You Thought Wrong!
People have it all wrong when it comes to teachers.
So, after a year of being a world renowned tiktoker (Well I would be if you all followed me), I’ve come to realize that the public has a lot of misconceptions about the teaching profession. While there are MNAY I could address, I want to focus on the top 4 I’ve seen.
#1 Paid Summer Vacations
Now this is the biggest misconception I’ve seen so far. So much so that I made 2 TikTok’s explaining equalized pay and summer pay . So let’s set the record straight. We, as teachers, do NOT get paid during the summer. We are only paid for the hours we work. For my district that’s 7.33 hours a day for 196 days a year. We are considered 10-month employees. If you know a teacher that collects a check over the summer, it is because money was held from each of their checks during the school year. We are also on equalized pay so that all checks are about the same, so for a typical 2-week period we work 73.33 but our biweekly checks are for 64 hours.
#2 Teacher are glorified babysitters
Now this one may sound absurd to you, but I had someone comment on a TikTok saying this. This one is specifically said about elementary schoolteachers. What we do as teachers is nowhere near babysitting. What we do in elementary school is nowhere NEAR babysitting. I’ll be moving back to 1st grade this year and what we have foundational skills, phonics, language arts, math, science, AND social studies. All these subjects are taught DAILY. We only have students for 7 hours. Within that time that must eat breakfast, lunch, go to resource, recess (which is mandated), and be taught 6 subjects. What about that give babysitter? If anything it’s giving tired.
#3 Teachers sit behind a desk all day
In my Tynisha Keli voice “Wiiiiiiishful thiiiiiinking. Thats all it ever was”. Do ya’ll remember her? I still play her songs lol Okay so there is NO down time during the school day! The expectation is that we’re up on our feet teaching all day. The only time most principals find it acceptable for teachers to be sitting is if they are working with a small group. In fact, most teachers don’t even have desks anymore, they just have a kidney tables for small group instruction.
#4 Anyone can be a teacher
Now with the relaxed requirements to become a teacher, almost anyone can but everyone shouldn’t. There are several skills required to be an effective teacher. Some of those include the following:
o Communications skills- you’ll need to know how to communicate effectively with both students and your peers.
o Patience- Specifically in elementary school, you’ll spend a lot of your day repeating yourself.
o Adaptability- you’ll spend hours planning a lesson that is a complete failure and will have to restructure your day on the spot.
And these are just a FEW of the necessary skills.
Teachers, what are some other misconceptions you believe people have about us and our role?
