‘You Don’t Know Teacher Tired': Educators Sound Off on Misconceptions

   “This past year, I became a mom. [I pieced together a maternity leave with the limited days off I had accumulated as a new teacher, donated sick leave from other teachers, extra sick days paid at a reduced rate, and unpaid leave.] My maternity leave cost me $4,000.

“And then ... Oklahoma gave teachers six weeks [of paid maternity leave]. I was excited—and [missing that opportunity] was frustrating, to say the least. It has been financially a stressful year.

“Throw all of that in with just the learning curve that it is to become a parent, especially a mom. My son is still very much attached to me above anybody else. It made going back to work—for three weeks until the school year ended—bittersweet, because I was very much ready to go back to work, but I also wanted to be with my baby. I was stressed about leaving my baby.

“I invest a lot emotionally into my students—getting to know them very individually, getting to know their families. I’m now navigating having your patience bucket for your school life and then turning around to go home and do all that, too, [with my own child]. It’s challenging. But it’s worth it.”

   Getting it all in. Time management. Curriculum requirements—managing that with classroom management.”

   Not being able to provide my non-English-speaking students with an iPad in grades 3 to 5. I have two students, one in 3rd grade and one in 4th grade, for whom this is their second year for language acquisition. And they didn’t have any academic experience in their native language.

“Yes, they have a computer, they can use Google Translate. But with an iPad, they can take a picture [of a physical resource] and they can translate that text or the instructions given to perform a specific task. I believe that with that tool, it will ease their anxiety. It will make them more independent.”

   Last year, the biggest challenge was dealing with students that still hadn’t fully recovered from the COVID break—and it was a break, fundamentally, for a lot of kids.

“We had students that came to our school for the first time. [At our charter school, students attend half days in two cohorts so they can pursue other time-intensive pursuits.] ... We’re operating under the assumption that you can be in some way motivated and self-guided—to be able to do some of the necessary learning [on your own]. And sometimes these kids are so far behind that even approaching classroom subject matter is difficult for them, let alone in such a quick and vigorous environment.

“This year, I feel like there’s a politicization [brewing]. ... Up until this year, I’ve always felt like the political divide and the increasing stratification of the social environment hasn’t really made it onto our shores. But this year, we started to notice it and be a little bit concerned about it.”

   I think because everyone has been at school, they feel like, ‘Oh, I was a student once before. Being a teacher is not that hard, because anyone can teach, right?’ They always say that quote, ‘Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.’ The big misconception is anyone can teach, anyone can be a teacher. It's not difficult to teach a child to learn. And I just don't think the public knows how much work and effort and heart we put into our jobs.”

   What I have heard out there is that teachers have all these days off. And I have heard from family members: ‘They do field trips. It’s so fun.’ They don’t know that it’s so stressful. You’ve got to make sure that all the kids get back to school, that they have to eat lunch.

“Even on days off, we’re still working. We’re working on those lesson plans. In my case, I might be talking to parents and helping [their children] with homework or whatever project that they need to finish. During the summer, we go to training.”

   You don’t know teacher tired until you are a teacher. You don’t realize all the things they do until you are a teacher. I feel that very strongly. During fall break, at a watch party for a football game at my house, the joke got made: ‘Oh, I wish my job gave me breaks.’ Everybody thought it was funny. I didn’t appreciate it. I didn’t think it was funny.

"Y’all can joke all you want, and your jobs are hard in their own respective ways, but you don’t understand how difficult my job is.”

   There’s a lot I think the public doesn’t understand. Parents are myopic in that they think that the teacher is there for their child. And that’s true partially, but I am also there for the classroom environment, and I’m there for the totality of learning that has to happen. And sometimes one child’s needs—and certainly parent wants—can’t come at the sacrifice of the full classroom learning environment. Not all parents, but there are some parents that think too much about what their child is experiencing and not how their child fits into the larger educational community.

“I also think that there’s this expectation that lesson planning and classroom discussion happens easily, and it does not. It requires a great deal of planning, a great deal of structure and a long time to manipulate and change. One item of discussion can dramatically impact what happens a week, two weeks, three weeks later, if you don’t present something in the right way when kids are ready to handle it.”