Teachers: how do you feel about the new school year

Capt_Apollo

Teachers are pretty pro at seeming like they have the most difficult jobs ever and digging in to prevent solutions. Think of how aggressively they fight methods to measure their performance.

I'd say teaching and nursing are two of the hardest. You do most of the work and get none of the credit for it. I am STILL friends with a lot of my teachers from high school - they're a huge reason why I am who I am today.

And you're really really good at generalizations.

So are you it seems.

Also, when we are talking about a profession as a whole, it is a mite bit hard not to generalize.

How often do you see people being honored and thanking a teacher? Or someone who was injured and is on the news or whatever thank the nursing staff? It DOES happen, but not nearly often enough considering none of us would be here able to construct a proper sentence if it weren't for teachers. And Lord knows nurses have held my hand when I've needed it.

you can say that about almost any profession. a garbage man doesn't exactly have a week to be honored, and some are lucky to get a tip around christmas, but they perform a job just as necessary as teaching.

i work at a power plant. no one flicks on the lights and says "thank you operating engineer." nope. but man, if those lights don't come on, we're the ones to blame.

BigT555

Teachers are pretty pro at seeming like they have the most difficult jobs ever and digging in to prevent solutions. Think of how aggressively they fight methods to measure their performance.

I'd say teaching and nursing are two of the hardest. You do most of the work and get none of the credit for it. I am STILL friends with a lot of my teachers from high school - they're a huge reason why I am who I am today.

And you're really really good at generalizations.

i was going through to be a chem teacher, took all the classes for 3 years and then switched to architecture for a number of reasons. I was on a placement for a year in a classroom as a teachers assistant, and they really dont have hard jobs, other than marking homework/tests and whatnot once you have your curriculum set (which takes about the first 3 years of teaching to perfect it from what most teachers had told me) its not relatively hard, especially if you like working with kids (which i do) its actually an awesome gig. mind you, it can be stressful, and you do have to make minor tweaks to your lesson plans yearly as the curriculum changes but for the most part teachers have it made. im jealous of teachers who have secured full time positions, especially those in the states with tenure. if not for the crappy job market i would have stayed down that path for sure

and teachers and nurses get a ton of credit around my area, if you mention youre one of those to someone here the first words after are usaully along the lines of "oh wow good for you, i dont know how you do it, id go crazy..."

devil_in_a_blue_dress

Non-teaching jobs, I'd be working, say 50 weeks a year - 40 hours a week, for a total of 2000 hours.

Where I live, the school year is 4 9 week periods. 36 weeks. To get to 2000 hours in the 36 weeks, teachers should be cranking out 55 hours or so a week.

The longer hours during the school year comes with the territory. You get a really long breaks. I am not saying teaching isn't important or the the government adequately supports our teachers, but in terms of hours worked -- there is nothing unjust about teachers working longer days because they work shorter years.

wheird

Teachers are pretty pro at seeming like they have the most difficult jobs ever and digging in to prevent solutions. Think of how aggressively they fight methods to measure their performance.

I'd say teaching and nursing are two of the hardest. You do most of the work and get none of the credit for it. I am STILL friends with a lot of my teachers from high school - they're a huge reason why I am who I am today.

And you're really really good at generalizations.

So are you it seems.

Also, when we are talking about a profession as a whole, it is a mite bit hard not to generalize.

How often do you see people being honored and thanking a teacher? Or someone who was injured and is on the news or whatever thank the nursing staff? It DOES happen, but not nearly often enough considering none of us would be here able to construct a proper sentence if it weren't for teachers. And Lord knows nurses have held my hand when I've needed it.

There are quite a few Education awards, to my knowledge. And I also believe there are people who go back and thank teachers who had a positive impact on them. I know that I have done this. And I will let the nurses chime in here, but I would be willing to bet that they do get thanked by patients and their families for the care they are given.

And you think that self-taught or homeschooled people cannot construct a proper sentence? :huh:

wheird

I bet that I will be labeled anti-teacher fairly soon. (I am actually anti-bad teacher.)

SnuggleSmacks

I think that getting rid of tenure is a good thing and that basing raises, at least in part, on performance is a great idea.

