Things I did as a teacher that were not in my job description.

[madfloridian]

During summer vacation I bought a new broom and a new mop. I bought cleaning supplies in spray bottles to make clean-ups easier. I kept extra rolls of paper towels. I bought chamois cloths to make board cleaning easier.

I got estimates from a local printing company on my weekly run-offs for each child. Use of the office equipment was limited to school secretaries and teacher aides specially trained to use the copiers. They did not like teachers using the expensive machines. I never did figure out why.

We were smart enough to teach the children, but not bright enough to use the copiers.

So I paid for the worksheets I needed done because half the time the aide got tied up elsewhere, and the secretaries did not have time.

Our custodians were often absent. The students and I would pitch in and sweep, clean the sinks with spray cleaner disinfectant, dust the counters. A few times when we had a rest room in the room I would have to clean that, too. I would not feel right asking the children. They loved the cleaning, but it took time from class....not good.

I bought bulletin board displays from teacher supply stores. Lower grade teachers had to have shiny happy rooms with pictures of animals, flowers, or displays of what we were studying. I had 6 bulletin boards....not my choice. But my job to fill them.

One principal called me in right after I was moved into a portable because of overcrowding....he said my room looked too bare. I had to actually defend the fact that my class had only been there two days, just moving in.

That's just how things were. High school teachers do not have to worry about bulletin boards and making rooms pretty. It was fun, but it was hard work.

Some of the students who walked to school liked to stay later and help me get the room in order. Since most teachers stayed late anyway, that was very helpful. It made their parents happy to have the extra quiet time.

I think the children learned valuable lessons about responsibility for their surroundings by cleaning and helping, but it did take from my class time and planning time.

Then there was bus duty. That's what they called it when we had to supervise the kids before and after school as the buses brought them and took them home. It was done a week at a time on a rotating basis. If a child got on the wrong bus, or wandered off with a friend...we stayed until they were found. It was our job, and they were our responsibility.

We also had lunchroom duty. What fun that was. There were always visiting parents for lunch. If we tried to get students to comply with the rules, some parents would report us for being too strict. If we let them get away with too much, some would get upset with that. Lunchroom duty was the worst.

The last few years I taught, the county offices decided that principals offices were to be authoritarian, not disciplinarian in nature. That made life easy for them, but we had nowhere to turn for the real discipline problems. I had one boy who did not qualify for a special class (don't ask me why), but he had serious problems. He would start kicking the walls and banging his head against the blackboard until it was a dangerous situation. If I tried to intervene, he would kick me as well.

Luckily the assistant principal and I had an understanding. He would come to the class and take him down to his office to calm down. He got kicked also. The parents were at their wits end, and gave permission for us to do this. We never knew what triggered his outbursts. Calm one minute, violent the next. No help in sight. At the end of the year his parents gave me a hug and a small gift. They did care but they were victims of the system as well.

We did do some teaching in between all the realities of life in a community that harbored drug dealers. We did good teaching, and there was a lot of good learning that went on.

We had a guidance counselor who had all the materials of James Dobson lined up in her office. When I discovered she shared those materials with the parents of the children she was counseling...I just handled things myself. I wondered often if the county approved those materials. In this area they probably did.

Did I tell you about the head lice? Once our principal decided head lice were annoying the office staff and bothering him, so he decreed there would be no more. We had one of the worst outbreaks ever about that time. We spread them out across the room and tried to be casual. Parents came to me asking what to do about the situation. I said go over my head to the county. They did, and the supervisor took care of it at once.

Once I was told by the principal that a mother called and said her son was being bullied during PE time. I told him that the coach and I had discussed it...that her son WAS the bully. He terrorized the other kids. The coach and I had a conference with the mother before she called the principal. We were both told to fix it, and not make the mother angry. An impossible task among many other impossible tasks.

There were great successes along the way. I saw students with severe learning disabilities get the help they needed to be productive citizens. Some with IQs in the 170s who simply could not read but were math geniuses. I know some went to college, I don't know about the others.

I would like for Arne Duncan to come to classrooms like those I saw and worked in and tell those teachers they are inept and failing. That we need merit pay. That the students we loved and taught were to be tested to show if we were good teachers or not. They would have worked their hearts out to please, but reality would set in. Some could not do the tests that were made for one size to fit all.

God did not make children that way. He did not intend for them to be treated like that, like robots.

I know it really does no good to keep posting about the coming destruction of public schools. But it needs to be done.

I never set foot back into a classroom after I retired. I talk to many teachers who are not yet retired. They will not go back either.

[Hekate]

1. I know. Thank you for a lifetime of service to the next generation...

All too many in public office have NO idea. what the reality is.



Hekate

5th Rec--off to the Greatest with you

[madfloridian]

2. This impressive post by YvonneCa contains posts by other teachers who care.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

It is a read that is important to people who need to see the heart of teachers who care and do a good job.

[YvonneCa]

119. Thank you, madfloridian, for...

...sharing this.

[madfloridian]

126. Here's a better link. That one leads nowhere. It was a good post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. This drives me friggin' apeshit.:

>>>>Use of the office equipment was limited to school secretaries and teacher aides specially trained to use the copiers. They did not like teachers using the expensive machines. I never did figure out why. >>>>

They won't buy workbooks... then when we ask to use the copy machine to make worksheets, the principal starts talking about copyright infringement. Oh... and also kids should be doing hands-on activities, not pencil and paper tasks.

Of course the real reason is that they want the machines available for the paper-pushers in the bureaucracy. The "data" collectors... if you will.

Two more years. I'm gone.

[madeline_con]

110. school secretaries and teacher aides specially trained to use the copiers

That's just weird. I have to use my supervising teachers' copy code to run off copies. Aides don't get email, computer access, or copy privileges.

The principal should have known better about the copyrights on worksheets.

[WinkyDink]

164. Yes, because "paper and pencil tasks" only advanced civilization for a couple thousand years.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I spent $60 yesterday on things I need in my classroom that the district won't buy

I spent about that much in September as well.

Last week, I was zapped in the eye with a laser pen. The pain was just incredible. I went to the workman's comp doctor who declared me suitable to return to work immediately. Then I went to my own eye doctor (and paid him out of my own pocket). He saw damage which he doesn't think is permanent and he prescribed eye drops. I had to pay for them myself too. Security refused to file a report because the workman's comp doctor said I was okay.

This week I was almost hit with a chair thrown in a fight by an 8th grade girl. She was allowed to return to class after she calmed down.

I can't imagine a more thankless job than teaching.

Oh and the reason they won't let us use the copiers is because worksheets are evil. We are supposed to spend all day teaching and not engaging the kids in mindless busy work. Surely you know that.

[madfloridian]

7. Worksheets evil, boardwork evil.....doesn't leave much.

We were doing Core Knowledge until the last year before I retired. I designed and copied sensible worksheets for my kids. I did vocabulary words as crossword puzzles...and they loved it. I did find a word sheets with their spelling words, and it was very successful.

When administrators and up leave the classroom they are too vulnerable to all the odd new teaching methods.

