Education / Teaching thread (1 Viewer)

[bonnjer]

Opinion: I've been teaching for 3 decades, and I see Iowa schools cut and cut as state funding remains meager

Former Des Moines Public Schools teacher: Please get out of the Capitol, visit schools, get to know all teachers, put politics away and help children.

www.yahoo.com

 

[gboudx]

 

[bonnjer]

In Several States, Teachers Get Their Biggest Raise in Decades

After rocky teacher shortages that saw classrooms led by police officers, the National Guard and even a governor, a small but growing number of states are approving significant pay raises for teachers. In some states, especially those that rank low on the pay scale, the salary boost is the...

www.yahoo.com

Meanwhile, in Louisiana, the legislature is birching about having to come up with a $1500 raise.

 

[Swamprat]

Our local school district is offering teachers a $500 one-time bonus if they sign their 2021-22 contracts now..

The teacher exodus is not just about the pay, the classroom environment is unruly.. lack of student self discipline, absolute disregard for any authority, little (if any) mgmt support, near constant threat of lawsuit from anyone with the slightest perceived beef and on and on.

Just this week…A student wasn’t pleased about having to walk during recess instead of hanging with her friends… said loudly, “I’m going to go home, tell my Momma and have this teacher fired..”… 4th grader.

There are daily stories similar to this.. it never ends.

These teachers are exhausted and feel beat-up.

 

[gboudx]

Our local school district is offering teachers a $500 one-time bonus if they sign their 2021-22 contracts now..

The teacher exodus is not just about the pay, the classroom environment is unruly.. lack of student self discipline, absolute disregard for any authority, little (if any) mgmt support, near constant threat of lawsuit from anyone with the slightest perceived beef and on and on.

Just this week…A student wasn’t pleased about having to walk during recess instead of hanging with her friends… said loudly, “I’m going to go home, tell my Momma and have this teacher fired..”… 4th grader.

There are daily stories similar to this.. it never ends.

These teachers are exhausted and feel beat-up.

You teach in Texas? I assume "wrong side of the Sabine" is Texas. My wife had been contemplating putting in for a transfer earlier this year, and was waffling on it. But then her principal called her into her office to berate her for discussing a student incident with the instructional coach. My wife came home, and completed the transfer form online. That was the last straw. He's been able to get a 4th grade ELAR position at the school in the ISD she really wants to teach at, so she's happy.

But yeah, students feeling empowered to threaten a teacher's job is not new. They're getting that empowerment from the home. Maybe one day when there's not enough teachers, and classroom sizes have to increase thereby reducing the teaching effectiveness, some of these parents may start to calm down. I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[efil4stnias]

Yall sure aint making Dad feel all warm and fuzzy about daughter #1 leaving for SELU this fall to get her MA in Education.

Ugh.

My have to invoke the "c'mere son" talk. lol

 

[Sun Wukong]

Yall sure aint making Dad feel all warm and fuzzy about daughter #1 leaving for SELU this fall to get her MA in Education.

Ugh.

My have to invoke the "c'mere son" talk. lol

I could lie to you, and obviously some situations are better than others, but public education is a complete forking disaster and it absolutely takes a toll on teachers. I wish I had a time machine to prevent myself from ever getting involved with it.

 

[saintmdterps]

If you have a PhD and 25 years experience in Terrebonne Parish, you only make $57K, not even the national average.

My wife has masters + 30 and 26 years. She made 82k last year and gets a raise next year. She’s special Ed and the caseload sucks. 50-55 hrs per week.

 

[Swamprat]

We just drove 6hrs from Houston to SoLa for Good Friday with family.. For 4hrs I heard, in great detail, all the woes and ills of my wife’s current 4th grade teaching position. IMHO, her situation is especially bad due to incredibly inept administration… they should ALL be fired, the whole lot.

Wife is NOT signing her 2021-22 contract, turning in resignation within a few days…. There are 7 elementary schools within 10min drive of our home, next yr she’ll sub at all the schools and decide which one she wants to join.. ASSUMING there will be openings once final student counts are determined and IF she wants to go back permanent.. There is nothing more my wife would love to do than teach little ones. Nnominated for teacher of the year >75% of years, turned in her paperwork once and won it… when you have someone so wholly dedicated and passionate about the profession saying they’ve had enough, something is awfully wrong.

 

[bonnjer]

The first cup of coffee on the morning after the last day of the school year is extra delicious.

I just finished up my 23rd year in the classroom. The last few weeks have been tough because of state testing, but the last week was especially rough because of finals and graduation. Once the kids reach May and finish with state testing, they are done and think that they don't have any work to do, so maintaining the expectation that, yes, there is still work to be done each day is just draining.

The amazing thing is that I just caught myself thinking about next year already and figuring out what I want to do a little differently. Even after so long, I know there are ways that I can improve what I do.

To all the other teachers out there who aren't quite finished yet, hang in there. Summer is almost here.

 

[jrdbrn]

My wife's last day is Friday. I can't wait so she can stop complaining.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Well, I did it. After 25 years where I’ve been at, I put in my resignation. Couldn’t take it anymore. Love the community, love the kids. But the school and district are simply heading off a cliff. Got the incoming numbers a week ago. 1/3 of the next incoming class (I teach 4th) cannot read. I don’t mean read poorly, I mean are still in early phonics. And no one is upset, they just keep doing their pet projects, and demanding fidelity to the programs. Programs that have been in place for 5 years and our numbers have gone down significantly each year, but yeah.

Then today I have a student whose close family members were murdered last weekend. We were supposed to have a ceremony for a teacher that died 3 years ago. Yeah 3 years ago. So, I wasn’t going to take my kids because I didn’t really think that it was really what my class needed. Yeah well you can imagine the mess this created. What a joke. I’ve never been so glad to leave a dysfunctional mess as this before.

 

[SharonT]

demanding fidelity to the programs. Programs that have been in place for 5 years and our numbers have gone down significantly each year, but yeah.

Yes, the "tiered" materials that are supposed to be perfectly aligned with the standardized test. Garbage in, garbage out. Don't dare deviate from the script!

Sorry you got to that point, I was really hoping Ca would hold the line. I'm sure this isn't the way you envisioned going out. Who knows, maybe something else will open up, something more appealing?

 

[bonnjer]

Sounds like all the programs in all the places are all about the money. Has anyone ever done a study on how much a testing company pulls in from state testing? I imagine it's a substantial amount. The programs and the testing are money grabs that are just a couple of things in the long list of reasons as to why we've got teacher shortages in many areas.

 

[gboudx]

Sounds like all the programs in all the places are all about the money. Has anyone ever done a study on how much a testing company pulls in from state testing? I imagine it's a substantial amount. The programs and the testing are money grabs that are just a couple of things in the long list of reasons as to why we've got teacher shortages in many areas.

This is Texas. Seems like some very nice teacher and admin staff salary increases would be better use.

Cambium Assessment, a Washington D.C.-based testing company, will receive $262 million from 2021 through 2024 to manage the administration, scoring and reporting of all student assessments on one online platform.

Pearson, a London-based company whose longtime role in Texas' testing program was scaled back several years ago, will receive an additional $126 million from 2021 through 2024 to develop and construct the assessments. It will also continue work on an existing testing contract through August.

Texas hires two companies to run STAAR, moving toward statewide online testing

Contracts totaling $388 million have been awarded to Cambium Assessment and Pearson, a longtime player in testing Texas public school students, to develop and administer STAAR for the next four years.

www.texastribune.org