So, if I discover a technique that gets amazing results in my class, what incentive do I have to share it with my fellow teachers if it means they could beat me out of my raise? Instead, I'll keep it to myself and make sure my performance is great and theirs is not, and make sure I get my raise.

That would be fine if we were talking about a manufacturing plant, and I discovered a way to increase my productivity. But we're talking about a school. What happens to the children in my fellow teachers' classrooms? They get educated just a little bit less because I was worried about my raise and making sure my performance outshines my coworkers.

Good thinking, there!

Riiight. Because teachers generally collaberate on everything, right? And it would be up to administrators to see which teachers are the most effective and determine why that is. Also, you are basing this on the premise that another person's success will inhibit another's, which is only partially true even when using the Bell Curve model. Oh, and ignoring that removing tenure and having merit based performance reviews would help weed out the ineffective teachers from the industry.

Way to examine only the surface of an issue.

Teachers generally share best practices. This removes the incentive to do so. Add to this the loss of tenure, and the terribly low pay, not to mention our governor's obvious disdain for the profession, budget cuts for teacher's aids and supplies, and what we now have is a teacher shortage. It's affecting things besides education. The local university, Elon, is seeing a drop in enrollments for teaching degrees, which translates to a drop in enrollment overall. Large corporations don't want to move or expand production in our state because they don't feel they will have access to an educated workforce. So yes, let's say this is the surface of the issue...

newdaydawning79

Teachers are pretty pro at seeming like they have the most difficult jobs ever and digging in to prevent solutions. Think of how aggressively they fight methods to measure their performance.

I'd say teaching and nursing are two of the hardest. You do most of the work and get none of the credit for it. I am STILL friends with a lot of my teachers from high school - they're a huge reason why I am who I am today.

And you're really really good at generalizations.

So are you it seems.

Also, when we are talking about a profession as a whole, it is a mite bit hard not to generalize.

How often do you see people being honored and thanking a teacher? Or someone who was injured and is on the news or whatever thank the nursing staff? It DOES happen, but not nearly often enough considering none of us would be here able to construct a proper sentence if it weren't for teachers. And Lord knows nurses have held my hand when I've needed it.

There are quite a few Education awards, to my knowledge. And I also believe there are people who go back and thank teachers who had a positive impact on them. I know that I have done this. And I will let the nurses chime in here, but I would be willing to bet that they do get thanked by patients and their families for the care they are given.

And you think that self-taught or homeschooled people cannot construct a proper sentence? :huh:

How many people are 100% self-taught and have NEVER had any assistance ever? I'd love to see that.

Homeschooled are still schooled. Just because it's in a home doesn't mean they aren't TAUGHT. :laugh:

In any case, we'll just agree to disagree on some things.

DawnieB1977

Stop moaning lol http://news.tes.co.uk/b/news/2014/06/24/teachers-in-england-work-some-of-the-longest-hours-in-the-world-report-finds.aspx.

I worked in banking before teaching. I can honestly say teaching is the hardest job I've done, but the most rewarding. The hardest bit is all the paperwork we're expected to do, just for the sake of it, and the behaviour can be tough at times. I work in a deprived area, and it's not unusual to be told to f**k off by a 12 year old, or have them purposefully disrupt a lesson, slamming the door repeatedly, shouting abuse at you. Or phone a parent at 2pm and find them slurring their speech as they're drunk. When kids who have a bad home life do well at school, it's great to know you provide an environment where they feel safe.

All jobs have their pros and cons. I'm just glad I do a job which enables me to spend the school holidays with my own children. My husband does shift work which sucks, but he never has to bring work home.

wheird

I am speaking of the teaching profession. If you are going to broaden that to anyone that is learned from, then we cannot have this discussion. :flowerforyou:

Some_Watery_Tart

Did anyone get into teaching not knowing that it was going to involve rotten kids and not-very-glamorous salaries?

Did anyone decide to become a teacher because they thought they'd be thanked all the time?

