Teacher Criticisms...(rant)
Replies
-
Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
:flowerforyou:0 -
this is..by far.. the best thing I've ever heard! Thank you so much!0
-
Great job! I am working in a school system that has not given teachers a raise in 4 years. It looks like we might no get one for 5 more years. I am at work an hour before school starts, stay late, and spend tons of my own money.0
-
Lazy? I am a teacher. I work after school tutoring and summer school every - not for extra money, just to pay my bills. We may have summers and holidays off - but our pay reflects that! I do not know many teachers that do it for the money, we do it for the children. I dare the people that think teaching is easy to try it....you would not last long!!!!0
-
@madroch: I think your post was the most comprehensive and pragmatic yet. That's probably why the responses died...you wrapped it up quite nicely.
i second this!0 -
well said.
I am a daughter of teachers and former teachers aide until I received my greatest student of all, my son.
If it weren't for all the "over paid babysitters" we wouldn't have drs or lawyers, or business starters or police or any kind of society what-so- ever. Teachers should be treated with the same respect as the president because guess what, a teacher put him there. You guys are WAAAAAY under paid. Education is the most important thing this country has to handle and it has always been on the back burner. 100K a year (at least), free insurance, and able to retire with full pay at 50.... that's my plan, if I had a say in it.0 -
yep!0
-
This was hysterical.Ah education. The fast track to a life of wealth, success and respect. Just the other day I was yachting with a few pubic school teachers, we dined on a lovely pheasant and caviar fresh from Russia.
Plus there's the easy workdays! I mean who doesn't love being responsible for 30+ children all day? Plenty of internet goof off time to be had there. And it's not like it's stressful work. I mean who's gonna get upset if something bad happens to their children?
:noway:
bwah!
To the OP well said. I hate when people say things like that. I have been on a childcare leave for a while but my last year teaching I had a 7 yr old tell me he hated his life and was going to kill himself, another watched his grandmother, only caretaker, get shot, 3 kids were in foster care, one kid was mugged in the bathroom and had her chain ripped off her neck, 2 boys pinned down and molested one of my boys and a bunch of other stuff. But I went to work and loved each of those kids and taught them the best I could every single day. Sometimes progress for kids like these is just sitting in the chair and being able to get through a lesson and not fall asleep in their chair because they can't sleep at home or in the shelter they are living at. Paying teachers for results is bulsh@t not everyone works in suburbia where kids go into school knowing how to read. I'm lucky if my second graders get to me knowing how to cut paper or hold a pencil. I had a kid who could not count to 20 in second grade. By second grade they have been in school for pre-k, kindergarten and first grade and they still can't do these things. How about taking that bonus money they want to give teachers and giving kids the services they need so that they can learn, eat, and just live.0 -
well said.
I am a daughter of teachers and former teachers aide until I received my greatest student of all, my son.
If it weren't for all the "over paid babysitters" we wouldn't have drs or lawyers, or business starters or police or any kind of society what-so- ever. Teachers should be treated with the same respect as the president because guess what, a teacher put him there. You guys are WAAAAAY under paid. Education is the most important thing this country has to handle and it has always been on the back burner. 100K a year (at least), free insurance, and able to retire with full pay at 50.... that's my plan, if I had a say in it.
Good idea, You pay for it too.0 -
Sorry-- the silence scared me a bit.. didn't want to start getting really angry PM's-- I'm here to get fit and get help from and support others- not ostracize them or myself....my bad.
Why don't you repost it so we can all see it. Obviously, some people loved it.0 -
Did I miss the definition of "professional" and "professionalism"? I saw these referred to a lot and yet, I don't think that everyone was using a uniform definition. It appears from the definitions I looked up, "professionalism" is "the standing, practice, or methods of a professional, as distinguished from an amateur." (dictionary.com) So as I teacher, I understand the edicts of my profession, but I am not a lawyer, so I do not necessarily know the edicts of that profession. And since I am uneducated in those edicts, can I really make a judgement as to whether or not a lawyer is acting in a professional manner? I probably shouldn't. For those who are unfamiliar with the methods of teaching as well as the restraints put on the profession by the state, you may not be the best to judge teachers. Face it. Teachers are there it use their knowledge of the different teaching methods to teach children, not to agree with everything that parents want them to.
Teaching is the toughest profession out there and it is also the most rewarding. I do not complain about my pay. I do not brag about time off. I come to work everyday in hopes of making a child's life better, even when they and their parents are not interested.
