why we stay.

Posted on November 6, 2023 by Ms. Beth Hughes

reason #1: the teaching.

If COVID Teaching taught us anything, it’s that teaching is far more than just knowing our content and telling it to our students. If it were just about delivering content, then Zoom teaching would’ve been more successful. (For the older students–at least in ELA, it actually worked overall. Otherwise, programs like VHS Learning, launched in 1996, would’ve closed its doors by now. I’ve been teaching for them for the last decade, and online learning works, folks–just not for everyone.)

While I’m sure I’m biased, I can at least speak from experience: Teaching is a force. We can’t lecture for 54 minutes, 180 days of the year, and say that learning took place. It’s so much more than that.

It’s knowing how to best engage the group in front of us–and more specifically, how to engage, say, D block (because what worked for B block will absolutely not work for D block). Knowing how to best assess student learning (which is seldom last year’s quiz/test, even though it’s at-the-ready). And then knowing when and how to stop and reteach what hasn’t been grasped (even though it will throw off the learning schedule we spent weeks crafting). Knowing how to modify our curriculum so we treat students fairly (but not necessarily equally because students have different learning needs, educational documentation, etc.) Knowing when to correct behavior and when to opt out of dying on a particular hill on a particular day–and whether to do so publicly or one-on-one and whether to involve guidance and/or administration and/or home.

It’s so much more than getting a warm body into the classroom (although some states beg to differ). That’s babysitting. On the contrary, teaching is an art that requires over 1500 decisions in a single day.

At home, I struggle getting one teenager to look up from his phone long enough to grunt what he wants for dinner. At school, I’m tasked with getting 100+ students to look up from their phones/computers the entire period to care about what I’ve prepared for them. That’s an art, people.

Creating lessons to do just that is one of the reasons that many of us curriculum-lovers have stuck around.

reason # 2: the challenge.

While teaching is hard work, that’s not the challenge I’m referring to here. One of the reasons I’ve stayed is because of the intellectual and personal challenge it requires. It has never been a Phone-It-In kind of gig. Finding new ways to freshen up a stale lesson is challenging, time-consuming, and rewarding all at once. And trying my best to keep and maintain the attention of tech-reliant learners is a daily challenge–one that I accept ~~despite my complaints about phones in class~~.

Before COVID and cell phones and streaming services, we complained about student engagement. My own teachers back in the Stone Age would say that the “Walkman” was the devil and that kids were spending too much time playing PacMan or listening to Glam Rock or ________. You fill in the blank. This was before the internet and Tech Neck and Screen Time Usage alerts. (I told you it was the Stone Age!) And while keeping students engaged is absolutely harder now than it was even five years ago, these are the students that are sitting in front of me, and this is the challenge I’ve been given.

reason #3: the flexibility.

One of my favorite aspects of teaching is the flexibility. I don’t mean like when you need to take the afternoon to wait for the plumber. Creating sub plans makes that 10 times harder when you’re a teacher.

I mean the fact that as a teacher, I am largely trusted to teach the standards the way I see fit. Which I appreciate the most. I know the students in front of me better than anyone else, so a One-Size-Fits-All curriculum where we’d all have to be on, say, Lesson 97a on April 4th would make me run for the hills. That’s one of the biggest reasons I’ve stayed: I’m given the flexibility to meet my students where they are. Not all districts allow this much autonomy; it truly is priceless.

reason #4: the colleagues.

Not every district, school, or department is going to be the right fit. So, if you don’t feel valued for all that you’re contributing where you are, there’s a position or two out there right now. However, hopefully, you do feel respected and valued, and hopefully, you routinely receive unique feedback (vs. the blanket Attagirl).

With age comes an increased responsibility (e.g., aging parents, college tuition payments, costly house repairs), often shrinking our circles a little. However, last spring, I walked out of a faculty meeting and had three separate conversations with colleagues who were either walking or had already walked the leg of the journey I was on with my now-deceased mom. Hopefully, your circle includes colleagues like that, too. Or, at the very least, a Teacher Bestie that gets you, supports you, and sends you funny memes when you should both be grading.

reason #5: the administration.

You couldn’t pay me to be an administrator. Literally. When two close colleagues left to pursue administration, I grappled with a lot of things. Being left behind. Feeling like I lacked ambition because I “only” wanted to be a teacher. And just an overall sense of sadness. However, I quickly realized that the students are why I stay in the classroom, and the way that I prefer to interact with them is as their teacher. I can come to school, shut my door, and do my job–without having to worry about all of the things that burden our administrators. And having a strong, supportive administrative team–and department leaders–allows me to come to school, shut my door, and do my job. That’s good stuff.

reason #6: the parents.

In our education classes, we were warned about The Parents. You know the ones. Rather than teaching their student about self-advocacy, they blast off an email without a second thought. No censoring. No editing. And often to someone of a higher rank than the teacher. I liken that to contacting the CEO of McDonald’s when the fries at my local franchise are cold. (If you’re the parent that goes right to the CEO, please, out of respect for your student and their teacher, at the secondary level, encourage your student to self-advocate, and at the lower level, contact the teacher first.)

However, I think the 5% Rule applies here. If a teacher has 100-150 students on their case load, I’m willing to bet that 95% percent of those parents and guardians are supportive and appreciative of all that’s done for their learners. (Honestly, after spending that much face-to-face time with my own kids during the shutdown, I appreciated their teachers even more!) It’s the 5% about whom there are hushed conversations during preps and weekend text messages and even entire books.

But it’s the 95% partnering with us that make us stay. (The Grace I received after losing my parents was like no other job, which you can read about here.)

reason #7: the students.

Another takeaway from COVID Teaching? Having warm bodies directly in front of us makes teaching what it is. More than any other factor, the students keep us coming back.

Are they different than the group that sat in front of us pre-pandemic? Sure. But I’m different, too. And despite that, they need adults who love and believe in them. That part of the job didn’t change and is what we signed up for. Let’s face it: If teaching were only about loving our subject (which, for the record, I so do), there are far more lucrative–and much easier!–ways to be immersed in it. Sharing our knowledge with learners is what it’s all about. While that sounds like common sense, it’s the reminder I need when tempted to recalculate my Retirement Date. (It’s March 3rd, 2031, if you’re playing at home.)

My daughter is currently studying early childhood education. (She was toying with high school history until three of her high school teachers–two of whom made her fall in love with history–told her not to. Awesome.) She’ll be great wherever she ends up–whether that’s the classroom or a different field altogether.

But when she asks why I stay, I now have seven definitive reasons to share with her.

Which I’ll be doing right after I hit PUBLISH.