October 6, 2009
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What a Teacher Makes video/a must see!!!
Read today’s DN, and follow the link!
The Daily News
“Those who can, do.
Those who can’t, teach.
Those who can’t teach
direct plays = ) “
~H~
1 Whew. Yup.
2 I finished around seven hours of grading papers tonight. Was pretty done in, and wondering after all those alots, everydays, I seens, and all the rest I was able to function enough to pick it up and throw a DN out there.
3 I went on Facebook, and my good friend and confidante Thuy Ann had this video called “What Teachers Make” posted on my Wall, or whatever that thing is.
4 It absolutely worked. After finishing up grading for my third class, I was exhausted, shaking, wondering to myself, “Why try?”
5 Because after reading around ten assignments from each of around 95 students, I saw that the work needed is monumental.
6 In addition to that, I hadn’t really completely planned tomorrow’s lesson, and this was at around 11:30 at night.
7 Didn’t have time. I threw up my hands and declared, as often I do, “Best I should try ridding the shores of sand!” I do have a copyright on that one, btw.
8 The irony is that the more work we do as teachers, the more our lessons suffer, because we spend SO much time correcting papers and trying to give encouraging comments on a lot of rubbish.
9 I had finished grading my third class, that is to say, the entire gamut of work for the first six weeks of school. I still have two more classes to complete by Tuesday. It’s lonely, tedious, and frustrating work, but what work isn’t?
10 Anyway, I went on Facebook, only to find that Thuy Ann had posted this awesome video from You Tube.
11 She has been working, writing, traveling, and teaching at UCSD for a coupla years now, and has also had the pleasure of grading papers. I recall her posting one time that she was in the midst of grading some papers, and I commented, “My condolences…”
12 Anyway, the video absolutely picked me up right when I was ready to roll over and die.
13 I thought I’d throw it out there to the masses, even though it already is out there, but one thing that always irritates teachers is when people say, “What do you guys make?” It’s usually a casual comment, meant to be harmless and cordial.
14 But it also brings with it the entire thing of us not making six figures, or whatever.
15 To teachers, it doesn’t matter. It’s like an athlete, or a singer, or an artist. We are born to do this thing, and it is our passion, beyond anything else. We’d probably do it for free if someone gave us a meal and a roof.
16 Here is the link the video she posted. It is a diatribe about this very issue, done by one Taylor Mali, a teacher, and a ”slam” poet. It is entitled What Teachers Make:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU
17 The timing was exquisite, so I’d like publicly to thank Thuy Ann for this. When I saw it, my ears had turned red, my temples throbbed, and I shook from hours of commenting and placing grades on stacks and stacks of papers.
18 This just was the right thing at the right time.
19 I hope you enjoy it. Wear headphones; the guy gets pretty intense.
20 Meanwhile, thanks TA for once again throwing a smile my way.
21 Hopefully it will make others take note.
22 For the record, I appreciate the work that EVERYONE does. We all work hard at what we do, and probably all have similar moments where we wish someone would stand up and speak on our behalves.
23 Luckily I’m in a profession where every now and again, somebody steps up.
24 So yeah…we don’t make that much. But what we do make can’t be put into words.
25 This is perhaps as close as we’ll get.
26 Hope this was enjoyable.
27 And thanks once more kiddo, for sharing this. I intend to show it to my colleagues, and maybe even my students!
28 Very inspirational, and I salute you.
29 Thanks to everyone who supports the profession; it’s tough times right now, so something like this really works.
30 Have a wonderful Tuesday everybody.
31 Peace.
~H~
