You can see what I make right here:
http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/fbs/finance/salary/schedules/2009-10schedules.pdf
We don’t have a teacher’s union, btw. I’m content with what I make- I don’t do this for the money.
“we are underpaid, under appreciated, over worked”. Considering what we deal with every day, there is some truth in that. Try teaching the significance of the Protestant Reformation to a little girl whose father has been raping her, or, try teaching the checks and balances of the US Constitution to a Latino kid who can’t read English. And do this while simultaneously sending some punk with .25 auto in his pocket to the office.... When someone tells me my job is easy, I tell them “you do it.”
“but protected from process improvement, talent assessment”- This is a common fallacy. We have to document a process of professional development in order to maintain our teaching licenses. Mostly we have to attend classes or inservice meetings (this is done in private industry too) sometimes during the summer, some of which we have to pay for out of our own pocket, taking advantage of free or cheap ones whenever possible. We are reviewed by our administrators regularly- if they find our performance is deficient, then they can initiate some action plan to force the teacher to improve, prior to dismissing them if that becomes necessary. A lot of people imagine we are unaccountable- they are quite mistaken. A teacher is accountable to the building administrators, the school superintendant, the school board, the public, and to themselves.
“measurement to goals and objectives.”
This is something teachers do object to, with good reason. If we were making widgets, then we could be very strictly accountable for all steps of the process, which could be quantified as simply as x number, x type, x model, etc, which would be plain and simple to measure. Unfortunately, there is another factor at work- the student. Some students perform great, and some badly. If you measure by the student’s results, well, you won’t get a true picture of what the teacher has been doing. The reason is that the student is basically a variable. Some students don’t want to perform well, and some can’t. For example, a brilliant teacher may be able to teach a rock how to fly, contingent on that rock following directions. Failing to follow directions, the rock doesn’t fly. Is that the teacher’s fault? Of course not. But we get blamed for it anyway.
“welcome to reality, thanks for joining us here”
Actually, we are a lot closer than people think we are. A lot of what we deal with sends people packing out of our profession quickly- the average person that starts teaching lasts about 5 years or less....
underpaid? quit,no one forces you to take the job.
I have taught kids, in a crappy Philly hood (where I'm from) and yes, it was easy for me.
Measurement - I don't make anything, much of what I do is about the behavior of others that I must control to a large extent and yes, I am held accountable - that's my job - I can quit if I don't like it.
It sounds that you like your job and I hope that you are a good teacher but you are not what I have dealt with. The large schools in the large cities, those with the loud unions and that suk-out-loud, that's the ones.
as for the student population, I know it's bad but you can thank your progressive movement for destroying the American family and the values that bound us. You can thank all those Left teachers and their unions for getting us to where we are.
Oh, and don't take any of this personally, I don't.