Then they would impose them on us.

[trof]

28. School underfunding a vicious circle in my county.

Lower real estate values and a raft of foreclosures means much less tax revenue for county.
Miz t. and I work one morning a week with kindergartners helping teach letters, numbers, etc., one-on-one.

I asked the teacher what supplies she needed.
Antibacterial wipes and glue sticks.
I picked up about $20 worth at the Dollar Store.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Bless you

Glue sticks are the only way to go with kindergarteners. Unfortunately they don't last long.

[raccoon]

39. Kudos to you and other teachers who carry on in the classrooms!

ITA, that is a thankless job.

I'm sorry those things happened to you.

[mitchum]

49. I spent $24 yesterday on classroom supplies and teaching materials...

every weekend I spend between $20 and $30 for those purposes.
Oh...but we goldbrickers get the summers off!

[mrmpa]

207. I won't spend my own money

I have a Master's, 4 years High School teaching experience. I refuse to spend my own money for supplies. I don't even supply tissue. If students want pencils/pens, notebooks, etc. I tell them to ask their family for the supplies. They somehow come to my class next time with their needs met by their parents. My first year, I gave the lecture about how supplies can be bought scheaply at Staples, K-Mart, etc. The siblings of my first year of teaching students, got the message and come supplied. My principal came around and said he wanted specific things on the bulletin board, I asked him for the money to do it, he was aghast. Needless to say, my bulletin board did not meet his requirements.

I have had jobs other than teaching, none of those employers mandated that I pay for supplies I needed to do my job. Why is teaching any different? Unions need to mandate that schools supply teachers with what they need, paper, pens, copies, bulletin board and room supplies and cleaning supplies.

[pundaint]

144. It's time parents had to tend their own behavior challenged children...

Teachers are given too few tools and too little support in dealing with disruptive class members. The Corporate Kleptocracy has successfully extracted the labor of a second parent from the American Family for essentially the same salary, and the unmet parenting gap has been pushed onto the schools.

Let's try something else. Segregate the troublemakers from the learners. Try some new educational theories on the disrupters until a better approach is found. It's time to feature the rights of teachers to teach and learners to learn, the troublemakers have had three plus decades of consideration to no good effect.

Set the marginal tax rate at 75% for income in excess of ten times the average teacher salary. Set the maximum legislative salary at twice the average teacher salary.

[WestSeattle2]

186. May I ask why you stay in the profession?

[tonysam]

5. If I knew when I went to graduate school to get my first licensure

in education what I know now, I would NEVER have gone into that field.

I would have saved myself endless grief. It was never the kids but the rotten politics and utter corruption I experienced.

[Smarmie Doofus]

34. Been there; done that. It's hard to communicate this reality...

... to people who don't understand public school culture.... except for what they remember from HS days.

And even *THAT's* not enough. The reality of the adults in the system is a lot more complex than the reality of the "Breakfast Club"ers.

Not that Molly Ringwald et al had it all that easy either.

[tonysam]

48. People on the outside cannot begin to FATHOM

how absolutely distorted, twisted, and demented public school culture is.

There is NOTHING else in the entire labor market, whether public or private, profit or non-profit, that compares with the public school system culture in the utter filth that goes on.

What is called "public school law" is really LAWLESSNESS that would get outsiders thrown in prison if they do what administrators and their attorneys regularly do in hearings and even in regular courtrooms. Lying is the rule. Teachers you thought were friends suddenly become pods and push the heavily scripted line. These role models you thought would have consciences do not have consciences at all. And it's all because of fear of what would happen to their careers if they don't play "ball." Districts easily coerce employees with the threat of termination and hence blackballing throughout the entire public school system. Teachers who are fired never work in their chosen field again.

Of course Arne and his ilk, who have no conception of the public school culture, aren't interest in true reform.

Here is what I believe needs to be done in public schools, just for starters:

1. ALL hiring must be done in the same manner as the civil service system. All applicants would be required to take tests (and in the case of teachers and administrators, their licensure test scores could be used), and these scores, ALONG with experience, would be used to create an eligibility list just like the federal civil service. A statewide database could be used, and applicants could select the location where they want to work. The highest-scoring people would be selected for interview by a panel. Right now nepotism is the rule in public schools. Nepotism is nothing more than a form of corruption. There would NO justification whatsoever to see a mother and her two daughters working in the same building as teachers. That's what happened at the last school I worked. In my scheme, relatives would not be allowed to work at the same school, and in smaller districts, not even for the same district. Superintendent and school board relatives would NOT be allowed to work in the same districts where they work regardless of the size of the districts.

2. ALL termination and disciplinary meetings MUST be open to the public and to the media. NO secret tribunals. The taxpayers are financing these hearings, which can run up to $100,000 or more a pop, and they have the right to know what their administrators are doing to teachers. Very few teachers are fired for true misconduct or "incompetence"; terminations are often simply political tools or "business" decisions to save money. Most "charges" against teachers are trumped-up charges. Principals would think twice about pulling the garbage they pull if they knew their actions would be scrutinized by the public and the media.

3. "Tenure" should be automatic from day one for all new teachers. None of this revolving door nonsense NYC and other districts are pulling on newer teachers who are sacked in their third year. It takes many years for teachers to become masters at their craft; unfortunately, the trend now is to simply get rid of teachers administrators don't want around. However, firing is serious business, especially in education where children have the RIGHT to a stable learning environment, and teachers are RUINED when there is a termination or non-renewal. This cannot be allowed to continue. Employment at will is unacceptable in education because of the nature of the enterprise.

4. Because they are legal proceedings, termination hearings CANNOT be held on district property. The same rules applying in standard courtroom trials need to be applied in hearings. Subornation of perjury, destruction of evidence, perjury, forgery, and bribery of witnesses in hearings would be subject to criminal prosecution. None of this "rubber stamp" nonsense would be allowed; teachers who face termination MUST have the right to true "due process," which includes the full right to appeal decisions made against them by hearing officers. No denying of witnesses for teachers by union lawyers would be allowed.


That's just for starters.

[bobbolink]

74. Don't misunderestimate us.... those of us with a CONSCIENCE *do* know.

We really don't know where to begin, and I think teachers themselves must lead the effort for JUSTICE.

(Again, this isn't charity.... we don't need "drives" for school supplies.. we need JUSTICE for the children and their teachers!)

[tonysam]

80. You are so correct, but it's very, very difficult

when teachers are afraid to speak out.

[The Wielding Truth]

122. Not enough books for kids and no book for a first year teacher in a well respected school District

It's so the supervisor can save money and get two bonuses $15,000 AND $10,000 over the last year for saving that money. And the new teacher cannot complain because tenure is in balance.

It's so bad for everyone except the supervisor. It's a corrupt system here. When talking to another parent, the problem of not enough books, is prevalent in many classrooms in grammar, middle, and high school, and teachers buying the books themselves is happening.

This opened my eyes to the sad shape of this public school.Anyone out there have this in their school districts?

