In the past, it would trouble me when most people, family and friends, thought that my day would end at school and the rest of the afternoon / evening time remained to enjoy other features and activities life offered. Quite simply, most do not understand. I do not wish to offend when I make this statement. My teaching goes beyond the marking and planning; the reading and research; the thinking and preparation. I suppose, teachers are constantly in the mode of planning; or at least, we should be consistently searching for connections and new ways to deliver our curriculum / courses of study. In the summer months, well, the added time available is certainly nice. Teachers can carry-out the various tasks of planning, reading, researching, preparing in a more relaxed manner. But, it's important to share the same theme again - educators are always planning and exploring. I know that I am. Today, I visited the community library to research the subject of Ontario Mining. It's the main theme for this fall my students and I will be exploring with the help of Alex Pauk and the Esprit Orchestra, specifically, the Canadian Composer matched with our school.
I'm not expecting sympathy or empathy for what I do really enjoy doing. It is a part, or a responsibility of all educators to respect their chosen career, which involves and includes the above mentioned actions. In order to be effective in the classroom, a teacher must do their homework. It's interesting, that sometimes while enjoying a social gathering, I do make some discovery and connection through conversation and my attention is directed to other possibilities. Of course this is a good thing. I suppose we all do this. However, I do think that most people try to close the door on their work environment, and they do try to avoid work at home. I do not think teachers can nor should do this. Thinking, planning and preparation away from the classroom is critical to the success of the daily lessons experienced by our students. Preparing lessons and educational activities takes time and careful thought - it's even more challenging today with so many distractions and other focus problems our students seem to have. Bye for now.
