The Many Hats I wear

I thought I knew what I signed up for when I decided to transition from the lab bench to the classroom and boy was I wrong. While I intuitively knew all the work that came with teaching - grading, curriculum development, content development, creating assessments, more grading, attending meetings, contacting families, and more grading - I don’t think I expected the rest of what being an educator entails.

There is some background that is required to understand a bit of my shock: the high school I went to had an incredible administration where all teachers had to focus on was their content area. I have spoken with my former teachers and they have all said that the administration removes whatever burden they can so teachers can do what they do best: teach. In my mind, teaching is a work of the heart. There are pros and cons about every job but to me, to be able to share my passion with others is 110% worth the trade-off of grading and the likes. (I should note I quite enjoy creating content and curriculum so it’s just the grading that is a bit tedious.)

That said, in my professional experience, I have come to see the complete opposite of what my alma mater is like. I see what happens when there is little administrative support, where the burden of teaching plus administrative tasks plus the “duties otherwise not specified” fall on the educator.

These duties not otherwise specified? If you can think of it, I’m pretty sure I have done it or currently do it.

That said, what is the role of an educator? Or better yet, what role should the educator play in the lives of our future generations?