The Art of Teaching: What They Didn’t Tell You in College

What They Didn’t Tell You in College Often, teaching can be a whole different experience than what prospective educators have been told in college. This book provides “Real Life” experience from a teacher with 20+ years in the trenches and his colleagues. Teaching is NOT for everyone. It takes a special person with a lot of patience and organization to teach. Procrastinators will find themselves underwater in short order as well as in violation of the LAW in some cases. Teachers are scrutinized with background checks, finger printing and are on file with the FBI. Though Freedom of Speech is in our Constitution, there are some very real limits about what a teacher can and cannot say in the classroom or even outside the school or on the internet. These constraints may simply be too much for some. You will never be paid what your work is actually worth or the hours you really put in, and the politics of unions, parents, and administration can sour your enthusiasm. In many places, the whole profession of teaching is under attack as an easy/soft target to squeeze financially by cutting benefits and salaries. That said, the rewards are numerous as well. I make a comfortable middle-class salary. I still have students visiting me many years after graduation thanking me for my influence in their lives. I know I have saved several from the brink of suicide with the help of a guidance counselor; I have championed students who would otherwise be lost in the system, I have planted the seeds of my own content expertise and have witnessed the blossoming and growth in my students firsthand. I have affected lives for the better and some have become lifelong friends. Though I love my subject, it is because of some of these less tangible reasons I am a teacher. Second Edition Copy Editor RT Berry