Have you seen this teacher rant

[unsinkable]

Unless it was to say, "Yeah, I remember some teachers who really made a difference in my life."

 

 

 

 

 

I don't get why it's complaining. It may well have been written by a Mom for teacher appreciation week, and I don't see a reason not to say, "Yes, great job" when given the opportunity, or at least I don't see a reason to say something negative.

 

I do think it's great to thank those who work to make the world better, even if they do get paid and even if they are fishing for compliments by posting this on their FB when they are teachers. Whatever. Teachers do work hard and for little thanks - just like people in the military, police officers, taxi drivers, and the guy who sweeps up at Subway. I don't see any reason not to thank any of them.

 

I love to thank people. I really do!

 

I make a point of thanking every person in uniform and every person who wears a veteran hat or bumper sticker. I have met some of the most wonderful men thru the years by saying, "I see your wearing your _____ War Vereran hat. Thank you so much for serving!"

 

I try to be very kind to fast food workers b/c I so often see them being mistreated by other customers.

 

I say thanks to my kids' coaches and leaders and dance teachers. I sent thank you cards to DS's high school teachers last year.

 

I thank the police officers and paramedics and ambulance drivers and nurses and aides who took care of DD.

 

There is a perception that some occupations get too little thanks.

Edited November 10, 2010 by unsinkable
typos

[mcconnellboys]

Most teachers in the city where I live do NOT spend their evenings correcting work. Kids can't get the feedback they need because their papers NEVER end up getting graded. If they are graded, it's pretty meaningless as they're usually graded "for completion" as they said at my son's school. That means if they see writing on a paper and think it remotely resembles what you were supposed to do then you get an "A" on it.....

 

The tutor I pay for algebra does not grade the work that is done. She has looked at us blankly on more than one occasion when we express that we'd like the work graded.... No "extra" time is not considered standard any longer - and I don't think it has been for a long, long time....

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I'm not a teacher basher, but I'm so sick of the complaining that I've been hearing over the past year. My niece posted this on facebook

Years ago I taught in a public institute and don't remember this degree of whining. It was understood that part of the job was correcting work in the evenings. My husband works in the evenings when he comes home. I think many people do, it's not specific to teachers. I didn't respond, would you have? I'm I out of line here?

 

My sil is a teacher. We have sometimes shopped back to school sales together. I'm always amazed at how much she will buy out of her own money so that her students have a notebook to record assignments in or good books in the classroom library.

 

On the other hand, I don't write FB posts about how while you're watching tv, my husband is underway on a ship or working 13 hour days in the Navy.

 

When I did my MS Ed, there was a lot of talk about how teaching was a profession. But part of a profession is a lot of extra time spent on work outside normal hours.

[msjones]

This party may be just about over, but I'll toss out my opinion without reading all 10 pages...

 

Talking about All Teachers is like talking about All Lawyers, or All Presidents, or All Women, or All Babies, or All Doctors, or All Homeschooling Moms (and I know we've all heard enough of that particular topic).

 

There are teachers who work very hard and do an excellent job. There are teachers who are bums. There are teachers thankful for their jobs who love their work. There are teachers who whine and complain constantly.

 

It is almost pointless to have a discussion about All Teachers.

 

And just so I can feel that I have defended my man on an anonymous internet discussion board... I'm willing to bet that most of you would be pretty darn happy to have my husband as your child's math teacher. ;)

[kalanamak]

I'm not a teacher basher, but I'm so sick of the complaining that I've been hearing over the past year. My niece posted this on facebook

Years ago I taught in a public institute and don't remember this degree of whining. It was understood that part of the job was correcting work in the evenings. My husband works in the evenings when he comes home. I think many people do, it's not specific to teachers. I didn't respond, would you have? I'm I out of line here?

 

It didn't sound like whining to me....just someone who isn't a teacher reminding people some of the aspects of it I, for one, don't think of.

[jenL]

This party may be just about over, but I'll toss out my opinion without reading all 10 pages...

 

Talking about All Teachers is like talking about All Lawyers, or All Presidents, or All Women, or All Babies, or All Doctors, or All Homeschooling Moms (and I know we've all heard enough of that particular topic).

