Dennis Hong has written an essay that is spreading like wildfire across the Internet.
It is called “The Hardest Job Everyone Thinks They Can Do.”
He used to be a molecular biologist. When he told his friends about his frustration with a failed experiment, no one told him how to do it right.
Then he became a teacher.
Now everyone knows his job–or thinks they do–better than he does.
Everyone offers advice.
When he switched from “doing” science to teaching science, he was annoyed that he had to earn a teaching credential. Then he found out what it means to teach.
Here are just a few of his lessons:
“Teaching isn’t just “making it fun” for the kids. Teaching isn’t just academic content.
Teaching is understanding how the human brain processes information and preparing lessons with this understanding in mind.”
And more:
“Teaching is being both a role model and a mentor to someone who may have neither at home, and may not be looking for either.
Teaching is not easy. Teaching is not intuitive. Teaching is notsomething that anyone can figure out on their own. Education researchers spend lifetimes developing effective new teaching methods. Teaching takes hard work and constant training. I understand now.”
That is why we should invite all the legislators and policymakers to teach for a week before they make policy. At least a week.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I just found a new blog I have high hopes for. It is Annie Murphy Paul’s “Briliiant Blog.” An arrogant name but maybe that is what we need, a little arrogance. She wrote an article called, “How to think with your hands” about learning.
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This is the first TEACHER who has said what teaching IS, correctly!!!!
We teach ages 5-81 “How To Learn” in the same sessions – ‘real’ learning is ageless, fun and a discipline. powerfulMemoryTS.com
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I’d say a month! By then, the novelty for the students has worn out, and the REAL behaviors start to show… and it’s also at that point when the HARD work of keeping the kids engaged REALLY begins. I can retract that though… was working in a K-12 building… older kids were allowed to come in and teach for a day… by the end, the young man couldn’t get out of the classroom fast enough! He reflected that he’d wanted to come in and be the “cool” teacher that all the kids loved… and when they walked all over him, I had to help him regain control of the class by establishing the “boundaries.” It was a FABULOUS learning experience in how the boundaries between teacher and student must be clear. The young man learned that the teacher can not be the children’s “friend.” You must establish who is in charge… then you can loosen the reigns. Children feel safer knowing that their teacher will be a “badass” (no, I don’t use the term in front of kids!) if their safety is in jeopardy! THEN the fun stuff can begin!
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I’ve had some limited experience teaching in schools and outside of schools (I have performed astronomy demonstrations and run star parties at schools and I have helped boy scouts studying for merit badges). One thing I have learned is how exhausting it can be. I have tremendous respect for how well good teachers prepare lessons and control classes. I think I could do it, but I am not nearly stupid enough to think I could walk into a class after 5 weeks of training and be a star.
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I like this John Steinbeck quote about teaching: “I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.”
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Found this comment on another website. I love the super-easy answer to all the disinformation and vitriol spewed out by the armchair experts.
“Average full time worker puts in 228 work days a year. Average Teacher puts in 154 days a year. Average teach in MA earns $70K. Cry me a river or better yet go cry to your union. ”
“Let’s just assume for one second that it really is the easiest job in existence, working the fewest hours and TOTALLY making bank. The fact
that you recognize this “fact”, b###h about it nearly constantly and yet still aren’t taking advantage of what is clearly (in your mind) the sweetest
deal on the planet indicates you might just be the stupidest #$#@&*# on the planet. Congratulations!”
/cleaned it up a bit.
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I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life, probably a lot more than the average person. Only one of them was easy. It paid $8 an hour (which actually was pretty sweet money back in the day) and you could sleep on the job if you got your work done early.
No job that involves addressing and being the focal point of a group of people for 6 or 7 hours a day is easy. It’s draining.
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Everyone has an opinion on how to fix schools because they, too, went to school. And then I tell them, “Just because you know how to drive a car doesn’t make you a mechanic.”
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It is an art and not everyone has that gift in that field. We are now making teaching a disrespected field that any 5 week wonder can do. The problem is that there is no professional field in which you become competent in 5 weeks and no one is good at everything. We are all made to and best at different things. That is why education is an art. It is complex with all the variables which students bring with them.
