RANT: Teachers, why are you so whiny?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach Pre-Kindergarten. PRE-KINDERGARTEN. In the past six weeks I've written a 100+ page classroom portfolio for NAEYC accreditation, screened 32 four year olds and wrote a report on the aggregate data, retroactively entered student assessments from fall into our cloud based curriculum program that wasn't available when it was actually fall (because the city didn't pay the company for it in time), entered said assessments for winter into the system, conducted parent-teacher conferences, and written myriad lesson plans.

This is all in addition to teaching, caring for, and just being with 16 four and five year olds 5 days a week for many hours per day. And Monday I have an observation wherein a person unknown to me will come into my classroom for three hours to write down everything I do and say, and then "grade" my performance. I will only get the results in September, when I won't remember anything about what happened during the observation.

I really am about to collapse. Just so, so weary. Friday afternoon I had a dentist appointment and was actually looking forward to it because I could recline in a chair for a little while without doing any work. So please excuse me if I seem a little whiny, a little cranky. Sorry not sorry.

You are proving everyone's point! Here's the thing. MOST of us who work could come here and write a long exhaustible list of all the things we've done at work over the past month...it would be long and boring and tiring sounding, just like your rant. It's called work for a reason. We just choose not to, because we know it's ridiculously boring to have to listen to someone catalogue every single task they've been paid to do all week - something teachers don't seem to have picked up on, Do you not think other people are expected to complete lots of different difficult and strenuous tasks at work?? It seems like that is honestly how teachers who rant and whine all the time feel...you are coming on here and doing exactly what people in this thread are talking about. As a PP said, it does not make you guys look very intelligent.

You are MISSING the point. All the paperwork and desk time is IN ADDITION to PP being in a classroom with small children doing his/ her primary job (teaching) for I imagine over 30 hours a week. So that's almost a full work week right there. Do you know how exhausting it is body and soul to do just that? And then pile on all the other stuff, which I imagine is being done at home?

She didn’t say how many hours per day she is with the kids. She teaches pre-k, which is often just a few hours per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach Pre-Kindergarten. PRE-KINDERGARTEN. In the past six weeks I've written a 100+ page classroom portfolio for NAEYC accreditation, screened 32 four year olds and wrote a report on the aggregate data, retroactively entered student assessments from fall into our cloud based curriculum program that wasn't available when it was actually fall (because the city didn't pay the company for it in time), entered said assessments for winter into the system, conducted parent-teacher conferences, and written myriad lesson plans.

This is all in addition to teaching, caring for, and just being with 16 four and five year olds 5 days a week for many hours per day. And Monday I have an observation wherein a person unknown to me will come into my classroom for three hours to write down everything I do and say, and then "grade" my performance. I will only get the results in September, when I won't remember anything about what happened during the observation.

I really am about to collapse. Just so, so weary. Friday afternoon I had a dentist appointment and was actually looking forward to it because I could recline in a chair for a little while without doing any work. So please excuse me if I seem a little whiny, a little cranky. Sorry not sorry.

You are proving everyone's point! Here's the thing. MOST of us who work could come here and write a long exhaustible list of all the things we've done at work over the past month...it would be long and boring and tiring sounding, just like your rant. It's called work for a reason. We just choose not to, because we know it's ridiculously boring to have to listen to someone catalogue every single task they've been paid to do all week - something teachers don't seem to have picked up on, Do you not think other people are expected to complete lots of different difficult and strenuous tasks at work?? It seems like that is honestly how teachers who rant and whine all the time feel...you are coming on here and doing exactly what people in this thread are talking about. As a PP said, it does not make you guys look very intelligent.

You are MISSING the point. All the paperwork and desk time is IN ADDITION to PP being in a classroom with small children doing his/ her primary job (teaching) for I imagine over 30 hours a week. So that's almost a full work week right there. Do you know how exhausting it is body and soul to do just that? And then pile on all the other stuff, which I imagine is being done at home?

She didn’t say how many hours per day she is with the kids. She teaches pre-k, which is often just a few hours per day.

