PIF for teachers, tutors and educators of all kinds

[danjared]

I'd like to offer a token of thanks to those who have served their communities by serving as an educator. Teachers are eligible for this PIF, whether you are a K-12 teacher, professor, instructor at a community college, tutor, technical school instructor, teaching assistant or other kind of teacher. To be considered, please reply to this thread with the following:

• What subject you teach
• The name or type of institution at which you teach
• One or more of: what inspired you to teach, a story of how a student has inspired you, or a story of how you have inspired a student

Submissions posted by September 3rd at midnight (American Central time) will be eligible for the PIF. I will choose the recipient based on their story. It's hard to track who actually is eligible for this PIF, but I trust that submitters will be sincere.

Now for what you will receive:
I will be sending one straight razor, one razor hone, strop, shaving brush and shaving soap. The PIF is open to anyone who is located somewhere to which I can ship at a reasonable cost. (Note that I am in the US. I'd say that a reasonable cost is around 25 USD or less.)

 

[xMackx]

This is a great and honorable pif, and well deserving towards anyone willing to teach. Good luck to the contestants!

 

[Doc226]

Great PIF. Good luck to all entries. While technically I am an educator, I will not enter.

 

[Wid]

Very nice Jared, kudos.

 

[sychodelix]

Very nice PIF and very generous to those underpaid teachers who are often taken for granted.

I've done homeschool teaching myself for one of my two autistic children (3 year old nonverbal, and 8 year old who never stops talking). They are both currently in the school system though after being a little more than I can deal with by myself, so I'm not currently teaching full time, only for a few hours a day after school. An autistic child has to have consistent patterns to their daily lives, so I also teach on the weekend as well because even two days of not having any school work can make him go ballistic when he goes back to school on Monday. The younger child requires extensive speech therapy and occupational therapy, so my teaching of him is more limited as my training isn't sufficient to give him the extra help he needs, but I do what I can.

In any case, I'm not sure if this fills the definition of teacher, but I mostly wanted to say thank you for the generosity towards the people who work to shape young minds.

 

[Bk124tt]

Extremely generous!

 

[Quigg]

I have taught elementary school, both regular education and special ed, for 33 years. I am currently teaching fourth grade. Still going strong. I taught Sunday School at church for many years as well. It certainly isn't an easy profession, but it is immensely rewarding to me when I can help children succeed in learning. My motto is, "Learn a lot and have fun." I try to model that by including fun stories and activities in my classroom every day and my sharing my lifelong learning journey with my students. In my opinion, it is just as important to share my love of learning with them daily, as well as my caring for them and my belief that they can and will succeed, as it is to help them develop knowledge and skills for whatever goals they may have in life.

That said, I am definitely not angling for a straight razor set. I don't think I am ready for that. I just want to say thanks for your support of educators. It is one of the most important professions, but it often feels like we are under fire from all directions. I appreciate those who take the time to acknowledge our efforts.

 

[danjared]

Very nice PIF and very generous to those underpaid teachers who are often taken for granted.

I've done homeschool teaching myself for one of my two autistic children (3 year old nonverbal, and 8 year old who never stops talking). They are both currently in the school system though after being a little more than I can deal with by myself, so I'm not currently teaching full time, only for a few hours a day after school. An autistic child has to have consistent patterns to their daily lives, so I also teach on the weekend as well because even two days of not having any school work can make him go ballistic when he goes back to school on Monday. The younger child requires extensive speech therapy and occupational therapy, so my teaching of him is more limited as my training isn't sufficient to give him the extra help he needs, but I do what I can.

In any case, I'm not sure if this fills the definition of teacher, but I mostly wanted to say thank you for the generosity towards the people who work to shape young minds.

Great story. Sure, you're in. And, I think it's really great that you've dedicated that much time to your kids. They must be very fortunate.