[wolfgangmo]

77. I don't miss it a bit.

I miss the kids and I still keep in touch with many of them (I have a facebook page and they seem to find me), but I don't miss the politics, the ball licking cronyism and the nepotism.

Public education, like health care in America is on a runaway train headed for a bridge with no tracks. If we don't do something like 10 years ago, then we are done like dinner.

[tonysam]

81. I loved, loved, loved the kids

and the parents for the most part were fine, but it is the filthy, filthy, filthy politics that goes on which is impossible to stomach.

It's only getting worse with all of the privatization mantra. Pretty soon the only people who will have careers (meaning more than 2 or 3 years) in this field will be nepotisms.

[dysfunctional press]

150. couple of points...

teachers should also be required to update their skills as needed, and it should be made easier to get rid of under-performing but tenured teachers.

just because someone has the proper degree(s)- it doesn't mean that they are or should be a teacher.

[tonysam]

168. No, it's already too easy to get rid of teachers

"Underperforming" is business lingo; schools are NOT businesses and they cannot be run as such. Being a teacher is not the same as being a worker in a factory or in an office.

You have no concept of what "tenure" is; it means any teacher who has it has the right to a kangaroo hearing which is rigged in the district's favor--almost always. The teacher has to go to court to fight it, a process that takes as long as ten years.

READ my posts about what I went through--then you'll have an idea of what really goes on in public schools.

It is virtually impossible to fire administrators, unless they are caught in bed with students.

[maddiemom]

161. Nepotism and other teacher trials

As a retired secondary English teacher and reading specialist,I found the
comments here concerning problems encountered in teaching could, in so many instances, have been written from my own experience. I chose to jump in here because nepotism in hiring was a particular problem when I chose to return after some years off. I left a tenured position to move out-of state and start a family with my then husband.
When, after some years, I tried to return to full time teaching, the market for teachers in my area was flooded with new graduates and others like myself, wanting to return when our own children were in school. If anything, my previous experience and post graduate education: Master's plus 30 additional graduate credits ( a couple of courses and a dissertation short of a Doctorate) put me too high on the salary scale. No one was interested in copies of my previous "excellent" evaluations, wanting only my transcripts starting with undergraduate school from a past where uniformly straight A grades were not easily come by ( a whole other story).
Returning as a sub, I was astounded by the number of relatives and friends of administration and school board members who were working and being hired despite the stiff competition for jobs. Even long term substitute jobs, which pay the same regardless of experience, seemed always to be filled by the applicants with familiar names. It got to the point where there was controversy in the local newspaper, mostly by disgruntled applicants, about this blatant situation. The only result seemed to be that it became nearly impossible to even get an interview or have an application acknowledged.
I always had plenty of substitute work, especially after I narrowed it down to two districts (and finally one), where I was always available, even out of my fields, and frequently requested by the teachers. The comparatively low per -diem and no benefits did not make for a comfortable living, however, so I had to supplement with retail jobs. More than a dozen years of this and I was such a familiar face and presence that I was accepted by the students as if I were a "regular teacher" with no discipline problems other than from students who gave everyone problems. Almost all the teachers in my fields,or others where I had a good grasp of the material, trusted me to actually teach, which was a blessing. Subs are frequently asked to grade tests from a key, but I was also often asked to score the mechanics on essays, and to provide preliminary evaluations of the material. Flattering as this was to me professionally, it was taking advantage and no substitute for fair pay and benefits. I usually did so only because it kept me sharp and made me feel like a teacher, rather than a babysitter.

[tonysam]

172. Welcome, to DU, maddiemom

Nepotism is a horrible problem in public education, and it is getting worse. More than a few administrators will fire tenured teachers on bogus charges--just to make room for a nepotism hire.

I was a great sub--if I may say so. I would substitute teach again, but in another state. However, I am reluctant to do so as long as I have to shell out a couple of hundred dollars and have to explain why I was canned illegally from my contracted job.

I think more teachers need to speak the truth, but it is difficult when it is so easy for administrators to retaliate, knowing the deck is so stacked against teachers.

One should take a look at some NYC teacher blogs such as the NYC Rubber Room Reporter and Chaz's School Daze to find out what is going on there is or will be going on all over the country to teachers. Teachers.net is also good--especially the board about NY teachers. I contribute there quite a bit there under the handle of "anon," although I am from Nevada.

[Smarmie Doofus]

180. Ed Notes .com is good also , as well as.....

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com /

ICE and Norm's Notes both of which you can link from ednotes.

[southerncrone]

192. Same here, tonysam.

I thought I could make a difference in the lives of today's kids. But have found out that my central office is coming between me & my students.

However, in my case, it is also the kids who are becoming dangerous. Our discipline policies are a joke & are constantly "revised" depending on "whose the daddy" of the kid in question. I no longer feel safe in my school. Too many veiled threats in the past 2 yrs.

I will be eligible for early retirement in Dec 2010 & can't wait for the day! I am depressed daily by what I see. The last 2 yrs w/new superintendent have be murderous. A real dullard good ole' boy. Constant shooting from the hip & making decisions that fly in the face of all proven educational norms. Of course, we teachers are tasked with making all his hair-brained ideas "work", all the while making "star students" out of our kids. It's a crazy environment that has ALL parties on the edge. I fear we will make the national news soon because someone will react in a bad way.

Like you, this is my second career. Wish now I'd gotten my MBA instead of ED degree. This summer my sister left her job as a mall manager after the mall was bought out by another company. She said she was thinking about going back to school to be a math teacher. I immediately said NO!. I hope she listened. Her son is 13 & she wants to spend more time w/him, as he plays 3 sports, besides school. In trying to explain how bad things are, she just couldn't believe it was THAT bad. I asked her son to verify what I was saying & he concurred I was correct.

I had hopes that my situation was uniquely bad, and perhaps another state might be better; but after reading these comments, I can see there is no clear way to continue anywhere.
I will put this very depressing experience behind me & move into another sector to continue earning a living. I look forward to not being "caged" anymore, too. Another aspect that goes unnoticed. My bladder will be relieved when I retire. Pun intended!

[tonysam]

199. I somehow managed to get my five years of vesting in, thanks

to having had Nevada PERS through a nonteaching job. But of course that was the true reason I was shitcanned; the H.R. assistant superintendent wanted my retirement, my future salary, and my health insurance benefits, all totaling upwards of a million dollars had I stayed until I was 65--not about the $2,000 in sick leave or the admonition from my previous principal. Those were cover stories for the illegality of my termination. I, too, went through a second career change and got my M.Ed. degree. But despite spending years and years working with students in all age categories, substitute teaching, working for the same district on a temporary contract, and working at a private school, I was totally unprepared to just how horrid the public school culture is.

Lying, deceit, and lawless is the rule, unfortunately.

[AllentownJake]

6. You are one of the best activist on here

and one of the most eloquent writers.

K&R

[Joe Fields]

8. You are truly a remarkable person.

I say remarkable, because if all teachers did what you do, or did, then that would make you average, in short, nothing really special. The truth is that few teachers in just about any school go to those lengths for their kids and the school.

