Pressures and Dedication


I feel for teachers who are working under the myriad of pressures existent today. An example is a teacher in one school who has had cases of lice in her classroom time and again. She told me that every time they think they have the problem licked, the lice rear their ugly heads (or whatever a louse rears) again. She is a second year teacher (we all know the intense work load a newer teacher faces from developing an elementary school learning program) and along with this is very embarrassed that the situation continues to reoccur, no matter everything the school is doing. She also apologized to me because she hasn’t gotten her class blog off and running this year as she had last year. (Last year she was a first year teacher having third graders blogging – she’s a brave and visionary person!)

Another teacher has been expecting technology to be installed and operative for quite a while. She said “We've all been there...when you're waiting for something, because it's been spoken about so many times...it's got to happen...and the waiting continues. The poor students hear how excited you are but never see it happen.”

A third teacher noted “Isn't it sad that often as teachers in order to get things done, we have to, and are almost always expected to give up so much of our time? Of course many of us do because we care, that is why we became teachers, right? Maybe if we were given freedom like we used to, we'd be able to do a lot more during the school day. Unfortunately, I feel like we are being dictated to so much of what we have to teach and how to teach it, that the creativity and freedom that I loved so much about being a teacher is slipping away.”

I was working with a fourth teacher whose students were receiving their individual laptops today. She is expected to teach how to use the laptops, a process that could take up to a week of class time. When reviewing the changes to her lesson scheduling, she sighed and said “We were lectured this morning on the importance of improving grades. Now I have to put aside what I was going to do to teach all this instead.” She’s not at all unhappy about the laptops, just about more to do.

Teaching is an outstanding career choice for those who love learning, care for children and who wish to help others. Of the many qualities of a good teacher is the ability to deal with almost anything and to try to make the best of it. I tip my hat to these dedicated people who try to do their best, no matter all the pressures that come.