Misconceptions about teaching keep on thumbing their noses at us. As educators, we’re branded by stereotypes that shrug us off and insult us until we splat onto on the continuum of professionalism somewhere between babysitter and beach bum. As Rodney Dangerfield quipped about his constant plight of being dismissed, we just can’t get any respect.
How many times have I heard comments similar to this editorial response to an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (“Chesterfield schools could lose 525 jobs” January 28, 2009)?
Many teachers (I used to think it was about 50% but I think it is significantly higher than this now) are not good teachers, they are not effective nor do they care a hoot about their students. Many struggling students simply fall through the cracks. Teachers do not want to differentiate for diverse learners, they don’t want to do this or that, and they want more money. They want summers off and they want to leave with the buses each day. Well, if my husband who worked in the private sector behaved in this manner, he would be out of a job rather quickly.
Sadly, this is not an uncommon sentiment about teachers. Not only does it reveal a snide disregard for teachers’ motivations for choosing their profession, but it also hints at a dark, understated opinion that teachers are not professionally worthy of status or respect.
Even sadder, these insults about teaching carry the danger of an unexpected backlash. How many college students or career switchers ironically buy into the myths and choose to go into teaching — not because they feel passion for the learning process or feel compelled to improve the education of the next generation, but because teaching seems like an easy lifestyle?
And even more sinister and detrimental for the next generation of students: how many of these mediocre, dispassionate teachers then clog up our schools like stagnant nonintellectual pools, perpetuating a self-fulfilling prophecy and actually giving credence to the myths?
In an earlier post (”Starting a New Year as a Teacher? I Have Good News and Bad News” August 2008), I expressed a few of the honest truths about teaching that weren’t so pleasant, such as the amount of time a teacher must spend on the job — and also listed the compelling reasons that I feel teaching is so worthwhile and so fulfilling as a career in spite of these truths.
Only people who feel a genuine pull to the classroom will tip the balance between the pros and the cons toward the positive side.
To anyone who is not called to the teaching profession by a higher standard or a love of learning, the negative features drown them in the classroom like a deadweight sinker, because the demands of teaching — good teaching — are sacrificial at best and completely life-changing at least.
So let’s explore some of the myths that give teachers a negative reputation and the misconceptions that may draw the wrong kind of people into the teaching profession.
Work only a few hours a day, home by 3:30
Wrong and confused! Teachers spend more time than most professionals working unpaid overtime. Go into a school and watch a teacher for more than a few minutes. Follow a teacher for a day or, even better, a week, and watch how much and how diligently and with what dedication and sacrifice he or she does his job. Don’t just glance or assume: really watch the teacher do his or her job. The workday for a teacher does not end when the school day ends. Most teachers I know work more than 60 or 70 hours a week, spend their own money on supplies, accept below-average salaries (especially in relation to their own level of education), and yet consider their profession an honor.
This chart show 2000 data from the Canadian Policy Research Network website.
Frequent holiday breaks and summers off
Teachers are with their students in the classroom 180 days or so a year–the amount of time students are required to attend school–and they usually have the same scheduled holidays and summer vacation, but very few teachers spend their holiday vacations and summers lounging about doing nothing. Most classroom teachers spend this time preparing lessons, processing grades, researching topics, creating materials, networking with other professionals, and working in committees to target curriculum goals with other team teachers and school system colleagues.
Other “vacation” activities might include taking regular college courses to maintain certification, participating in professional development seminars, attending conferences, and researching trends and teaching methods in their particular academic content-area conferences.
Do teachers enjoy some days by the pool in the summer and celebrate surprise “snow days” in winter? Absolutely! These are well-deserved breaks and benefits — recompense for work that is difficult, demanding, and all-consuming … which brings me to the next well-worn myth.
Easy work and low stress; similar to babysitting
Teaching isn’t about entertaining a class of 20-30 students for a day. It isn’t about managing them for a day. It isn’t about keeping them busy, i.e. out of trouble, for a day. Anyone who tries to do one or all of these knows the futility of treating students like a herd of animals.
