Taxi!
What's the difference between a taxi driver and a chauffeur? The clientele.
I found myself using the expression, "They don't pay me enough to do that," around some of the other English teachers today. That's when one of them, a Mrs. Rajski, said, "You know we get paid pretty well for our jobs. This is an honorable thing that we do and there are others who don't have the privilege of doing this job who get paid a lot less."
I started to feel ashamed of what I had said. We teachers (cue Dead Poet's music) get paid to do pretty amazing stuff. We should be more thankful for just how lucky we...
[Insert jumping record needle sound here.]
It dawned on me that Mrs. Rajski is the "gifted and talented" teacher, and she gets to teach GT all day. While I, on the other hand, am at the opposite side of that spectrum.
No crap she's grateful. Her kids are using origami to recreate the characters from Les Misérables from the scraps of paper left over from their Camu dioramas just because they are bored. Meanwhile, my kids are asking, "What's a Poe?" and turning in their essays, which are written on a manila folder. I'm not talking about a paper turned in with a folder, but written on a folder.
It's not her fault. She's an awesome teacher. She has the qualifications for teaching GT, but so do I. Here's a novel idea--how about spreading the wealth around a bit? I don't mind helping those who are drowning in a sea of literature--those who have other skills that may not stand out while analyzing "The Red Wheelbarrow." But I would like to exercise different parts of my brain with students from time to time.
I would just appreciate a different kind of academic atmosphere every once and a while. I thought schools were supposed to remove such tags like "the haves" and "the have-nots." It must not apply to teachers. So just get in the taxi, shut up, and pay the cabbie. We can still watch the pretty limo from the window.
I found myself using the expression, "They don't pay me enough to do that," around some of the other English teachers today. That's when one of them, a Mrs. Rajski, said, "You know we get paid pretty well for our jobs. This is an honorable thing that we do and there are others who don't have the privilege of doing this job who get paid a lot less."
I started to feel ashamed of what I had said. We teachers (cue Dead Poet's music) get paid to do pretty amazing stuff. We should be more thankful for just how lucky we...
[Insert jumping record needle sound here.]
It dawned on me that Mrs. Rajski is the "gifted and talented" teacher, and she gets to teach GT all day. While I, on the other hand, am at the opposite side of that spectrum.
No crap she's grateful. Her kids are using origami to recreate the characters from Les Misérables from the scraps of paper left over from their Camu dioramas just because they are bored. Meanwhile, my kids are asking, "What's a Poe?" and turning in their essays, which are written on a manila folder. I'm not talking about a paper turned in with a folder, but written on a folder.
It's not her fault. She's an awesome teacher. She has the qualifications for teaching GT, but so do I. Here's a novel idea--how about spreading the wealth around a bit? I don't mind helping those who are drowning in a sea of literature--those who have other skills that may not stand out while analyzing "The Red Wheelbarrow." But I would like to exercise different parts of my brain with students from time to time.
I would just appreciate a different kind of academic atmosphere every once and a while. I thought schools were supposed to remove such tags like "the haves" and "the have-nots." It must not apply to teachers. So just get in the taxi, shut up, and pay the cabbie. We can still watch the pretty limo from the window.
- H.T. at 2:17 PM