Real Teaching should be respected. I lucked out. I had the best. They taught us to love learning and how not to be fooled. Creative thinking is what it is called now.
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Just becuase I have a brain doesn’t mean I’m prepared to perform neurosurgery.
I have maintained for years that everyone should spend a seek teaching, preferably in middle school, before they reproduce.
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Well said, southside teacher!
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“I have maintained for years that everyone should spend a seek teaching, preferably in middle school, before they reproduce.”
I cannot stop laughing. “…before they reproduce…” just put it over the top.
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What I have heard from parents is “well that is all they will know” so it will be “normal” for them to learn and teach this way. These are parents and grandparents of young children and of future teachers.
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Last Veteran’s Day I went paddling with a new acquaintance. I remarked to her that that was the first Veteran’s Day in years that I hadn’t gone in to work in my classroom. I was feeling worried and a little guilty. She was curious as to what I would possibly find to do in my classroom without the students being there. I explained to her that there were many aspects of my job that really can’t be done during the school day with students present, and these aspects involved planning, organizing, creating assessments, drafting IEPs, and so on. Nearly all teacher I know put in extra time daily, but there is never enough time. Happily she gained a new perspective, but the conversation left me wondering how often individuals who are not teachers think that our jobs are confined to the hours that children are at school.
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Last year, I had invited an anti-teacher columnist for the Hartford Courant to substitute for me for one week, telling him that I would prepare all the lessons and the assignments, and would meet with him every day after school. In other words, all he would have had to do was to get the students to do the assignments. He declined, making the absurd statement that he already understood what it meant to be a teacher because he had walked the halls of several high schools.
He then lambasted me for posting his responses on line in his own web site.
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MAD Magazine once had a page in each edition entitled, “Scenes We’d Like To See,” that depicted a bit of “Schadenfreude” about people who deserved it. It might be fun to see loudmouthed politicians and assorted corporate types who consider themselves “educational experts” teach for an extended period of time. I have a suggestion: They ought to teach high school academic subjects with a minimum of 125 students per day preferably in rural or inner city schools, carry a full class load each school day with a minimum of three daily preparations, plus coach after-school sports without additional compensation. They should be required on their own time to write college recommendations for any seniors. Let’s not forget cafeteria or hall supervision. They should communicate regularly by phone e-mail, or have conferences with all parents about their sons’ or daughters’ academic progress. Hopefully, they’ll also have the opportunity to attend in-service workshops. Throughout the year, they should supervise other school activities like debate tournaments, plays, concerts, and of course the junior/senior prom. As a crowning touch, their performance(s) for the year should be rated by parents and students. That would be truly a “scene that I’d like to see.”
P.S. I could add some more items like paying for class supplies, arranging and supervising a field trip, chaperoning class trips, or taking additional post-graduate evening or summer classes at their own expense to upgrade knowledge in their fields or to improve their teaching methods but those could be a bit much for a rookie and may border on cruelty.
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A week will not be enough to politicians to truly “learn” all it takes to be a teacher. It takes many years to even figure out how to apply many of the strategies and methods taught by professors in a quality teacher education program.
Life is not simple and neither is teaching. As a former teacher and administrator I have seen many strengths and areas for growth among teachers and administrators. Every effort made to support teachers is worth the effort. It is a two way street, both need to give and take to provide the students with quality learning experiences.
Little will change until the American society changes. The attitude of politicians, pundits and other critics among the communities is one huge problem. Th sound bites about our public schools being disasters is wrong. People buy into these sound bites and condemn all schools, teaching staff and administrators. We live in a country that values athletes and some actors more than the people responsible for supporting the learning of our students. It is a sad state of affairs. Until the negative merry go round stops and people will listen to some logical thinkers about what is great about teaching and our schools. There are too many people that think that they can do the job better.
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I posted this blog on our Texas Kids Can’t Wait FB page, and it exploded! More than 39,000 people have read it there!
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