Interesting information for your perusal...

[Slowhand]

There's more disinformation in here than in a Presidential debate.

[CJ]

CJ, I usually don't disagree with things you say, but you are very wrong. Subbing is completely different than running a classroom. It's not just having an average IQ. It's about being able to connect with the students, find what motivates them and enhance it and to be able to make, even the most boring of subjects, interesting and meaningful.

Are there crappy teachers who are just in it for the paycheck and the breaks? Absofuckinglutely. Is the system flawed in the way it evaluates and keeps teachers? Absofuckinglutely. Is the corporate world sometimes just as screwed up? Sure. You can't make a broad statement like that. Not everyone can teach and it IS a specialized skill. I find it funny (and insulting) when people say things like that. I've worked very hard and had a lot of training to do what I do. I do take it personally as it is not just a job, it's my life.



I've pretty much had a pay cut every year for the last 3 years. I'm making less now than I was then due to increases in insurance, dues, budget not covering materials, supplies, etc that I have to buy out of pocket, so yes, if need be.

I'm not here to insult your profession, but I won't be convinced it's worth the salaries that teachers keep demanding. I find it highly insulting when they ask for absurd amounts of money to teach, and go on strike when they claim the kids are the reason they do it. I don't appreciate teachers unions and their tactics. I maintain 40-55k is completely reasonable for the work involved, and I feel that the position is quite privileged with it's discretion. Certainly you can make the case that subbing and teaching are different, I didn't plan on making the case that they were one in the same. But creating a lesson plan, working with children, and most importantly educating them is a skill that is taught in a single test/certification. Sure there is time working in the classroom and developing those skills, but a profession that requires a test and coursework which can be completed in months is not worthy of 80k+ salaries and the constant complaints I see in the news. I maintain that most any graduate can pick up a teaching certification (and many do) and use it as a fall back career (I have many friends that have done that). Good teachers are considerably more difficult to find, but in my personal experience some of the best teachers I've ever found are the ones that did it in retirement, after they had a separate career of their own. I find many career educators to carry an agenda that not only do I disagree with, but I find it's often counter-productive to the future of our children.

Also, I'd like to make mention that I intentionally entered into this conversation in an attempt to take a side most people avoid. I think it's an important conversation which deserves attention. My wife has a teaching certification and is wanting to begin teaching science. She's been looking for quite some time but there's no positions. I myself have toyed with the idea of teaching as well, I do enjoy teaching, but the truth is I am literally absent of patience all together. But as a tax payer I find quite a bit of fault with the politics and the school system in general. I'm more familiar with it than most and it's a very interesting topic I like to discuss.

As for income, I'm making about 10k less than I did several years ago at my primary job. I haven't had an adjusted raise in years. I'm not bitching - but the people that pay my salary are my customers, and my company. The people that pay teachers salaries are me and my coworkers. If I make less money, you make less money - it's public sector. But I don't protest about it, I get out there and bust my ass to make the money I am comfortable with - second jobs, side work, whatever it takes. The economy sucks right now- and the last damn thing anyone in the private sector wants to see is government employees that we are paying for bitching about their benefits and they salaries when most of them not only make more than us, but have a secured pension none of us will ever see ourselves. It is absolutely infuriating.

[Chili]

She was arguing about your statements seeming to indicate any Jo blow off the street could adequately perform in a classroom. Many would be surprised how tough it can be. You seem to be centering around the money, which was never her point.

[4eyedwillie]

There is no way I could be a teacher now. The kids are absolutely hopeless. The little asshat in leahs story isn't the exception he's the norm. Kids now days know nothing is going to happen to them if they screw off and they're to stupid to think about the future. BUT it's always the teachers or the parents fault no little Johnny asshat.

[sc281]

She was arguing about your statements seeming to indicate any Jo blow off the street could adequately perform in a classroom. Many would be surprised how tough it can be. You seem to be centering around the money, which was never her point.

I see. So the strikes for better pay are for the kids, then. Makes perfect sense.

[Cooter]

I see. So the strikes for better pay are for the kids, then. Makes perfect sense.

TX educators are striking?

[Ruffdaddy]

I think the students play a larger role in whether they pass or fail than the actual teachers. Just like teachers that always complain about standardized tests, and the kids who put in no effort...there are the kids who put in their own extra effort making the teacher look good.

Look at college for example, you are required to teach yourself much more than a professor will teach you.

[mikec]

There is no way I could be a teacher now. The kids are absolutely hopeless. The little asshat in leahs story isn't the exception he's the norm. Kids now days know nothing is going to happen to them if they screw off and they're to stupid to think about the future. BUT it's always the teachers or the parents fault no little Johnny asshat.

This is the absolute truth. Fact is that it is impossible to get them to do the work if they choose to not do so. Many times the parents could care less. I've heard about it for years. Also school administration focuses on percentages of groups of kids to determine where their focus is for "x calendar year", with some departments being completely ignored until their percentages change and make them the focus for that years TAKS tests.

To no one in particular: Some of you people are pretty smart in your area, and completely ignorant in this one, though it's always nice to see your mastery of that which you know nothing...

I see. So the strikes for better pay are for the kids, then. Makes perfect sense.

My wife has taught for 12 years and I've never heard about even one strike. Not one.


As for hours she works? She is there five days a week, from 7:30 to 5, sometimes having to work on lesson plans and the like on the weekends. Where does that put her on the "full time hours worked" list?

[slow99]

As for hours she works? She is there five days a week, from 7:30 to 5, sometimes having to work on lesson plans and the like on the weekends. Where does that put her on the "full time hours worked" list?

Sounds awfully close to 2000 - 2100 a year ... Right in that meaty part of the curve. Not showing off, not falling behind ...

[Ruffdaddy]

Sounds awfully close to 2000 - 2100 a year ... Right in that meaty part of the curve. Not showing off, not falling behind ...

Just perfectly average...

[stevo]

TX educators are striking?

My wife has taught for 12 years and I've never heard about even one strike. Not one.

It was pointed out to me early in this thread that we are not discussing teachers just here in Texas.

Tacoma, Washington Teachers On Strike After Failed Negotiations

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_959867.html

Stevo

[mikec]

Sounds awfully close to 2000 - 2100 a year ... Right in that meaty part of the curve. Not showing off, not falling behind ...

Just perfectly average...

Not so much. Almost sounds like she works more in nine months than others do in 12...

[CJ]

She was arguing about your statements seeming to indicate any Jo blow off the street could adequately perform in a classroom. Many would be surprised how tough it can be. You seem to be centering around the money, which was never her point.

Well then why did she highlight the only portion of the article which follows hours worked and non-compensation? It seems pretty clear the point of that highlighted section is to follow how teachers are not paid for a large portion of their work.

[Leah]

I pointed it out to show we arent just working 8-3 with all our holidays and such for all you people who think its a blow off job. It has nothing to do with pay. I'm quite content with my pay thank you.

[CJ]

I pointed it out to show we arent just working 8-3 with all our holidays and such for all you people who think its a blow off job. It has nothing to do with pay. I'm quite content with my pay thank you.

So your original post was a reply to a post in another thread? As someone coming into a new thread it seemed pretty clear to me what the topic was about. If it's regarding another thread I clearly didn't read the previous one so you can see how that could be misinterpreted.