I am going to whine and I hope this is the last time.
Semester break and Easter week came and went but I don’t feel like I’ve had a break from work for months (I would say years but I only started working last September).
Honestly speaking, I am tired and I feel like giving up some of my teaching loads. I only have 15 hours each week to teach but those 15 hours need around 20 hours of preparation. All in all, it’s 35 hours a week. That’s still 5 hours less than a regular worker’s working hours. That’s not a lot, right? WRONG!
It’s a lot and it sucks that I am only paid for the 15 hours of teaching. Many of you would probably wonder why I need 20 hours of preparation. Well, you see, we (me and my colleagues) have to have props when teaching. When I say props, I am not referring to a PowerPoint presentation which can be prepared in 10 minutes. Props, to us, are things the children can touch, play with, and manipulate. It is also much better if the prop is something the children haven’t seen yet. We do have several toys in the LC but more often than not, I can’t find that which fits to my lesson.
I have a complete room allotted to my teaching materials (not a big one but still, it’s a room filled ONLY with my teaching materials). I create bingo card games, domino games, grid games, etc. I use colored cardboards, papers, magic tapes, laminating pouches, playdoh, etc. And here’s another thing. I pay for all of these.
When I prayed for a job, I asked for a job I love doing. I said, it’s doesn’t matter how much I earn as long as it’s a teaching job. This was months ago. Things were different.
Right now, I wouldn’t be honest if I would say that I am satisfied with my job. I love teaching. There’s no doubt in that but I wish I were better paid.
Going back to “giving up some of my teaching loads”; I think that would do me good. We moved in to a new place and though that was month ago, we never seem to be finished with the cleaning, organizing, modifying, etcetera. In short, there’s always something to be done. I wish I could have more time to spend on our new home.
I also wish I could have more time for my writing endeavors. Although, I manage to squeeze in this hobby to my very busy days, it is not at all easy. Sometimes, I have to postpone some things so I can write an article or two but I am trying to minimize this routine because I always end up being swamped. I try to finish all house chores and my teaching preparations before writing but most of the time, when I’m finally done with the things I MUST do, I’m too tired to do anything else.
I can feel your frustrations. I can imagine how frustrating it is to do all those hard work. And I can sense your sentiments. Who said that being a teacher is easy? Who said that the teacher are compensated for their hard work? And who ever said that we are super heroes?
Of course it’s a known fact that teachers are overworked and underpaid. (When I typed the word “underpaid” I actually hit n instead of the last d which gave me “underpain” which can also be true, in the case of teachers, right?)
Three of my friends who started out as online teachers are now bona fide classroom teachers. They are also struggling with the tons of preparation needed (especially because one of them is a pre-school teacher and the other will be a grade 1 adviser come June.) With this we help each other out. I have found myself in one of my friends’ house drawing and cutting and pasting and stuff. It was because of such things I realized I was a teacher at heart—I take props rather seriously! Hehe.
Right now I’m in the online teaching industry so my “props” are done in powerpoint which is of course relatively easy. But one day I dream of making the things that children can touch, like what you do. I’m sure it’s gonna be hella tiring. I’m sure it’s gonna eat up most of my time (and money!) So hands down to you and all teachers who keep doing the things that can be hard, all for the love of teaching, and students.
I’m not a teacher but I know how it feels to work so hard for a meager salary. Calling you guys modern day heroes isn’t enough. You should have a better pay!