Ah, the cynical tone of by neurobiology professor in college. Apparently, he thought that teaching science wasn't all it's cracked up to be...or rather, he wanted me to realize what I was getting myself into.
You see, it turns out that "nearly 50% of beginning teachers leave their jobs in the first five years". That figure comes from a study done in 2003 by Richard Ingersoll. 50%? 50%! That's kind of a lot.
But I kept my head held high and finished my bachelor's degree in biology, then went on to complete a teacher prep program that led to my initial educators certification in 7-12 biology.
And now I'm starting to see where these figures play in and what my professor was getting at...
First of all, it has been very difficult to even find a teaching position. I have been doing a lot of long-term subbing, and after school tutoring but no permanent positions.
Second, (and as my students would say), OMG THIS IS HARD. Hopefully, any veteran teachers will get a chuckle out of that statement and other newbie teachers will agree. Teaching is not 180 days of going in to your classroom, talking at your kids for 7 hours and then getting the summers off. There is a lot of work. Just planning a lesson involves organizing your information in a way that will grab your students' attention (in my case, a room full of 15-year olds), using data to differentiate instruction so you can reach ALL of the kids in your classroom, finding a meaningful way to assess that the kids actually learned something, collect more data, and then reflect on whether or not the lesson you just spent 5 hours planning actually worked. And then you do it all over again for Tuesday. Then there is making sure that Billy isn't kicking Jessica while you pass out papers (yes, this happens in high school, too), that you return a phone call to Johnny's parents to explain that the reason he didn't get an "A" on the test was because he answered the essay question with "IDK", and finding time to meet with your administration for a performance assessment.
Now, at first I found all of this to be very overwhelming. Honestly, I think that if any new teacher isn't overwhelmed at the beginning there is something wrong. Here's where that 50% of teachers leaving statistic comes into play. About half of new teachers in the first couple years get bombarded with all of this and say, "Nope...I'm out". And off they go.
I don't plan on being one of those people (and nothing against them, by the way...there are plenty of other jobs that need doing). Here's why: despite the obnoxious amounts of work that generally teachers do not get credit for (because, quite frankly, the general public just has NO idea), I am having FUN. Genuine, honest-to-goodness fun teaching science.
The subject I teach, biology, is fun. I mean, c'mon...it's LIFE. I get to teach about how we're alive, how dragonflies are alive, the importance of algae, why zebras have stripes, and why spongiform encephalopathy is fun to say but not fun to have.
And the kids I have are great. Sometimes they're whiny, sometimes they're dinks, but when you take the time to get to know them, they're all pretty cool. That is what makes teaching fun for me. I had to realize pretty quickly that not everyone is going to like science as much as I do (a real shocker, I know), but the challenge and ultimately what I am finding enjoyment in...is how to get the kids to appreciate science.
Take this one kid...I'll call him...Joey Joe Joe Shabadoo. Joey Joe Joe lives and breathes baseball. Can't get enough of it and doesn't have time in his life for anything else. Science was just getting in the way of pitching practice. Well, with a little effort on my part, I got to talking baseball with Joey Joe Joe and even snuck in some things about fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles. Now all of a sudden he has time to work on his anatomy and physiology homework.
This blog is intended to be a running commentary of my triumphs and failings as a new biology teacher. I invite others in the same situation (or veterans that have had similar situations) to read, comment and share. Collaboration with peers is the best way to keep newbies in the game.