Pre-K in MCPS has two sessions per day. 20 kids come in the morning and then 20 kids come in the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach Pre-Kindergarten. PRE-KINDERGARTEN. In the past six weeks I've written a 100+ page classroom portfolio for NAEYC accreditation, screened 32 four year olds and wrote a report on the aggregate data, retroactively entered student assessments from fall into our cloud based curriculum program that wasn't available when it was actually fall (because the city didn't pay the company for it in time), entered said assessments for winter into the system, conducted parent-teacher conferences, and written myriad lesson plans.

This is all in addition to teaching, caring for, and just being with 16 four and five year olds 5 days a week for many hours per day. And Monday I have an observation wherein a person unknown to me will come into my classroom for three hours to write down everything I do and say, and then "grade" my performance. I will only get the results in September, when I won't remember anything about what happened during the observation.

I really am about to collapse. Just so, so weary. Friday afternoon I had a dentist appointment and was actually looking forward to it because I could recline in a chair for a little while without doing any work. So please excuse me if I seem a little whiny, a little cranky. Sorry not sorry.

You are proving everyone's point! Here's the thing. MOST of us who work could come here and write a long exhaustible list of all the things we've done at work over the past month...it would be long and boring and tiring sounding, just like your rant. It's called work for a reason. We just choose not to, because we know it's ridiculously boring to have to listen to someone catalogue every single task they've been paid to do all week - something teachers don't seem to have picked up on, Do you not think other people are expected to complete lots of different difficult and strenuous tasks at work?? It seems like that is honestly how teachers who rant and whine all the time feel...you are coming on here and doing exactly what people in this thread are talking about. As a PP said, it does not make you guys look very intelligent.

You are MISSING the point. All the paperwork and desk time is IN ADDITION to PP being in a classroom with small children doing his/ her primary job (teaching) for I imagine over 30 hours a week. So that's almost a full work week right there. Do you know how exhausting it is body and soul to do just that? And then pile on all the other stuff, which I imagine is being done at home?

She didn’t say how many hours per day she is with the kids. She teaches pre-k, which is often just a few hours per day.

Pre-K in MCPS has two sessions per day. 20 kids come in the morning and then 20 kids come in the afternoon.

Ok but how long are those sessions? My kids’ pre-K had 8:30-11:00 and 12:00-2:30. So the teachers were only with kids for 5 hrs of the day. Plenty of time for the work pp complained about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I disagree with all of what you said. You're stupid, and a moron.

Selection and education degrees should be much harder, and educators should be better paid.

I'm a high school teacher in a small k-12, and the elementary teachers on our team work incredibly hard. As a high school teacher, I put in many, many hours outside of the classroom reading and commenting upon student compositions, and I have never had a summer "off."

Also, my (subject area) MA was more rigorous than anything you could achieve, OP, judging by what you have written. Despite your enthusiasm for gossip and eavesdropping in the workplace (what SHOULD you have been doing at school while you were lurking around the teachers, scrambling to assemble the bits and pieces you overheard into a summary of someone else's job experience?), you know nothing about what it means to be a teacher.

Let's think about this together, OP: what SHOULD you have been doing with your time at work? I am glad you are not a para assigned to help my department. I know your type. Please, please concentrate on your own job.

I was in the break room, eating lunch with them.

Fwiw, I have 2 kids in HS and have been impressed with their teachers. They work hard, and they genuinely seem to enjoy their students. I am always blown away at fall conferences because they really seem to know my kids in the few weeks they’ve had with them. They even go out of their way to say hi when we see them in public. The ES teachers that I know HATE seeing their students in public and talk about hiding from them.

\\\


No, they hate seeing the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband's brother and his wife are teachers, make great money, and never complain, because they truly love their jobs. They are getting ready to retire. This is her last year, he retires after next year. Her parents were teachers in our county for 45 years, and loved it. They left lasting positive impressions on their students, and when her father passed away a few years ago, there were so many people who came to pay their respects that they could not fit in the funeral home chapel (which is very large). Some teachers do not have their hearts in their jobs. Some put their whole lives into it. It's their calling. Those are the ones who you want. The others need to go somewhere else, and do something different, because their attitudes definitely affect their ability to teach. But do not lump all teachers into the same category. I have seen some wonderful ones, who truly love what they do.

