Hello. My name is RT and I suffer from ATTS (Addicted To Teaching Syndrone). A teach-aholoic of sorts, you might say. I came to this startling epiphany recently after modifying a list of four questions from the Drug and Alcohol Resource Center. The modifications are in italics.
Question 1. Have you ever felt you should cut down on your teaching? Yes. Teaching is a consuming passion for those who do it well. However, those not afflicted by this disease plod on with the misconception that teaching is only an 8 to 3, 5 day a week, 36 week a year job. If only that were true, but the dark truth of this plague is : we teach-aholics struggle with the demons of teaching in some form almost every waking moment. Whether we are actually in the classroom teaching, tutoring before and after school, planning lessons, grading papers, attending professional development, attending night and summer classes, researching ways to make our respective subjects relevant to our students, working second or third jobs……. Many times there are not enough hours in the day and something has to be short changed, usually our families.
Question 2. Have people annoyed you critiquing your teaching? Oh my, most certainly yes. If you are a teacher, people critizing you has become a national pastime, soon to be considered for an Olympic Sport along with video games. From our President down to the parents of the students we teach, everyone thinks they could do our jobs better. NCLB, a federal program implemented to lower taxes by putting an end to a free public education, believes that by the year 2014 EVERY child will achieve mastery in EVERY subject. At the state level, our law makers are now in the business of curriculum development. Last time I checked there are no educational or testing requirements to be a state law maker. Yet they know better than college educated, state tested, tested under fire, nationally ranked, experienced educators? At the local level, parents are trying and often are having success in controlling our schools and undermining our curriculum. Advanced classes have become the “Hummers” of school, status symbols for over-indulged, under-motivated students, which has effectively lowered the achievement level of those advanced classes. But what do I know, anybody can teach, right? You know the old adage: Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.
Question 3. Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your teaching? Yes. Often in social settings I find myself praying, oops teachers aren’t allowed to do that, hoping that no one asks what I do. Nothing seems to put a damper on a conversation quicker than admitting you are “just” a teacher. Ironically, teachers are expected by society and required by administrators to act and dress professionally, but are they in return treated or compensated professionally? I feel guilty when my family suffers because of my teaching affliction. Teaching directly and indirectly affects them. Directly by the amount of time spent evenings and weekends preparing for class. Funny how we are worrying over and working with the children of some of our worst critics. Indirectly, it has a immense negative effect on our finances. I , as well as countless others with this addiction, work two and sometimes three extra jobs to support my teaching habit and family. Do I feel bad or guilty, you bet I do.
Question 4. Have you ever had to teach first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of the effects of teaching? Yes. Good teachers, by nature are a hyper-self-critical lot and are constantly second guessing the effectiveness of their teaching strategies. I am no exception to this teaching “hangover” if you will. Countless times, I have started my day by checking my student’s understanding of the previous day’s lesson. Only, if and when I know that I successfully imparted the concept to them, can I calm my nerves and focus on the day’s activities, which you guessed it, is to continue in this vicious cycle of my teaching addiction.
According to the Drug and Alcohol Resource Center you have a problem if you are able to answer yes to any one of these questions. I along with hordes of others are doomed. Unlike AA, there no support groups, 12-step plans or treatment centers for those of us with ATTS.
The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem, well I have accepted that fact. Now, will you sponsor a teacher, R T?
R.T. searcher, seeker, sojourner. Not all who wander are lost, maybe temporarily disoriented, but not lost.
