What do teachers really do?

So, let me ask you....... How many of you have heard what teachers do? How many have heard the real list of all that teachers do? I thought so. It is a shame that we hear this day in and day out, year in and year out!

Teaching is an amazing profession that touches so many lives. We are busy all day long. We know what we do but for some reason people on the outside of our profession have a skewed view of what teachers actually do!

So needless to say, it still amazes me that after 21 years of teaching, that  I still hear the many comments that people make when it comes to teachers and what we actually do.  I should be used to them by now.  I really thought that I have heard them all but every year there always seems to be that one comment that is new and even more skewed then the comments over the years. There are times when even my own family members make a comment but with them all it takes is a look and they realize that what they just said was as ridiculous as telling me that a red and white alligator just ran down the street in the middle of a snowstorm in Delaware!

Ok First, how do you think we come up with the ideas and things we use in our classroom. NewsFlash: There is not a fairy that comes into the classroom, waves her magic wand and presto, the materials appear. Teachers attend professional development throughout the summer. We create things for our classroom. We plan. We find and create materials. We set up our classrooms. So no , we do not have summers off. 

This one makes me laugh. Do they actually think that all the things that their kids go home with come from the school. All the presents throughout the year. Do you think Staples and Walmart put their school supplies on sale so early and give teacher discounts because the school buys all that we need. On average, teachers spend $500 a year on supplies for their classroom. That is just the average. There are many teachers who spend much more.

I would like anyone to come into my classroom and try to teach what I am responsible for for one day. I teach reading, writing and math. Not only do we teach, we wear several different hats throughout the day and we have paperwork to complete after we are done with our day. Then we have meetings and professional development to attend.  

 Classroom management is an art that comes with time and experience. It is more difficult some years then others. I would like to say to them, how about I bring 23 7 year olds over to your house and they can sit in your living room for 7 and a half hours.

Really, a babysitter in todays world gets 10 dollars an hour (thats cheap I have heard) so there are 23 children in my classroom. 23 children at 10 dollars an hour for 7 and a half hours a day equals $1,725 a day.  That is 8,625 a week and that is $224, 250 a year. Teachers make about 25% of that a year. So in reality, if teachers were just babysitting they would make a lot more than what they do.

How many babysitters or parents have to say: