Page 126 - How To Sell Yourself
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Selling Yourself in the Classroom 125 8
Selling Yourself in the Classroom
TEACHERS, AS DO ALL those who speak to others as part of their jobs, often forget that the prime purpose of the teaching profes- sion is communication. Teachers can lose sight of this within weeks of the first semester on the job because they must deal with a lot of externals that seem to have very little to do with communicating.
The teacher as administrator
If you’re a teacher, no sooner do you report to work than you’re faced with the realization that a teacher is not just a teacher. The job description says “teacher,” but you’re also:
• Warden.
• Shrink.
• Surrogate parent.
• Traffic cop.
• Records-keeper (attendance-taker, grade-recorder,
paper-grader, administrative flunky).
• Messenger.
• Cafeteria security guard.
• And about a dozen other people.
The overwhelming responsibilities of the nonclassroom, non- teaching aspects of the work may obscure your focus as a teacher.
What was a job you really looked forward to starts to look like a nightmare of extraneous responsibilities.
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