Apparently, Erin Gruwell just gave a presentation at NECC and I'm sorry, but I'm not a fan. Now, I didn't read the book and have only seen the movie. However, my takeaway from the movie was that to be a passionate teacher, you have to sacrifice your personal life, your movie and even your husband.
I'm not willing to go there.
In fact, I went into teaching because I wanted to have a personal life. I had a job that was literally 24/7 support, and I gave it. I stayed overnight at the office during closing of the financial books (about 5 days, but yeah, I did get two extra days off as a result and that was my choice BEFORE I got married. I fielded calls from about midnight until 6:00 am, not quite every night and then worked a full 7:00 - 4:00 day. I was losing my husband because of that schedule and the level of dedication it took.
I want my Monday nights to train my dogs, most of the weekends from August until March to trial them, and time to be with my husband. I don't want to give up most of my income and put it into my classroom, though some days it feels that I do. And I don't want to take a part time job to pay for field trips.
I think you can be a passionate teacher and only work at it 8 hours a day. I even manage to do that most of the time and pull off the teacher tech job but there are days I do end up staying late.
In fact, my students DO say I am passionate about my subject -- and of course they don't get me -- but that's okay.
I think you are a better teacher if you have outside interest -- my coteacher this summer coaches volleyball and plays it herself and has seen she was in grade school. I think that's a good thing. I have friends who raise their own children, have a part time job they are really into, or are working on an advanced degree -- been there and done that.
I honestly think that the teacher in the movie would have had more to offer her kids if she had had a personal life, as she would be more well-rounded. And I really think it was sad that she drove her husband away.
Like I said, I have only seen the movie.
I asked my summer school co-teacher and she felt the same way about the movie.
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