Prompt #3: Communication in Education

It just so happens that I ended up picking the same career choice as my mother, so for this post I decided I would interview her, Gina Jacques. So I called her up and started asking her questions about her teaching career.  She teaches 3rd grade at a public school in Sault, MI, although throughout her career she has taught all grades up to 6th grade.  When I lived at home my mom would talk about her class and things going on in her classroom but it was interesting to hear some in-depth answers from her through this interview.  I had no idea how much work was really put into communicating as a teacher, among the parents, students, colleagues, principals, and the government my mother and all other educators never really experience a dull moment.

I started out asking who she communicates with on a daily basis, I was shocked to find out the countless people she has to keep in touch with, people you wouldn't even think of.  My mother communicates with: students, other teachers, paraprofessionals, janitors, lunch workers, recess supervisors, specials teachers, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, and social workers.  She said this can be very stressful because there is a lot of people she works with, and she also has three special needs children in her classroom making for even more people to keep in contact with.  Obviously to communicate with this many people you would have to stay well organized and also stay on top of things.  I can definitely see this being stressful, but I am the type of person that is always organized and I am good at communicating, so it is nice to know these skills will come in handy as a teacher some day.

I proceeded to asking my mother about common misconceptions that happen to her as a teacher and as a communicator.  A lot of people believe that teachers have a lot of time to get things done, but this is not true.  My mom experiences constant interruptions, questions, people knocking on the door, unexpected visitors, and phone calls throughout her day.  She also has loads of paperwork aside from just papers she grades.  Teachers are expected to give all kinds of tests to her students, and she said a lot of the tests are done through the computer and she receives little to no help in the computer lab.  She said the best way to make sure things go smoothly is by communicating with other teachers and receiving support from her fellow teachers, she said if it wasn't for them her job would be a lot more difficult.

Another big part of communication as a teacher is keeping in touch with all of the parents.  My mom says she communicates with the parents by sending home a monthly newsletter with all of the events listed that are happening during that month in the classroom.  My mother must also write out monthly reports for her three special students.  Also, she has evaluations she must respond to from her principal.  And theres even more!  She still has to complete her lesson plans for her class, fill out report cards, and on professional development days comes more paperwork.  As a student interested in going into teaching I knew there was more work than the lesson plans aside, but I had no idea the work stretched out this far.

Even though it was my mother I interviewed, I still learned a lot of new information from her.  Her job is stressful at times, but she loves it--which again is a must as an educator.  She even offered for me to come into her classroom to observe and possibly teach a lesson.  I am very excited about going into education and it makes it even better having my mother to look up to as a professional in that field.