First of all, none of these approaches actually works for that many students for that long a period of time (not even for individual periods or blocks of time) — just ask any teacher, or better yet, ask any substitute teacher who has tried any or all of these approaches.
Secondly, learning does not occur when the students are being handled as if they are mute dolls sitting on a shelf. Worksheets and book work will not fill the day nor fill students’ minds with knowledge. They will merely dull the senses, as seen in the 1983 movie, Teachers:
Effective teaching is about capturing the minds and hearts and spirits of students, waking their senses and focusing their attention on concepts that build layers of related knowledge, like foundational brick and mortar, that will continue to grow past the school day. It’s about exciting students’ imaginations. It’s about engaging students in meaningful activities that sharpen their thinking skills, develop their repertoire of information and resources, and connect ideas.
Not to sound too spiritual about it, but good teaching is about magic. I’ve been in teacher’s classrooms where I felt actual chills, watching students so enthralled that you could almost see their minds expanding.
And magic, by the way, is hard work and does not happen automatically. It takes training, planning, practice, and uncanny ability to pay attention to a hundred factors at once — from Johnny’s frown betraying his confusion to Eva’s sidelong glances at Sue in their hidden nonverbal conversation — without missing a beat
… That touches on the complexity of teaching on the front lines, in the classroom. Take a look behind the scene, and you can see the hidden ninety percent of the iceberg. Teachers’ responsibilities never end. They include administrative tasks such as recordkeeping, grading, creation and production, planning, contacting parents, tutoring, special education meetings, committee meetings, state-mandated test proctoring, and various other duties that always seem to be overlooked when people accuse teachers of having an easy job. Let’s not even begin listing extra-curricular activities such as coaching, music direction, drama, and others.
Effortless work: Prescribed curriculum and textbooks provide lesson plans and materials
Canned teaching — in which lesson plans and materials are pulled out from musty file cabinets and dog-eared textbooks — is hopelessly bland and ineffective. If teachers who rely on a textbook were to look up at their class occasionally, they would probably see a room of glazed eyes and typically a few heads down on the desks in morose boredom or dead-to-the-world sleep. Effective teachers know that textbooks are a reference and a resource, but they are not the only tool to use in a classroom.
Good teachers also know that a curriculum is only a framework, a guide, a map; it is a guide showing “what to teach” and not a tutorial showing “how to teach.” Memorable teachers are creative enough to develop their own activities and materials so their lessons cover the prescribed objectives without drilling them like rote, empty facts. They use activities that are fun, engaging, and relevant to the students’ world, and if they’re efficient, they share with a network of teachers to pool ideas and swap materials.
To be honest, most of the teachers I know laugh at the thought of using a textbook as a teaching tool anymore. It is similar to an experienced chef serving Hamburger Helper — there’s nothing wrong with Cheesy Mac, of course, but the gourmet meal offers better nutrition, more seasoned taste, and best of all, the joy of cooking and the pleasure of dining.
When it comes to gourmet cooking, what counts is the process as much as the product, and the same is true about good teaching.
I challenge anyone who says teaching is easy to try it for one marking period. If you want to quit before the end, I’ll understand. On the other hand, if you make it through the trial period and think it’s not really so bad, please consider becoming a teacher. You may have a gift for teaching, and we need you here with us!
For poll results, please click here.
Poster created on Glogster.com
Photos from flickr.com:
“Old Class Photo With Grandpa, 1923″
“Carly’s New Classroom”
This blog expresses the personal opinions of the author and is not affiliated
with nor representative of any company, employer, or other entity.
