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Teaching: The Dirtiest Job in America

By Dr. Brad Johnson and Tammy Maxson McElroycloseAuthor: Dr. Brad Johnson and Tammy Maxson McElroy Name: Dr. Brad Johnson and Tammy Maxson McElroy
Site: http://www.eteachermentor.com/
About: Dr. Brad Johnson has over fifteen years of experience in the educational field. This includes experience in public schools, independent schools, and at the collegiate level. His degrees include a bachelor’s degree in education, master’s degree in education, specialist degree in leadership/administration, and a doctorate in curriculum studies from Georgia Southern University. He used cultural studies as his theoretical framework for his doctoral dissertation, The Oppression of Obesity. Dr. Johnson’s educational certifications include science, educational leadership, instructional supervision, and teacher support specialist. Because of the diversity and extensive nature of his education background, Dr. Johnson has a unique perspective as it relates to education. His roles have included classroom teacher, administrator, curriculum developer, and scholarly researcher. Besides his experiences as a teacher, curriculum director, and administrator, Dr. Johnson has served as an accreditation committee chair. He developed and supervised a formal mentoring program. He has chaired committees for curriculum development at the middle and high school levels. He has served on a board-level educational committee for an independent school. Dr. Johnson’s research interest is in cultural studies, where his focus is on pop culture and its influence on students and learning. -------------------------------- Tammy Maxson McElroy has over twenty years of experience in the educational field. This experience includes teaching in public and independent schools. She has also edited books for publishing in different fields. Her degrees include a bachelor’s degree in language arts and a master’s degree in mathematics. Tammy’s certifications include language arts, science, and mathematics. Her roles have included teacher, department chairperson, grade-level coordinator, and mentor, and she has served on committees that addressed the development of curriculum, textbook adoption, and admission test design, as well as school wide behavior and discipline policies. During her time in public schools, Tammy served on a county-level committee to develop testing policies for one of the largest school systems in Georgia. She also served as department chairperson, where she mentored new teachers, developed a scope and sequence curriculum, and was involved in textbook adoption. During her tenure in independent schools, Tammy served on curriculum, leadership, and technological committees that developed policies as well as a scope and sequence curriculum for initial SACS certification for the school. She was instrumental in the development of the math and language arts curriculum for the middle and lower school. Tammy was instrumental in the implementation of a formal mentoring program for new teachers.See Authors Posts (5)

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Well, its the start of a new school year.  This means teachers are excited, eager,  and ready to make this the best year yet!  However, as the days and weeks begin to pass, it is important to remember to take care of your body, so the enthusiasm can be sustainable through out the year.

Why is this important?  Teachers work in what experts say  is the “dirtiest job” in America. That means they are exposed to more germs, bacteria, and viruses than any other profession. So, keeping your immune system strong is important. This means dealing with stress and taking care of your body. After all, you can only be really effective if you are healthy and in the classroom for the students.

In our fast-paced culture, everyone is inundated with stress. We wake up to the alarm clock buzzing, which means the day is started by stress. From there the day only gets worse, as we fight traffic in a rush to get to school. We work all day, fight traffic home, and then the rest of our day begins. Every evening we try to recover from the day and prepare to start it all over again the next morning. If there is one word to describe our culture it is stressful!The effective teacher understands that stress can not only impact her health, but can also influence her decision-making and leadership skills.

In the mid-1800s, many British merchant ships lost their ships at sea because they were overloading them with cargo. So a member of British parliament, Samuel Plimsoll, introduced legislation to regulate the loading of ships to prevent more ships from sinking. This included a load line mark on the ship, so a ship could be loaded until this line touched the water and then no more cargo could be added. This became known as the plimsoll line and it prevented ships from being overloaded and sinking while at sea. This line is still in use today as a standard measurement to prevent ships from becoming overloaded and making them vulnerable to sinking.

Well, guess what? We all have a plimsoll line, and if we are overloaded with pressure and weight we may sink as well. Our sinking comes in the form of stress, sickness, and burnout. One of the reasons for early teacher burnout is that many responsibilities are placed on new teachers and they aren’t equipped to handle them all well. There are numerous responsibilities, or weight,  placed on teachers.  However, there are many responsibilities which are in addition to teaching, such as coaching, sponsoring clubs, service on committees, and other duties. Combine this with the bacteria and viruses floating around and you can see how quickly a teacher can quickly sink.

Remember our time and money are either spent  on  health or on sickness. Choose to take the time to be well or you will have to take the time to be sick. Students want teachers who are healthy, well and can sustain the enthusiasm of the first day of school through out the school year.

So, what can the teacher do to overcome the stress of working in the “dirtiest job” in America?

• Start the day with a routine: arrive at school early enough to sit and reflect on the day to come.

• Keep water handy to drink throughout the day. Not sodas or even diet sodas.

• Have an exercise routine. Even if it’s taking a walk in your neighborhood in the evening.

• Eat healthy. Bring your lunch if the cafeteria doesn’t offer healthy alternatives. Don’t be a vending machine marauder.

• Don’t forget leisure time. The school day does end. Make sure to spend time with family, friends, and just yourself.

• If you become sick, rest until you are well.

• Wash your hands often, especially during flu season.

• Laugh and enjoy life!

 About the authors:

Tammy Maxson McElroy and Dr. Brad Johnson form a dynamic and entertaining duo known as The Edutainers.  Drawing upon 35+ years of combined teaching and administrative experience, Mrs. McElroy and Dr. Johnson share a wealth of knowledge and experience from “The Trenches”.  Their expertise is balanced with their outgoing personalities and humor to create entertaining and engaging workshops.  Their motto is to “Work Hard, Play Hard.”

Dr. Johnson and Mrs. McElroy are authors of The Edutainer: Connecting the Art and Science of Teaching.  They are available for keynote, seminar or workshops.   The Edutainers can be contacted through The Education Speakers Group or Premiere Speaker Bureau.

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