 Your name: Heather Thompson, AKA Mrs. T.
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Job title: Grade 5 Classroom Teacher
How did you get into this career? It is a family thing. My mom was a teacher. My sister is also an elementary teacher. Many of my cousins are teachers. When I was a kid, I used to make up math questions to do. The I would do them and purposely get some of them wrong just so I could make the special 'C' check mark to show it had been corrected.
Is this your passion: Absolutely!! My friends all say teaching is not what I do, it is what I am! The night before the kids come back in September is as exciting to me as Christmas Eve. I collect little gadgets and gizmos for my classroom. Almost everthing I bought on summer vacation this year was for school. I am always thinking about how to be a better teacher.
What do you actually do?: Where to start… I am responsible for all of the preparation and planning that goes with delivery of the Grade 5 program. That includes preparing all materials, deciding how the lesson will be delivered, and how the students will be assessed. I am also repsonsible for organizing and maintaining a safe and effective learning environment in my classroom. That is the technical answer. In fact, my job is much more than that. It includes playing mom and dad, counsellor, confidante, referee, doctor and nursemaid, coat zipperer, and the list goes on. I also have to call kids on their behaviour and often teach manners and what behaviour is appropriate in public. My day starts by 8 AM and I am often still at school past 5 PM, and then of coruse there are all the things I do at home and on the weekends. I spend my own money to buy things that my room or my students need because the board does not always pay for everything. I could go on an on.
What are your greatest challenges in your work? Honestly, parents who don't teach their children the word 'no'. Kids who come to school without ever having been denied anything can be very challenging. When they don't get what they want, they take it out on the teachers and their classmates. I have seen far too many cases of parents not wanting to upset their children and therefore they give in to every whim and desire. The result is a child who thinks the world revolves around them and will do just about anythign to get her or his own way - not fun in a room full of 25 or 30 students who all want their own way and to whom I have said no many times.
What are your greatest rewards? Wow, another challenging question. There are many. I have been invited to the weddings of former students. I know that a few former students have named their children after me. I was just in a Tim Horton's and a former student who was there working her way through university told everybody there I was her teacher. The real rewards come from the kids. You will have noticed that I call them kids. I do so not out of disrepsect but because I truly adopt them into my heart. When you see the face of a student light up because for the first time he understood what a negative integer does, it is an amazing feeling. I have laughed with students. I have cried with students, over anything from finally getting fractions and being amazed to attending funerals and comforting the friends of those who have passed from us far too early. Then there are the little things - like hugs on the yard and little notes in my mailbox just to say hello. Who could ask for anything more rewarding than that?
What advice would you give to others considering a career like your’s? You need to understand that you have an awesome amount of power and with that power comes responsibility. You will never fully understand just how powerful an influence you may be in a child's life. You must always be mindful that you want to be a positive influence. The right words, or the wrong words, from you can make all the difference.
It is NOT a 9 - 5 type job. It is not even a Monday to Friday job. You will have frustrations beyond belief. You may work harder than you have ever worked before and it is mental work AND physical work. You will laugh and cry, sometimes on the same day. You may be the only caring adult in a child's life or you may be part of a team of supportive and caring adults. You have to love this job to do it and if you aren’t excited about going back to work at the end of the summer, you should not be doing it.
If you still want to be a teacher after reading this, know that it is one of the most fun filled and rewarding things you can do with your life. Yes, there are days when I am tired, but when those kids walk in and I see their faces, my batteries are instantly recharged. Teaching is truly a gift from and for the heart.
Tell us what you think we should know: I love what I do. I think it is important that you love your job, no matter what it is. I am very lucky in that respect because I know not everyone is lucky enough to have a job they want to go to each and every day.
I also think it is important to share what I know with those starting out in the profession. I welcome the opportunity to have student teachers in my room. I learn from them and hope that they are able to learn from me. After all, it is what I am!
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