i wish that there were real teachers like this.

I am a high school teacher and trust me you will not end up like her, you will not inspire all, you WILL help the ones that want it. Trust me the kids that are saying "I never get help" from this teacher or that teacher dont actually want it. They want to lay their laziness off as being someone elses fault theyre failing. You can say it all you want about how great youre going to be or how much youre going to care but trust me you cant care and try and "save" the ones that dont want it. At first you will try to get to them but its a lost cause for most of the ones who dont want the help they just want to do as little as possible and then have someone give them a free ride at the end of grading period.

I have had students who claimed that their "teachers won't help them or anything". What this frequently boiled down to is that their teachers were eager to help them, but required the students to put in their share of the effort. Teachers commonly offer tutoring or study help to students, yet sit in empty classrooms waiting for students to come and get the assistance. Teachers commonly explain different ways to accomplish things, yet are ignored by students. What a lot of students mean when they say they want "help" is that they want someone else to do their work for them, or excuse them from doing the work.


Early in my teaching career, I spent two years teaching English and ESL at an "urban" "Title One" high school.

My "case load" during the school year was from 120-180 students. Because I was an eager new teacher, and the teaching textbooks recommended such things, I went in an hour early and opened my classroom for tutoring/small group study for 45 minutes every morning. My normal attendance for morning tutoring was only 1-4 students.

I spent hours each week on the telephone trying to contact parents to set up meetings and get them involved in helping their students to succeed. I attended my students sporting events and other extracurricular activities to support them in the areas where they worked and achieved - and used those events to meet their coaches and parents, and got them involved in helping to translate that type of effort and success into academic effort and success.

I was one of the first teachers into the building every morning, and was often thrown out by the custodial staff so they could lock the building at night. I spent well over 10% of my pre-tax income on books and supplies for my classroom, because many of my students came from homes where there was not a single book. I found three slightly older computers, installed Word on them, and linked them to a printer, so students could do word processing in my room. I worked with outside organizations to get grants to bring books and materials into my classroom. During our school breaks, I hosted study groups for my students at local coffee shops and libraries, worked on curriculum development with some of my colleagues, caught up with my grading, and attended seminars on how to improve my teaching skills. I had no personal life during that time - my garden died off, I didn't date, and became a stranger to friends and family.

My average student entered my class with a reading level five grades below what they should have entered with. My average student raised their reading level by almost three grade levels while in my class (a better average improvement than almost any other English teacher in our district). Writing skills improved at a similar level.

Since they started so far below grade level, this means that they still didn't finish the year at the proper grade level (despite the improvement). Some say that I "failed" as a teacher, because students were not exiting my class at grade level (never mind that they had been socially advanced through five years or more before ever reaching me). Some say that I am too strict or demanding. Some say I don't get it", or am "out of touch", because of my age, skin color, and first career. Most say that I'm a good teacher. Some of my former students tell me that I am the best teacher they ever had - that study skills and attitudes that they learned from me are the thing that kept them out of prison, allowed them to graduate, convinced them to go to college, or helped them to reach other goals - wile that group includes students who merely came to class ready to learn, it also includes almost every student that showed up regularly for those morning tutoring/study skills sessions - the ones who chose to accept the help I offered to them. It also includes most of the students who I was lucky enough to have for a second year - students who I could get right into the teaching with, instead of having to spend time developing the teacher-student relationship, and establishing respect and boundaries with.

I am not a remarkable teacher - I am better than average, but not remarkable. There are a lot of real teachers who are "like this".

This is an excellent post. This is so true. So many teachers are the complete opposite of this.

This

That is so cool. When I'm a teacher, I'll attempt to attend an event or invite her to talk at my school. One more year.