Posted on March 18th, 2009 by Sharon Elin
Filed under: Uncategorized
It is a sad fact that the myths you list (halfday work, halfyear holiday, you-don’t-have-to-be-bright, etc) are the very things that attract many people to the profession. The result? The ranks are swelled with people who should never have been teachers, and the kids are the victims. In South Africa we have the added problem that, during the apartheid years, the only professions open for a woman of colour were teaching and nursing. Not wanting to wipe other people’s bums, most opted for teaching - very few of them became teachers by choice and would never have considered this route if other options were open.
Owing to many people in the system who are clearly not passionate for teaching, can you blame people for getting the wrong perception of what a true teacher does? Many teachers do work only half a day (at a go-slow rate), don’t do a thing during their long breaks, and are not bright at all. Unfortunately all teachers are painted with the same brush.
This being the situation, the question begging and answer is: what is the solution?
Kobus, what a loaded question! And one that needs to be answered.
What IS the solution to substandard teachers? The fast answer that comes to mind is higher pay for better teachers, but there is argument about the way to determine who are the better teachers — can students’ test scores fairly discern a good teacher from a mediocre one? Can regular performance reviews and classroom observation rubrics serve as a more accurate, although possibly subjective, way to judge teaching?
In addition to higher salaries, improving the profession’s reputation could attract better applicants. Its current status as a fallback profession (”Fall back on teaching when you don’t succeed at anything better”) hurts it. I know many college-age students who would be gifted teachers, but they refuse to explore the profession further because it’s considered a last-choice option or a second-class career. The well-known adage fits here: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” People believe this! And they stay away from the profession because of it.
I would like to see teaching elevated to an honorable state, revered by citizens and recognized for its demands and skills. But something must change for this to happen.
More aggressive tactics may be called for to clean up the teaching profession and build its reputation and standards. I must bring up the dreaded “F” word. In order to eliminate the deadweight from the ranks of teachers and raise the perception of teaching as a quality profession, mediocre and substandard teachers need to be fired! In some states here in America, teachers are protected by unions and it’s extremely difficult to fire a teacher. Even in non-union states, the process for firing teachers who are tenured is tricky.
The bottom line is that the profession needs to be turned on its ear and shaken down and shaken up. Trying to encourage educational reform will only make sense when the players inside the system are ready to hold up the structure and maintain the mission. You’re right that substandard teachers are sabotaging the process.
Bravo on this blog post! I have been an educator the past twenty years and have heard many of those same comments about three months off in the summer, all you do is play with paper clips all day, go home at 3pm, etc. It is frustrating. I know when I look back I don’t have any significant teachers that are near and dear to me. I believe that is why I went into teaching and I strive to make a positive difference in my students’ lives and be that teacher that changed their life, direction or view of learning.
I am not sure what the solution is but we have such a teacher shortage in many areas that unqualified teachers are hired left and right. In other areas, teachers are being cut on campuses in large numbers and those are usually last hired, first fired leaving more seasoned, yet often hardened, stubborn, unwilling to change educators. No wonder test achievement isn’t progressing and morale is low with high dropout rates showing that effect. In the first state of the union address by Obama, he said that ‘teachers could now keep their jobs’ because of the stimulus payments districts will receive. But throughout the US, campuses in every state are cutting teachers due to a lack of funding. Texas cannot buy textbooks as the money that was earmarked for textbooks was invested in the stock market and delivered a poor return. As a result, online textbooks are becoming a must versus a want which is a good thing in my opinion albeit a different expectation that the state originally intended. I agree many teachers should be removed from the classroom, but with many districts who believe that a warm body is better than no body, hiring only quality, effective teachers becomes secondary in importance. If anyone has a great solution I am all for it.
Excellent posting, and spot on response by Kobus.
I’ve long held the belief that the real professionals in our profession are outnumbered. Those willing to research best teaching practices, differentiate instruction, and take the responsibility for every child in their classrooms are in the minority. For those who are truly professional, teaching is both exceedingly rewarding and grueling. For those who are not, well, that’s where the misconceptions come from.
