In my recent series of perks of public education, I have addressed many perks of my teaching career. I have discussed the opportunity to begin over each year and the enjoyment of teaching children to read. Today, I will address the letter I. For me the perk that I represents is interesting.
Each day is interesting and different from the day before. I never go to work and experience the same day as the day before. Unlike factory lines and other production jobs, my job depends completely on others.
No matter how well or structured I have my day planned, one child can completely change it. I have children getting sick, parents coming in, and behavior disruptions that all influence my schedule and routine. All of these are unpredictable.
Although I do have a schedule of lessons and activity times, no two lessons are the same. When I taught eighth grade, I taught two lessons of Pre-Algebra a day. The two lessons were never the same. The two groups of children would have two different levels of understanding and would carry our conversations into two different directions.
I never can say that my days were boring or that I did not have much work or that business was ‘slow’. During my day there are no ‘dead’ moments. The day is completely filled. I am always on my toes being questioned or called for attention. While this can lead to very tiresome afternoons, it also makes the day go by quickly.
I have worked a public service job. We had moments when there were no customers. The computer work was also very repetitious. I always had the same information screen and the same information questions. Teaching is completely different work.
I love my job because it keeps me guessing (or in some cases dreading) what will happen next. Teaching in the public education system is a very interesting career!
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