There's always more to a job than you know

You know there's always more to a job than you think there is, or than you know about. For example, I worked at a christian bookstore for 14 months. My thought going into it was, "What else will I be doing besides helping people find things, cleaning, being a cashier, and stocking things?" Now I laugh at the thought. We had to:

-answer the phone which was an all encompassing task and could take forever
-people wanted things put on hold which required certain computer things as well as finding the item and putting it somewhere
-doing special orders through the computer
-calling people when the special orders came in
-looking for 1 item in the entire store that was misplaced or in the back somewhere
-finding boxes for certain things that people bought
-moving things around a million times
-changing all the endcaps (shelves on the ends of each isle) and certain shelves each month to specific books that a chart told us to do
-finding and labeling things as on sale or clearance
-finding and pulling things that venders wanted us to return (that they decided not to sell anymore)
-take off all the gifts from the shelves and windex them, and then put all the gifts back on (they were glass shelves)
-put price stickers on things and change them if they were wrong
-at certain times we had to go through and put things back in alphabetical order because people would stick books back in the wrong places
-imprint bibles with names (thankfully just the guys did that, not the girls)
-shrink wrap things that had been opened
-reorganize the stock room which got messy from all of us sticking things back there in no order because we were in a hurry
-put boxed cards on shelves in a very specific order according to the chart. Ugh.
-straighten the bible covers which always fell off the wall, got mixed up (instead of the same ones being together) and it just looked bad sometimes



I am not yet an elementary teacher, but I do know some of the things I'll have to do that I didn't know before I started college. I know there will be more to come that I'll learn about when I actually AM a teacher....but here is the starting list. It's not just fun and games people. It's not just babysitting! It's not just an easy major / job when you don't know what else you should do. :-)

-when you write a lesson plan you have to make accomodations for kids who are slower / below level, and those who are faster / ahead as well as those on grade level
-writing lesson plans takes a long time. You have to use the standards for your state as well, and show how you taught the appropriate things.
-you have to figure out how you're going to assess the students on what you just taught, to prove if they got it or not, without doing a whole bunch of quizes or tests. That includes projects, a simple checklist, etc.
-parent - teacher conferences. You have to have good data / work from each student to show where they are, not just be subjective
-kids who have special needs (learning disabilities, ADD / ADHD, autism, etc) will be in a regular classroom. In that case you have to make accomodations for those students in how you teach. You also have to have meetings with the parents and other teachers in order to figure out what best works for those students, and a long process of paperwork if you think the student needs to go into a special education class or have another teacher with that student.
-English Language Learners - kids who come in and don't speak any english! That is difficult to teach to!
-the discipline in a classroom is a huge deal. You have to do it right. There are so many different things you can do.
-there's tatling, kids who refuse to do their work, arguing / fighting, kids who cry often, anger issues, clingy kids, kids who need constant attention and do random things to get it, lying, stealing, distracting, and so many other things
-it's good to teach in a creative / engaging way, but that's hard to do when the material is boring / dry
-you have to set routines such as getting in line, walking down the hallways in line, attendance, what to do first thing in the morning since they all come in at different times, what signals them to be quiet without the teacher having to raise her voice above everyone elses', how to make lunch choices in the morning, and more
-teachers have to spend one-on-one time or small group times with all students. This means running centers / stations while she pulls certain students. They do things like track their reading through marking on a piece of paper when they miss words, ask them questions to summarize, predict, and explain books, work with struggling kids in other areas, and more.
-grade papers
-change up the bulleton boards sometimes, or things hanging outside the walls
-keep the parents informed through things like blogs / websites for the teachers, send home letters, e-mails, and sometimes make phone calls home
-the teachers have to buy all the supplies, posters, "treasure box" toys / things, classroom books, and anything else needed. So it's always expensive!!
-if there are field trips that takes a lot of work
-teachers have to do things like bus or car duty in the morning or afternoon
-remember which kids have allergies so they aren't around them
-other school events such as assemblies, fall festivals, fundraisers, PTA meetings, staff meetings, additional classes each year to keep learning and keep your certificate valid
-fire drills, tornado drills, practice lock-downs
-kids throw up, can't tie their own shoes, cough without covering their mouths, can't button their pants after using the bathroom, use too much hand sanatizer, accidently tear your books, and take two weeks to finish an assignment that everyone else finished in 2 days.
-a teacher doesn't just teach academics, she also teaches appropriate behavior, how to problem solve when you're in an argument, she is sometimes a motherly figure, she may be the only one who listens to them ramble because the parents work late and then the kids go to bed, she is someone who could notice abuse or neglect, can be a councelor, may help provide kids with food when they don't have any, has to be aware when students need to go to the doctor for hearing or vision loss / weakening, and is a role model

Some of those things are hard and stressful. But there are also so many rewards! Well for one thing kids say the funniest things sometimes, sometimes on purpose and sometimes without realizing it. Some look up to the teacher as if she walks on water. It's great to see progress in kids. It's great to see them learning. It's great when you see them excited about something. Kids sometimes like school more than they do being at home. Even in a year some kids mature and you can tell. You get to see these little people explore the world and learn things for the first time with wide eyes. They have creativity that adults have often lost, they're not afraid to ask the tough questions about learning or even about life, and they begin to develop interests / talents that you get to see develop. I was 7 when I started playing piano, 7 when I really started running with writing (stories, poems, letters, journaling) and 9 when I knew I wanted to become a teacher.