Ode to Teaching

This week's Heads or Tails theme/prompt is:

TAILS - Tell about your job (Or one you've had)

Today feels like Monday since we didn't work yesterday. I almost forgot is was Heads or Tails Tuesday! (See my name?)

I am in my 20th year of teaching intermediate school (middle school, junior high) language arts. Teaching is so different now than it was when I first started. Kids are different now than they were then. Each year we are burdened with more and more non-academic requirements. If I could just TEACH (without dealing with discipline and other issues) things would be great. Anyway, I've written this little poem to give you an ever-so-tiny, generic glimpse of life as a teacher in Texas.

Ode to Teaching

I am a teacher
five days of most weeks

I impart knowledge and skills
we “fondly” call TEKS (rhymes with reeks).

Living by bells, and schedules,
and deadlines,

I don’t do anything that
would cause me to make headlines.

Lesson plans, paperwork,
state requirements galore.

Zillions of dealines that
you can’t ignore.

Grammar, spelling, vocabulary
and more,

Reading and writing,
two things I adore.

My students leave me
knowing more than they had,

They only dislike me when
they are bad.

Accommodations and discipline

are the hardest part.

But unlike my children,
my students think I’m smart.

If only teaching
were as easy as "they" think,

When first starting out,
it’s swim with sharks or sink!

My work doesn’t stop
when I go home,

I see students and parents
wherever I roam.

I do over a year’s work
in ten month’s time,

But the amount I get
paid should be a crime.

I don't like it when a kid

acts like a jerk,

But I'm off work when my

kids are, and that's a perk.

There’s much more to it

than there’s time to tell,

I do my job,

and try to do it well.

(Actually, the pay is not as bad as people think it is.)

You can visit other Heads or Tails posts here. Thanks, Skittles, for hosting this meme!