Good reasons teachers stay in a challenging, unhappy profession
*Ray Salazar does here what he does best: challenge us to think differently about something we think in rote, prescribed ways. So, what makes a happy teacher? This is good reading. VL
By Ray Salazar, The White Rhino
In 2003, I left my teaching position in the Chicago Public Schools. After eight good but demanding years. I was done. Around that time, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, over 270,000 teachers did the same. Over the last decade, about the same number of teachers left the profession each year NCES conducted its survey.
When I filled out my resignation forms and gave up my tenure, I thought: “What a relief!”
[pullquote]No matter at which school I’ve taught, I’ve never had enough time to do everything teachers must or should do. [/pullquote]Or so I thought.
In 2006, after working for a national non-profit organization and in human resources, I returned. I missed saying, “I’m a teacher.” I missed working with students, missed finding solutions to complex problems. For me, that’s what teaching is about: problem solving and creativity.
Still, I find myself twenty years into this questioning how long I can continue to work under increasing demands. And it’s not the teenagers I teach—they’re the best part. They make me think. They make me laugh. They sometimes make me angry or sad. But everyone once in a while when I say, “That’s it! I’m done with teaching!” the goodness in the universe sends me a sign that I’m exactly where I need to be.
However, I don’t know if I can say I’m happy being a teacher.
Click HERE to read the full story.
Since 1995, Ray has been an English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. In 2003, Ray earned an M.A. in Writing, with distinction, from DePaul University. In 2009, he received National Board Certification. His writing aired on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio many times and have been published in the Chicago Tribune and CNN. For thirty years, Ray lived in Chicago’s 26th Street neighborhood. Today, he lives a little more south and a little more west in the city with his wife, son, and daughter.
[Photo by Alvin Trusty/Flickr]