Editor’s Note: In the September 8th edition of the New York Teacher, we invited new teachers to write about their experiences during their first year in New York City. You will find these on listed under the New Teacher Diaries category. If you’re a first year teacher reading this and would like to submit posts to the blog send an email telling us a little about yourself to blog@uft.org. These posts are not meant to be explored for policy implications, or muckraking journalism, they are only a cateologue of the thoughts of first year teachers in New York City, and something we hope you enjoy reading.
Being a new teacher is not easy. I survived day 1, day 2, day 3 and even day 4, but not without an enormous amount of preparation and flailing along the way. I spent hours and hours preparing for lessons, only to have some of them totally flop. Some things worked, and others did not. I didn’t realize all the work that goes into planning each day, each lesson, and each activity. I didn’t realize just how much heart and soul goes in to teaching every hour of every day. Or is that just because I am a new teacher?
In my new teacher orientation I received a bag (which I am beginning to realize is common practice for all training sessions) on the outside it reads "PROUD TEACHER." I have carried that bag with me each day of school, and two out of my four days as a "proud [new] teacher", I have received comments on this saying.
One teacher laughingly pointed out that she could tell I was new. When I asked why, she pointed to my bag. Are veteran teachers no longer proud? The first time I laughed, thinking she meant it was just obvious because I was using a bag given to me by the Board of Ed. I told her there were probably many other ways she could tell I was new, such as not knowing what the photo copy process was or because of the way I fiddled with my key in the lock upon entering the room. I came to realize later, that what she was referring to was the word "proud".
Well, yes, I am new and I am proud. It was not until I heard the second comment a few days later that I truly started to ponder this issue. The second comment stopped me in my tracks and left me at a loss for words. I was walking down the hall between periods, feeling good because my freshman class had just successfully completed an activity, when again a veteran teacher began laughing at my bag. She said, "Just wait till you’ve been teaching for a few years."
What happens then? Will I not be proud of all the work I have done over the years? Will I not be proud of where my past students are at that time? What happens in teachers’ careers that makes them so cynical and so NOT proud to be a teacher? I am aware that it is not all teachers, and maybe not even the majority of teachers, who become cynical. In fact, upon joining the field I have felt a great sense of community, but what happens to those fews?
I was somewhat unable to respond to this second comment. I wanted to adamantly say, "I am proud and I don’t think that in 5 or even 10 years that will change."
7 Comments:
1 get_me_a_contract
· Sep 14, 2005 at 8:06 pm
To the new teacher–
I am an 18 year veteran and extremely proud of all I have done for my students, but also disgusted and nauseated by what the DOE is doing–micromanageing and belittling teachers….taking the joys out of teaching…taking the creativity out of teaching. There are no teachable moments anymore….
We are working for a vindictive system that treats its staff and its students like garbage (and worse). Students’ educational needs are ignored. Classes are overcrowded (hey, the mayor got the smaller classes initiative off the ballot in November), poorly funded and school buildings range from nice to awful (with most probably being awful).
Why are teachers cynical? Because we have seen politics infuse into the system like never before. I mean–a teacher is given a directive not only to post student work, but how to post the student work on the bulletin board and even what comments s/he can make on the post it notes we now have to use. It is the fifth day of class and we are expected to have publishable work on our bulletin boards (when most of the students didn’t even come last week and when program changes are constantly changing our rosters).
The DOE is clueless. Yeah, the kids are great. I love teaching my students. I love helping them and I appreciate that I have been able to make a lasting impression on so many. Like most teachers, I would sacrifice almost everything to help them succeed. This is how NYC teachers operate.
The cynicism comes when people who have never been in the classroom (like Bloomberg) or who haven’t been in a classroom in 30 plus years (like Klein) create educational policy that is ridiculous…and we all know what these policies are.
