The Indoor Epidemic by Erik Shonstrom

Author:Erik Shonstrom
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781475825923
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Chapter 6

Outside the Inbox

When we talk about education—particularly at the elementary and high school levels—we’re often referring directly to instruction. We think about the kids, the classrooms, the books, the devices, the policies, and the budgets. We think about the time it takes for kids to get through school, the work they have to do, and the experiences that they’re having. The learning that they’re doing. At the college level, at least, there’s another conversation that is becoming more prevalent as the years tick by and the level of digital interface in our lives increases: the way teachers spend their time.

As in any profession, the level of competence varies among teachers; some are creative, hardworking individuals who seek to create meaningful experiences for their students, and some lack the fundamental skills, personality, and motivation to engender a sense of wonder and intellectual inquiry in their classrooms. By and large, however, according to a number of recent studies reported on in the Washington Post, teachers work hard (fifty-three hours a week on average) and are paid 17 percent less than comparably educated professionals in other fields.

Many teachers care deeply about what they do, and feel compelled—called, maybe—to do the very difficult work of taking two dozen kids and getting them through the day with a minimal amount of mayhem, and trying to teach them something in the bargain. In higher education, if blood pressure levels and loudly voiced, finger-wagging gesticulations during department meetings are any indication, professors are deeply invested in learning, teaching, and education.

Not only do they care about their students, but more and more teachers are talking about the constraints on their time that come from technology, the changing nature of the job description, and the continued emphasis on being many things to many people—teacher, counselor, mentor, and parent. The common argument against this line of thinking is that teachers are indulging in undue complaints, despite what many would believe to be an enviable schedule (summers off, done by 3 p.m. and lots of vacations). The research doesn’t bear this out, however. According to statistics collected and analyzed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, teachers spend an average of ten to eleven hours a day planning lessons, worrying about their students, reading books and articles, and trying with all their might to maintain some level of sanity and grace in front of a room full of young people.

Twenty years ago, before the ubiquitous presence of the internet, class preparation and the job of teaching was markedly different on a daily, quotidian basis. Teachers generally spent the time before class prepping—getting the lesson ready, scribbling information on the blackboard, collecting the necessary materials the class would need. The time before the students arrived was valuable in that it was relatively undistracted; teachers had the opportunity for reflection, for calming, for some form of mindfulness.

Fast forward to present day. The daily dictates of the teaching profession have changed right along with the manner in which students have changed. Everyone is wired.

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