I agree with you, actually. There are some amazing teachers out there, and they certainly aren't the ones complaining ALL the damn time. It really can be a calling, and we are all grateful for these teachers. However: there are a good chunk that went into it thinking it would be an easy cush gig (good hours, summers and school breaks off, good benefits, low stress) and then they find it is not a good fit. But they don't want to give up the good schedule and are unwilling to change professions, so they just whine endlessly instead

+1 This is what I have seen and have experienced. Some really amazing teachers in both public and private that my dc were so lucky to get. Huge influence on them and kept in touch with them through the years on both sides!

HOWEVER, I have seen, heard, experience exactly what OP is describing. From my view, it is from the teachers who went in to the field so they could be at home with their kids as the schedules aligned. Fine. It’s a job to them and not a calling. Most people do not have a calling and teachers are no different as People choose jobs/careers for all sorts of reasons.

But one can’t have it both ways. Just admit that’s it’s a job. Stop acting like you chose it for a passion to teach and so jump on the bandwagon of little pay, little respect, whiny kids, terrible parents. That is what frustrates me. The complaining nonstop at neighborhood functions, parties, reunions, etc that I have heard pretty much from anyone I’ve known to be ateacher because they wanted a job that worked with their parenting job. So, a mom who teaches not a teacher who is a mom. Only know one dh in this role and he loves teaching or at least how he talks at parties.

In th early years, I’d listen, commiserate and often solutions or suggest options. To a one they’d say but “I’d have to give up my summers and with the kids ......”

Anyway, neither side is right. It’s a tough job I admit. Mine is too in many ways as if I don’t deliver I’m out. I have clients
Not students and they can fire me at any point. I work a lot on my own time but I love my job, I’m paid very well, and I can go the bathroom whenever I want. However, I don’t have summers off or snow days or spring break with my dc.

I’d really like us to pay them 75-100k to make it a competitive, in-demand, respected profession and shake-up our traditional system. It is not working for many, many reasons. Let’s get the best, brightest, most innovative!

[Anonymous]

The ES teachers that I know HATE seeing their students in public and talk about hiding from them.

Seriously? I was an ES teacher--I certainly did not feel that way. It's a great way to see how kids behave out of the school environment. I taught young kids--surprisingly, some of them were stunned to see me outside of school. I think they thought I did not have a life outside the building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and I agree with a good portion of it. Especially the pay. I make just about what my roommate does in a corporate job, but she is always connected and works from home so many evenings. I definitely work less than her as a middle school teacher. Also, I get sick of colleagues complaining about the workload to get their Masters and then the little payout from it.

I don’t have any helpers to come make copies, but I do employ the peer grading technique for quizzes and small assignments. I only grade tests and even then it’s not that difficult if it’s a scantron test or online test. Bam! Done for me.

Most of my day is spent pretending the kids don’t stink, pretending I’m not eavesdropping on their conversations, and (some days) pretending I’m not as excited for the 3:35 bell as I really am. And also answering the parent emails. You guys email a lot! But, luckily, most questions are repetitive so I can do a fair bit of copying and pasting.

Also, you’ve caught us; the jig is up. We don’t start working on the next year’s plans until last minute.

OP here. I love your honesty! Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

I think it's hard to lump all teachers into one category. They all teach but the difference between handling ES kids is probably much different than HS kids. There is an aspect of "babysitting" to ES kids that is added onto actually getting them to learn. There is a necessary supervision of HS kids that is added onto actually getting them to learn. The subject matter is vastly different, which makes grading and planning very different.

In my limited, anecdotal research of teachers I know personally, the ES teachers complain much more. Perhaps dealing with such young minds is more trying than teenagers. Or perhaps ES parents have more questions and are in contact more because the students can't handle the issues on their own. And maybe people don't respect them as much because they're teaching simpler material, and don't realize the other factors that make their job difficult.

Also, I agree with what a lot of people are saying that we ALL could list out the million tasks we have to do, what we have to do at home, that we're underpaid, etc.... the KEY DIFFERENCE is that some people write off teachers as a cushy/joke job. People don't typically do that regarding accountants or IT people, etc etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Is it that teachers don't realize others bring work home or are they simply informing those who say they only work 38 hours a week/ 180 days a year?

