Bipolar Journalling:
Regarding Birthdays / Eve / Me / Oops? / I waited till my flowers withered. / Dear Lee Pace,I must confess that I currently have... / Justification by feeling / Humour for you / There is only do. / Grace is not a license to sin /
:: Friday, October 22, 2010 ::
If you value your life...
...never say these things to a teacher.
1) "Waaaaah, so free to watch Youtube/Facebook/shop online/write notes explaining why not to say this to a teacher?"
Never say or even allude to the fact that teachers have a lot of free time. This is likely to get you maimed, mauled, mangled, mutilated and all round massacred. While this might be somewhat true, we do not appreciate you suggesting that we cut down on the amount of time we Facebook or watch Korean dramas. It is an unwritten rule that ONLY teachers or ex-teachers may make such comments because they know just how much sh*t actually goes down which forces us to indulge in time-wasting activities such as the above to make ourselves feel better.
2) "How difficult can marking be?"
Just no. You have no idea what it's like looking at tiny, spidery handwriting in the dead of the night, trying to make sense of whatever drivel is current with the students.
So never say this. Especially not to an English teacher. Or a Humanities teacher. See above about getting maimed, mauled, mangled, etc.
3) "So good, got long holidays!"
Again, while this is somewhat true, teachers are still called back pretty often for things like CCA, administrative duties such as Sec 1 registration, lesson planning etc. etc. See number #1 about unwritten rules. Also see #6.
4) "You earn a lot, right?"
Yeah, no, we don't, not for the amount/hours of work we have to put in. Don't be fooled by the rocks that we've got. (¬ ¬)
5) "Come on, teaching can't be worse than [insert own profession] because I have [insert reasons why your job makes you emocakes boohoo.]"
Really? You want to make comparisons? Nothing pisses a teacher off more than someone suggesting that their job is easy. Just avoid the comparison altogether. And if you value your life, don't mention anything about teaching being "fun" because you get to "play with the students".
6) "Hey, want to go to [far-off holiday destination] in [any month other than June, November and December]?"
The funny thing is that people often remember the LONG holidays better than the fact we pretty much can't go any time during off-peak holiday seasons.
7) "Oh, an English/Chinese teacher? Must be careful what I say around you, haha!"
This is a personal bugbear. Yes, I might correct what you're saying from time to time (occupational hazard, I'm not doing it to be pedantic), but I'd appreciate not being scrutinized for my language - somehow we're expected to have a higher standard of language, which is not true. Ability in subject =/= ability to teach.
Sadly, the science teachers don't have much of a problem with this. People generally don't say things like "Oh, a Biology teacher? Must be careful how I refer to my body parts!" or "Oh, a Physics teacher? I must be sure that my knowledge of Newton's laws is accurate! Oh yes, gravity works!"
However, what does happen and IS annoying to us is the assumption that we are experts in our subject speciality. I've lost count of the number of times someone's asked me about definitions of difficult words. How would I know what sesquipedalophobia means? (Ans: Fear of long words.) We're (and as much as it pains me to say this) just teachers. We don't know everything - enough and then some to teach our students, yes, but being a teacher of Literature doesn't mean I'm familiar with every single piece of classic literature that's ever been written.
8) You get PAID for invigilation?
Don't make a big deal out of us receiving extra money on top of what we're already paid.
It's something we feel like avoiding altogether if we can help it. Well, most of us anyway. I can't speak for all teachers. Invigilation is time that could be better spent doing our ACTUAL work. Which, I suppose, is why the government pays us to stare at students for hours on end because they feel the need to compensate us for a thankless job. But seriously? The amount of money given isn't worth the boredom and mindlessness observation of quietly writing candidates. We CAN'T do anything to entertain ourselves, no, not even to talk to other invigilators. Common games I play with myself are "How many steps does it take to walk from one end of the hall to another?" and "See if I can make the hour hand move faster with the power of my mind".
Question: Why do WE have to do this? It's not like it takes some special professional teacher skill to invigilate. I'd much rather the money went to jobless... This duty is NOT worth an extra $25 dollars a day.
9) "How can you say that? You're a teacher!"
We hate being defined by our profession. Just because we're teachers doesn't mean we don't suffer from delusions or insecurities or maniac periods of activity where we want to run around naked in the rain. Teachers aren't Puritans.
Say it with me. Teachers aren't Puritans.
While we're expected to uphold certain standards while we're at work, it doesn't mean that it defines us in leisure. Yes, we sometimes like to indulge in questionable bitch-fests and raunchy topics. We do smoke. We do drink (even though we know we shouldn't). We do make unwise financial decisions. We over-indulge. We're not mature, shining paragons of virtue. Why do you expect us to be? We're people too. I don't always have something insightful or enlightening to teach you, my young Padawan.
If anything, making the assumption that teachers have Certain Characteristics is dangerous because we're not wise and we're not compassionate. A lot of the time, you'll find that many of us are stupid bitches and bastards and you can't trust or rely on us. (I say this entirely tongue-in-cheek. Forgive me, my educator brethren and sistren!)
10) "So is it easier to teach primary / secondary / JC?"
Seriously, are you trying to start a civil war? Never broach this topic, because teachers will defend their faction to the death to prove that their group has the hardest time. Bystanders get mauled, mutilated, mangled...you get the picture.
:: And that's all she wrote 12:46 PM [+] ::
1 comments
1 Comments:
LOL! Funny stuff.
But "play with the students" sounds so wrong. :|
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