 

There are teachers who work very hard and do an excellent job. There are teachers who are bums. There are teachers thankful for their jobs who love their work. There are teachers who whine and complain constantly.

 

It is almost pointless to have a discussion about All Teachers.

 

And just so I can feel that I have defended my man on an anonymous internet discussion board... I'm willing to bet that most of you would be pretty darn happy to have my husband as your child's math teacher. ;)

 

:iagree: Thank you! As a former ps teacher, this is what I was going to say. Basing frustration toward ALL teachers around the teachers in NJ is overgeneralizing, and it's uncalled for. I worked in a wealthy educational area, under a union, but we still had very high health insurance costs & copays, were one of the lowest paid states in the country for teacher salary, and we often had to purchase things for our classrooms out of our own pockets if we wanted to do the job well (so that is what the we did, to the tunes of thousands of dollars per year). Nearly all of the teachers I worked with in the middle school (140+) had summer jobs because their 10 month teacher salary could not cover basic expenses in this state. Until you have worked in a classroom, in the system as it stands now (esp. after NCLB), then you have no true idea of the nature of it. Do the NJ teachers milk the system? Yes probably, but that is only in ONE state. The vast majority of states have underpaid, overworked teachers. As with the rest of the economy, they are being pushed to do more with less as well as be expected to "fix" the products of society that parents have neglected (not all parents, of course). A teacher's job is hard. Not that it's the only hard job in the world, but to not recognize it as difficult is a fallacy.

 

The fb post may be annoying, but it's no different than the rants about teachers in this thread. When you get right down to it, we all have something to complain about, and we all want pity from somewhere. Sometimes a little compassion is what works best, however.

Edited November 10, 2010 by jenL
clarification of ideas

[MaMa2005]

Trying to remain calm. DH is a high school teacher. He works as a college professor at night to make ends meet. I am a retired teacher (on disability due to the negligence of another teacher and parents). I worked my bum off when I was teaching. So does DH. Yes, he will come home and complain, but it isn't about teaching, it is about all the extra things that are now demanded of teachers.

 

In his HS, there are many teachers that come from the outside sector. Just this year, six of the teachers in his school who came from the outside sector QUIT. Just called the principal and QUIT. Sends a strong message that teaching isn't THAT easy.

 

Bashing my DH and his job is not COOL! Walk a mile in his shoes before sounding like an authority on something you haven't a clue about.

 

Now I will go :chillpill:.

[Aubrey]

That example of having to write a program for free? They should have refused. Instead they made the school look good instead having to suffer the consequences of their stupidity.

 

This only works when *everyone* refuses. When you're the only one who does, they're incredibly vindictive.

[Aubrey]

BUT the school couldn't get enough subs, so we were required to give up our planning periods to sub for other teachers. That's illegal. Do you know what they do to teachers who say so?

No. I don't. What? Beat em up? Because if they fire them, they are out yet another teacher, so that seems stupid. (not that it means they wouldn't) and if they fire directly for that - sue. If they do it repeatedly, band together and call in with yellow fever.

 

No, they don't fire you, but you can't quit, either. The state suspends your license if you quit. Which would be fine if you could do something else or at least didn't have student loans to pay off. For me, I finished my BA in 2001, after 9/11, & the economy hasn't been the same since. Dh was unemployed, so there was nothing I could do but keep on teaching until one of us found something else.

 

What they do: they give you the worst students, the worst teaching assignments. They give you larger classes & no support.

 

To some extent, a person w/ a lot of backbone can deal w/ these things, but if you've got a lot of backbone, there are lots of other things you can do. Like work for the CIA in a hostile country. ;)

 

And as far as "banding together," teachers in my state are not allowed to strike. We can literally be arrested. I tried to convince my colleagues to go on a shower strike & stink the admin/students out of their behavior, but they only laughed at me. :glare:

 

Other than police, who are armed & trained, I don't know anyone other than teachers who have to deal w/ criminals on a daily basis as part of their jobs. And, yeah, to some extent they choose those jobs, but that doesn't mean the choice doesn't come as a shock or that it's easy to just go do something else.