P. S. Do any of you know why schools are not in session over the summer? It is not a huge conspiracy by teachers to have 3 months of vacation. Summers off are a throw back to a time when children were needed to help harvest the fields. School closed so that the children could work. Educationally-speaking, in our current climate, summers off are actually detrimental to the process. Students lose large amounts of learning over the long break.
I know many of you will disagree with me and that's fine. I hope that you learn something from this thread. I know I did.0 -
P. S. Do any of you know why schools are not in session over the summer? It is not a huge conspiracy by teachers to have 3 months of vacation. Summers off are a throw back to a time when children were needed to help harvest the fields. School closed so that the children could work. Educationally-speaking, in our current climate, summers off are actually detrimental to the process. Students lose large amounts of learning over the long break.
.
Totally agree - teacher who supports a year round school model here. It would truly make a difference, especially in Title I schools.0 -
Did I miss the definition of "professional" and "professionalism"? I saw these referred to a lot and yet, I don't think that everyone was using a uniform definition. It appears from the definitions I looked up, "professionalism" is "the standing, practice, or methods of a professional, as distinguished from an amateur." (dictionary.com) So as I teacher, I understand the edicts of my profession, but I am not a lawyer, so I do not necessarily know the edicts of that profession. And since I am uneducated in those edicts, can I really make a judgement as to whether or not a lawyer is acting in a professional manner? I probably shouldn't. For those who are unfamiliar with the methods of teaching as well as the restraints put on the profession by the state, you may not be the best to judge teachers. Face it. Teachers are there it use their knowledge of the different teaching methods to teach children, not to agree with everything that parents want them to.
Teaching is the toughest profession out there and it is also the most rewarding. I do not complain about my pay. I do not brag about time off. I come to work everyday in hopes of making a child's life better, even when they and their parents are not interested.
P. S. Do any of you know why schools are not in session over the summer? It is not a huge conspiracy by teachers to have 3 months of vacation. Summers off are a throw back to a time when children were needed to help harvest the fields. School closed so that the children could work. Educationally-speaking, in our current climate, summers off are actually detrimental to the process. Students lose large amounts of learning over the long break.
I know many of you will disagree with me and that's fine. I hope that you learn something from this thread. I know I did.
I agree with you completely.0 -
What Do Teachers Make?
by Author Unknown
The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education.
He argued: "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: "Those who can...do. Those who can't...teach."
To corroborate, he said to another guest: "You're a teacher, Susan," he said. "Be honest. What do you make?"
Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness, replied, "You want to know what I make?"
"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could."
“I make kids believe in themselves when no one else will.”
"I make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face if the student did not do his or her very best."
"I make parents tremble in fear when I call home"
"You want to know what I make?
"I make kids wonder."
"I make them question."
"I make them criticize."
"I make them apologize and mean it."
"I make them write."
"I make them read, read, read."
"I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, and definitely beautiful over and over and over again, until they will never misspell either one of those words again."
"I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English."
"I make them understand that if you have a dream, then follow it...and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make or what you do, you pay them no attention."
"You want to know what I make?!"
"I make a difference."
"What about you?"
Good for this. My niece is a teacher at High School level. Not only does she work hard to teach something to these kids she really cares. Her own children have turned to be an asset to whatever they choose to do in life. They were taught responsibility and their ethics are wonderful.:flowerforyou: :drinker:
Bump0 -
just realized that i never gave my spin on what i would do differently if i were in charge. so here goes:
smaller class sizes. fifteen or less, no exceptions. it is impossible to give the degree of individualized attention that students need when you have 30+ children crammed into a room.
Disagree - class size is irrelevant if you do ability grouping. You cold have 100 in the class and do a better job with ability grouping than having a class of 15 with all mixed ability. By the way, I assume you are talking middle school/high school
hire enough teachers and build enough schools to have those smaller class sizes.
