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I'll agree that the seniority thing sucks! However, this is our first year in public school, and it was much better than private Christian school.

The kindegarten teachers worked as a team. One of them focused on academics, and the other one focused on the arts. At the end of the year, they sent home a journal that the kindegarten students had written and drawn pictures of throughout the year. For each student, they made a book with pictures that the kids had drawn throughout the year. The pictures were a self-portrait, pictures of parties and field trips. Glued onto the pictures were photographs of each kid. It must have taken hours to put together, and it is beautiful!

One of my daughters has a severe speech problem due to brain damage. She did not know all of her letters or sounds, and her writing was very sloppy. Well, she now can read better than my gifted child did after he finished a private Christian kindergarten. She also can write a complete paragraph (not just a sentence). Her drawing abilities have improved immensely. She was also in the kindergarten play, and said 2 lines in front of over 100 people. (Big accomplishment for her) She felt great about herself.

My other kindergarten daughter is reading chapter books. She's writing great paragraphs with lots of details. The teachers didn't just focus on the slow kids, they focused on each kid.

My third grade son also had a fantastic teacher. He's gifted at math, and she always challenged him. He was weak with writing when he started the school, and now he's writing better than me.

You will appreciate knowing that people like my daughter do decide to become teachers in the public school system. She was accepted at several Ivy League Schools, but chose a conservative Presbyterian school, because there were no co-ed dorm, strictly enforced rules regarding drinking and drug use on campus, and it had an excellent reputation for academic excellence in her undergraduate major.

She aced all of her NY Regents exams in high school, and was a National Merit Scholarship finalist. She loved mathematics, but was an excellent allaround student, and class valedictorian.

She graduated summa cum laude as a Math major, with a minor in Education. She chose to teach at a city high school in Western NY, and fits the description of a good teacher posted above...

"When done well, teaching is a highly demanding, mentally exhausting, stamina-draining, energy-depleting activity. Teachers are performers working to engage their audience every minute of every day. It's all "live" with no TelePrompTers and hardly any time for rehearsal."

She puts in 12 hour days, develops new curriculum in the summer, and takes further courses in math and education. She has never had a "summer off", in spite of not being in the classroom.

She doesn't manage to motivate every single kid in her classes, and she agonizes about that. Most of her kids do very well, and respect her. They are well prepared and do very well on the final state-wide exams.

There are really great teachers out there in the public schools, but there are some real jerks also.