 

Sure, the school expects you to come early & stay late for tutoring those kids,

 

What? Not here they don't. Well maybe they do and are SOL at getting it bc every single person I know that needs help after school hours has to find their own volunteer for the subject. They are SOL getting it from the school after hours.

 

Yes, we did. And if we dared to fail a student for *any reason,* we were required to file written reports, document multiple attempts at tutoring students, acquiring other school help, & extensive contact w/ parents. Iow, failing a kid was a *lot* of work.

 

When you have 40 in a class, though, & their parents can't speak English, & they move every week or so, due to jail or fleeing eviction, it's harder. When you're expected to call every parent of every student at least once per six weeks, plus any time they fail anything, plus any time they miss a class or get in trouble, when there are only 2 people in the school who speak Spanish, so you have to piece together your conversation from a Spanish dictionary ahead

of time, it's harder.

 

Again... What?! That sure never happen here in any schools I'm aware of. You find out your kid is failing when you get the progress report unless you make an effort to ask repeatedly and be involved on your own.

 

Yep. I had a football player shove me across the classroom, & when I sent him to the office, I was threatened w/ suspension for not having contacted his parents first & then they wanted to know whether I had touched him at all. :001_huh:

 

Later, another football player shoved a student so hard the student fell into me, & I knocked a closet-sized cabinet over. When I sent her to the office, she knocked over several desks & cussed me out in front of the whole class.

 

Her mother came into my classroom that afternoon, (illegal w/out an appointment, for which they threatened to arrest my husband one day), knocking over furniture, cussing me out, & then thankfully went to find the principal. I was in a building by myself, & I was sure that I was about to die. When the principal found out, though, she sided with the parent, saying that parents just want to know what's going on, & that the parent was simply comfortable w/ her (the principal) & the school.

 

So the parent claimed racism against me & demanded that the school open up an investigation. I had to go to a series of meetings, was told to get a lawyer, etc. It didn't last long, though, because when they asked my other students what happened, it was actually worse than I'd described.

 

Our district forced us to use curric that they hadn't bought the license for. (I didn't know.) When the publisher threatened to sue, the school backed away, & it was us teachers who were having to negotiate w/ the publisher. The school's solution? We could all spend the summer working together (for free) writing a new curric that they could use forever w/out ever paying another licensing fee.

 

again. How did they MAKE you?

 

We were on teams. I'd started out doing my own thing, but when we got to a certain point in the year, one of the other teachers began running copies for all of us to use. We were "required" to meet & coordinate our plans--this was leading up to the TAKS test.

 

As far as how they required the meetings, I don't know. How does any job require meetings? They tell you where to be when, & you go. *shrug*

 

The school district had an approved list of lit for us to teach from. The teachers who'd been there longer than me had curric they'd been using for years to teach those books. After they'd copied it, why on earth would I refuse to use it? I didn't know anything about a license.

 

And later, when it was my turn to run copies for everybody...why would I have said no?

 

But after the threat of a law suit, when we were told to continue using the curric, you bet I refused. Hence my long hours, planning & prepping something entirely different. Hence the real problem w/ no planning period & so many papers to grade & the required tutoring.

 

My dept chair came down & chewed me out. She'd yell at me for the layout of my classroom, for my lesson plans, for not participating in tutoring ANOTHER TEACHER'S CLASS.

 

She did not beat me up. But at the end of the year when I resigned? She walked past me & announced to everybody in the room that they'd "found Aubrey's replacement."

 

Part of the problem was that I believed that once I'd proven myself a good teacher, they'd like me & be happy w/ me, & it would all be ok. My students had a pass rate on the TAKS test that was double other teachers' pass rates. It didn't matter. It wasn't about being a good teacher; it was about politics.

 

As bomb threats increased & students became more aggressive, I realized I was literally risking the safety of myself (& thereby my family) to a system that did not actually *want* the sacrifice. The parents, by & large, did *not* care about their kids' educations (in my district), but neither did the teachers or the administrators. I would have gladly kept fighting if *anybody* had been on my side other than the students. And really, it was startling to see that they were w/ me.