Wrong wrong wrong - It is more efficient to use existing resources including computer technology at home. In my family, as I said we skipped grade school and high school and the lack of seat time and two or three classes a week were just as good as 5 classes a week.
let us actually work on our work days. we would love to spend our work days working, rather than attending a mandatory 7 hour long workshop telling us how and why we should be working.
okay, but I also think the summer vacation should be eliminated. That would be time to hold remedial or advanced classes.
the 'ability' grouping thing may work hypothetically, but we don't get that option - we'll never be able to hand pick our students. and it would really not work well for the 100 sophomore students in one class who can't even read at a sixth grade level - because there are plenty of them to go around.
class size matters a *lot*.
even if you had 50 or 60 of the brightest of the bright, highly motivated, wanting to learn, sitting in your classroom, it just wouldn't work on a large scale because of the maturity factor of the age groups involved. yes, they do that in college, but college students are there because they want to be, generally, and they know they'll have hell to pay if they screw around and waste their parents' tuition money. public school won't reflect that in the least.
this is exactly why we should cut off 10th-12th grade. It spreads out the teachers allowing for smaller class sizes, stops some of the repetition of concepts that they just have to retake in college, give's the kids more time to work allowing them to earn money to help support themselves, physically makes them more active so less chance of obesity, and less time to get in trouble.
Edit to add: I don't complain about teachers pay. I have three children and realized i would have trouble homeschooling my youngest which to me meant they all went to public school. I couldn't afford private school as a single parent. I have experienced good and bad teachers, so the union needs work but that goes the same for all union jobs.0 -
well said.
I am a daughter of teachers and former teachers aide until I received my greatest student of all, my son.
If it weren't for all the "over paid babysitters" we wouldn't have drs or lawyers, or business starters or police or any kind of society what-so- ever. Teachers should be treated with the same respect as the president because guess what, a teacher put him there. You guys are WAAAAAY under paid. Education is the most important thing this country has to handle and it has always been on the back burner. 100K a year (at least), free insurance, and able to retire with full pay at 50.... that's my plan, if I had a say in it.
Saying education put the president in office is not necessarily a good recommendation.0 -
just realized that i never gave my spin on what i would do differently if i were in charge. so here goes:
smaller class sizes. fifteen or less, no exceptions. it is impossible to give the degree of individualized attention that students need when you have 30+ children crammed into a room.
Disagree - class size is irrelevant if you do ability grouping. You cold have 100 in the class and do a better job with ability grouping than having a class of 15 with all mixed ability. By the way, I assume you are talking middle school/high school
hire enough teachers and build enough schools to have those smaller class sizes.
Wrong wrong wrong - It is more efficient to use existing resources including computer technology at home. In my family, as I said we skipped grade school and high school and the lack of seat time and two or three classes a week were just as good as 5 classes a week.
let us actually work on our work days. we would love to spend our work days working, rather than attending a mandatory 7 hour long workshop telling us how and why we should be working.
okay, but I also think the summer vacation should be eliminated. That would be time to hold remedial or advanced classes.
the 'ability' grouping thing may work hypothetically, but we don't get that option - we'll never be able to hand pick our students. and it would really not work well for the 100 sophomore students in one class who can't even read at a sixth grade level - because there are plenty of them to go around.
class size matters a *lot*.
even if you had 50 or 60 of the brightest of the bright, highly motivated, wanting to learn, sitting in your classroom, it just wouldn't work on a large scale because of the maturity factor of the age groups involved. yes, they do that in college, but college students are there because they want to be, generally, and they know they'll have hell to pay if they screw around and waste their parents' tuition money. public school won't reflect that in the least.
this is exactly why we should cut off 10th-12th grade. It spreads out the teachers allowing for smaller class sizes, stops some of the repetition of concepts that they just have to retake in college, give's the kids more time to work allowing them to earn money to help support themselves, physically makes them more active so less chance of obesity, and less time to get in trouble.
Edit to add: I don't complain about teachers pay. I have three children and realized i would have trouble homeschooling my youngest which to me meant they all went to public school. I couldn't afford private school as a single parent. I have experienced good and bad teachers, so the union needs work but that goes the same for all union jobs.
This is absolutely true. High school is mostly a waste of time. As I have said previously on this board, my kids both skipped high school (and grade school) and went from the home school directly into college. Community Colleges are great. They have remedial courses there that pretty much cover everything learned in high school in four or five courses. And their other courses are first and second year college courses that are far more interesting the the busy-work loaded high school courses.
Those of you teachers who have had problems with students who weren't interested in learning might take heed. If the courses are interesting the students will come. If you want to know how it is done in an urban setting read John Taylor Gotto. (Of course, there is also Jaime Escalantes who I keep referring to.)
