Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:On the other hand, there are finance bros pulling six figures by moving electronic money around with a few mouse clicks, then convincing everyone at happy hour that they do meaningful, hard work.
They work from home, too. Teaching is an extremely difficult job. I don’t think people in other fields appreciate how exhausting it is to be fun and engaging in front of 30 kids who would rather be doing anything else. As an elementary school teacher, I prep for five lessons a day on five different topics. I have 40 minutes to plan for these, total. That time is often lost due to staff shortages, meetings, etc. so I have to do all of that at home. Even on a good day, I lose five minutes on each end of that period due to transitional complications (another class hasn’t been picked up from gym, a student is adamant that they need to find/do something, a parent calls, the school psychologist needs something from me…) so I literally run around that entire time, trying to prioritize everything I need to do. The planning can be done from anywhere but there are lots of elements of the job that MUST be done on site, like bulletin boards (ours have to be redone for each subject every week, with rubrics on every students’ work), malign copies, setting up art projects, working in their data binders (five inch binders meticulously organized for each child), organizing the classroom, and holding IEP meetings. This means that writing IEPs, analyzing data, collaborating with related service providers, planning units and lessons, and creating materials must all be completed at home. If you think this takes an extra hour a day, you are crazy. It’s more like three. My first year was spent crying and working alone at home while my friends in corporate jobs (making twice what I was) went to happy hour and vacationed with their families. THAT is why teachers are leaving. It’s demoralizing.