I don’t think they are laughing that you are proud. I think they are laughing because you are naive and still think that the DOE is a benevolent bureaucracy that is concerned about student welfare and student achievement. I am proud of all I have done. I am disgusted with my work environment and the new rigidness being imposed on us teachers. The workshop model is not a panacea. Four square writing is not the only way to teach writing. Some students don’t like to use graphic organizers…etc. etc. And most students like sitting in the now forbidden rows. Students, parents and teachers (but especially students) are completely disenfranchised from the DOE and have no say in their education under Bloomberg/Klein. Read this blog and other people’s blogs. You will understand the cynicism…..
I am so sad to feel this way because I was so idealistic. I am still idealistic about my students, but I just dread working in my school where the “suits” are always there looking to enforce their nonsense.
2 achien
· Sep 14, 2005 at 10:17 pm
Hello -
This is my 7th year teaching, and I asked myself the very same question over and over again.
I have to agree with “get me a contract”. My students are THE core reason I love what I do. I learn from them as much as they learn from me. I am SO proud of them when they succeed, both intellectually and as young adults. I really don’t mind staying late with them for tutoring, or thinking about them wee hours of the night to make their next learning day special. Juggling teaching and a personal life was a struggle at first, but like all jobs, we all learned.
What I am NOT proud of is the state of the education profession in this country. Education pretty much has been pushed to the back burner in America. The negative attention in the media make teaching sound like as if its a job for degenerates. Its no longer a noble profession – teaching is seemed as “easy” to the public, and apparently, a job that you can earn a quick buck.
But heck, if I really cared about what the public thinks of my job, I wouldn’t have one. My attitude is, if you think its so easy, why not try it yourself – then we can have a REAL conversation. Until then, my students and I will have fun making pinhole cameras and learn to develop their own photos in science class.
3 WebMachiavelli
· Sep 18, 2005 at 1:15 am
Personally you people sound like unless the union was running the entire school system you would never be happy about the direction you would recieve from your management. I could be wrong but it is the vibe you give off.
4 WebMachiavelli
· Sep 19, 2005 at 3:53 pm
To the new teacher I just realized I forgot to post something very important. Congrats on the job and thank you for actually being willing to teach in a New York City Public School. Good luck with the first year. I hope you keep us updated on your progress.
5 firefly
· Sep 19, 2005 at 4:46 pm
Webmachiavelli,
Actually I think you are wrong (see your post, two posts ago) and do not hink that is the “vibe” that get_me_a_contract and achien and giving off.
They both seem like level-headed, good, caring teachers to me who don’t need to be micro-managed to get their job done.
Are you a teacher? I question because you don’t seem to have any understanding at all about….well anything. What IS your point, anyway?
6 Persam1197
· Sep 20, 2005 at 9:24 pm
To the new teacher,
Congratulations on your appointment and best wishes! I have to concur with get-me-a-contract. As a teacher of 13 years, I still am idealistic about our profession and I look forward to going to work every day. However, it sickens my heart to see the state of education today. We have corporate raiders who know nothing about education treating us like garbage. I’m not saying that the old Board of Education was perfect; it was not. But, it won’t take you long to realize that the DOE (or is it the DOA?) is not working in the best interests of you or your kids.
Look at the sweet deal no-bid contracts (e.g. Snapple, West-Ed, the Aussies, etc.), the amazingly inexperienced administrators supervising us, the overcrowding, the micromanagement, the deteriorating infrastructure, etc.
We’ve been through scores of education du jour policies that change as surely as death and taxes. This does not mean that we are less than enthusiastic with our kids; it does mean, however, that we are keenly aware of the political winds that are driving policy and it all boils down to back door profiteering, incompetance, and a systemic disregard for the very kids we love. Hang in there! This too shall pass.
7 WebMachiavelli
· Sep 21, 2005 at 3:42 am
My point is no one ever actually states what it they want in that contract other than the obvious. Over all it seems the ranks of the union are unhappy with the current management but too often when they speak negatively about them they mention things that no normal person blame on them.(e.g. deteriorating infastructure, over crowding, etc.)
In the post before this one the person complaines about the micromangement which I found a but funny because I always assumed you guys weren’t guided nearly often enough under the previous BOE. Maybe it feels like you are being micormanage because the previous managers were too hands off?