Be a teacher, they said,
you are good at explaining things!
Be a teacher, they said,
you are very smart.
Be a teacher, they said,
you are creative and good with kids!
Be a teacher, they said,
you will have a good pension when you retire.
Be a teacher, they said,
technology will never be able to replace a live person who has a relationship with a class.
What they never said was that some day in the future, while America was sleeping, China would unleash a weapon of war on the world called Covid-19 and education as we know it would be irrevocably changed.
As it turns out, I am not good at explaining things on Zoom. I'm not even remotely smart with how to assign, assess, or advance my students remotely. My creativity has gone out the window. I'm 10 years too young to retire, and technology that I don't fully understand has replaced me.
As a teacher, you always hope to get your students to learn on their own- to make yourself obsolete.
I never thought it would happen to all my students. All at once. Overnight.
But wait- it gets worse!
2 years ago, my boss suggested that I become an administrator. I just finished a two-year Administrator Certificate program at WSU- 1 year of that included an internship. There are now no jobs available for administrators in the dozen districts within driving distance. If you thought teachers were useless when there is no school, administrators are more so!
When there are no students, you don't need anyone in charge of discipline.
When enrollment is down and there are fewer teachers, you don't need anyone in charge of evaluating instruction.
Obsolescence squared.
Maybe I could drive for Amazon. Of course, I'm an excellent driver.