No? Ok, then stop complaining. I don't get thanked for doing my job either. They show their gratitude by not bouncing my paychecks, and I'm grateful for that.

silver_arrow3

Non-teaching jobs, I'd be working, say 50 weeks a year - 40 hours a week, for a total of 2000 hours.

Where I live, the school year is 4 9 week periods. 36 weeks. To get to 2000 hours in the 36 weeks, teachers should be cranking out 55 hours or so a week.

The longer hours during the school year comes with the territory. You get a really long breaks. I am not saying teaching isn't important or the the government adequately supports our teachers, but in terms of hours worked -- there is nothing unjust about teachers working longer days because they work shorter years.

THIS!
My roommate is a teacher. She also coaches. She leaves for work at 6:30 and doesn't get home until 6:30 when it's off-season. When she is driving to games, her days are sometimes 16 hours. She also gets paid to take on those additional responsibilities. She also took classes on the weekends and graduated with her master's degree in May.

She also took a month long vacation to New England for summer break.

Capt_Apollo

Did anyone get into teaching not knowing that it was going to involve rotten kids and not-very-glamorous salaries?

Did anyone decide to become a teacher because they thought they'd be thanked all the time?

No? Ok, then stop complaining. I don't get thanked for doing my job either. They show their gratitude by not bouncing my paychecks, and I'm grateful for that.

wheird

I think that getting rid of tenure is a good thing and that basing raises, at least in part, on performance is a great idea.

So, if I discover a technique that gets amazing results in my class, what incentive do I have to share it with my fellow teachers if it means they could beat me out of my raise? Instead, I'll keep it to myself and make sure my performance is great and theirs is not, and make sure I get my raise.

That would be fine if we were talking about a manufacturing plant, and I discovered a way to increase my productivity. But we're talking about a school. What happens to the children in my fellow teachers' classrooms? They get educated just a little bit less because I was worried about my raise and making sure my performance outshines my coworkers.

Good thinking, there!

Riiight. Because teachers generally collaberate on everything, right? And it would be up to administrators to see which teachers are the most effective and determine why that is. Also, you are basing this on the premise that another person's success will inhibit another's, which is only partially true even when using the Bell Curve model. Oh, and ignoring that removing tenure and having merit based performance reviews would help weed out the ineffective teachers from the industry.

Way to examine only the surface of an issue.

Teachers generally share best practices. This removes the incentive to do so. Add to this the loss of tenure, and the terribly low pay, not to mention our governor's obvious disdain for the profession, budget cuts for teacher's aids and supplies, and what we now have is a teacher shortage. It's affecting things besides education. The local university, Elon, is seeing a drop in enrollments for teaching degrees, which translates to a drop in enrollment overall. Large corporations don't want to move or expand production in our state because they don't feel they will have access to an educated workforce. So yes, let's say this is the surface of the issue...

How do you determine that they share the best practices? They do not have time with their 16+ hour days to have round table discussions.

Also, in many industries, including my own, employees who have merit based raises still discuss and share their methods. So unless you are implying that teachers are petty...

SnuggleSmacks

I bet that I will be labeled anti-teacher fairly soon. (I am actually anti-bad teacher.)

With the new policies in NC, we're being left with nothing but bad teachers because all the good teachers are moving out of the state where they will receive adequate pay and support plus benefits like tenure without being pitted in a duel against their fellow teachers for raises...or else they're leaving the profession altogether. I know a LOT of ex-teachers who loved their jobs and were good at it, but couldn't afford to keep teaching.

redheaddee

Imma keep it simple here.
1) lift weights, less cardiovascular. It's a huge time saver, and IMHO better results.
2) if you don't like your job/hours etc. Stop your complaining and do something about it. Otherwise STFU. All jobs have good points and suck points. Welcome to life.

SnuggleSmacks

I think that getting rid of tenure is a good thing and that basing raises, at least in part, on performance is a great idea.

So, if I discover a technique that gets amazing results in my class, what incentive do I have to share it with my fellow teachers if it means they could beat me out of my raise? Instead, I'll keep it to myself and make sure my performance is great and theirs is not, and make sure I get my raise.

