This year members of the Oklahoma Council of Teachers of English interviewed 60 first year teachers about the “extra stuff” they didn’t anticipate they’d need to do as a teacher.
Here’s a short film of what they had to say: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B316S_XVStbPNFBnRXJ3bkNNZTA/
Teachers noted things like:
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“I thought I was only going to teach…”
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“Becoming a teacher is not what they teach you in school”
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“Whatever lifestyle you thought you’d have as a teacher…” how much of my own personal time outside of work I’d have to sacrifice.
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Cafeteria duty, bus duty, hall duty, the surprise that your third grade students don’t read at the third-grade level, how many students are on IEPs.
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“I definitely feel a lot of pressure [because of assessment]”
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“The test is first and foremost…don’t want to do anything that would take away from the test, that’s not necessary.”
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“The biggest struggle is always having a positive attitude.”