Those who say that other professions cannot get away with being as “unprofessional” (not researching, staying on the cutting edge, collaborating with others in the field, etc) have a legitimate complaint. If you went to a doctor for surgery, and that doctor said that he was going to use a scalpel instead of a laser because “I’ve been doing it that way for 30 years, and it’s always worked,”
you would run from that office. Yet, teachers use the same reasoning to explain their aversion to change in the classroom.
The reasons that this is accepted in our profession are numerous, with teacher unions, misperceptions of those entering the profession, and tenure being among them.
There is not a population of better, more professional teachers out there that we can tap into to change our profession. It is true that teacher training at the university level must improve, but that will be a slow process. The teachers we have now must be convinced that changing traditional practices in the classroom is a benefit to themselves and their students. The question I have been struggling with is “How do those of us who are determined to bring about reform convince others to follow us?”
Well said, Sharon. I agree magic does happen in classrooms often and students are working through challenging and stimulating learning opportunities. Teaching is not merely a 8-3 job, it’s a full commitment that we wouldn’t do if we didn’t love it. Thank you for your insight.
MrsSmoke, thank you for your comment. Magic excites the senses, and that is precisely what good teaching can do! Thank you for adding your voice to the chorus of those of us who love teaching. You make an important point when you say that teaching is a full commitment. Fortunately, we have people like you in the system who are ready to make that promise to students. Thanks for doing all that you do for students and other educators!
MikeS, your analogy of a doctor using a scalpel instead of a laser and claiming it was acceptable because of tradition is a dead ringer for the kind of excuses I hear teachers making about adopting change. As an instructional technology integrator, I try to train teachers in new applications and encourage them to step outside their comfort zones (I call these “lazy bones comfort zones”). It’s an overwhelming challenge that many of them hesitate to undertake.
Teachers have not been held to the task of professional advancement, other than to maintain the status quo that has continued to define best practices for the past 100 years. Like the doctor still brandishing a scalpel, these teachers can still hold onto their old methods, teaching with chalk and lecture. Their administrators and the public rarely complain, but then they fret in wide-eyed amazement when statistics point out that our educational system is not as effective as it needs to be to compete globally.
Kim, thanks for reminding us about Obama’s assertion that teachers’s jobs would not need to be cut thanks to the stimulus package — unfortunately, the public doesn’t see the hidden casualties in education cuts across the nation. My job as an instructional technology integrator is being cut, for example, and I am a certified teacher who conducts staff development and models lessons for teacher in their classrooms. I work with students; I am a teacher. I’m being laid off, but because I don’t “own” a classroom of students, my district can say they aren’t cutting any teachers’ positions.
You point out that shortages in critical areas have led to substandard placement of “warm bodies” to fill the need. This is so disturbing and yet so common. Again, the general public has no clue that this type of problem exists. They only see the fact that the U.S. trails other nations in educational gains, and they blame the first scapegoats they can see on the front lines: the teachers.
Blogs and comments like this need to be read by noneducators. We need to tell the public what’s going on. Most of us who are in the educational field already know all of this, and I’m singing to the choir.
Sharon,
“They only see the fact that the U.S. trails other nations in educational gains, ”
This is not really true any more. The 2007 TIMMS report shows that we (The US) have caught up with many of the nations that were ahead of us, and we are actually showing greater improvement than any other country in the world.
See Here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009001
It’s disconcerning that neither teachers, nor the public know this, though. Just goes to show that we as educators do a poor job of highlighting our successes. Another reason why the public’s perception is askew.
Mike S., Thanks for the correction on my statement that the U.S. trails other nations in educational gains. I’ll be looking in more detail at the report you linked to, which at first glance seems to be an encouraging trend toward success in science and math acheivements. Like you, I wonder why these successes are not more publicized, especially among educators who could use the pat on the back!
To what do you attribute the success? Teaching methods? Classroom opportunities?
I would be curious to see a similar comparison among nations in reading, critical thinking skills, and the humanities. I also am interested in seeing our standing in the “soft skills” of the workplace — work ethic, teaming, and problem-solving skills.