I would be willing to bet that, for every madfloridian out there, there are four or five slackers. My sister was just like you. She taught English and French for twenty years, in both public and parochial schools. We have had many discussions on education, and she confirmed that there are way too many teachers that take the easy road to a paycheck.

I am not blind to the evils of the system in place for public schools in this country, and I wish to God there were teachers like yourself in every classroom in the land, but there is one thing I've noticed on this board that everyone in the teaching profession who uses this board refuses to even consider, and that is that a reasonable percentage of blame must be placed squarely on the shoulders of teachers.

This system was screwed up long before NCLB.

[tonysam]

9. People who blame teachers have absolutely

no idea how bad the job is anymore. Just because some teachers put in hours and hours doesn't mean teachers who put in less time are "slackers." There are a lot of variables at work in the job including how many students one has, whether they are special education teachers, etc.

In fact, typically as a teacher you put in hours and hours of free time--teachers aren't compensated when they take their work home and have to do it. They aren't compensated when they have to attend IEP meetings before or after school, and those can take an hour or more apiece. And on and on it goes. But now the job gotten so much worse because of privatization tendencies. Schools are no longer about children; they are about preserving the perks, power, and privilege of those in administration.

Whenever possible I took my work home if I needed to. I learned to budget my time as well. I wasn't going to be a slave to the school.

[Joe Fields]

113. You win. All teachers are perfect.

They all can walk on water. Everyone else is to blame.

Thank you, wise people for setting me straight.

Why could I not see it before?

Oh, maybe it's because we rank 14th in the world in education, while we throw more money at the system than anyone in the world.


If you want a rational argument, backed by statistics, then we shall continue. If you just want to hurl insults, like good teachers are apt to do then you only cement what I have long suspected anyway.

I dare you to prove me wrong.

[Patchuli]

127. The money you think you "throw"

at the system mostly ends up in the paychecks and bonuses of superintendants. But then you would know that, being so well-versed in the education world.

[Joe Fields]

128. kids used to learn in one room schools.

So don't give me that B.S.

Good teachers can teach under any conditions, and if they are really good, can motivate children to learn in any environment.

Duh. Naturally administrators are going to make more money than teachers. If you wish to debate me on the facts, I'll prove to you what I know. Otherwise, as I said earlier to someone else, you will only cement what I already suspect about rank apologists, like you.

[Patchuli]

190. I wasn't being sarcastic

I meant what I said about you should know how the food chain in education goes. If it's different in your area, then maybe I'm working in the wrong place. I'll speak just for me and my district. Bonuses and raises in pay are continuing to be given to upper level management although they are asking teachers and support staff to take an 8% cut and furloughs. I know this for fact. We have FOUR supers making at least $170K or $180K each. They get bonuses at a time when California is dying. We haven't enough custodians to keep the schools even clean enough but bosses get their bonuses.

I know lots of good teachers that put up with lots of crap from the bosses, parents and kids and I know their students excel still. People move to our district because of its educational reputation.

So I'm going to ignore the snark and since I don't really want a debate, I'll leave it at that.

[keroro gunsou]

201. that's back then

when parents gave a flying fuck about their kid's education. we're devolving into a nation of semi-neanderthals thanks to the demonization and devaluing of smart people. are there bad teachers, yes. are there good teachers, yes. there is plenty of blame to go around for the mess we are in. blaming one side over the other cheapens the arguement being made. personally, i'd lay the blame out thusly: the culture of bubba, the parents, and then the teachers.

[dionysus]

153. he never implied that. you're insulting the guy for no reason whatsoever

[Joe Fields]

194. They are all implying it, and it severely reduces their credibility.

Most everyone here is too emotional to be objective about this topic. Objectivity has gone right out the window.

[Joe Fields]

121. I read downthread that you were fired.

Does that have anything to do with your bitterness?

I know, it was all a conspiracy. You really are a shining example of an educator.

[madfloridian]

10. I found most teachers in our area did the same things.

There is so much blame to go around, there really is. I put most of it at the higher levels than teachers. Teachers must do as they are told, so the blame must go higher.

[tonysam]

11. They, meaning college professors, tell you when you are naive

and idealistic that you have all kinds of control in your job. Well, you don't. Teaching is NOT a profession, because a profession means you have discretion in how to do your work; it isn't true anymore.

School districts are run like the military. You HAVE to do what you are told, so you cannot be an independent thinker. If a principal asks you to violate federal special education law, you do it. If a principal asks you to change a grade, you do it. If a principal harasses you sexually, bend over. If you don't do these and a million other things, you will be retaliated against, written up, and ultimately fired. Once you are fired, you are forever banished from public education. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the principal will get off scot free. Principals have almost ironclad job security, unlike teachers and even superintendents.

You sue against the district, you have as much chance of prevailing as winning the Powerball jackpot. It is almost impossible to win.

That's why in a nutshell I was shitcanned. I refused to break the law, and from there on it was downhill.

[CoffeeCat]

112. Wow, I really appreciate your insight...

I'm a mom to two kids who are in (K-5) elementary school, and I've often wondered what in the hell is going on.

In short, the principal is an incredibly dysfunctional person who runs the place like a prison. He's a total
ass. He stands outside at pick-up and yells at the kids. If my kids aren't AT my car, when I pull up--he's
all over them. He lords over the kids at lunch--demanding that they eat everything on their plate and forces
them to stay until everything is gone--often the kids miss recess. He also got on the loud speaker and told
the entire student body that the police had been in the school--and unless someone confessed to damaging one
of the bulletin boards--someone would go to jail.

He stands in the hallway sneering--acting like he's a big threatening force. My kids have told me that he
has yelled in first- and second-graders faces, making them cry and then showing more anger after they cry.

We have a Parent Advice Board that meets once every two weeks. He spend the meeting--gossiping about
parents who have messy cars and parents who are wearing pajamas when they drop their kids off at school.
The man is worse than Mrs. Kravitz from Bewitched.

He is also a rumored sexist. I heard one of the teachers quit because he made sexual comments to her. She
was an AMAZING first-grade teacher and she left. He only seems to hire gorgeous, young knock-outs.

I never really understood why this piece of scum is an elementary-school principal. I guess the corruption
you spell out is the reason. I've often wondered why teachers allow this man to behave this way. Everyone
from the guidance counselor to a few of the teachers have said that they don't "agree with some of his choices".

Yet, they do nothing and play along. I know they're just trying to do a good job and teach--and I can't even
image the amount of pressure they're under--from this principal, parents and the job itself.

I really don't know how to deal with this man. It's very depressing to have this kind of person as your
child's elementary-school principal. It doesn't have to be this way. It SHOUlDN'T be this way.

I'm sorry about what happened to you. You stood your ground and held yourself to a high standard. You should
be so proud of that. That's what I teach my children to do--and I hope they will as they grow older. I hope
you're able to find work teaching if you want to return. The world needs good people like you in the schools, and
I'm sure things will work out in your favor. Best to you...

[AtheistCrusader]

154. 'Run like the Military'

A soldier can refuse an illegal order. He or she better be damn right, and it'll be a rough ride, but it has been and is done from time to time.

