”While teacher mental health has been getting more attention in recent years, 42 percent of teachers said administrators have not made any efforts to help relieve their stress. About one-fifth said their administrators have tried, but it didn’t help.” --Zoe deetz 8th grade
We all remember our elementary school teachers. Bright and colorful classrooms, class prizes that are given out, and always teaching us to the best of their abilities. Most people will agree that elementary school was way easier than Middle school and High School. But how did this all affect the teachers themselves?
“I feel like they get a lot of work especially the grading, because they have to grade a lot,” said Heera Murray is a 13 year old 8th grader in Vocal Music at OSA. “There’s a lot of students, a lot of classes I feel like it’s a lot and even things that don’t have to do with students.”
What was her elementary school experience? “I enjoyed elementary school, I love my elementary teachers,” she said. “There was definitely less work then, which I loved, and the teachers were just really nice, probably because I was younger.”
Murray said that, to her, a good teacher is not being your friend per say (though that’s always a plus) but just being there to talk to or being there to help you with work, if you don’t understand something. Also not being biased about someone because of how good they are at a subject.
Even though this is the perspective of a student, the perspective of a teacher can be very different. Most people think that being a teacher is a dream job (for those who like kids) while hanging out with kids for long periods of time can be fun and entertaining. There is way more to being a teacher that meets the eye.
Noemí Romero-Rodriguez is a first grade teacher at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward.
How did teaching change for you after the pandemic? “Teaching kids who hadn’t been in school, ever. Last year my students had never stepped foot in a classroom. Some of them had done kindergarten online. There was a lot of other things missing like the social emotional skills were missing as well as the friendships.” Rodriguez stated.
Caitlin Bethune is a second grade teacher at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward. How much would you say you spend on classroom supplies per year? “A lot, we get a certain amount reimbursed by the PTA, usually in the $200 to $300 range. I never have trouble finding receipts to get that full amount, but I always end up spending more than that, and sometimes a lot more than that depending on what I’ve gotten on teacher pay teachers and on Amazon for special projects and I spend so much on my class every year. I would guess probably somewhere between $500 and $1,000 dollars,” Bethune said.
On average how long would you say you spend after school preparing for the next day? “Too much. I typically spend at least an hour or two. Sometimes I’m able to get out of there quickly but on those days I usually bring stuff home with me to do. So I never really stay within my contractually paid hours,” Bethune responded.
Maria Ortiz is a fourth grade teacher at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward. What is your view on the education system? “I think parts of it are outdated, I don’t think the profession is valued as much as I would like it to be, speaking as a bilingual educator I think that there needs to be more training and more funding for bilingual education,” she continued, “The teaching credential program doesn’t fully prepare you for what you’re going to be doing. We live in the Bay Area, there is a very high degree of people who are bilingual and even multi lingual and yet I don’t think we do a good enough job of recruiting good teachers and paying them a good salary so that they want to stay,” Ortiz replied.
How does teaching affect your day-to-day life outside of school? “My job is a calling. I really feel deeply about teaching, I come from a long family of teachers in Mexico. And I always thought I was never going to be a teacher and I never wanted to be a teacher. But I kept getting pulled to this,” Ortiz continued, “My school is my second home, literally. I spend so many hours in here.”
“It affects my home life a lot less than it used to. I used to carry my school teacher bag full of papers to grade to go home and then I would never touch them I just basically give them a ride to school, a ride to home, a ride in my car and do nothing, just probably get back pain,” Ortiz said.
Adriana DeAnda is a fifth grade teacher at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward. What’s your favorite part of being a teacher? “The kids, and the connections. I never meant to become a teacher, but I just got sucked in with the relationships. I also like emparting general knowledge like ‘oh yeah that’s the way math works’ or just telling the story of how things came about,” De Anda said.
What’s the most heartwarming thing a student could do? “I love the notes. I love that each year they would look at us with positivity and that they care enough to say ‘you’re my favorite’ and so that’s heartwarming to me when they want to hang out and stay with me,” De Anda concluded.
“I feel like they get a lot of work especially the grading, because they have to grade a lot,” said Heera Murray is a 13 year old 8th grader in Vocal Music at OSA. “There’s a lot of students, a lot of classes I feel like it’s a lot and even things that don’t have to do with students.”
What was her elementary school experience? “I enjoyed elementary school, I love my elementary teachers,” she said. “There was definitely less work then, which I loved, and the teachers were just really nice, probably because I was younger.”
Murray said that, to her, a good teacher is not being your friend per say (though that’s always a plus) but just being there to talk to or being there to help you with work, if you don’t understand something. Also not being biased about someone because of how good they are at a subject.
Even though this is the perspective of a student, the perspective of a teacher can be very different. Most people think that being a teacher is a dream job (for those who like kids) while hanging out with kids for long periods of time can be fun and entertaining. There is way more to being a teacher that meets the eye.
Noemí Romero-Rodriguez is a first grade teacher at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward.
How did teaching change for you after the pandemic? “Teaching kids who hadn’t been in school, ever. Last year my students had never stepped foot in a classroom. Some of them had done kindergarten online. There was a lot of other things missing like the social emotional skills were missing as well as the friendships.” Rodriguez stated.
Caitlin Bethune is a second grade teacher at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward. How much would you say you spend on classroom supplies per year? “A lot, we get a certain amount reimbursed by the PTA, usually in the $200 to $300 range. I never have trouble finding receipts to get that full amount, but I always end up spending more than that, and sometimes a lot more than that depending on what I’ve gotten on teacher pay teachers and on Amazon for special projects and I spend so much on my class every year. I would guess probably somewhere between $500 and $1,000 dollars,” Bethune said.
On average how long would you say you spend after school preparing for the next day? “Too much. I typically spend at least an hour or two. Sometimes I’m able to get out of there quickly but on those days I usually bring stuff home with me to do. So I never really stay within my contractually paid hours,” Bethune responded.
Maria Ortiz is a fourth grade teacher at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward. What is your view on the education system? “I think parts of it are outdated, I don’t think the profession is valued as much as I would like it to be, speaking as a bilingual educator I think that there needs to be more training and more funding for bilingual education,” she continued, “The teaching credential program doesn’t fully prepare you for what you’re going to be doing. We live in the Bay Area, there is a very high degree of people who are bilingual and even multi lingual and yet I don’t think we do a good enough job of recruiting good teachers and paying them a good salary so that they want to stay,” Ortiz replied.
How does teaching affect your day-to-day life outside of school? “My job is a calling. I really feel deeply about teaching, I come from a long family of teachers in Mexico. And I always thought I was never going to be a teacher and I never wanted to be a teacher. But I kept getting pulled to this,” Ortiz continued, “My school is my second home, literally. I spend so many hours in here.”
“It affects my home life a lot less than it used to. I used to carry my school teacher bag full of papers to grade to go home and then I would never touch them I just basically give them a ride to school, a ride to home, a ride in my car and do nothing, just probably get back pain,” Ortiz said.
Adriana DeAnda is a fifth grade teacher at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward. What’s your favorite part of being a teacher? “The kids, and the connections. I never meant to become a teacher, but I just got sucked in with the relationships. I also like emparting general knowledge like ‘oh yeah that’s the way math works’ or just telling the story of how things came about,” De Anda said.
What’s the most heartwarming thing a student could do? “I love the notes. I love that each year they would look at us with positivity and that they care enough to say ‘you’re my favorite’ and so that’s heartwarming to me when they want to hang out and stay with me,” De Anda concluded.
