LAUGH
Ever wondered what it’s like being a Type B teacher in a Type A world? It isn’t just full of screeching into the faculty parking lot on two wheels. Not always, anyway! Type B teachers are just as amazing as Type A teachers. We just function differently from teachers who start their bullet journals for the school year in July. At the end of the school day, our students meet objectives, learn everything they can, and have a great time doing it all. Isn’t that what’s most important anyway? Here are 10 struggles of Type B teachers.
1. Lengthy lesson plans aren’t our jam
Most teachers didn’t get into teaching to write lesson plans that are so lengthy they look like the sequel to Gone With the Wind. Why can’t we just write, “Fly by the seat of our pants” as the objective and call it good? Type B teachers shine with a few bullet points and room to go with the flow. This leads to some unexpected and beautiful teachable moments.
2. Our calendars and lesson plan books have arrows all over them
Speaking of plans, we make them. We really do, but they look…a little different than a Type A’s methods. Think LOTS of arrows and scribbly lines. Probably some doodles and notes in random places. Because we think differently, we understand students who also work outside the box.
3. We go rogue, and we aren’t sorry about it
We’ve all met a curriculum we’d love to throw in the paper shredder box because it was the actual worst. If I wanted just to read lesson plans verbatim, I’d have applied to be an audiobook narrator (this is actually not a bad idea for a summer job, tbh). We love changing things up to better fit our personality, teaching style, and the needs of our students.
4. Busy work paperwork is the devil
We all know that every year there will be new requirements to make fancy student binders or intricate data folders that include specially made labels, sections, and tabs. We don’t have the patience for or interest in that. Besides, after the first month of school, we all know that they won’t move from their spot in the back of the supply cabinet. We’ll do it if it’s required of us, but we’d rather work on something that helps us connect with our students.
5. But… We’d rather do paperwork than organize our computer icons
Do people spend real minutes of their lives organizing their computer icons? Further, do these same people actually close out tabs when they are done using them? Amazing! Type B teachers would rather sleep in an extra ten minutes. Sorry, not even sorry. We love hacks like this one when we actually shut our computers down.
6. Our very best lesson ideas come to us the morning of, in the shower
Honestly, this kind of planning should be the only way because the previous day’s formative assessments inform our instruction for the next day. It’s scientifically proven people think best in the shower. Look at us being all fancy.
7. Lesson planning often happen in the Dunkin drive-thru on the way to school
Type B teachers often walk into school right at contract time. During this “walk of shame,” we sometimes get the side-eye from teachers who have been at school for hours. We do our best preparation work as we sit in the Dunkin’ drive-thru. It’s all part of our process.
8. It’s not a mess, it’s my classroom “theme”
Type A teachers have their rooms decked out and Instagram-ready weeks before school is even due to begin. Type B teachers show up the week before school starts with clashing bulletin board borders and an old rocking chair and call the room decorated. Our rooms are minimal effort chic, ya’ll. And we make tons of amazing memories with our students in it.
9. Early morning meetings are torture
Seriously, can they stop? Early morning (i.e., contract time) meetings really mess with our day-of mojo. The only consolation is that we can try to multi-task as we pretend to pay attention to the meeting, text our teacher bestie hysterical meeting commentary gifs, and stuff our faces with staff meeting donuts. Don’t assume Type B teachers aren’t paying attention. We often have great ideas and are thankful for Type A teacher colleagues to help us execute them.
10. Summer is what type B teachers live for
We see Type As taking non-mandatory classes and completely overhauling their classrooms while we lounge on our unicorn pool floaties. Type B teachers aren’t completely useless in the summer. We just store our great ideas away for later in our Post-it note of a brain. We return to school relaxed, recharged, and inspired.
11. We have a hard time keeping our opinions to ourselves
If I have something to say, I usually have a hard time holding it in. If something doesn’t sit right with me, I let people know. Bottling it up would just stress us out, and we don’t do stress.
12. Any break in the day is usually spent not thinking about work
Type A teachers take advantage of any break in the school day to catch up on paperwork, research new ideas, respond to emails from parents. Type Bs, on the other hand, have no problem scrolling through IG, laughing at TikTok videos, playing a game on their phone, or watching the end of the Netflix episode we fell asleep on last night.
It takes all kinds of teachers to make the educational world go round. If it weren’t for Type A teachers, let’s be real, everything would kind of be a glorious hot mess. Type B teachers love and respect ya’ll, and we realize we all do things differently, and that’s good. Just as we tell our students, if we were all the same, it would be a really dull world.