Thank you for setting me straight!
I’m not sure why we have been more successful, although I would hesitate in crediting improved instruction. I just haven’t seen much of a change in my geographic area. I’m sure increased standards due to NCLB deserve some credit, although I have major issues w/ the law. (That’s a whole other topic).
Don’t know the reading or soft skills data as well as math, since that’s the content area I have focused much of my energy on in the past 2-3 years. I did see a report in Aug., though , that stated that we are among the world’s leaders (top 3 countries) in 4th grade native language reading ability, but by HS age we fall to the bottom 25%. The reason for this is more obvious than you would think, I’m afraid. How many high schools or middle schools actually provide explicit reading instruction. Usually in the US that ends in 5th or 6th grade.
Teaching is 99% perspiration and 199% inspiration until s/he is no longer necessary and that’s never. OK, I was never good at math but it all adds up to creating the visual images of what it really takes to be a good teacher that Sharon and others have done here. I often think about the myth when people say ‘open source’ is FREE. My answer always is NO; nothing in life is FREE, no more than a free kitten is free. It’s an investment in the future that takes time, work, caring, nuturing, and a whole lot more. Teaching is a lifetime investment that carries with it a cost; but, there is even a greater cost for bad teaching. So, let’s get rid of myths like to be a teacher is to like June, July, and August. Where do you think teachers spend their summers? If you said in the classroom or attending conferences, then you are correct and many times at their own expense. Kudos for this inspiration!
Thank you, Bill! I’m particularly struck by your statement, “Teaching is a lifetime investment that carries with it a cost; but there is even a greater cost for bad teaching.” It’s time for us to start thinking about how to identify ineffective teachers and either supportively remediate and retrain them or eliminate them from the system. This is a sticky, delicate issue in areas where tenure and political clout rule the districts!
This is a great article, and I don’t have much to say that wouldn’t be repetitive. However, I will say that I worked in the private sector before finishing my degree in education.
What I did everyday was about 10% “work,” 50% reading stuff on the internet, 10% homework, 10% playing the Wii in the breakroom, 10% paid lunch break, and 10% blogging. As a teacher, you go 100% all day with 20 minutes of rushed lunch, 50 minutes to “plan” and I don’t think anyone could accuse you of–and I’ll use a popular corporate term–”time theft” in this field.
I am a career switcher, too, Steve, and I know what you mean about “time theft.” In the world outside education, workers have much more leniency in the way they spend their minutes throughout the day. It was shocking to me to find out I had to figure out a time and actually plan to use the restroom between classes and that I couldn’t make phone calls during the day except during planning periods. In my experience, for every day I’ve been in the classroom, it took me about 3 days to get as much done in my former job. (Don’t tell my former employer this, though!) Thanks for your perspective. “Outsiders” like you who come into the education field from another career are allowed a unique point of view that I wish all noneducators could experience. Thank you for coming into the educational field and serving the students and our future!
Clearly, teachers are having widespread and persistent problems with negative images of their profession. But I would not be so quick to dismiss such perceptions as simply “misconceptions” and “stereotypes.” That dismissal might make teachers feel good when they converse among themselves; it’s not likely to resonate as completely true for many persons outside of the profession, who are basing their views on their first-hand experiences as students. Of course, teachers are not to blame for all the problems in education or the social conditions that make education difficult. Yet Paul Simon touched a raw nerve in a lot of people when he sang, “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.” And who can forget that memorable verse from Pink Floyd: “We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teachers leave them kids alone. Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!” Who among us does not know that “dark sarcasm in the classroom” was a reality for too many students? Looking back as an adult, I remember a few good teachers from my public school education. I remember many, many more who were not all that kind, bright, or skillful. More than a few were blatantly sadistic, subjecting students to emotional and physical abuse. Some seemed like frustrated comedians more than educators, though even their attempts at humor were often just thinly veiled acts of hostility directed at students. Many people could fill a book with anecdotes of teacher bullying that would not seem out of place in a Dickens novel. The teaching profession will improve more quickly if it owns up to its share of the image problem, admitting candidly that it’s not all groundless “misconception.”