 

But by golly, when you convince a 17yo freshman who also deals drugs to give up his afternoon in order to learn to read because he believes you'll actually go to his granny's house & tell her in broken Spanish that he's disappointed his magistra by failing to turn in assignments,

 

and then a school administrator calls the kid on your classroom phone & cusses him out so loud everybody in the room can hear it

 

and then realizes she's gotten the WRONG JOSE, it kills you.

 

Jose did offer me a job in sales & distribution, though. ;)

 

The system is really, really broken. I was one of the teachers who refused to fight it by filling holes in myself, buying supplies for kids, paying for my own copies, etc. And for that, I lost the respect of those who should have been my comrades.

 

I cannot go so far as to say that I do not feel sympathy for the teachers who do lay themselves down like this, even though I see them contributing to something that is hurting them. I think such self-sacrifice has to be respected or at least pitied, even if I believe that it is sometimes misapplied.

 

I think we as a human race are given a certain number of people who have incredible compassion. To see them giving their compassion in a futile way *does* deserve sympathy or pity or something, because it is not hurting just the teachers, but the race as a whole. We need those few who have compassion, & to allow their efforts to be wasted is tragic. To blame them for it is criminal.

 

I am not one of those compassionate people. I am able to harden my heart & walk away from those students. I have come to believe, however, that there are those who cannot, & that they will pour themselves out at whatever they choose to do, whether teaching or nursing or whatever else serves the poor and the weak. I believe that as we depend on them--to care for our old & our young & our sick, to keep us human with their compassion, they depend on leadership to make their efforts most valuable.

[Xuzi]

No, they don't fire you, but you can't quit, either. The state suspends your license if you quit. Which would be fine if you could do something else or at least didn't have student loans to pay off. For me, I finished my BA in 2001, after 9/11, & the economy hasn't been the same since. Dh was unemployed, so there was nothing I could do but keep on teaching until one of us found something else.

 

What they do: they give you the worst students, the worst teaching assignments. They give you larger classes & no support.

 

To some extent, a person w/ a lot of backbone can deal w/ these things, but if you've got a lot of backbone, there are lots of other things you can do. Like work for the CIA in a hostile country. ;)

 

And as far as "banding together," teachers in my state are not allowed to strike. We can literally be arrested. I tried to convince my colleagues to go on a shower strike & stink the admin/students out of their behavior, but they only laughed at me. :glare:

 

Other than police, who are armed & trained, I don't know anyone other than teachers who have to deal w/ criminals on a daily basis as part of their jobs. And, yeah, to some extent they choose those jobs, but that doesn't mean the choice doesn't come as a shock or that it's easy to just go do something else.

 

 

 

Yes, we did. And if we dared to fail a student for *any reason,* we were required to file written reports, document multiple attempts at tutoring students, acquiring other school help, & extensive contact w/ parents. Iow, failing a kid was a *lot* of work.

 

 

 

Yep. I had a football player shove me across the classroom, & when I sent him to the office, I was threatened w/ suspension for not having contacted his parents first & then they wanted to know whether I had touched him at all. :001_huh:

 

Later, another football player shoved a student so hard the student fell into me, & I knocked a closet-sized cabinet over. When I sent her to the office, she knocked over several desks & cussed me out in front of the whole class.

 

Her mother came into my classroom that afternoon, (illegal w/out an appointment, for which they threatened to arrest my husband one day), knocking over furniture, cussing me out, & then thankfully went to find the principal. I was in a building by myself, & I was sure that I was about to die. When the principal found out, though, she sided with the parent, saying that parents just want to know what's going on, & that the parent was simply comfortable w/ her (the principal) & the school.

 

So the parent claimed racism against me & demanded that the school open up an investigation. I had to go to a series of meetings, was told to get a lawyer, etc. It didn't last long, though, because when they asked my other students what happened, it was actually worse than I'd described.

 

 

 

We were on teams. I'd started out doing my own thing, but when we got to a certain point in the year, one of the other teachers began running copies for all of us to use. We were "required" to meet & coordinate our plans--this was leading up to the TAKS test.

 

As far as how they required the meetings, I don't know. How does any job require meetings? They tell you where to be when, & you go. *shrug*

 

The school district had an approved list of lit for us to teach from. The teachers who'd been there longer than me had curric they'd been using for years to teach those books. After they'd copied it, why on earth would I refuse to use it? I didn't know anything about a license.

