Today, I start my 13th year as a public school music teacher at East Pennsboro Elementary School.
In some ways, it seems impossible to think that I have been teaching for 13 years! In other ways, my early years as a teacher seem like they were decades ago.
I look back at my early years as a teacher and think... Wow, I didn't know anything! Nowadays, when I don't know how to handle something at work, it stresses me out. But back then, I didn't know what I didn't know, so it didn't stress me out at all!
A lot has changed in the past 13 years. Security measures are the biggest change I can think of. When I first started teaching, parents and grandparents could come to the school anytime to have lunch with their child. Nowadays, anyone who wants to get past the office and interact with children needs to have a criminal background check, child abuse clearances, TB shot, and be approved by the school board!
The second biggest change would be technology. We don't even give out paper report cards anymore, they are all online! We used to have huge dinosaur desktop computers for students in our classroom, but now there are netbooks on and Ipads. I used to use CDs and cassette tapes to play music. I still use CDs sometimes but a lot of the time I use digital music!
I love my job and I don't think there is any other job in this world that I would be better at than teaching music to elementary school students. But it is very challenging. It is exhausting being "on" all day long. You know what I mean? After a day at work, I am so excited to just get in my car and not think at all. It is challenging for me to be patient. I am not a patient person, but every day at work I have to force myself to be patient, because that's just the nature of the job! It is challenging to know that every single thing I do or say can potentially have an affect on my students. That's a huge responsibility!!!
When I get frustrated with a student, the one thing I remind myself is this: This student has parents, and to those parents, this child means THE WORLD to them. This child is someone else's WHOLE HEART. This child is someone's EVERYTHING. How would this child's parents want me to treat their child? I don't know if that sounds silly or sappy, but that is the measure I use to ensure that I do my very best each day.
My weeks off in the summer allow me to recharge for the school year ahead. I hope my 13th year of teaching is the best one yet! I know it is really up to me to determine how my year goes. I hope that this year I am....
1. Patient.
2. Energetic.
3. Calm.
4. Reflective.
I think if I can keep up with those four qualities, it will be a really good year!
How long have you been at your job?
What's the biggest change you have seen at your work over the years?
What's the best thing about your job? The worst?
Tell me about the qualities you need to be good at your job.
What's the biggest change you have seen at your work over the years?
What's the best thing about your job? The worst?
Tell me about the qualities you need to be good at your job.
Even though our jobs are very different in terms of the actual work, the mental side of it seems to be very similar. I'm also "on" all day and love getting into my car and sometimes just sitting in silence. Or other times I listen to music instead of a podcast because I want background noise but I have no intention of paying attention. Also everything I say and do reflects back on my clients and the agency so I practice patience a lot too, which is not always easy. But just like the kids you teach are someone's whole world, some of the SMB owners I work with feel the same about their company - it provides livelihood for themselves, their families and their employees so if I F up I can do damage to a lot of people. Plus for many SMBs this is their dream to run their own successful business so I don't want to kill that dream either. That's why I prefer working with bigger companies most of the time, less pressure in that sense haha!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds very stressful and like a lot of pressure. What does SMB stand for???
DeleteI have been an elementary music teacher for going on 20 years. The start of the school year socks me in the gut now since I had my own kids, the first one 8 years ago. Two are in school now so it helps knowing I wouldn't be spending days with them. Hard to take my baby (3) back to the sitter but we love her.
ReplyDeleteMy feelings about my job really echo yours. Sometimes with all the administrative things it gets easy to forget why I chose to teach elementary music. I love my job too and when I get bogged down in all the extraneous things, I will revisit this post. Have s super year!!!
You know so many teachers at our faculty meeting this morning shared that they have so much sorrow coming back to work and leaving their children. I'm glad you love your sitter though.
DeleteSo I am writing my lesson plans for the first two lessons and I am trying to think of fun NEW (to me) at least games or opening activities. Any good ones you like?
Congrats on 13 years! I have been at my job for 16 years, although in the same profession and programming with the same software product for almost 20 years. Working in technical support I really need to have patience (with both people and computers) and good listening and problem solving skills.
ReplyDeleteI do love what I do, but I'd love to spend even more time with my family, especially during the summer when they are home.
I can imagine you need a lot of patience to do what you do. I try to always be nice to people when I need to call or email for computer help. It never helps to be nasty.
