My husband and I get in discussions on how much time I spend at school or at home on school work (and blogging is a new addiction to teaching!)
He repects that I care about my job and work very hard at being a good teacher, but wishes I was at home more. He doesn't really get as excited about my job as I do (understandably!!), and I like to babble on with it comes to my classroom and he doesn’t understand it. Good thing…I have great teahcer friends that I can share my stories and things with them.
I think my husband is getting past the fact that kindergarten is not just rest, snack, and play time anymore. This is going to be my 7th year teaching and YES each year has gotten better with my time spend in the classroom (unpaid – he would say). I believe the time I put in now is how much time I will always have to put in as a teacher, and I am okay with that. But a couple of my husbands friends wives are teachers and they come home right after the bell rings and do not go in on the weekends, why do I? (Actually…I do not know how they do it!)
I want you to know that he NEVER bashes my profession. Sometimes I don’t think he understands what the profession of teaching really is! He doesn’t understand me putting in extra hours if I'm not getting paid for it. Ohhh…how rich I would be if we did get paid for all the hours of prep we put in on our own time because we don’t get enough prep time during the day!!!
Maybe my blog is not the place to get this out, but I know that most of you “rockstar” teachers would understand how I feel. Teaching is one of the most important professions in the world and I love to share my joy and enthusiasm on my blog. Thank you for coming back and seeing what I do in my classroom. It feels really GOOD!!!
Amber
I understand completely!! I teach at a private Kindergarten and I work so many hours I'm probably earning in the negative numbers as an hourly rate! ha! Anyway, keep it up. Good teachers spend lots of extra time. I enjoy the planning and creating after school hours. I like the challenge of making things better than they were last year.
ReplyDeleteI'm a new follower and a new blogger. Come visit...
www.kindergarten-roundup.blogspot.com
I totally understand! I love teaching and I spend many, many unpaid hours "working" on school stuff. I don't consider it working though because it is what I want to do. More like a hobby, I guess. Great post!
ReplyDeleteAmber,
ReplyDeleteI think husbands should take a class on how to be married to an elementary school teacher since very few of them get it. My husband has given up on passing comments (after 37 years) and now he tells other husbands to get use to it. He still shakes his head over my obsessiveness with report cards and getting my room together. He has even adapted to me rolling in at all hours of the night. Now he steps over the scissors,glue, and school supplies all over our family room and has accepted my need to print out anything I want for my class, and no longer expects me to talk about anything but school with my teaching friends. However, he was the first to celebrate when I got Teacher of the Year, my first job as a trainer, and is amazed that other teachers read my blog. I am not sure when the transformation took place. Hang in there. Some day he will get it. I promise. Mine
finally does.
Love, Fran
Love, Fran
Your husband will get it and be your biggest fan, I promise. You are doing what is right for you and your kiddos. He will come to appreciate all that you do. Right now, just keep plugging away and be sure to set up a special date with him - maybe he needs to be reminded you still love him. :-) Boys can be like that.
ReplyDeleteI have the honor of personally knowing how much of a dedicated, enthusiastic, and effective teacher Amber is! (I know, I'm a "Lucky Ducky")I like the comment about it being a hobby - I know how much you love doing it, so it is a "hobby" to you and the rest of us who get a "natural high" from doing great things for kids! Improving your teaching and challenging your students with new ideas is very rewarding. Since I know your husband, I would say buy him an extra tub of ice cream each week! That may be the ticket!!! Amber, you are my "bestest" friend, and I "totally admire" you and your God-given talent to teach young minds! As I head to 5K this year after 25 years in 5th grade, I need YOU and YOUR EXTRA HELP! Heck, I'll buy him tubs of ice cream if I need to..... Luv ya, LuAnn
ReplyDeleteAmen and amen! Recently on a double date with one of my Kinder teaching friends, the husbands started in on the topic of how much free time/money goes into teaching. It was so funny to hear their thoughts and compare our jobs to their jobs. We tried to help them understand that teaching Kindergarten for us is both a job AND a hobby, or a "jobby" in the words of a friend. Neither of our hubbies were quite able to comprehend it...but they love us anyway!!
ReplyDelete"JOBBY" - I love that term! I teach because it is my jobby! Cute!
ReplyDeleteOne issue we have is all my boxes of teaching "stuff" lined up along a basement wall (I share a classroom and there just isn't room). But my husband does sometimes bring home stuff (e.g. puppets, art materials) that he thinks my kinders will enjoy.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't know a teacher-husband that doesn't feel the exact same way as yours (and mine)!! Teaching is not just a job and never will be for us "rockstar teachers" it is just part of who we are...that is why we can never do enough, the day never ends and the supplies will never stop coming out of our personal checkbook!! It is a good thing (for all the kiddos out there) and maybe not such a good thing for all the teacher-husbands out there?! We all have our days, don't we? My husband patienly tagged along with me the other day as I hunted down .25 glue sticks (awesome) and drove to 3 different stores to get the correct color folders. Don't worry though, as soon as I start in on the hours of laminated piece cutting on the couch...I will hear about it again too! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everybody for your posts! I love my family and what I do for a living. You are right...it is my "jobby"!
ReplyDelete