
I find myself wanting to go into an analysis of standardized testing and teacher accountability right now, but that deserves it's own post at another time. For now I will simply tell you that I personally spent over 5 hours in the past 2 days, outside of my work hours, working on one project (required) for my job. That was just one project of many that I am required to complete this week. The hours teachers spend planning, grading, preparing materials, contacting parents, attending meetings, etc. would be enough for a full-time job. However, those things are usually seen as "extras," things that teachers will find time to do because of their dedication. I am dedicated to my students. I want them to succeed. I want to help them succeed. But many of the tasks teachers are required to complete in the name of "accountability" do not benefit the students. In fact, many of the results of this "accountability tasks" can be harmful to students. (There I go again down that road of discussing accountability and standardized tests...another time, I promise!)
So let me leave you with this thought: The next time you feel the urge to say to, or about, a teacher, "Your job must be so great. You get off work at 3:00 and don't work in the summer," think twice. Don't say it. Instead, remember this: our students may leave school at 3:00, but that's when we can really get to work doing our jobs. Once the students leave, then we go to meetings, write lesson plans, prepare materials, make phone calls to parents, tutor students, and grade student work. We usually do those things for free, after "work" is over.