I've seen a principal shitcanned for punching someone's timecard fraudulently, so I'm not sure I buy this 'untouchable' thing. I've seen a very good one die of cancer too, so as far as I can tell, they are human like everyone else.

[Joe Fields]

12. I do agree with you, ma'am, to a great degree.

But it is completely taboo here to even whisper a hint that all teachers aren't perfect. And even though I do not know you, I can still appreciate your dedication. I can only imagine how bad the system would be without teachers like yourself.

[tonysam]

13. Who says they're perfect? I suppose you are one of those who

have swallowed the swill that it is impossible to get rid of "shitty" teachers because of "tenure."

All "tenure" means is you have the right to a kangaroo hearing which is almost always rigged in a school district's favor. You have as much chance of prevailing in these rigged, crooked hearings (where all kinds of criminal behavior are committed by administrators and school district lawyers) as you have winning the Powerball jackpot, the same as in winning in a regular court.

People have NO idea how stacked the deck is against teachers.

[Joe Fields]

35. Oh for fucks sake.

You must not read many of the threads on teachers here. Just one criticism, that's all it takes, and a landslide of abuse comes your way. Few people here look at the situation without letting their emotions, pride, get in the way.

And please put your own projected words in someone else's mouth.

[Name removed]

173. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madfloridian]

14. In a faculty of 42....I questioned the performance of only two.

And one was a first year teacher with great possibilities in a school that would challenge any teacher.

The other was not a good teacher, not a bad one...just not very good.

That's a pretty low percentage.

Now I could name you administrators and others in management who were totally incapable. They had been demoted upward.

[Joe Fields]

36. Gee, I wish I could have gone to schools where you taught.

You will NEVER get me to buy into your premise that 95% of ALL teachers do their best, and try to lay off all the ills on administrators. Administrators aren't the ones in the classroom with the kids all day. Ultimately, it is a teachers responsibility to teach, no matter the circumstances.

[Are_grits_groceries]

37. I have taught in 5 schools in different parts of the country.

I can give you chapter and verse about administrators and their bullshit. A lot of the time people who want to get OUT of the classroom take courses and move into the administration. They didn't like the classroom when they were in it, and that is a bias a lot of them carry.

I will never defend a poor teacher. However, I had a noseful of idiots who were IN CHARGE, and wouldn't listen to a damn thing from people who were teaching. They were legion.

I quit teaching and it had little to do with the kids. I got bone tired of dealing with the shit shoveled from above with little or no regard to the people it was shoveled on. I hit my limit, and that was a hard limit to hit.

[callous taoboy]

57. The same nitwit you are arguing with

was long ago put on my ignore list for being blatantly anti-teacher.

[blonndee]

79. What a coincidence...mine too!

Waste of time to argue with stubborn, irrational jackasses.

[callous taoboy]

174. Ignored isn't very bright. Watch:

it will post a reply which will come up as "ignored" for us.

[Joe Fields]

114. you should have kept this nitwit on ignore.

I will only irritate your sensitive nature.

[callous taoboy]

170. I'm sorry, I'm not able to see your post...

nitwit. Get a ticket on the clue bus.

[tonysam]

176. You know, education should be about children, REAL children,

not the immature people running the schools.

[raccoon]

40. You've never taught, I bet. nt

[roody]

92. 100% of the teachers at my school give their all every day.

[Joe Fields]

116. It evidently isn't good enough, based on Ukiah public school ratings.

Ukiah public schools score a very mediocre 5 out of a possible 10 rating, compared to public schools across the state.

Hmmmm....

Let's see, other school districts in your area fare no better.

Redwood Valley rates a failing 3

Hopland has a rating of 1

Potter Valley has a rating of 5

Booneville...6

Upper Lake 4

Lakeprort....6


Willits....5

Lucerne....5

Cloverdale 5

Kelseyville....6

Annapolis...4


I'm beginning to see a pattern here. And you have the temerity (look it up) to tell me that every teacher you know gives 100%?

My finely honed bullshit detector is working overtime on you and many others in this thread.

[roody]

131. Have you taken one of these tests?

Have you seen them? That is all that this data is: standardized test scores.

[Joe Fields]

197. You are not making a coherent argument.

If the tests are standardized across the state, and your schools in Ukiah rate a 5 on a scale of 1-10, then you are not teaching your kids well enough. If, as you say, all of the teachers in your school give 100%, then maybe THEY need to go back to school.

[roody]

200. You have no idea what schools or these standardized tests are like.

[tonysam]

60. The more administrators screw up, the better they do

Trust me on this one. My perjuring principal kept her job and did it on the back of my career.

I wasn't perfect, but she sure as hell wasn't. The district bent over backwards to defend her when she should have been kicked to the curb.

People don't understand how absolutely UNEQUAL the relationship between principal and teacher is. It's not like a business relationship with employer and employee; school administrators have IRONCLAD job security, and the courts back them up.

[tonysam]

61. Here's a response to a post of mine on Teachers.net

which demonstrates what teachers are up against. This isn't unique to Nevada:

Many law firms both in Carson City/Reno and Las Vegas will NEVER go
up against entities like WCSD and CCSD. The reason is simple: both
of these school districts have "deep pockets" and because they can
intimidate these law firms and have also the ability to coerce
their employees. Yes, they both will make sure their witnesses will
lie. If you think that teachers will stand up to the school
district, you are absolutely naive. Even if you win, both
districts will appeal, and they will continue to do that until you
are worn out. Remember it's not their money ---- it's the money
they get from the state. After you are worn out, and your law firm
sees the handwriting on the wall, they will drop you and your
case. Both of these school districts know this game, and as result
they continue to win.

I know of a case with a teacher in CCSD who was terminated. The
principal stated unequivocally on the stand that she "violated his
civil rights." He won the case, but CCSD is still appealing the
monetary award. That was 8 years ago. He's still waiting for
compensation. BTW - the principal the following year was named
Administrator of the Year. She also received the Milliken award
for $25K. There is no justice in this world.



The principal should have been shitcanned on the spot, but instead she becomes an "Administrator of the Year." My former principal will probably receive a similar award.

[midnight]

83. I believe that. What I don't understand is why the teachers union allows this?

[donco6]

97. What do they have to say about it?

They have no control whatsoever. Most of the time they don't even have a say in the hiring of a principal. Certainly not the firing or "kicking upstairs."

[tonysam]

115. That's because the relationship between the unions and administration

is not truly adversarial. If anything, teachers' unions are in cahoots with the school districts when it comes to teacher terminations. Their leaders will cut deals to make sure the principals' negligence is swept under the rug.