 

And later, when it was my turn to run copies for everybody...why would I have said no?

 

But after the threat of a law suit, when we were told to continue using the curric, you bet I refused. Hence my long hours, planning & prepping something entirely different. Hence the real problem w/ no planning period & so many papers to grade & the required tutoring.

 

My dept chair came down & chewed me out. She'd yell at me for the layout of my classroom, for my lesson plans, for not participating in tutoring ANOTHER TEACHER'S CLASS.

 

She did not beat me up. But at the end of the year when I resigned? She walked past me & announced to everybody in the room that they'd "found Aubrey's replacement."

 

Part of the problem was that I believed that once I'd proven myself a good teacher, they'd like me & be happy w/ me, & it would all be ok. My students had a pass rate on the TAKS test that was double other teachers' pass rates. It didn't matter. It wasn't about being a good teacher; it was about politics.

 

As bomb threats increased & students became more aggressive, I realized I was literally risking the safety of myself (& thereby my family) to a system that did not actually *want* the sacrifice. The parents, by & large, did *not* care about their kids' educations (in my district), but neither did the teachers or the administrators. I would have gladly kept fighting if *anybody* had been on my side other than the students. And really, it was startling to see that they were w/ me.

 

But by golly, when you convince a 17yo freshman who also deals drugs to give up his afternoon in order to learn to read because he believes you'll actually go to his granny's house & tell her in broken Spanish that he's disappointed his magistra by failing to turn in assignments,

 

and then a school administrator calls the kid on your classroom phone & cusses him out so loud everybody in the room can hear it

 

and then realizes she's gotten the WRONG JOSE, it kills you.

 

Jose did offer me a job in sales & distribution, though. ;)

 

The system is really, really broken. I was one of the teachers who refused to fight it by filling holes in myself, buying supplies for kids, paying for my own copies, etc. And for that, I lost the respect of those who should have been my comrades.

 

I cannot go so far as to say that I do not feel sympathy for the teachers who do lay themselves down like this, even though I see them contributing to something that is hurting them. I think such self-sacrifice has to be respected or at least pitied, even if I believe that it is sometimes misapplied.

 

I think we as a human race are given a certain number of people who have incredible compassion. To see them giving their compassion in a futile way *does* deserve sympathy or pity or something, because it is not hurting just the teachers, but the race as a whole. We need those few who have compassion, & to allow their efforts to be wasted is tragic. To blame them for it is criminal.

 

I am not one of those compassionate people. I am able to harden my heart & walk away from those students. I have come to believe, however, that there are those who cannot, & that they will pour themselves out at whatever they choose to do, whether teaching or nursing or whatever else serves the poor and the weak. I believe that as we depend on them--to care for our old & our young & our sick, to keep us human with their compassion, they depend on leadership to make their efforts most valuable.

:hurray: x a bajillion!

 

My parents are two of those compassionate teachers who keep pouring themselves out year after year after year, because it's what they LOVE. As hard as it is, as demeaning as it sometimes is (usually from dealing with the "politics"), as head-against-the-wall frustrating as it is much of the time, they just LOVE those kids, and it's where they feel they can best make a difference in the world. They just keep hoping that each kid who passes through their classroom leaves with a brighter future than they would have had otherwise.

[freethinkermama]

I'm not a teacher basher, but I'm so sick of the complaining that I've been hearing over the past year. My niece posted this on facebook

 

Years ago I taught in a public institute and don't remember this degree of whining. It was understood that part of the job was correcting work in the evenings. My husband works in the evenings when he comes home. I think many people do, it's not specific to teachers. I didn't respond, would you have? I'm I out of line here?

 

 

 

I didn't see this as a rant. I'm terribly greatful to the wonderful teachers I had. Teaching isn't a fun, wonderful job. Maybe that has something to do with the 50% turnover rate within 2 years.

 

Yay for public school teachers! Thanks, Ms. Robinson, Mr. Cesar, Mrs. Parr! And to all of the rest of those people who helped set me on my way!

 

T.