I have taught elementary school, both regular education and special ed, for 33 years. I am currently teaching fourth grade. Still going strong. I taught Sunday School at church for many years as well. It certainly isn't an easy profession, but it is immensely rewarding to me when I can help children succeed in learning. My motto is, "Learn a lot and have fun." I try to model that by including fun stories and activities in my classroom every day and my sharing my lifelong learning journey with my students. In my opinion, it is just as important to share my love of learning with them daily, as well as my caring for them and my belief that they can and will succeed, as it is to help them develop knowledge and skills for whatever goals they may have in life.

That said, I am definitely not angling for a straight razor set. I don't think I am ready for that. I just want to say thanks for your support of educators. It is one of the most important professions, but it often feels like we are under fire from all directions. I appreciate those who take the time to acknowledge our efforts.

I'll keep you in the running just in case. I think I might have a second PIF with a DE in it anyway.

 

[joshuastar]

I was pretty speechless when I saw this post. Thanks so much! The Citizen Kane gif up top sums it up perfectly.


I'm a Social Studies teacher in a Middle School. I primarily teach 7th grade Applied Civics. This will be my 4th full year of teaching.

I got in to education because of my grandmother and my girlfriend (who's now my wife.) Both of them activated in me not only a desire to learn and understand things, but also to enlighten others. All those summers spent reading my grandmother's teacher editions must have rubbed off on me.
My wife taught elementary for a few years and this enabled me to go to college full time and get my teaching credentials.

Here's the key story, though:
I was sitting in my Intro to Education class. There were about 45 of us, fresh-faced, looking forward to leading the charge of learning, supported by the enthusiastic cheers of our future students (who, of course, would love us to death and make straight A's), when our professor asked a simple question:
"How many of you are planning on teaching Elementary students?"
About half the class raised their hands.
"And how many of you are planning on teaching High School students?"
The rest of the class raised their hands.

We all looked around the room and some of us realized what had just happened before she asked the final question:
"How many of you are planning on teaching Middle School?"

We all sat with our hands down, craning our necks to see who might be crazy enough to try the dreaded middle grades.

It was at that point I decided to take the path less travelled and I've never looked back. Teaching middle school kids is definitely challenging and other teachers look at me like I'm to be pitied when I tell them where I teach. In fact, their pity turns to bewilderment when I tell them I chose it.

But I'm glad to be there and I haven't thought of bailing yet!

Thanks again for the PIF. It makes me feel appreciated.

-joshua

 

[Wcoppage]

great PIF. This is my first semester I have taken off from teaching. I have been teaching the last 4 years 1st/2nd year English composition (McNeese State Univ/Cape Fear Comm. College). I went to school for writing (MFA) and I fell into teaching. The strange thing about teaching is that I think people place it up there with a calling, such as priesthood. You know what I mean? There are many people that from an early age feel this great joy connecting with people and seeing that light go off in there head. I think that is very noble. More power to them. But just as when you might not feel that spark, you get the doubt. Then it is sort of like social work; it is easy to get burnt out.

Then there is the other half, to where, they can connect with people, but they realize it is a job. They are able to juggle all of the work and grading and really not let it into there life. I do not see how this is possible. Teaching is 24/7



I really do not know where I fall, but I just needed a break. Teaching five classes, you are constantly "on." I just couldn't relax to the point where I could regain who I was, and more importantly, my creativity. First and foremost, I am a writer.

I had some great students. I demanded excellence. Many went above my standards. I am proud of many. My favorite essay from a student was comparing the theme of walking in Dharma Bums and The Pedestrian in order to characterize what is it to be human. Much of out readings would focus on Dystopian literature.

Anyway, teachers sacrifice so much. great PIF. More importantly, thank you for pointing out their efforts.

 

[joshuastar]

The Pedestrian??

As in Ray Bradbury?

 

[Wcoppage]

The Pedestrian??

As in Ray Bradbury?

Yup. What a great story. I love it when he tells the "police" that he just wants air. There response is that there is plenty of air inside his house.