Case in point: I was defended in my first two hearings (the investigative hearing and the meeting with the superintendent) by my union's executive director. She was privy to the antics my principal committed at the investigative hearing. During the superintendent meeting, the H.R. head and the district's general counsel KNEW I hadn't faked my illness, and that my error on the FMLA form was a mistake and a mistake on the part of the physician's assistant. They also later found out my principal had not done anything with me regarding the doctrine of progressive discipline (I had been written up by a retaliatory principal at another school and I was supposed to be on some "improvement plan" which the other principal failed to implement) as mandated by Nevada law. If the principal had put a letter in my file, the district would have been on better legal ground, but she shitcanned me instead. Because the H.R. administrator (who spearheaded my termination without having any of the facts surrounding my case) and legal counsel knew of her negligence, they felt they were in too deep and had to rig the hearing process by committing legal sleights of hand--hell, criminal acts. One thing the guy in H.R. did is he "coincidentally" hired the union's executive director to a position working for him as a labor relations manager--she was a WITNESS for my side and would have refuted the PERJURY committed by my principal at the hearing. She was hired shortly after the meeting with the superintendent and officially started work for the district a little over a month before my kangaroo hearing. Where I come from, it is called bribing a witness. The union's lawyer was the one who told me she went to "bigger and better things." He saw NOTHING WRONG with the district's administrators committing what amounted to a bribe. Because of this "coincidental" conflict of interest, I could not have her as a witness; in fact, the union's attorney didn't allow me witnesses AT ALL.

But this stuff is routine. Unions, meaning their leaders, are NOT teachers' friends, even though teachers pay their hard-earned money in dues.

[madfloridian]

117. Your situation is not unique, but it is tragic.

I have seen others in the positions of crossing principals.

There was a great first year teacher at our school. We became good friends and often worked together. Our principal was an oaf, and he asked her to do some things that were suspect. Since she was a first year teacher, she was fired as she had no recourse.

She was later hired at another school and went on to become a superior teacher.

[tonysam]

143. What is bad in my case is I went into education as a second career

wanting to help students, but instead I was thrown out like a piece of garbage. Obviously I was "post-probationary" as "tenure" is called in Nevada.

Now I have to start all over in this horrible job market.

[Smarmie Doofus]

90. Mmmmm.

A former coworker recently won his ( dismissal) case after three *years* of legal haggling and "modified duty" ( not rubber room, but almost as bad). Principal and district brought the entire force of this school system AND the legal system to bear against this guy ( a whistleblower, essentially). Disclosing embarrassing personal details on the internet;all kinds of fascistic, despicable shit.

Then on the day of the hearing.... no one from the district took the stand. They tortured this guy for three years, he incurred huge private legal fees ( union was next to useless, as you've pointed out) and they didn't even have the guts to go under oath. ( His atty was ready to rock and roll if they did.)

Had a reasonably happy ending. He's a long-termer and losing the case would have entailed losing his pension. Happily, the educrats lost their nerve when push came to shove, and he's back in the classroom.

But he's always going to be looking over his shoulder.

[donco6]

95. REally? Here?

You are kidding right?

Half the posts in the education board denigrate public schools and teachers.

[Joe Fields]

124. yes, here in general discussion.

It's always "pile on" time for those of us who suggest that teachers share in the responsibility for kids overall lackluster performance.

Am I a teacher basher? No.

Do I vigorously defend my position? Absolutely.

It's insane for anyone to say, let alone for others to believe that the whole world conspires against teachers. I've known quite a few in my lifetime, and I can only think of a handful, over the course of 53 years that stood out as shining examples. I can only think of a handful of teachers that were disgraceful and should have become bathroom attendants. Most of the teachers I've dealt with were average in their effectiveness in the classroom.

Overworked and underpaid? No argument here.

Martyrs? hardly.

Let's face it. It's pretty much the same in every industry. There are a small percentage of go getters, dedicated to performing at their peak every single day. The rest are just there drawing paychecks. Whether it's the printing industry, food and beverage industry, auto industry, you name it. Teachers are no better, no worse.

[tonysam]

142. Education isn't the same as business. Sorry.

Kids have a right to a stable educational environment. It's apples and oranges to force business model bullshit on teachers. It should never, ever be easy to fire teachers because of the nature of the school environment, and, contrary to the lies out there about "tenure," it is laughably easy to get rid of them or deny them "tenure." Teachers don't have to do anything wrong to kids to get the sack. They are usually let go because of political or budgetary reasons. Administrators are confident teachers can't fight back because the legal system, from the kangaroo hearings up to the appellate court system, is in the district's pocket. Remember, they have taxpayer money to bury teachers in court. Few law firms will take teacher wrongful termination cases for that reason.

But having been a teacher and having worked in business, I know what I am talking about.

People think just because they have been taught in the public school system or have kids in it, they are experts. They aren't.

They have NO idea whatsoever how bad the politics in public ed is. Private industry is NOTHING compared to that, and it's because of the simple reason public schools have unlimited money courtesy of the taxpayers.

[callous taoboy]

171. Save your typing fingers.

[Joe Fields]

198. I reject your premise. Many teachers treat it as just a job.

Most don't, but a good percentage do, just like any other industry. I've seen it first hand. I don't live in a cave, but you seem to live in some kind of fantasyland.

[Smarmie Doofus]

20. "Four or five" of six are "slackers"?

>>> would be willing to bet that, for every madfloridian out there, there are four or five slackers.>>>>>

Yikes. Where did your sister work? ( i.e. What state or city?) Surely there are extenuating circumstances?


No wonder there's a "reform" movement. ( i.e. Not that I believe your sister, but that there are people who believe that 4 of 6 teachers are underworked and overpaid is a little mind-boggling.)

[erinlough]

89. You have it backwards

I won't say all teachers go to the level of madfloridian, but most do. I have 35 years of experience as a teacher and see the same selfless dedication in the new teachers as I have always seen throughout my career. However, being a school leader and a union president, I admit we had two teachers in a staff of 75 who were simply collecting their pay, and they are gone. It is not an easy job to just collect pay on, most move on when they get pressure (usually from their peers) to take care of their students. Maybe I just live in a perfect area, but I do not see four or five slackers even in a staff of 75. And now I have to rest, I just got home from going to a board meeting and a band concert after it to support some of my former students because that is also part of my job in my opinion.

[donco6]

98. Out of more than 300 teachers in my district -

I can think of maybe a dozen who shouldn't be here. And it's not always because they're bad, they just don't accept our models and practices.

So your figures are screwy.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

15. Jesus, I thought I had a shit job.

[old mark]

16. mf: my sister is a lifelong grade school teacher, first in PA, then in

South Carolina and now in Texas. She has always had to buy her room supplies with the small amount of money she was paid, always had to attent continuing ed classes, to work extra hours after class, etc. It's very sad that our teachers are mistreated and not honored in this society, and it is an indicator of the lack of interest in education-and really in our kids- by those in power. The final product of education in the US is doscile workers who won't cause trouble for the owners.

My sister loves teaching kids in the first and second grade, and has made them her life's work even at her own cost.

mark

[madfloridian]

45. I loved that age group also.

Taught them, and 4th and 6th grades also.

Teachers are not honored in our society. In fact they are dishonored.

[voc]

17. What you wrote is true.

You had the hardest job and one of the most important.
I see it everyday, teachers like you,who give their heart and soul to teaching others,
and those who collect a check.

