15 Things That Teachers Want You To Know About Their Jobs

We're not your kids' parents, nor are we just spending the summer on the beach!

We asked teachers to tell us the most important things that everyone should know about their profession. Here's what they said:

1. What happens in the classroom is NOT enough for a student to really do well in tests and to learn. They need to study at home.

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It's important that the family participates in the child's school life by helping with homework, asking teachers about their behavior, and showing interest in their kids' performance.

2. The teacher shouldn't be taking on a parental role for basic stuff.

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Teachers play a fundamental role in a child's life, but parents are responsible for the child's basic education. School teaches people many things to help them participate in society, but the family needs to reinforce basic things, like saying "please" or "thank you."

3. It's rewarding to know that we have the responsibility to be a kind of mentor for such young minds.

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Many students feel free to seek out teachers when they need help or advice they can't get at home. And it's often wonderful for a teacher when they can help a student with problems outside the classroom.

4. It's common for teachers to complain about some students, but most students cause more smiles than complaints.

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Not all students are easy to handle, and every day is a new learning experience. Teachers are expected to constantly adapt in order to win over students' trust and respect. Fortunately, there are fewer students who cause trouble than than those who acknowledge our hard work.

5. Teachers often come across students who are living incredibly painful lives, and they suffer because they can't do anything to help them.

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What stresses teachers out most is losing students due to violence, a lack of perspective, or problems at home. Teachers can't always intervene, and it's not uncommon for them to be instructed by the school to turn a blind eye to students' personal problems.

6. Teachers often struggle with mental health issues, too.

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Just like everyone else! And it's compounded by pressures like a growing workload, increased demands of accountability, and test culture.

7. Being a teacher isn't just about being inspiring — there's a ton of work that goes into it.

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Teachers aren't enlightened beings who teach based on talent alone. To teach a single class, it's necessary to have studied beforehand, planned, and devised strategies to teach the content, which takes a lot of time out of the day.

8. Not all teachers are prepared or equipped to work with students with special needs in the classroom.

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Often, if a teacher needs to do an assignment with students with special needs, they have to prepare for it on their own, without extra help or resources.

9. Keeping the attention of several classrooms throughout the day is a HUGE challenge.

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Meanwhile, school principals and administrators continually pressure teachers to teach in new and innovative ways — even when the school day and the traditional teaching model doesn't get updated for decades.

10. Teachers don't have as much vacation time as you'd think.

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If they aren't working a second job during the summer to supplement their income, they're furthering their own education, working on lesson plans, or teaching elsewhere.

11. A lot of teachers pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets.

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A recent survey found that 94% of U.S. teachers have used their own money to buy school supplies.

12. Private schools aren't always better than public schools.

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Some private schools can be overly focused on entrance exams at the expense of helping students develop interpersonal relationships, for example.

Plus, it isn't unusual to find cases where private schools pay teachers lower than the normal wage.

13. Teachers generally don't like students snooping around on their social media accounts.

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Teachers are normal people outside school. They also have social lives, friends, and family, and they like privacy.

14. Going into higher education at a very young age can be problematic, so most teachers advise against skipping too many grades.

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Teachers generally advise students to be patient and to absorb as much education and, well, life experience, as possible during high school.

15. And finally, there's nothing more rewarding than getting to witness the success of your former students.

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As much as all teachers love seeing their current students making progress, it's also one of the best things when they meet up with past students and find out that they got into college, graduated, published a book, and more. Seeing that you were successful in somebody's education is rewarding.

Thanks to: Isabella Souza, Thuany Bertin, Emanuelly Caron, Dani Veronezi, Paulo Gleison, J. R., Aline Machado, Tássila Vidal, Sônia Soares, Mari Mendonça, Priscila Seabra, Isabelly Amorim, Renata Cristina, Michele Bernardes, Marjorie Nery Barbisan, Juliana Azevedo, Taís Triano, Beatriz Gontijo Campos, and various other teachers participated anonymously.

This post was translated from Portuguese.