[ random acts of alex ]

How It Can Be

So I'm an English teacher, right? Teach high school students. Lots of stories I could tell you about the job, but many would get me fired, or cause more grief from parents or administration than I'm willing to put up with. Grief from students I can handle. Hell, I get that everyday. It's the parents or the prinicipal who may or may not be fully on my side on any given day that causes all of the stress.

That's why I have to admire a fellow teacher who has the guts to post true stories of what it is like for them. Stories that maybe no one else would believe that has never been on that side of a classroom before, but that somehow ring true to another teacher, even though, speaking for myself, I've never been in those exact situations.

The teacher stories I've been reading the last few days from a guy teaching English in Japan are a great example. Written with brutal honesty, humor, and a certain I-don't-care-who-reads-this attitude that makes it entirely entertaining in an almost True Hollywood Story kind of way.

Thanks to those stories I now know exactly what Kancho is and won't be getting any decent sleep anytime soon until I find out exactly what The Octopus entails. That and I wish I had the freedom to write my own version of those stories. Unfortunately, I've grown accustomed to those paychecks every two weeks.

Related sites:

• hipteacher: one redheaded girl's journey into the world of public education
• Ms. Frizzle: the adventures of a science teacher in a small public middle school
• I Am A Teacher: currrently slumming as a sub

posted by alex @ 5/27/2005 06:24:00 PM