 

[Krona Kruiser]

Great PIF! Count me in. This is a great way to also get to know other educators within our community. I've been teaching the last 6 years and currently teach a Dual-Language Immersion Kindergarten class (it's objective is to teach native and non-native English speaking students two languages). My motivation for becoming a teacher is based on my positive experience in public school as an "at-risk" student.

 

[NexlevMM]

Amazing PIF, especially because teachers and educators are probably the least appreciated people in the world, next to single mothers of course.

That being said, not in. But advanced congrats to the very deserving person that wins this!

 

[danjared]

other teachers look at me like I'm to be pitied when I tell them where I teach. In fact, their pity turns to bewilderment when I tell them I chose it.

I can't say I blame them!

I really do not know where I fall, but I just needed a break. Teaching five classes, you are constantly "on." I just couldn't relax to the point where I could regain who I was, and more importantly, my creativity. First and foremost, I am a writer.

I don't blame you. It's not an easy choice to make. I have a few friends who did Teach for America or Boston Teacher Residency, and many of them switched to something else during or afterwards. Then again, I have a friend who was doing a PhD in plasma physics, went through a mini-crisis about whether he actually wanted to do that and then realized he loved tutoring and teaching. (I'm glad he made that choice. No one was as good at helping me with my physics problem sets as he was.)

This is a great way to also get to know other educators within our community.

Excellent idea!

There response

it's objective

Okay, but new rule!

Amazing PIF, especially because teachers and educators are probably the least appreciated people in the world, next to single mothers of course.

That being said, not in. But advanced congrats to the very deserving person that wins this!

Thanks. I definitely have a huge appreciation for both since they've both been a big part of my life, although I figure single mothers might have less use for my extra shaving gear.

 

[Alum of Potash]

Great PIF Jared. You're generosity is appreciated! I used to be an adjunct professor; but that was a long while ago, so I'm out. Anyway, I've got way too much stuff as it is. Good luck to the lucky winner!

 

[zekevin]

I'd love to be able to join in, hopefully I'll secure a position before the pif is over. I've been searching for my first teaching job for over a year now. I spent part of the last year student teaching 3rd graders and the rest substituting, in middle school, while trying to find a full time position. I love Joshuastar's story about choosing middle school. The same thing happened to my wife when she started teaching, she teaches 8th grade Language arts, I thought she was crazy but the more time I spent around the middle school students the more I enjoyed it. Definitely challenging but a lot of fun.

 

[professorchaos]

Huzzah! Well done.

 

[Wcoppage]

I will blame that typo on the iPad. Nice catch.

 

[Grips]

First off all I’d like to congratulate you on such a generous and well-deserved (whomever wins) PIF.

There are some excellent entries so far. Hopefully my entry will have some merit.

I first dipped my toe into the teaching pool by coaching football. I have coached every year (full or part time) with only minor breaks since 1986 when I would coach my former bantam team before my high school season started. While frustrating at times it is also immensely rewarding seeing a young-man put to practice the skills which you taught him on the game-day field.

My current stint with teaching (other than the coaching, which I still do) is with my current position. I am a firefighter by trade and am also part of my department’s Technical Rescue Team (TRT). I have been a firefighter since 1999 and part of TRT since 2001. This year (since April) I am serving in the role of the TRT Technical Training Coordinator. I had been assisting the previous coordinator since Oct. of last year while recovering from an injury.

My job involves the development and delivery of technical rescue programs such as rope rescue, confined space, trench rescue, heavy lifting, etc.

My most inspirational thing during my instructing time happened just this May. We were about half-way through a program on heavy lifting and stabilization which segued from a previous program on breaking and breaching concrete. Well, one day right after the training session the team got a call to a worker trapped under a collapsed concrete roof. To make a long story short the rescue went well and the person trapped was saved. The inspirational part was when guys told me and my adjunct instructors how the use of the techniques we taught them, allowed them to have a successful rescue. I think that is the essence of teaching: passing on and advancing knowledge that betters others lives. That is what I find most rewarding and inspirational about teaching.

Good Luck to all!