DeleteI work as a technical writer for a software company. I've been doing tech writing for 10 years and a LOT has changed. My first job, we used Microsoft Word and made PDFs. People still wanted paper copies of procedures. Now, everything is online. We're not even using print and we're doing way more videos, blogs, etc. I have seen us transition from print to online and now to mobile!
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a great year of teaching. I love your door and how you have the cat pics up. I'm sure there's a ton of red tape with teaching and I know this has to be a tough week with all the stress and going back to school, but you still have a big heart for the kids through all these years. I hope this is a great one!
That sounds about right! Tech just changes so fast. Oh the cats are a big part of my classroom decor and I usually have a cat story or two do share with the kiddos each day. They know Christmas and Jelly so well!
DeleteCongratulations on 13 years! and thank you for all the work you do for the kids! Teachers don't get enough money and enough recognition for all the work you do!
ReplyDeleteI can't remember what is different now, to from when I started working here... We have scanners now, we scan EVERYTHING, but we also keep it all in paper. Back when I started, we used to do the audits by papers, and go to the state office all anxious with our box of files, now I prepare them all and send them in electronically, I'm the only one who deals with the anxiety of waiting for the results. But our process have changed to reduce the errors.
Thank you Ana!
DeleteHaving things electronic can make things like that a lot less stressful. What if something had happened to that box!!!???
Have a wonderful year, Megan! Your students are sure lucky to have such an amazing teacher. I am program manager at HPE. I've worked here for 21 years. Biggest change is how global our company has become. Most of the people I work with are not even in Fort Collins. I love the people I work with! That is the best thing. I also like the flexibility and being able to do my job from anywhere. Every once in awhile work can spill over to where I need to do some work on the weekend (if we are releasing SW) but I can do it from home so I don't totally mind. My job takes patience, organization and being able to interact with many teams and pull together a lot of info.
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear about jobs like your's and Kristina's and Lisa's, it's hard for me to even understand and wrap my head around it. If we were sitting on my back porch with a glass of wine, I would say, "Okay, tell me what you do. What's the first thing you do when you get to work? Then what do you do?" lol.
DeleteYou would need to spend a day with me (when I work from home) and then you would have a better idea about it! Plus, I would love the company :)
DeleteYeah!
DeleteI hope you have a great year! Ive been working in schools for about the same amount of time and definitely notice similar changes. This year, the kids don't go back to school until after Labor Day!
ReplyDeleteIt's so different region to region, I think. I know a lot of the schools near the beach go after Labor Day, but here in Central PA, it's usually the week before. This year it's two weeks before!
DeleteI love that the last two jobs I've had encourage a good work/life balance. We're even encouraged to work from home at my current place, if we need to. I'll have to see how much I take advantage of that during the winter. It's not my driving that worries me, it's other people during snow storms.
ReplyDeleteThat is wonderful your work advocates for work/life balance and that you are able to work from home if you need it! Obviously I can't do that, but if I need a mental health day, I TAKE IT.
DeleteCongrats on 13 years! That really shows your dedication and love for what you do! Your students are very lucky to have you for a teacher. I hope you have a great year Megan!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Meranda! I hope you have a great year too. :)
DeleteOh I didn't know you were an elementary school teacher. That is so cool... both my mom and sister were/are elementary school teachers and they love their jobs! The security issue is not as big of a deal in Germany as it is here, but I am sure they can both attest to a lot of the changes that you mentioned over the last decade!
ReplyDeleteI love what you said about how to treat a child! That child is someone else's whole heart and needs to be treated with respect, no matter how much it is acting out! ;)
For sure. Since I don't have my own kids to compare the feeling to, that's how I have to look at It! I run a pretty tight ship in my room but we have a lot of fun too.
DeleteWow! 13 years is a long time! Congratulations! I hope they give you a party gift like s new watch or a plaque or something :)
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about how you think about your kids is the EXACT way I think about my nanny kids! I know they are someone's whole world and whole heart and feel so special to be entrusted with that responsibility. It's why I give them my best everyday even on days I feel like crap or am not having the best day. I love that we think the same things :). Hope your first days back at school are good!
How old are the kids you nanny and how many kiddos>
DeleteHappy new year! This was my first week back, too - year 11 for me!
ReplyDeleteCongrats!!
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