The letter that should have come with my diploma

Dear New Teacher,

Congratulations! You are about to get (under)paid as you start your career and make a difference in the lives of students!

Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it: Teach the state standards and bring all students up to grade level while simultaneously preparing productive citizens for a competitive global society.

Your tools? Your student teaching experience, the best practices you learned at our fine institution, whatever resources you can find on the Internet, and the colleagues at your new school.

Keep in mind as you go about completing your mission that you will need to successfully navigate around the following pitfalls:
  • Insufficient supplies
  • Pressure from your administration, district, state, and nation to get your students to perform well on standardized tests
  • Accountability paperwork. This includes turning in weekly lesson plans, writing IEP's, goal/objective tracking, behavior documentation and assessment reporting. If you thought you went into this for the kids, think again. Your job is to do the necessary paperwork to prove you are teaching the necessary skills.
  • Lack of administrative support, and in some cases, respect
  • Attending meeting after meeting and training after training. Some will be useful, most won't. In any case, wave bye-bye to your planning time!
  • Thinking you can do it all while staying happy, healthy, and sane
Now that we have fulfilled our obligation to warn you of the potential danger of your mission, we can officially launch you into the Real World of Teaching.

Ready, set, GO!!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow!
I just recently found your blog, I am a teacher as well, and I couldn't agree more. Great Letter!

Randy et Jan said...

Sounds like this could be a newspaper editorial to me!! With someone else's name attached to it, of course! Mom

Anonymous said...

Yes, this description fits many of the helping professions, where govt has mandated sooo much documentation that it interferes terribly with the helping process. And apparently there is no ceiling on paperwork! Hang in there Sarah...you will make a difference to your kids in spite of this.
Love, Brenda

Sarah said...

Lol! I'm taking a break from all my RTI forms on my students - how appropriate!

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm...can't think of anything appropriate to say...how about commenting on the delicious lunches served at your public schools...maybe that great custodial staff...or the public schools being an incubator for the upcoming plague...

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm...can't think of anything appropriate to say...how about commenting on the delicious lunches served at your public schools...maybe that great custodial staff...or the public schools being an incubator for the upcoming plague...

Hannah said...

Well, thank the Lord you have a steady, good paying job! Hang on dearly to the moments that give you joy:)

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