I had the opportunity to be an SAT coach/tutor last semester. I only had the job for about four weeks because I joined the roster late. I shared the job title and the work with one other person. We went to class together (or individually if one of us was sick), we made lesson plans together, and we split up the work equally. Seems like a foolproof system, but it was ineffective. Our students had three to four other coaches before us and struggled with adjusting to different teaching styles and understandably so.
I took one class period to talk to the students about what they liked and disliked about our program and the top complaint was having too many coaches come in and out of the classroom. What I didn’t know was I just passed a test and learned a valuable lesson. Teachers need to listen to their students. Many of them feel voiceless in the incomputable system that is public education. Giving them a voice legitimizes their feelings.
I brought these concerns to my boss and she listened. Our organization restructured the program to be compatible with one coach and offered me the job back and of course, I accepted! With the new responsibilities, came a new title. I went from sharing the work with other people to being entirely responsible for a class of 20 students. I had to take attendance, I had to submit grades, and I had to monitor the progress of my students, among a slew of other responsibilities. I couldn’t miss class and if by the off chance I needed a day off for vacation or illness, I had to request a substitute teacher. On top of that, I am a student myself taking 20 credit hours, with two other jobs.
My responsibilities compound by the day and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I have to keep up with a spreadsheet that documents attendance, SAT scores, and other logistical things. Logistics compromises about 30 percent of the job, but everything is else is either creating lesson plans or being in the classroom.
Each week, I spend hours making lesson plans. My students work better with games and team activities, so I place questions in a jeopardy or Kahoot game. Good, well thought-out questions take much time to implement. I played jeopardy in high school and thought it would take maybe an hour to create the game—not quite. While I am in the classroom, I have to maintain that teacher rapport with my students. Things I would find funny if I was with my friends, I have to correct them on because they are still my students and still in a classroom.
I love being involved with my students’ lives. I’ve become a resource to them and they have confided in me. I know about their families, their interests and I know what motivates them. I am student myself and it is an interesting dynamic, to say the least. My female students ask to go shopping with me and I get the “I love your outfit!” quite a bit. I don’t mind it because they are more honest with me than they would be with other teachers because I am more of a “friend.” I have to maintain respect and remind them that I am still the authority figure in the classroom, even if I am a mere 2-3 years older.
I’m not technically a teacher (I am employed through a program that contracts with the high school), and my semester stipend doesn’t reflect a teacher’s salary, but when I tell people the breakdown of my responsibilities, they all respond with the encouraging statement of, “You’re a teacher.”