Posted on 12/21/2005 1:13:09 PM PST by DeweyCA
Isn't that the truth!
I'll say, but I think in your case being the great teacher you are, you help out the cause a lot.
You are right about class size not being rlevant IF discipline is enforced.
However,I sub occasionally in a very rough school district.If I have a class of 30,I will most likely get fifteen clowns and jackasses to deal with.If the class size is 15,however,I may have five problem children and they are much easier to deal with then.
Fortunately,at the high school level in the inner city you have a fairly high absentee and"cut"ratio so a class with thirty enrolled usually means only twenty that show.And the ten who are not there are most often the ones who cause the problems!
That's my approach to a lot of stuff. I try to tell it like I see it, but that doesn't mean I can't learn from others. I just try to do like my parents taught me--treat others like I want to be treated, look at my own faults before I look at others, remember to say thank you, try to give genuine compliments when deserved, to be honest, to not be afraid to apologize when I'm wrong (I do that A LOT you know), and so on. I love having good discussion, though I LOVE swapping one-liners with someone.
My grandmother was a teacher in a one room school, eight grades in one room. We'd go to visit Grandpa and Grandma most weekends and I have many memories of her sitting at the dining room table correcting papers with a pencil that was blue on one end and red on the other.
Well no wonder you're so good. My grandfather was a teacher, principal, and superintendent. My other grandpa was a cowboy, but both of them knew the value of education and it has carried forth into 2 and 3 generations now.
I love old teachers. One of my students' grandmas came and helped for our Christmas party. She was GOOD with the kids.
I will bet you're a great teacher. The reason I'd make that bet is because you are so honest (about the salary - not whining), but most of all because you said you love what you do.
Whining is not my approach. I am doing my dream job right now. I live and teach in the same neighborhood. I know where each of my students live (I make "delivery" runs sometimes). I can't believe that I have the opportunity to serve my own community and get paid for it at the same time. The students and parents are my own neighbors and sometimes become my close friends.
Yes, I would like to earn enough to qualify for a home loan-hehe. But I LOVE what I do and can't believe how much the man upstairs blesses me in my classroom. I've seen many miracles that I sure can't attribute to my own doing.
I don't have too much sympathy for those that just seem to whine and whine, particularly if they don't get their own way. I remember a lady here with a ten thousand square foot house who was in tears at a meeting because she couldn't afford to pay her mortgage. Another one complained that they couldn't go on 4 vacations last year (of course this year they went on 7). My biggest sadness are for those who don't realize what a huge privilege they have in having the opportunity to raise children. I've been wanting that for years now. There aren't other options available right now. But I will NOT complain if I ever get that opportunity. I WILL be thanking God every stinking day and letting that child know how much I love him or her.
My thanks to all teachers out there. I had many great ones and I owe much of what I am today to those great teachers.
It's comments like this that make it all worth it to me. I am lucky that some parents say things like that to this dum-dum of a teacher. I had a mom of one of the students last year who put together a book with letters written by several parents telling how I had somehow made a difference in their children's lives. I still think it's "fiction." :) But what teacher gets something like that? Holy Cats! It was worth more than a year's pay to me to get something like that.
I love teaching and coming to school every day to see those shining eyes of my little first graders. Heck, I'd teach for free if they paid me enough-hehe:).
Thank you for your wonderful post. I salute you and all those out there like you.
Cracker Jack and Depend will forever be misspelled.
Hehe. Since spending a few years in Korea, my spelling has become much worse.
If you want to fix education, hire people who can read and write.
Agreed.
15 clowns and jackasses? Holy cow! Sounds like a John Kerrey circus casting call or something. Here some of the secondary schools can get 40 or even 50 in a classroom.
So did they put you back in jail yet or are you still on the run?
Does this hourly rate include grading papers and making up tests and all the parent-teacher conferences, etc.? I don't think teachers are underpaid any more either, but I wonder how many hours were used to calculate the hourly rate.
Also, more and more kids have a "diagnosis" for ADHD, Emotional dysfunction, and other problems that result in Social Security (SSI) benefits and a host of special programs for these children, most of whom have absolutely no respect for adult authority. From what I can tell as an occasional substitute teacher, a lot of these students have no adults in their lives with the guts to say SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP early on with their little darlings. Parents literally have turned their precious children over to the State for indoctrination and medication. Some of these children make life hell for the teachers and the other children who do know how to behave properly. Very frightening. What about the rights of the good kids???? Yeah, I know - home school them.....
Imortant points to consider. I doubt that the hours quoted include all the "extra" time teachers put in. But Iet's be honest too. There are MANY other occupations and people who put in a LOT of extra hours on things. One reason not to make blanket statements on things.
On the medication front here--teachers and schools here aren't allowed to require medication. Any medication I've ever seen has been parent-initiated. I simply don't have the time to make sure every Jack and Susie get their pills every day. Still some of the teacher bashers here said that all of us were like drug dealers so to speak, though they couldn't come up with one specific instance of such--the reason being that there weren't any because it is against the law. There was ONE instance of a teacher requiring "drugs" and she was severely dealt with.
As for indoctrination, yes we do a lot. I am required to read from Mein Cough every day, the Little Red Book That Could once every week, and the Communist Manifiasco every other week. Unfortunately, I have yet to comply because I am too busy teaching phonics, reading, writing, comprehension, grammar, math, and science. Hopefully, I can get better at it.
I do agree with some of your statements, that's for sure.
Back in jail. It's been pretty quiet since they moved Tookie. Anyone hear what happened to him?
I've been teaching in college for a while, and substitute taught a few times in high school. My observation is that most problem kids aren't spoiled, they're neglected. It's pretty tough on a kid growing up with a new live-in boyfriend showing up every six months and seeing mom smoke dope and snort coke.
He went the way of all bad Tookie birds. Man, all you have to do on death row is to come up with some funky-sounding name and you'll have the stars coming out in your defense. Maybe I'll change mine to moogie baloogie or somethng.
I just enjoy seeing optimistic people like you amid the sea of doom and gloom. You are a great teacher and your students are lucky to have you there.
"Ha. My husband wants to know when they're going to start paying me for the hours I put in outside of school hours."
Does he also want to know when they'll stop paying you for summer, Christmas, Spring break, etc... Factor it all in.
"By the way, it's "underpaid", not "underpayed". No charge."
Thanks. I guess whoever taught me didn't do such a good job. :)
Actually, no, for two reasons. First, we're paid to work a certain number of days - they just spread the paycheck over 12 months so that people who aren't good at budgeting don't have to do without for the months we aren't working. I've heard that some districts only give paychecks while school is in session, but I don't know that for a fact.
Secondly, he knows what I could and did earn when I worked in industry instead of education, and he knows what my hours were then. History or elementary education majors might have a different situation.
You are right about that. So far I have seen both the spoiled and the neglected. Sometimes they are the same kids. You can be spoiled by stuff and neglected by the lack of time with your Mom and Dad. One little 3rd grader was telling me about how much fun she had the night before with her Mom and her Mom's boyfriend. Mom is pregnant again (three kids all with different dads). The boyfriend took them out for a ride in the woods in the truck with the stereo blasting away. The little girl's Mom told her how the baby "was just jumping inside her" having fun, too. I told the little girl that I think the baby was trying to say "Turn the darned radio off!"
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