Any teacher worth his or her salt will tell you that our work is never really done. Whilst sitting here and blogging I really should be doing something teacher related. The fact that it’s nearly 11 pm on a Saturday night is no obstacle to that either.
I’ve spent the last week dedicating virtually every moment of the days (and parts of the nights) to doing “teacher things” and I’m raring to go into the new week and it’s for this reason that I’ve decided to deliberately pull myself back and cut off from the job.
Yes, I have lessons to plan and yes, I should be doing them now but there’s always tomorrow and in all honesty, I do need the time off to refocus my energy and take a break from it all. Burn-out in this profession is probably more common than in many others. Dana warned me about the “trap” that many teachers fall into, by letting the teaching take over your life and I don’t want to let that happen. I enjoy what I’m doing too much to risk losing it.
I say this now, a week into term and I know that I won’t feel this enthusiastic, two months down the line.
Saturday, 10 September 2005
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2 comments:
The good teachers don't seem to ever burn out. Look at it this way...
Parenting is a job whose trials and tribulations one can't possibly know until they are already enlisted. It sucks at times and it's overwhelming at times. What keeps you going?
Those precious moments. Those moments that no one besides your daughters could ever give you.
Most kids spend more time with their teachers than their own parents... and you're a surrogate 9 months out of the year.
I have no doubt that you will love this job, embrace it, appreciate those "moments," and sleep well at night knowing you're one of the good guys.
Just don't obsess. Some of my best teachers were not "prepared" necessarily, but they knew their shit adn were engaging enough to make me care about the subject they were teaching. You are part parent, part expert, and part performer. And you are the star of the show.
Don't obsess. It's just a job. A very, very, ultra important, life altering job... No pressure!
That's pretty good advice Rachael. You're absolutely right about being the surrogate parent. Teaching is so much more than just imparting knowledge and I think that we sometimes forget that we're teaching children and not adults.
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