Teachers take on what is arguably the most important job in society. The outcome of entire countries relies on the education of their leaders. While being a teacher might not be the most sought after job, it is the foundation of all professions. But what would an actual teacher say about their job? Amy White, an English teacher at Rocky Mountain High School, has much to discuss.
Amy’s original aspirations didn’t include teaching. She was accepted to Whittier College in Whittier, California, to study law. However, she didn’t stay in law school because she married Jeff White, and needed to get a job to start a life. Having an English degree, Amy White took a job teaching English in a high school in Los Angeles, California. Once she had her first teaching job, she found that she enjoyed teaching and stayed as a teacher.
White does not have many regrets, but her biggest one is dropping out of law school and never going back.
“That’s probably one of my only regrets–that and not seeing Prince in concert. It’s one of two great regrets in my otherwise good life.”
After law school, she started teaching 10th grade English. While it may not have been her first choice, teaching became a new passion. Her favorite part of teaching is the difference between each day and how no two days will ever be the same. Every day is something new. But that’s not her only favorite part.
“…I know it sounds so stupid, but I think y’all are real fun and real interesting. I think it keeps me young. I genuinely love teaching. I really do think it’s the best job in the world.”
Being a teacher, Amy interacts with so much of a younger demographic, and in her experiences, she has kept a fresh perspective on the world through the eyes of her students. Every student has new and different ideas, which provide a fun atmosphere for her.
Having a variety of grades in classes, from freshman to seniors, teachers are bound to have a favorite grade to teach. For White, that would be eleventh grade. In her opinion, seniors tend to be whiny (“I have senioritis!”) and more unwilling to do assignments. Ninth graders are more in the stage of finding themselves, while tenth graders are, in her opinion, rather “a lot.” Eleventh graders are the sweet spot. She also stated that she gets to teach her favorite class to juniors, U.S. Literature.
“It’s super fun. It’s one of my favorites for sure. I love what we read; I love the conversations.”
She may have favorite parts of the classroom, but nothing in life comes without challenges. One of her biggest challenges in the past few years has been keeping the attention of students on the lesson and away from their phones. In recent years, she states that students haven’t been listening as well, which is an incredibly frustrating feeling for her.
“I feel like I repeat myself 85,000 times a day and I’ve never felt quite like that.”
Staying motivated when not always being rewarded is a struggle, but she manages to cope with the understanding that her student’s time is valuable. She tries to make sure that her students feel successful is motivation in itself.
Keeping her motivation is a big part of teaching, but managing a classroom is a different question entirely. White’s approach to managing her classroom is treating her students with humanity, and having the understanding that people are people. In her experience, treating others with humanity causes them to treat others with humanity.
However, not every tactic works for every student. When some students have different learning abilities, she will adjust her assignments–either by creating less of a workload or a different way of completing assignments.
Every teacher is different. Whether they differ in teaching styles or the way they handle work, it’s different. However, some qualities should stay the same for everyone. White states that it’s most important for teachers to like their job because if teachers are there every day, then it should be something that they like to do.
Teaching is a very time-consuming job. She tries to keep a balance between her job and her personal life, but she is aware of how much of her life was spent in the classroom rather than in her own home.
“My older kids in particular will tell you that other people’s children got the better of me some days than they did, and that sucks. I feel bad about that and I’ve tried to do better.”
In the past, Amy hasn’t been able to maintain much balance between her personal life and her job. More recently though, she has been working on keeping her two lives in different values.
“…I’m working on being home at home and here when I’m here.”
No one can truly understand what teaching is like other than teachers, but Amy White was able to provide a perspective of being a teacher. She has had her ups and downs but has stayed an excellent teacher, keeping a new and fresh way of teaching.
