What I've learned about teachers

In my four days of experience as a para-professional (aka teacher's aide), here is what I've learned:

1. Time. Every minute counts, usually anyway.
a. When 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 minutes are left in a time period, there is always something that the kids can accomplish in that timeframe. For example, "There's 4 minutes until recess. Please work on your spelling homework until recess time." This is a crazy phenomena to me.
b. Being a minute or two off schedule is no problem, being 5 minutes off schedule is problematic - even if all the clocks in the building are not syncronized and range within an 8 minute window.

2. Teachers love to recycle even a scrap of paper less than 1" x 1"

3. The teacher's lounge.
a. Teachers don't talk bad about kids in the teacher's lounge. Instead, if they talk about the kids at all, it's with compassion and care.
b. Probably less than 15% are welcoming and hospitable to a newcomer. The other 85% just kind of ignore you.

4. The majority of teachers (at least all the ones I've met) are dedicated, caring professionals that are great at what they do. Paraprofessionals tend to be a mixed bag, but the great ones are great.

5. Teachers, like Lutherans in neighboring churches, appear to all be related in one way or another to teachers in other nearby schools.