I taught for a number of years and then went to work for the federal government.

Here are a few thoughts?

How many people are free to go to the bathroom when the need arises? FWIW, teachers are not. They must leave unsupervised classes at their own risk.
Teachers never have the option of working from home on the day that the plumber needs to come. They must take leave--and personal leave is quite limited.
Most people are free to leave the building at lunch time. Teachers do not have that option. (It has only been in recent years that teachers are given a duty free lunch--and, the current duty free lunch is very brief.

OP here. I am a special education para so all of this applies to me too, and I get paid a lot less! Even more so in some ways. I am actually with students and interacting with them ALL day, except for my 30 minute lunch break. Teachers get a break from kids when they go to recess or specials classes. I go with them to recess and Specials classes. So my opportunities to pee are very limited. Teachers can work on emails and grading while kids are working independently. I’m supporting my students even during independent work. I get even fewer personal days than the teachers.

I’m not complaining though, and I’m certainly not trying to say that my job is more difficult than theirs. Just pointing out that others have these same inconveniences without being dramatic. I like my job and these struggles are not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. It’s not like I have to wear diapers to work. If it was an emergency, I could text someone in the building to cover for me. Just like I cover for teachers when I’m in their toom.

[Anonymous]

If not the most intellectually challenging, teaching is absolutely a hard / mentally (and physically) exhausting job. I can totally see why teachers get burned out. However...most jobs have parts that kind of suck. It's called 'work' for a reason. And if you are so miserable as a teacher that you find yourself constantly feeling very 'woe is me' and complaining ALL the time (and yes, like PPs said...find yourself repeatedly listing off EVERY task you've been paid to do over the past week; seriously teachers, WHY do so many of you do this??), it's time to make a decision. Either buck up and embrace the fact that your job comes with a lot of unique (HUGE) schedule perks, and get some perspective...or decide you hate it enough to make a change, and give up the early release / summers and school breaks off. You can't have it both ways.

[Anonymous]

I too think teachers are paid well for 2/3 work.

I'm 100% willing to pay teachers more, but I would want 8 hour days of school and more school days in the summer. I think it's insane that DD goes from 8-2pm...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I too think teachers are paid well for 2/3 work.

I'm 100% willing to pay teachers more, but I would want 8 hour days of school and more school days in the summer. I think it's insane that DD goes from 8-2pm...

Which district is this? Which grade?

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher and I agree with a good portion of it. Especially the pay. I make just about what my roommate does in a corporate job, but she is always connected and works from home so many evenings. I definitely work less than her as a middle school teacher. Also, I get sick of colleagues complaining about the workload to get their Masters and then the little payout from it.

I don’t have any helpers to come make copies, but I do employ the peer grading technique for quizzes and small assignments. I only grade tests and even then it’s not that difficult if it’s a scantron test or online test. Bam! Done for me.

Most of my day is spent pretending the kids don’t stink, pretending I’m not eavesdropping on their conversations, and (some days) pretending I’m not as excited for the 3:35 bell as I really am. And also answering the parent emails. You guys email a lot! But, luckily, most questions are repetitive so I can do a fair bit of copying and pasting.

Also, you’ve caught us; the jig is up. We don’t start working on the next year’s plans until last minute.

I'm an MS teacher, too, and this is definitely NOT my experience. I spend hours each week grading written work, after teaching all day and sponsoring student clubs.

Readers, please don't lump all teachers together. Every situation is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I too think teachers are paid well for 2/3 work.

I'm 100% willing to pay teachers more, but I would want 8 hour days of school and more school days in the summer. I think it's insane that DD goes from 8-2pm...

It's school, not daycare. How many hours does your child really need to be in school? A longer day is really unnecessary and developmentally inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

Teachers would gain more respect if they could stop reminding everyone how hard they work and just admit that their job has perks. Nobody would be offended if you admit that you don’t actually spend all summer rewriting your lesson plans. Most people would completely check out of their job all summer if they could. Nobody will think less of you for it. We WANT you rested up and refreshed for your next group of students! In fact, when I see how freaking motivated and gung-ho teachers are at the beginning of the school year, it makes me think more companies should try to give employees extended time off. It would be great for productivity.