Elementary Education Teacher

The Life Of An Elementary Education Teacher

The life of an elementary education teacher may sound like a cushy job, with a short working day, long summer holidays, and not much overtime. Did I really say not much overtime? Not everyone appreciates how many hours teachers, good teachers that is, put into lesson preparation and marking. This work is typically done outside of classroom hours, because in an elementary classroom, supervising activities lasts the whole of the school day! In the younger elementary classes, it isn't possible to ask the children to simply take out a book and read quietly while the teacher makes preparations for the next day, because most of the class will be unable to read, and there are always children that need help with the various activities.

We'll look at the life of an elementary education teacher more here.

My own vision of a good elementary school teacher is one who is patient, loving, laughs a lot, is enthusiastic, and well organized and enjoys life with children. I'm sure a lot of you will agree with this idealist view of an elementary school teacher. All children like to feel special, and elementary teachers usually succeed in making each child feel very special. Some classes even have each child in turn be the very special person of the day, complete with badge, or crown or whatever, with everyone being especially nice to that person that day.

It is not unusual to see the teacher hugged at the end of the day by many students, for they create such a loving and learning environment.

Now I said an elementary education teacher should be well organized, and I feel that this is extremely important in all classrooms. The teacher needs to make sure that each child understands a new concept, whether it be the meaning of a word, or how to add, or how to do a forward role in the physical education class, and a child's success needs to be recorded. Why? Not everyone grows and learns at the same rate, but by the time the children move to the next grade, it will be assumed that they already know certain basics. The teacher has to make sure that this is in fact true, otherwise any child unsure of this is likely to fall behind in the new class. The only way to make certain is to keep detailed, thorough records for each child, and if a child misses a concept for whatever reason, that can be made up as soon as they return. Teaching is one job that can eat up hours and hours in preparation time, whether you are an elementary school teacher or a high school teacher, but I must admit that the amount of work to correct per child is less in elementary classrooms. However, the preparation time involved for all the activities can be enormous. Remember that for each arts and craft project, there are often shapes to be cut out for each child, perhaps in different colors, to help the project go smoother.

Sometimes these teachers are able to have volunteer parents or helpers in the classroom with them to deal with this, but not always.

Laughter is contagious, and a cheerful and enthusiastic teacher is more likely to have cheerful and enthusiastic students, don't you think? And elementary students are generally full of energy, so they need someone who can keep up with them, or can harness that energy and turn it into other useful forms, like inquisitiveness, and exploratory skills. It is also important to realize that the curriculum for elementary education covers a lot of different subject areas, so an elementary school teacher generally has to be confident in all these areas, including music, science, social studies, literature, and of course math.

Yes, the life of an elementary education teacher is varied and very full, but it can also be very rewarding to see your class absorb the information you feed them.