Reply to NY times op ed on the teacher crisis

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is an interesting thread for me to read, as I am a 52 year old attorney in the process of applying for Teach for America as a midlife career changer. I have a few years of previous teaching experience, but at the university level while obtaining my MA in English and as an adjunct faculty after obtaining my JD.

I'm not ignorant of the crisis in schools. I've also done the reading on the pitfalls inherent in TFA, but since I have prior teaching experience and I'm a seasoned professional, I feel like I will cope better than folks who are doing it straight from a BA program without prior work experience.

Also, it is hard to imagine that the pressures of teaching while under-resourced could be any worse than the pressures of being a legal aid, public defense or prosecuting attorney with caseloads that far exceed ABA guidelines and practically zero peer support because everyone else is in the same boat. If I'm going to work under such stressful conditions, I would at least like to be doing it with the hope of impacting even just one child per year in a way that makes a difference in their lives.

I was just talking to a friend who is a medical professional and he was lamenting the same issues in the medical industry - under-staffed and under-resourced facilities that cannot meet the demand. Somehow profits are there for the administrators to have fat salaries. Seems like this is just how our world works these days.[/quote]

Welcome, career changer! We can really use you! It seems like you have a good idea of what you’re walking toward, which is going to help you with the pressures of the first year teaching. You’re right: if you can meet ONE child, there’s something positive at the end of all this stress, pressure, and anxiety.

One more difference to prepare for: you won’t have time to yourself. You will be “on” and in front of people for the majority of your day. I’m an introvert by nature, yet I spend 36 hours a week directly interacting with 30+ young humans simultaneously. It’s 36 hours of presentations a week, essentially, which is emotionally and physically exhausting.

Gear up for that and give yourself a lot of grace. Some of them (many, at first) won’t go the way you expected them to go. That’s okay. Tweaking the lessons and how you present them will get you there. (And find some supportive teachers to lift you up. You’ll need it. We all do.)[/quote]

I wish you the best of luck career changer.  I hope you are okay in your new field.  Take care of yourself.[/quote]

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