When I was taking my teacher credential program courses at UCLA, I heard a statistic that (at the time) I thought was frightening. As I try to remember it now, not only does the fear fade but so does the exactitude of the stat itself.
Supposedly a study had been done and the result was that the average new teacher lasts an average of five years in the classroom. Or maybe it was that a large percentage of new teachers quit before the five-year mark. Or maybe it was that five years was the point at which most new teachers quit.
Whatever it was, I found it frightening then.
Of course, now, it’s not as frightening.
When a WASC Visitation Committee came to observe us back at PeeVee, I was in my fifth year. One of the Committee members warned me of burn-out and cited the statistic again; she wanted me to cut back on my extra-curricular activities and intensity (fearin’ for my future, I s’pose). I laughed it off. I was already feeling the burn--the need to get away--but I knew that next year would be different.
Next year, I would be at Chumash.
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