That would be fine if we were talking about a manufacturing plant, and I discovered a way to increase my productivity. But we're talking about a school. What happens to the children in my fellow teachers' classrooms? They get educated just a little bit less because I was worried about my raise and making sure my performance outshines my coworkers.

Good thinking, there!

Riiight. Because teachers generally collaberate on everything, right? And it would be up to administrators to see which teachers are the most effective and determine why that is. Also, you are basing this on the premise that another person's success will inhibit another's, which is only partially true even when using the Bell Curve model. Oh, and ignoring that removing tenure and having merit based performance reviews would help weed out the ineffective teachers from the industry.

Way to examine only the surface of an issue.

Teachers generally share best practices. This removes the incentive to do so. Add to this the loss of tenure, and the terribly low pay, not to mention our governor's obvious disdain for the profession, budget cuts for teacher's aids and supplies, and what we now have is a teacher shortage. It's affecting things besides education. The local university, Elon, is seeing a drop in enrollments for teaching degrees, which translates to a drop in enrollment overall. Large corporations don't want to move or expand production in our state because they don't feel they will have access to an educated workforce. So yes, let's say this is the surface of the issue...

How do you determine that they share the best practices? They do not have time with their 16+ hour days to have round table discussions.

Also, in many industries, including my own, employees who have merit based raises still discuss and share their methods. So unless you are implying that teachers are petty...

Seriously, it's almost as if you've never met a teacher before.

wheird

I bet that I will be labeled anti-teacher fairly soon. (I am actually anti-bad teacher.)

With the new policies in NC, we're being left with nothing but bad teachers because all the good teachers are moving out of the state where they will receive adequate pay and support plus benefits like tenure without being pitted in a duel against their fellow teachers for raises...or else they're leaving the profession altogether. I know a LOT of ex-teachers who loved their jobs and were good at it, but couldn't afford to keep teaching.

That is a political barrier and I agree that there needs to be incentives in place to attract good, effective teachers.

wheird

I think that getting rid of tenure is a good thing and that basing raises, at least in part, on performance is a great idea.

So, if I discover a technique that gets amazing results in my class, what incentive do I have to share it with my fellow teachers if it means they could beat me out of my raise? Instead, I'll keep it to myself and make sure my performance is great and theirs is not, and make sure I get my raise.

That would be fine if we were talking about a manufacturing plant, and I discovered a way to increase my productivity. But we're talking about a school. What happens to the children in my fellow teachers' classrooms? They get educated just a little bit less because I was worried about my raise and making sure my performance outshines my coworkers.

Good thinking, there!

Riiight. Because teachers generally collaberate on everything, right? And it would be up to administrators to see which teachers are the most effective and determine why that is. Also, you are basing this on the premise that another person's success will inhibit another's, which is only partially true even when using the Bell Curve model. Oh, and ignoring that removing tenure and having merit based performance reviews would help weed out the ineffective teachers from the industry.

Way to examine only the surface of an issue.

Teachers generally share best practices. This removes the incentive to do so. Add to this the loss of tenure, and the terribly low pay, not to mention our governor's obvious disdain for the profession, budget cuts for teacher's aids and supplies, and what we now have is a teacher shortage. It's affecting things besides education. The local university, Elon, is seeing a drop in enrollments for teaching degrees, which translates to a drop in enrollment overall. Large corporations don't want to move or expand production in our state because they don't feel they will have access to an educated workforce. So yes, let's say this is the surface of the issue...

How do you determine that they share the best practices? They do not have time with their 16+ hour days to have round table discussions.

Also, in many industries, including my own, employees who have merit based raises still discuss and share their methods. So unless you are implying that teachers are petty...

Seriously, it's almost as if you've never met a teacher before.

Your naivety is adorable. :flowerforyou:

cookieinbk82

Imma keep it simple here.
1) lift weights, less cardiovascular. It's a huge time saver, and IMHO better results.
2) if you don't like your job/hours etc. Stop your complaining and do something about it. Otherwise STFU. All jobs have good points and suck points. Welcome to life.

I hope no one was thinking that I'm complaining about my job because I'm not. I only asked what I should do to calm my nerves about my first year of teaching and what would be the best way to fit in workouts into my day.