S/O from MCPS Troll Playground to Thoughts On Becoming a Teacher

[Anonymous]

Maybe more than one Happy Teacher? It's hard to tell. nd she needs four periods not three....

[Anonymous]

NP, here. I think this sums it up for me.


Why I Teach: A Poem

if I did not teach

i would leave the high-rise office complex
and take home an empty briefcase
that was polished and shiny and had bright brass hinges that would gleam in the light

i would wear high-heeled shoes that would match my suit
and would distract my clients
in the middle of another one of my brilliant sales pitches
or cross examinations
or board meetings
or project presentations
or working business luncheons

i would be able to interact all day
talking to people all over the world
in rushed conversations, imagining what their faces looked like while
on my cell
or blackberry
or twitter
or the next and new sort of electronic pulse

but i do teach

so i walk in to a room of pieced-together furniture
and worn out carpet, stained after years of a dripping furnace
holding a backpack of papers filled with ideas and hopes and things that scare them

i wear faded clogs that help me to get to
the one that needs me to read over this poem
it shows what they really think
or are trying to understand
or are angry about
or hope and imagine something they can someday be

i interact all day
explaining the movement of iambic pentameter
and the stylistic use of a fragment
and the importance of exposing their critical analysis of a piece of literature
and hurriedly answer,

yes,

you can go to the bathroom
but only if you take a pass
and make it quick, we have lots to do

and because i teach

i am a complete person, without any feelings of emptiness or regret or yearning for something else

because i see faces of those who will transform
what we do and how we do it and what that new someday will turn into
and always remind me of the
leaping
and twisting
and kneading
and simmering
that every year brings

so

i do teach.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the poem, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP, here. I think this sums it up for me.


Why I Teach: A Poem

if I did not teach

i would leave the high-rise office complex
and take home an empty briefcase
that was polished and shiny and had bright brass hinges that would gleam in the light

i would wear high-heeled shoes that would match my suit
and would distract my clients
in the middle of another one of my brilliant sales pitches
or cross examinations
or board meetings
or project presentations
or working business luncheons

i would be able to interact all day
talking to people all over the world
in rushed conversations, imagining what their faces looked like while
on my cell
or blackberry
or twitter
or the next and new sort of electronic pulse

but i do teach

so i walk in to a room of pieced-together furniture
and worn out carpet, stained after years of a dripping furnace
holding a backpack of papers filled with ideas and hopes and things that scare them

i wear faded clogs that help me to get to
the one that needs me to read over this poem
it shows what they really think
or are trying to understand
or are angry about
or hope and imagine something they can someday be

i interact all day
explaining the movement of iambic pentameter
and the stylistic use of a fragment
and the importance of exposing their critical analysis of a piece of literature
and hurriedly answer,

yes,

you can go to the bathroom
but only if you take a pass
and make it quick, we have lots to do

and because i teach

i am a complete person, without any feelings of emptiness or regret or yearning for something else

because i see faces of those who will transform
what we do and how we do it and what that new someday will turn into
and always remind me of the
leaping
and twisting
and kneading
and simmering
that every year brings

so

i do teach.

NP: This is excellent and fair. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the poem, PP.

+1

[Anonymous]

NP here. I am not a teacher, but I respect them (I have quite a number of friends who are teachers). I don't think a parent should force, coerce, or even lead a child into a career that they aren't interested in, regardless of their academic achievements. However, I also know that the majority of students that go on to higher education change their major at least once. I would recommend that you encourage your child to select a university that has a wide range of majors available and a lot of crossover between majors so that she gets as broad a selection of prerequisite courses as possible. Many students will spend a lot of time in their freshman, and sometimes sophomore, years trying to find themselves and what they're passionate about. If the school has a broad spectrum of choices, she may find something that she is also passionate about that she can switch to in the first year or two of her college career. As was pointed out earlier, she needs to find her own path, but you can at least make sure that she has the widest range of options available to her as she finds that path.

[Anonymous]

+1. As long as the wide spectrum of choices includes the opportunity to take at least a few education classes. My SIL enrolled in a graduate level education program and, after the 2nd or 3rd class, decided not to pursue education. Grad school requires a 100% commitment to education, so testing the waters as an undergrad could be really valuable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a rising senior in one of the MCPS magnet programs; she has a near perfect unweighted/weighted GPA; has scored only 4s or 5s on several AP exams taken so far; and has received no score lower than a 700 on any portion of the SAT exam. She's looking at colleges and focusing on those that have "good education programs" because she wants to be a teacher (in particular, or at least for now, she wants to be a primary school teacher so that she can teach kids how to "read and write" -- two of her greatest joys). It seems to me that the MCPS Troll Playground thread has evolved into an interesting discussion about the teaching profession . . . So I'd like to hear from others (teachers in particular) who may not be following that thread on whether, if you were in my position, you'd encourage your child to pursue teaching as a profession or would you push them toward another profession.

This thread has run off the rails, but I would do as others have said and encourage her to find good all-around colleges, and eventually major in a liberal arts or science field with a double-major or concentration in education.