Good morning all,
I think that my job satisfaction is directly related to how much people at work appreciate what I do. Very infrequently, former students come back and say hi, and tell me they are appreciative of what I taught them. This means a great deal. More often, other teachers say nice things, and this is always fantastic. Sometimes, there is even nice feedback from administrators or bosses, which is really cool. Comments don't have to be evaluative, they can just be positive. I think that those sorts of comments, from any of the above, are more important than how much I'm paid to do my work.
I love engaging with other professionals about theories about education, how best to help students, and what we can do to help them become citizens of the state, country, and world. My school does a great job at this with the Paideia philosophy, creating students (and teachers) who think deeply about things.
My other job, at Northwestern Connecticut Community College, teaching Math Boot Camp, is a different experience and I really appreciate it, for different reasons. Students there are more appreciative, even as they have more math phobia or recalcitrance towards math. They are adults, so I think they have learned/realized how much they will need math skills for their associate's degrees/careers. It's pretty neat to be able to diagnose their misunderstandings about math and helping them overcome them.
I am left wondering how to give the sort of motivation that the adult students have to my high school students. Many of my high school students are extremely motivated, but I teach so many that think that they will never need mathematics in general, and Algebraic skills in particular. I tell them anecdotes about my life and when I've used algebra/math to outwit car salesmen, calculate tip faster than others, use the Pythagorean theorem to locate an underground tank for my grandparents, and how it can, in general, lead to a better life than the life that could be led without any math knowledge.
As a culture, I think we need to start making math a priority again. America has had years, and decades even, where the most important thing to our society was knowledge. The drive to put a man on the moon before Russia made us glorify math/science/engineers because they were connected to patriotism. We need that again, badly. Technology companies can't find qualified American workers, and we need to be at the forefront of this. This can't happen unless education becomes important to society again. We have to put our money where our mouth is, and give funding to schools, K-12 AND community colleges, all the way up to graduate school. Everyone with the aptitude should be able to learn as much as they want to about their chosen subject. This wouldn't cost a lot, in the long run, and it would lead to the US dominating in technology, innovation, science, and math again.
More importantly, the culture around it needs to change. Instead of calling people dorky for wanting to learn about math, science, technology, or really any school subject, we should praise them and encourage them. We should provide them with resources and scholarships, so that our companies can eventually innovate. We should help our teachers. Elevating the profession of education will elevate our students, because the BEST, most QUALIFIED people will want to teach. It will be rewarded monetarily in a way commensurate with the qualification, drive, motivation, and intelligence that the teachers bring to students, every day. Qualified teachers won't get jaded, feel frustration over non-working technology, or feel undervalued. As a result, students will get our BEST.
When that happens, the whole society benefits. We help students become citizens of their city/town, the state, the country, and the world. Making the teachers feel valued filters down to the students. They will have the best education we can provide, with the resources required to do so, and the students feel that. When I bring donorschoose resources to bear on my classroom, my students feel valued. They feel that they are cared for, and they work harder because they know they have the resources they need to be their most effective.
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