The Exhaustion of the American Teacher

[Molitoth]

Ran across this article making it's way around facebook.
I thought it was very interesting, especially considering my wife is an elementary teacher. This really hits the nail on the head.
What are your thoughts?

I don't venture into the DC forum too often, sorry if repost.

And the article won't let me Copy/Paste.

http://theeducatorsroom.com/2012/09/...erican-teacher

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

I've a friend who is a teacher in a eastern metropolitan city and he says " It's the best paid part-time job ever." He has 8 kids too. I've an in-law who was paid $75 for K in Boston in the mid 80's even.

I totally believe this!

[chiefforlife]

I certainly see a lot of poor parenting and believe the Teachers spend more time on misbehaving children than they should have to.
For those of you who are Teachers or are married to one, could you break down a work day in a Teachers life? I have always wondered and admittedly lean towards the "they dont seem to have it that bad" side of things.

My Youngest daughters day starts at 9:05, it ends at 3:40. They have a "late start" day which is difficult to work around for the parents and lots of time off during the school year.

Do the Teachers work 8:30 to 4:00? I would really like to know so I dont make assumptions...

[Brock]

A friend of mine has a wife who used to work in the Omaha school system. She spent more time trying to control 5 percent of the kids who were little violent, entitled shitbags. The last straw came when she was physically threatened by a kid whose name is (I shit you not) "Prezident". At what point can we just get rid of the worthless little pieces of shit who are taking up 90 percent of the resources and inhibiting the learning of the other 95 percent of kids? ****ing kick them out.

[chiefforlife]

Originally Posted by Brock

A friend of mine has a wife who used to work in the Omaha school system. She spent more time trying to control 5 percent of the kids who were little violent, entitled shitbags. The last straw came when she was physically threatened by a kid whose name is (I shit you not) "Prezident". At what point can we just get rid of the worthless little pieces of shit who are taking up 90 percent of the resources and inhibiting the learning of the other 95 percent of kids? ****ing kick them out.

Couldnt agree more! If you kick them out, it would force the parents to deal with the kids behavior problems and allow the Teacher to teach.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Brock

A friend of mine has a wife who used to work in the Omaha school system. She spent more time trying to control 5 percent of the kids who were little violent, entitled shitbags. The last straw came when she was physically threatened by a kid whose name is (I shit you not) "Prezident". At what point can we just get rid of the worthless little pieces of shit who are taking up 90 percent of the resources and inhibiting the learning of the other 95 percent of kids? ****ing kick them out.

Don't you know it's considered wrong here to use anecdotal data? Cosmos will be along shortly to scold you for this post.

[mikey23545]

Originally Posted by Brock

A friend of mine has a wife who used to work in the Omaha school system. She spent more time trying to control 5 percent of the kids who were little violent, entitled shitbags. The last straw came when she was physically threatened by a kid whose name is (I shit you not) "Prezident". At what point can we just get rid of the worthless little pieces of shit who are taking up 90 percent of the resources and inhibiting the learning of the other 95 percent of kids?

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by chiefforlife

Do the Teachers work 8:30 to 4:00? I would really like to know so I dont make assumptions...

Do you assume a football coach works two hours a week? How much time do you think it takes to plan and then assess 6 hours of instruction a day? This is especially true for math and literacy where instruction needs to be incredibly fluid (based on the student's individual needs and developmental ability).

Competent teachers, not even great teachers need to work all the time to keep up (including planning and professional development in the summer).

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by VAChief

Do you assume a football coach works two hours a week? How much time do you think it takes to plan and then assess 6 hours of instruction a day? This is especially true for math and literacy where instruction needs to be incredibly fluid (based on the student's individual needs and developmental ability).

Competent teachers, not even great teachers need to work all the time to keep up (including planning and professional development in the summer).

Yeah, but that doesn't mean they all do that. I've taught before. Besides why do K teachers get such high pay. The answer is supposedly that it affects young children's attitudes toward education. Doesn't take a whole lot of prep time what's you get down what you need to get done your first few years.

[La literatura]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

Besides why do K teachers get such high pay.

I don't know they do.

[La literatura]

Okay, apparently a lot do make quite a significant sum: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Education-Tra...l-teachers.htm

[RaiderH8r]

Originally Posted by VAChief

Do you assume a football coach works two hours a week? How much time do you think it takes to plan and then assess 6 hours of instruction a day? This is especially true for math and literacy where instruction needs to be incredibly fluid (based on the student's individual needs and developmental ability).

Competent teachers, not even great teachers need to work all the time to keep up (including planning and professional development in the summer).

Oh ****, the burden of working in the summer. Such ****ing warriors. I am glad I get all summer off and don't have to endure the hardships of being teacher. The rest of us just sit around throwing feces at the wall, frittering away our summers.

They're tired? Welcome to the ****ing club. In August I get to plod the streets of downtown DC in a wool suit, toting around a quart of ball gravy in my hairy ass crack. The highlight of the 12-15 hour day is getting into my office, shutting the windows and shades, dropping trou, and dangling my sack and gooch in front of the AC. But yeah, me and teachers; the only people in America who work during the summer.

[NewChief]

The demoralizing bullshit of teaching isn't the kids at this point, although that can be frustrating. It's the fact that all of the educational "experts" and "reformers" are mainly misguided idiots who don't have a ****ing clue about education on the ground level, but they're the ones who are controlling policy.

And this goes beyond the universal hatred of the workers for middle managment paper pushers. I've worked in several corporate environments, and I've never seen anything like the way it's become in education. The district offices of Curriculum, Instruction, Alignment, and Assessment are the ones calling the shots in most districts, and their jobs seem to be to sit around and justify their jobs in the form of committee meetings. They don't seem to understand that actually being in a classroom and teaching is kind of.. you know... essential in education. Their attitude seems to be that they can hold enough meetings with each other to improve education. Their other assumption seems to be that you can fatten a pig by weighing it. That is, if you test kids enough, they'll improve, nevermind that the constant testing kind of gets in the way of real learning.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by La literatura

Okay, apparently a lot do make quite a significant sum: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Education-Tra...l-teachers.htm

Wow. I had no idea they made $1000 a week on a median level. I thought they averaged around 30-35k a year.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by NewChief

The demoralizing bullshit of teaching isn't the kids at this point, although that can be frustrating. It's the fact that all of the educational "experts" and "reformers" are mainly misguided idiots who don't have a ****ing clue about education on the ground level, but they're the ones who are controlling policy.

And this goes beyond the universal hatred of the workers for middle managment paper pushers. I've worked in several corporate environments, and I've never seen anything like the way it's become in education. The district offices of Curriculum, Instruction, Alignment, and Assessment are the ones calling the shots in most districts, and their jobs seem to be to sit around and justify their jobs in the form of committee meetings. They don't seem to understand that actually being in a classroom and teaching is kind of.. you know... essential in education. Their attitude seems to be that they can hold enough meetings with each other to improve education. Their other assumption seems to be that you can fatten a pig by weighing it. That is, if you test kids enough, they'll improve, nevermind that the constant testing kind of gets in the way of real learning.

the first time I heard something similar..was ten years ago...sad to see it hasn't changed.

[La literatura]

Originally Posted by Mr. Flopnuts

Wow. I had no idea they made $1000 a week on a median level. I thought they averaged around 30-35k a year.

That was my impression. It would be helpful to see what the average (as opposed to median) was, as I suppose some long-time teachers in wealthy districts skew the numbers.