Hey, Steve you had a lot to say… thanks for the transparent analysis over time of your before and after.
Sharon, your comment “It’s time for us to start thinking about how to identify ineffective teachers and either supportively remediate and retrain them or eliminate them from the system. This is a sticky, delicate issue in areas where tenure and political clout rule the districts!” From my years in participating as a member of my university-wide as well as department evaluation groups (UEG/DEG), this is indeed difficult and sensitive. But, this would make for an interesting blog/discussion. As we evaluate our learners’ performance so too it should be with our teachers, even after tenure; ‘time’ is the revealing factor. If they are ‘good’ before tenure, they are ‘good’ after; if they are ‘bad’ before then they are ‘bad’ after. So, are there any remedies?
Exactly and Amen, Mark! The teaching profession does, indeed, need to own up to its mistakes and find a way to weed out the bad teachers who are harming not only the profession’s reputation but, more importantly, the students in their care.
Probably all of us have experienced or witnessed the sarcasm you describe, and these unpleasant encounters often spread their poison so pervasively that they color the entire school experience in a distasteful light. A single black drop of ink in a glass of clear water will turn the entire glass a darker color — in the same way, negative encounters with bad teachers overshadow experiences with good and supportive teachers.
In most teachers’ defense, I would venture to guess that the majority of teachers you encountered were positive and nurturing people who cared about you, but they are not as memorable because they ushered you along in your development quietly, without emotional noise and trauma. On the other hand, those teachers who offended you (and I admit there are far too many like that out there!) had much more impact, unfortunately, and were more memorable in a negative way. If this is not the case, I am appalled and apologetic on behalf of my profession, because teaching should be a higher calling of beneficence and altruistic intentions to help students, not an emotional boxing ring.
Another thought: I would suggest that memories are often selective and emotional — and teachers have become a convenient “reason” many people say they didn’t enjoy school. While teachers may have had much to do with their experience, some negative memories of school are related to other conflicts or issues: academic achievement, social pressures, distressed home lives, adolescent angst, for example. Teachers — good and bad — often become the embodiment of “society” or authority, cramping students’ style and freedom. It’s easy to relate to Pink Floyd’s song when you’re a teenager who would rather not be in school, but it probably wasn’t the teachers alone who created that mood.
That said, I agree with you that there are too many deadbeats, malcontents, and — well, let’s call it what it is: bullies — teaching in our schools. I believe this is unacceptable, despicable, and must be corrected. Perhaps this is an unfortunate consequence of an educational system that has allowed its teachers to operate in isolated, island-like classrooms with closed doors, without being subject to regular reviews and professional scrutiny.
Teachers need to invite this scrutiny and welcome professional, constructive criticism. I regularly polled students and parents with surveys and asked for honest feedback about my teaching style and classroom climate, and adjusted my methods accordingly to be more responsive to their needs. I also was fortunate to work for top quality peers and administrators who often showed up in my class unannounced, as well as coming in regularly for formal observations. If more teachers faced reviews and observations as a matter of course, I think you would see the bullies and deadweights leave the profession (as they should).
Thank you so much for another point of view! I hope you will remember a few good teachers you had and give them a virtual hug to thank them. As for the bad teachers, I wish I could tell them face-on what I think of them!
In response specifically to the poll at the top, teachers should be be the ones doing peer reviews of one another in order to judge effectiveness. We, as a society, do not want cops policing cops and doctors policing doctors. Same is true of teachers. We (I am a teacher) will wind up just looking out for one another and most will be afraid of true critique. Somehow, we need an outside, but educated, entity to be able to judge the effectiveness of a teacher. And a one time observation will not cut it either.