What They Can't Teach You About Teaching

Teaching is exactly what I pictured and yet very different at the same time. I cannot begin to count the times I have thought "I have no idea what I'm doing..." or "No one told me how to handle this!" or "I just made 95% of that up on the spot and I'm not sure it was right." I hope I'm not the only one :)

I feel that I have been taught much more than I have taught this year. My principal is incredible and he often says, "I think you're getting better every day!" But there are many days when I think "You might not say that if you had been in X period." Nevertheless, I can say that I am not the same teacher or even the same person that I was on our first day of school last Fall.

I have come to believe that there are aspects of being a teacher that simply cannot be taught. My professors tried to warn me of this in their own way, but living it out can be somewhat shocking! These are a few things that I think you cannot teach someone about teaching.

• Discipline ... Oh sure, people give you ideas and help you write your "Expectations and Consequences," but no one can truly prepare you for the first time a student lies to your face or challenges your authority in front of the class, etc, etc.
• Writing and Grading Quizzes/Tests ... Is this question worth 2 points or 5? How much do I count off when a student rounds to nearest whole instead of the tenth as instructed? How long will it take my students to complete a test? If several students fail, did I teach the material well enough or did I make the test too hard? BLAH.
• Conversing with parents ... I have been blessed with mostly supportive parents, but it is never an easy conversation when you must say "Your child is failing math." And no one can dictate your reply when a parent asks "Why does my child only have an 89%?"
• Physical health / Voice training ... Vitamin C and washing your hands won't keep you 100% healthy when you're with kids all day. Trust me, I've tried. In addition, talking/standing for almost 6 hours a day can wear on your body in general if you're not careful, but it's the worst when you're sick. This is not a "suck it up and lay low" type of job.

Finally, no one can fully teach you the amount of love that you will experience both for your students and from them... No one mentions the disappointment you'll feel when they let you down or when they don't perform well. No one can describe the way you'll cheer for them and work for their success. "My kids" (i.e. my students) are wonderful and terrible. They're good and bad, clever and ridiculous... And I love them because they're mine.