Know there are people out here working to change this. Not an easy task given the agenda of some.
There are a few schools that actually educate, that do not teach to the test.That listen to the teacher/educator,have enough supplies, computers, etc. and compensate the teachers fairly.

Duncan, was instrumental in those schools coming into existence. It is not fast enough
but it is being done. How many children will fall through the cracks in the meantime?
Too many.

Thank you to all the teachers for caring enough to educate children against seemingly
insurmountable odds.

[pinto]

18. madfloridian, did you enjoy teaching?

I hear you about the artificial standards being placed on the profession, teachers and students, yet you seldom post about any joy in your time as a teacher. I'm sorry for that, as you seem so passionate about things. There must have been something along the way, no?

[madfloridian]

42. I don't know what to say to that.

If I had not loved being a teacher in spite of it all....then I would not bother to write about the present sorry state of education.

Arne Duncan would have you think teachers like me were/are falling down on the job.

If you don't think I loved and found joy in teaching, then I am not an effective writer at all.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

66. You ARE an effective writer, MadFloridian

I got your message loud and clear, and as a happily semi-retired teacher, I agree with every cotton picking thing you said. And then some.

It's a very fearful profession, and I've said it before, but will say it again:

Teachers are afraid of their administrators.
Administrators are afraid of their school boards.
School boards are afraid of their parents.
Parents are afraid of their children.

Gone are the days when if you got in trouble in school, you were also in trouble at home. The truly sorry behavior too many parents and administrators excuse literally put teachers in the firing line. I'm really sorry to have to admit that after 20 years of teaching mostly middle school kids in CA, at least half of every single class I had was incorrigible/disrespectful/disruptive. But, of course, that was MY fault. Imagine this: back around 1983 when I was subbing and 8 months pregnant, came into a classroom of 8th graders for homeroom. A girl in the front row raised her hand and asked, "Did you get pregnant by a dog?" That's only one of many, many more.

[madfloridian]

76. Very good post. Thanks. I love this part:

"Teachers are afraid of their administrators.

Administrators are afraid of their school boards.

School boards are afraid of their parents.

Parents are afraid of their children."

[harry_pothead]

19. Good read. I'm a credential student.

[newfie11]

21. My daughter is a teacher in SD

and I hear the same things from her. South Dakota I believe is at the bottom of the pay scale for teachers in America. Scary as this is the future of our country. Teachers in some areas are being let go due to the budget cuts.

[madfloridian]

58. If a country values education it must value its teachers.

It's a telling sign that ours does not honor teachers.

[Are_grits_groceries]

22. I know what madfloridian means.

And for those of you who don't know:
"Nationally, Scholastic Administrator reports, teachers spend an average of $475 on supplies, with elementary school teachers spending the most. Teachers can claim a $250 federal tax credit for purchasing materials for school, without needing to itemize their spending, yet for most that is barely half of what they spend on their classrooms."
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11633&...

First of all, I want poor teachers to be fired. However, I don't want them out through Kangaroo courts. Administrators are supposed to evaluate teachers and keep a folder about them. They need to let the teachers know what is wrong and right. Too many times the teachers are smacked without documentation. The admins don't bother to address the problems early.

Ed schools are mostly a joke. Theory is fine, but reality is a whole different animal. I thought I would go running out of my Master's classes screaming from boredom. I was given conditional certification because I taught science pending my picking up enough Ed.credits. I had already been in the classroom. I wrote an analysis of a book from the 'table of contents' and got an A.

The professors were decent and earnest people. However, they taught about a school in Brigadoon as far as I was concerned. "Who are these students of which you speak?"

The school I taught in was grades 7-9. It was a temporary situation that lasted 5 years. *snort* The 7&8 graders were going to be transferred to a middle school, and the 9th graders were going to the new high school. Because of this situation, there was always an undercurrent of uncertainty. That didn't help.

I replaced a teacher whose husband had been transferred. Luckily, I had been on the front lines before. My mother was a teacher, and when I was home from college I could earn some money substituting. Ah yes! The joys of substituting when the kids think it is a signal to run wild. I learned a trick that helped a lot.

I gave myself a crash course in memorization, and I could learn the students' names after calling the role once. If a student misbehaved and I said his/her name instead of sayin 'the person in the blue shirt', it stopped them cold. First of all, calling out someone by name exposes them. Secondly, they thought I had magical powers because I could do this. I didn't disabuse them of that notion.

The students in the school ran the gamut from every socioeconomic class and race. Major immigration wasn't a factor yet, so it was primarly Caucasian and African-American. It wasn't a melting pot. It was more like a pinball machine. The students and teachers bounced off each other with other people in and out. Sometimes the results were good. Sometimes the whole system was on Tilt.

Teaching was maddening enough. However, the changing theories on how to structure classes added to the uproar. One year, all levels of achievement were in the same classes. The next year, the students were separated along those lines. At one teachers' meeting, I suggested they draw straws. I was not met with huzzahs from the admins. Meh!

I would look up reading levels of students. I didn't write names down because I was trying to get a sense of where they were as a whole. Where some of them were was in a shitload of trouble. This was along socioeconomic lines because poor whites were no more likely to read any better.

These kids weren't stupid, and their parents did care for the most part. They were exposed to different things as they grew up. By the time they reached me, I was sort of using triage. This will probably outrage people. I didn't totally give up on any of them. One third was probably going to make it so I tried to give them work to push them in one way. One third was on the border. I had to push them forward, and find a way to fill the holes that needed to be filled in order for them to improve.

One third broke my heart. I never expected less of them in terms of work ethic. However, if I put the bar so high, they would learn to fail. If I put it too low, they would never learn to achieve. I tried to set the bar at reasonable goals they could achieve, but they had to work at it. I tried to push them forward to concrete levels that would help them. I tried never to allow them to be forgotten or to expect them not to try. I held them to as high a standard as I could in terms of academically, but I refused to accept a lower level of effort.

I did this under the guise of science. I was trying to raise their reading skills and the way they learned, and I hoped they picked up some science along the way.

I may be flamed for some of this. Feh! I tried with what I had. I don't know whether I helped or hurt them. I can see them to this day, and it has been over 30 years.

There was Glen. He was a big ol' country boy who never paid attention I thought. He could erupt at times, and we would have at it. I remember one test I gave, and I knew he was really trying. It might as well have been written in Urdu, but he was so intent I knew he was saying something. After class, I just talked to him about the material and asked him what he could teach me if I was his student.

Nobody was around, and he could tell I wasn't making fun of him. Glen rattled it off and taught me a lot. He taught me that he was a very smart kid who was listening but couldn't read or write worth a damn. He spelled "cactus" as "ceodar." I gave him oral tests, but I know he had given up overall. He just stopped coming to school one day. Who would blame him? Every now and then, I would hear a knock at my door and see his face in the window. I always went and talked to him for a while. Glen was a good kid who ended up who knows where.

