Teaching is a Battlefield

Me singing for my students on a "fun" day of Business Ethics

Is this really as Easy as this Looks?

As I get closer and closer to completing my credential program and head into the world of teaching, I can't help but to feel a little scared. I am excited for the future and for finally being able to do the job which I am most passionate about, but the world of public school today, is a little intimidating. Sometimes school feels more like a war zone than the equalizing opportunity play field its supposed to be. Kids, teachers and schools are under the pressures of meeting high expectations in order to compete with the worlds statistics. Schools, districts and states are compared by percentages and data to show whether the U.S. lives up to the education standards of the rest of the world, when we don't new tests are created. New curriculum must be made to fit the new tests. Sometimes the curriculum expectations feel like they are set by warlords who imagine students and teachers to be result-driven machines. In effort to meet the new requirements schools become production factories preparing tools for battle, rather than places where individuals can hone their personal strengths to learn and develop skills that carry them into the bright future. I thought school was about learning and developing young minds into the responsible citizens of the future? Or preparing students to enter the world as confident and capable adults, knowing their strengths and weaknesses and ready to enter the workforce as productive, innovative contributors to society? What standardized test measures that?

Teachers are like the Terracotta Warriors,
except not made of clay. 

I remember once I told God "I'd go anywhere he wanted me to go." In fact I wrote about it in a previous blog post. When I prayed that I was imagining God would take full advantage of my willingness and call me to some third world country full of danger and lacking in the comforts we have in the U.S. I thought I got a break when my heart was leading me to become a teacher and go teach in China. I wasn't called to somewhere so scary and dangerous, but the teaching field is actually more scary and challenging than I ever thought it would be. When we think of elementary school teachers the last thing we think is strong warrior entering battle, but they kind of are like that.

Teachers fight to meet the new requirements of the state which can change every year. Politics and bureaucracy surround every decision that is made in a school and teachers have to go through multiple loops sometimes just to get basic classroom supplies or help for their students. Teachers must fight for students who have special needs to get recognized and receive the attention they need. It can take a year or more just to complete all the paperwork a steps to approve assistance for a student with special needs. In order for a teacher to be effective at their job, they have to go above and beyond the call of duty. There is no option to be a good teacher who does exactly what they are paid to do, you must do more.

Besides fighting challenges, politics and red tape just to do their job, teachers also fight to maintain the expectations of those around them. Teachers have expectations from their boss and customers, like any job, but on top of that they have the government and the entire society in which they live on a local and national level.

 I already talked about the government expectations and standardized testing, but society too has a high demand for its teachers. Society has high expectations for its teachers, and everyone no matter who they are has some opinion about it. People who don't know the first thing about teaching like to share their views on how much teachers should be paid and how they should do their job. There are many people who respect and love teachers, but we also deal with the naysayers. There are those who say we are paid too much, our job is too easy or its our fault when statistics of student performance aren't where they should be. Its frustrating to hear the critical remarks of those who don't understand what teachers really go through and just down right rude to say anyone is paid too much.

Sometimes its a wonder why anyone ever would want to be a teacher.
I think most teachers start out with the best intentions. They go into teaching excited to make a difference and work with cute kids. However, they end up with more kids in a classroom than anyone can feasibly handle, more work than anyone can feasibly do, and less pay than almost any other Bachelors required field. Many end up jaded or at least exhausted.

The Battle is Worth the Fight:

Despite all these challenges and many more that I haven't listed: The rewards are worth the cost of battle.

Education has a value worth fighting for.

The little rewards on a daily basis keep us going.
Seeing the lit-up faces of the children when you walk into the class. Being rushed at and almost knocked over by multiple hugs every morning. Helping children go from not being able to read, to having a love of reading. Teaching vital subjects that will help them have success throughout life. Giving love and attention to students who otherwise would have thought they mattered to no one.
These are just some of the meaningful rewards of teaching.

This job takes so much patience. Not just for the kids, but for the requirements of the district, state and federal government.

Nothing has tested my perseverance as much as trying to get in to this profession.
Logically it makes no sense.

I am smart, capable and young. I could do ANYTHING I put my mind to. Some things might be less achievable, like become a world famous ice skating champion, but I have options. I'm good at business. I could work for a corporation and make a sizable income, work my way up the ladder. If I used logic to plan my future it would make more sense. For the same or less work that I'm putting into my career now I could make about double or triple my expected income as a teacher.

I did think about other careers and I took a "break" from my teaching program to go teach in China for a year and find out whether teaching was really for me. I almost quit because of how stressful and challenging the teaching credential program was. However, even in another country I still loved teaching too much to give it up. My time in China cemented for me that I wanted to teach, but it wasn't until 6 months after I returned from China that I finally got the courage to go back and finish my credential. Getting a credential is so challenging in California that I often feel like I'm a pre-med student and should be paid like one, but since I am not I only have my passion to motivate me toward finishing.

Without passion life is empty and meaningless. Teaching is what makes me happy. My heart is filled with compassion for the children and their struggles at home, in school or otherwise. I love learning and sharing that love with others. I am a coach at heart and want to help kids succeed and encourage them to win at life and school. These things bring happiness and meaning to my life.

Do I look like a teacher?

When I decided to be a teacher I was not aware of how difficult it would be, and I haven't even gotten fully started. Now that I've had a glimpse of how hard it will be I am a little scared because I know I can never fully be ready until I just jump in. But I've also had a glimpse of how rewarding it will be. I know this is where I am supposed to be. Teaching is a calling and only when you truly feel called to something can you be brave enough to face the battle.



P.S.
As much as I'd like to end this post there and be sweet and sentimental I would like to add a side note. Though I am fully motivated to teach because it is my passion and my dream. I refuse to be the average Elementary School teacher who is broke and becomes jaded because her life is run by impossible to meet demands and low pay. My goal is to combine both my love of teaching and my knack of entrepreneurship/business/investing to become a millionaire teacher. I believe one should do whatever their passion and calling is. No matter how little the pay or how hard it is to accomplish. However, I don't believe in putting all your eggs in one basket and for me the traditional old fashioned elementary school teacher who is middle class is not for me. I'm going to be an entrepreneur and take my teaching career to a whole new level. I want to do innovative things that have never been done before and break outside the mold. (Yes I just combined two idioms.) Hopefully future posts will be about me doing that. Becoming Coco Poole is not about becoming a teacher. Its about becoming a freaking ridiculously awesome unique girl who can not be compared to any other human being because shes just - "Coco." And I've always imagined myself as a future millionaire, I just don't see myself being limited by boundaries like "money", "traditional views" or "the way its always been done."