Week seventh

If there is one thing that I have come to appreciate as a co-teacher, it is the scope of commitment that a person must make when becoming a teacher. Being an educator is not an in-class only job: there is so much outside work that is done, be it lesson planning, conferencing or tutoring students. To not do those things would mean short changing the students, yet to do all those things means learning how to prioritize and manage multiple responsibilities, particularly in consideration of the fact that both k-12 and higher education teachers often hold other positions to compensate their income because they are not paid in commensuration with the amount of work that is required of them as teachers. I can take this political and speak on the lowering of education quality when the professionals who are asked to do the job cannot keep their mind solely focused on it, but that's for another time. At this time, all I can say is it would be better to have one's lesson plan laid out before the semester begins. Otherwise, it is difficult to focus on class preparation in addition to the myriad of other responsibilities that present themselves during the course of a semester.