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a High School English Teacher
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My fourth grade teacher was a man and I had three or four male teachers in middle school, although never for English. I’m currently a male English teacher at a middle school.
As for your second question, I believe people aspire to careers they “see themselves” in. Our patriarchal society has always had men “working” while women did “meaningless” jobs like teaching and taking care of babies. (Irony must be a key feature of the patriarchy.) As a result, all teachers were women for a long time. Men didn’t see themselves in that role, so they never aspired to do it. This is why representation matters so much in literature and our society. This is why we need more teachers of color, more women CEOs, and more opportunities for all traditionally-oppressed persons.
I had a male teacher and he was the best!! He was nurturing, soft spoken, cool to be in his class!! It was a great experience!! In fact, as I type this, his name just popped up in my memory!!
I had a male English teacher in middle school (in fact all my teachers in middle school were men). One male English teacher in high school. I have taught with four or five male English teachers.
Yes, I’ve worked with several over the years.
It me.
I did. He was an idiot.
At Cal State Fullerton he was excellent. Never understood tree diagrams until he explained how to make them.
Two of my four high school English teachers in the mid-80s were men (9th and 10th grades). As a male English teacher, I find their careers to be a source of inspiration.
As a male teacher in the elementary school setting, and one who has taught in secondary, as well as kindergarten, I have come to the realization via the positive feedback from my students, their parents and/or guardians, along with my peers, that males such as I, are the best version of the role model, and goal model I, you, me, us and we had ALWAYS hoped, wished and prayed for.
I state the aforementioned not to impress anyone herein; but, to impress upon this fact, and that is that - representation matters - and the more that there are professional educators of my gender, in the elementary setting specifically, and secondary in general, the more balanced our educational profession becomes and attractive for diversity, equity and inclusion instead of the illusion thereof.
That's my story, and I am sticking to it.
Bowl Leader
High school seems to be diverse to me from my own experience and what I’ve observed at my children’s MS/HS; however, elementary school seems female dominant. Makes sense as the little ones require a lot more scaffolding and w/ upper grade the kids catch on faster.