Folks, I have received two comments lately in which teachers have shared their belief that I’m lucky to be able to get to the literature part of teaching. I published the first. The second was linked to a site that made me wonder if the comment might be spam. In any case, if you do not enjoy teaching where you are teaching, please remember that this blog is not your forum to complain about your job. I think that’s not very wise anyway, but even so, if you have problems with your job, there is little complaining here about it can do to resolve the situation, and such comments do nothing to further conversation here.
4 thoughts on “Negativity PSA”
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Thank you…not only is this blog very useful but it stays on track…nicely done.
john
whoops.. one of those might have been me. But I think it was misinterpreted. I'm not even a teacher, I just work with the same age group as you, and they happen to be gang-involved. I guess I was more just marveling at how two very different worlds can exist for young adults. For the kids I work with, similes and symbolic analysis fall way behind not getting shot on their list of daily priorities. In any case, I love my job!
That's good to hear. Working with kids in any capacity is hard work, but worth it.
As I read this post, I was reminded of a quote from the movie, "The Great Debaters," which I show to my eighth grade students each year before we take our persuasive essays and turn them into debates. It gives them a good perspective on civil rights and what a formal debate looks like. In any case, the quote is, "We do what we have to so that we can do what we want to." This should be posted in every teacher's classroom to remind them that losing that positive feeling is natural, and we have to push ourselves to regain it and maintain it so that we are able to push our students to learn and grow. And for those who only teach for the summer's off, well, we teach so we can live! =) That said, Jack Berckemeyer's quote of "Find the funny" also helps to keep that positive attitude in light of so many strenuous aspects of teaching, including student attitude. Thank you for your post, and this blog – I get tired of hearing people complain about teaching; I love education and I learn just as much from teaching as I did from sitting in the chairs my students do! Your blog pushes me to reach for more each day in my classroom.