Timothy is another ghost. He couldn't read either, and he flitted around the classroom like a butterfly. I tried to catch when I could, and make him try. Timothy could sing like an angel. When the theater group in town put on the play "Shenandoah," they got Timothy to play the part of the African-American kid. He had to memorize his lines straight up because he couldn't read. Timothy was great in the show. The people running the play weren't interested in helping him when it was over.

Dorothy is another memory. I would sometimes give the students words to unscramble and then write definitions as best they could. I scrambled the word 'ice' as much as one can scramble 3 letters. I thought it was a freebie. I watched Dorothy work as hard as humanly possible on the assignment. She couldn't figure out the word 'ice.' I realized these kids didn't get any freebies.

Then there was Beverly. Beverly, Beverly, Beverly.... She couldn't sit still to save her life. She probably had ADD, ADHD, or whatever the designation is. I would have literally had to tie her down to a chair. She didn't have a mean bone in her body. The students knew her well, and they weren't bothered by her. I never really figured out what to do for her. I wrote notices and gave them to the guidance counselor in hopes that some kind of extra help could be given.

*snort* Don't get me started on some guidance counselors and administrators!

I would catch Beverly when I could, and she would try at times. Then there were days when she would sit in the chair by my desk and regale me with the latest doings on some soap operas. I did not know what to do except to make her feel wanted, and give her whatever I could get my hands on that might interest her.

This is just a small part of my teaching experiences. Believe me I was no saint. I don't know how many kids I ruined. Wayne who threw sharpened pencils at the ceiling tiles so they would stick is one example. Gold medal caliber in that event.

*sigh* I tried, but it was never enough.

[CurtEastPoint]

30. AGG, you have a good heart. I taught as well.

It was kinda country club back then so no real issues to speak of. High school, also. But I know that that was the hardest four years of work experience in my life!

Kudos to you and we are all better off because of you.

You know that Glen, Beverly and the others still think about you, probably more often than you would know!

[Are_grits_groceries]

31. I just hope they found happiness somehow. nt

[madfloridian]

46. "the changing theories on how to structure classes added to the uproar" ah yes indeed

The philosophies of teaching changed so often, mainstream one year, not the next. If it worked, they changed it. The county would spend a fortune on printing up that year's theories of education, but not that much on what teachers needed.

Great post, grits.

[Heidi]

23. That's my mom's story, too, and I thank you for telling it for all good teachers.

My mom retired about 10 years ago under her state's "30 and out" plan. She absolutely loved teaching and made sure that her students experienced success, which often meant buying the supplies (as well as essentials like gloves, hats, coats, sometimes shoes for her students) herself.

[Le Taz Hot]

24. B-b-b-b-but, you get 3 months off a year!

And get off at 3:00! And make $100,000 a year! People really have NO clue as to what the average teacher does.

[jotsy]

25. My district thinks I'm hell on two feet!

While professional athletes make millions, I've never understood how we think it's okay to treat the nation's teachers, who have more impact on our future than any baseball player or golfer ever will, the way we do.

Nothing but gratitude and respect for folks who choose your profession, but the system they serve doesn't seem to be about our kids, or their development, as much as it does programming drones. People who understand the flaws, (people like you) need to keep reporting on how this classic process and right of passage has been tainted beyond recognition by fund raisers, political influence and the Nimby syndrome.

In this case, I owe you a personal thank you. My oldest started kindergarten in 1985, my youngest just started middle school. When I tell teachers I care more about who my kids are, and not so much what they can prove they know, this is not a popular position. My middle child graduated in 2008, and according to PSAT scores was in the top 12% of the nations sophomores, but barely graduated because, in my opinion, she was not programmable to a conservative mindset. The principals at these schools have tried to convince me repeatedly the issues I have with the way they see the job done are unreasonable and unrealistic. I'm sure I'm known as something of a hot headed whack a doodle. There's comfort for me in your words, to know that one of their own sees the bureaucratic and inflexible nature of a cumbersome beast which has lost sight of who it is that should benefit from an "education".

tyvm

Please keep posting, shed us some light and show us the need to look for a better way.

[madfloridian]

43. Sometimes very bright students have trouble on tests because they ARE so smart.

They read too much into the answers they have to choose from, they see all facets when only a few are presented in the answers. One of our sons was that way. He was gifted, but was not a good test taker.

Students should not be treated as equal in learning ability for the sake of tests. They learn through different modes, they interpret in different ways, and it is not right to give a one size fits all test.

[Obamanaut]

26. You get multiple 'recs' - for this OP, for your work as a teacher, for

the many great OPs you give us, for the information that you share, for ....

Thank you.

[KG]

27. society is failing children, not teachers.

[JNelson6563]

29. I am amazed w/teachers' generosity!

I know lots of teachers (some retired) here who are much like you MF. They give endlessly only to be shit on for their trouble.

One great lady who taught for many years, lots of them with special ed. kids, is on the school board here. She is the only one on the board who seems to think of the kids when voting on issues. If you could help DU a poll at local paper, where they are trying to get her off the board cause she doesn't just rubber stamp the crap the right wing superintendent wants, please do!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

And thanks for everything you did for those kids over the years MF. You so rock!

Julie

[madfloridian]

205. Followed your link and did as you asked, Julie.

Just saw your post, was afraid I had missed the poll.

[JCMach1]

32. My dear, you are too modest... you didn't mention the stress

and the toll it takes on your own health and body.

I remember doing the coaching... for an extra $350 you get the privilege of overtime every day after school (practice) and the late nights of game days (usually getting home between 10-12 in the evening with barely enough time for your 5:30AM alarm).

Of course, you also to wait for every single kid to catch their ride from practice or game...

Why did I do it...? it really did make a difference for some kids...

Every step is a constant sacrifice of something of yourself...

I didn't retire yet, but I did move on into higher ed... where the rewards are a little more in balance with the sacrifices you make.

[madfloridian]

50. Stress...loads of it.

Sometimes there would be a day when it all seemed worth it, but there were too many days that were loaded with stress.

Oddly enough, not so much from the children, but from the administrators and parents.

[JCMach1]

55. Yeah, but even students can give grey hair too,,,

I remember having one poor student whose father was slowly dying of HIV/AIDS. She was 15/16 at the time and was constantly acting out in-class and everywhere else. I couldn't report her to the admin for discipline because her father was abusive in addition to everything else. What a horrible situation...

[madfloridian]

56. And if we reported a kid in an abusive situation...the abuse could be worse.

I only had to use the hotline a few times but I was nervous each time.

Once the parents involved became abusive to me, but the DCF had told the principal it was good call..even if the parents were so important to the school. If they had not told the principal that I feel she would have taken the side of the parents.

Lots of TLC was about all that could be done in some situations.

[JCMach1]

132. Exactly...

[AngryAmish]

38. It is a shame Charles Dickens is not alive

Oliver Twist would certainly have a different setting if he heard your story.

[lonestarnot]

41. Bless your heart.

[madfloridian]

44. Odd....just noticed this is not on the greatest page.

Must have had too many unrecs or something? I don't usually go there, but someone mentioned it to me.

It is kind of strange.

Oh, well. Doesn't matter anyway.