Anyway, from personal experience, my kids, son, age 19 now in law school, having graduated with honors from our state university, and daughter, age 16 now entering our state university as a junior, did not miss a thing by skipping high school. The kids at the community college they attended right after what was effectively 8th grade were no further ahead than my kids were, and in fact, in most cases were behind them. These high school graduates in community college were kids who for a large part got nothing out of high school and now were paying their own money to try to get into an environment where they could learn, so they definitely had the motivation. It was the schools that failed them. I could tell you dozens of stories, and I already have mentioned some. but you can read about it in thre book I am going to write.
There were thirty or forty kids in our community college who were homeschoolers or who, for some other reason had just dropped out of high school. They were all , pretty much from the same area of Connecticut, and were not from poverty areas. Nonetheless, they, like me found that the upscale high schools in our area were just a waste of time. Virtually all of these homeschool/drop out kids were success stories. One is currently in graduate school at Brown, some went to other colleges such as Trinity, Wesleyan, UConn, my 19 year old son is in law school, etc. Not experiencing high school, and in most cases grade school, didn't hurt them a bit, and this is a large enough population so that one should be able to make some statistical correlations and draw some general principles from this group. I am hoping my book will be a blockbuster in terms stimulating reform of the very broken school system that mostly exists for the union, and not for the kids.
By the way, the average class size in this community college is about 40, and none of the younger kids, the homeschoolers, had any difficulty with that number. Small class size, in my opinion, is meaningless beyond the elementary grades, and they are being pushed for one reason only: the union wants to create more teacher jobs. They are a waste of taxpayer money and other resources.0 -
Those of you teachers who have had problems with students who weren't interested in learning might take heed. If the courses are interesting the students will come. If you want to know how it is done in an urban setting read John Taylor Gotto. (Of course, there is also Jaime Escalantes who I keep referring to.)
you keep saying this like all students want to learn. this just isn't true. it's called a bell curve. you have yet to suggest what the system do with the thousands of minors that would choose not to show up at all and hang out on the streets all day.
the implication that all students don't like class because it's not interesting enough is just silly. what about all of the 13 year olds that already have their own children? what about my high school cellist that had two children by her own father? you are completely cutting them out from your formula, and whether you know them or like them, they are still there - hundreds of thousands of these children in every community, whether you see them or not. you are discounting any solution to this aspect of education, because in public education, you deal with who walks through the door - there is no choice involved.
and as for your two super-teacher-heros, they both retired in 1991 - more than 20 years ago. pre-internet/pocket-computer/won't-it-be-a-great-idea-if-i-send-naked-pics-to-my-boyfriend-he'll-never-show-anyone. i don't think their experiences would be relevant anymore.
i can see a lot of your arguments, but you are cutting out huge factors that still have to be dealt with on some level. you are just sweeping them under the carpetThere were thirty or forty kids in our community college who were homeschoolers or who, for some other reason had just dropped out of high school. They were all , pretty much from the same area of Connecticut, and were not from poverty areas. Nonetheless, they, like me found that the upscale high schools in our area were just a waste of time. Virtually all of these homeschool/drop out kids were success stories. One is currently in graduate school at Brown, some went to other colleges such as Trinity, Wesleyan, UConn, my 19 year old son is in law school, etc. Not experiencing high school, and in most cases grade school, didn't hurt them a bit, and this is a large enough population so that one should be able to make some statistical correlations and draw some general principles from this group.
this is typical of public schools too. my husband's high school class last year racked up several million dollars in scholarships, many full rides to ivy league, so i don't think your stats have quite as much bearing on the matter as you think. going through 12 years of public school didn't seem to hurt these students that thrived so well. sounds like a stalemate to me.
if you jump to the inplication that going to high school or not going to high school can give students the same results, it's probably not anything the type of education is doing, but the intrinsic motivation of those particular students.By the way, the average class size in this community college is about 40, and none of the younger kids, the homeschoolers, had any difficulty with that number. Small class size, in my opinion, is meaningless beyond the elementary grades, and they are being pushed for one reason only: the union wants to create more teacher jobs. They are a waste of taxpayer money and other resources.
put them in a class of 40 when they are not paying for the education and see if there is a difference. that would be the way to effectively compare this.0 -
alright, teach-peeps - i'm off to an interview - wish me luck! :bigsmile:0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.9K Introduce Yourself
- 43.7K Getting Started
- 260.1K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.8K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 415 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.9K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.6K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.5K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions