But is being "just a teacher" enough? Is it what I want to be doing when I'm 50?

Honestly, the answer is, "I'm just not sure anymore," and that saddens me.

It's not that I'm "burned out," tired by the daily demands of meeting the needs of middle schoolers. In fact, I still thrive on my interactions with my students. It's also not that I feel "disrespected" by society as a whole. While the criticisms of public schooling can be trying, I know that I have been successful within my school and community.

What has me doubting my decision to finish my career in the classroom is that despite great successes, I've recognized that I am still "just a teacher" in the eyes of most people.

My day-to-day responsibilities haven't changed in 17 years, and are no different than the responsibilities of the first year teachers in my building. While I am currently working for an administrative team that believes in empowering teachers, I still find myself wanting more input in conversations related to education at all levels.

Teaching is truly a "flat profession."

There are no real opportunities for teachers to "advance" and remain classroom teachers at the same time. To get the additional influence that I want, I'm going to have to leave my classroom for a career in school administration or educational policy—and lose my connection with my students.

That is incredibly frustrating.

Bill Ferriter, "Still Tired of Education's Glass Ceiling." in The Tempered Radical. 9 Dec 2010.

Lesson planning is utterly ridiculous sometimes.

The principle of lesson planning, according to the framework laid down in the official EL syllabus, is such that you teach "behaviours", not knowledge. It defines teaching as the teaching of specific skills and its application, not the knowledge that governs text and artifact production. Want to teach something interesting but impractical? Out it goes; students won't be interested, planners and educators bemoan.

What about subjects such as geography and history? Is it even possible to choose realistic and authentic production skills in say, writing about the history of the bust of Stamford Raffles? How will students use their knowledge of the formation of rivers in real life?

The humanities will always suffer from the lack of relevance. I can see how EL planning principles are designed to overcome these typical complaints. Yet it gets me down to know that even if I can get students to be interested in something, planning principles will result in my lesson being marked down for irrelevance.