Monday, March 23, 2015

Why I Stick Around

I just saw this article posted this morning, contemplating why some teachers decide to stay in education despite the immense challenges faced in this field right now. I thought I'd add my two cents for anyone who's interested.

I have been teaching since 1991 and I don't plan to leave it. I admit that over the past 5 years, I have contemplated leaving teaching. Some of the reasons I thought about getting out included


  • the way Common Core has been implemented
  • the implementation of PARCC testing and other high-stakes testing
  • the general attitude of hostility toward teachers from the media and general public
  • administrators and parents who are unsupportive of what teachers do (caveat -- this does not mean ALL parents and ALL administrators; it only takes 1 or 2 to make an absolute mess, trust me)
  • decreasing autonomy
  • increased workload
  • flawed evaluation systems
  • workplace politics
I'm still here, though, and I have no intentions of leaving. Why do I stay?

  • I love education.
  • I love kids.
  • I love seeing the ways kids' faces light up when they finally "get" something difficult that they have been trying to learn.
  • Education is not a job to me -- it is a calling. I always wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Always.
  • Did I mention the kids?
The reasons to leave this field are easily quantifiable and identified. The reasons to stay, not so much. It's something that is in my blood. It is just part of who I am. The reasons I stay in teaching are based in emotion, not tasks. When I am teaching in a classroom, talking with, laughing with, and guiding my students, I am at my happiest, professionally speaking. The times when I am miserable are rarely when I am with the kids. They are when I am in a meeting or when I am reading an email or when I am on a phone call.

Why do I stay in education? Because I am a teacher and that's all I have ever wanted to be.

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