Any teachers out there feel like bitching? Or telling me off?

[Anonymous]

Yikes - talk to some nurses before you leave teaching for nurses - the paperwork is endless, and say good-by to having holidays off with your family! I worked 10 years before I got more than one day around Christmas off - either Xmas Eve or Day.

Hope your day gets better though....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yikes - talk to some nurses before you leave teaching for nurses - the paperwork is endless, and say good-by to having holidays off with your family! I worked 10 years before I got more than one day around Christmas off - either Xmas Eve or Day.

Hope your day gets better though....

my intent is to master in nursing education... I'll bring together the aspects I love from each field

[Anonymous]

OP,

I posted something similar about a year ago and got blasted! Thankfully, people responding this time have more sympathy - or are in the trenches with us!

I empathize with you!!

Are you required to crunch data, too? We're working toward data notebooks at this point, which I'm not too keen on. So, in addition to hours of planning (I'm at a low performing school.) and grading, we'll be asked to monitor trends in performance.

And to the PT teacher, I also feel your pain b/c I'm in the same boat.

When states and counties start to see teachers heading for the hills, things will shift. But I'm not too certain they'll shift quickly enough for me to see a change!

Good luck to all of you!

[Anonymous]

I have a lot of respect for teachers, but if you think lawyers can pee in the middle of a trial or long deposition, think again. Same for doctors. We all suffer from UTIs. And you must have seen the regular questions from lawyers about "How can I pump during this deposition?"

Ah for regular bathroom breaks.

P.S. I really appreciate my daughter's wonderful preschool teachers. My hat is off to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of respect for teachers, but if you think lawyers can pee in the middle of a trial or long deposition, think again. Same for doctors. We all suffer from UTIs. And you must have seen the regular questions from lawyers about "How can I pump during this deposition?"

Ah for regular bathroom breaks.

P.S. I really appreciate my daughter's wonderful preschool teachers. My hat is off to them.

OK - I see your point, but teachers deal with this EVERY single day. I once taught five periods in a row, with lunch being my only break. I had to ask my colleagues to step in when I had to pee. And when I was pregnant . . . forget it!

Pumping? The only place to do so is in the nurse's office with kids coming in and out. not the most intimate setting . . . (We have classrooms, not offices, and quite often we share these rooms b/c of space issues.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of respect for teachers, but if you think lawyers can pee in the middle of a trial or long deposition, think again. Same for doctors. We all suffer from UTIs. And you must have seen the regular questions from lawyers about "How can I pump during this deposition?"

Ah for regular bathroom breaks.

P.S. I really appreciate my daughter's wonderful preschool teachers. My hat is off to them.

OK - I see your point, but teachers deal with this EVERY single day. I once taught five periods in a row, with lunch being my only break. I had to ask my colleagues to step in when I had to pee. And when I was pregnant . . . forget it!

Pumping? The only place to do so is in the nurse's office with kids coming in and out. not the most intimate setting . . . (We have classrooms, not offices, and quite often we share these rooms b/c of space issues.)

\

Doctors deal with it daily too. You don't see too many female surgeons lasting very long in the profession. My friend is an anesthesiologist, she has NO pee breaks, just drink moderately in the morning. She tried to pump, but did it between cases instead of eating or drinking. Milk dried up in no time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP It's never too late to change careers.
I'm a teacher attending nursing school and there's a 60 yo lady in my class. She's an example for all of us.

Agreed. If you have a 4 YO OP I am betting you are young enough to change if you want to. Unless you adopted at 60?

[Anonymous]

The world needs good teachers! So why are we pushing someone to change professions. Why isn't there a better answer? Sure, every job has downsides, but when we are talking about having to hold it to the point of getting a UTI, it seems like something should be changed. Why can't breaks be built in to almost any profession? It kills me to think that all the teachers out there are either suffering or severly dehydrated.

To the OP. As far as the workload. Is it horrible or is it more of a pay versus workload thing. Because the comparison to lawyers seems ridiculous, given the salary comparisons. No one goes into law thinking "hey, this will be a child-friendly environment." Where I imagine people go into teaching thinking the lack of pay will be worth it due to "lesser family friendly" hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, former teacher here. Three hours to write sub plans sounds right to me. I appreciate the PP's suggestion of emergency lesson plans, but if you teach secondary, the generic sub plan doesn't work so well.

I wouldn't suggest a generic sub plan, but rather a complete 2 day unit and another 3 day unit that is related to instruction goals, but very easy for a sub to implement on short notice, and easy to put together for each prep you teach. Once you put these lesson plans together, you can use them the rest of your career. If it takes you longer than 1 hour to write sub plans for the next day, take a look at how you can make things easier on yourself and reduce inefficiencies. The lessons don't have to be the greatest, just enough to satisfy your principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, former teacher here. Three hours to write sub plans sounds right to me. I appreciate the PP's suggestion of emergency lesson plans, but if you teach secondary, the generic sub plan doesn't work so well.

Please say you're keeping good plans, logs, materials. Make the this year's investment count toward an easier next year, so the admin burden doesn't weigh so heavily and you can spend more time with your child. Take advantage of the predictability, the lack of moving parts, the fact that you don't need to answer hundreds of emails per day.

I hope you have some good colleagues, who can count on you, and whom you can turn to in turn.

Aren't you supposed to have lesson plans done in advance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, former teacher here. Three hours to write sub plans sounds right to me. I appreciate the PP's suggestion of emergency lesson plans, but if you teach secondary, the generic sub plan doesn't work so well.

Please say you're keeping good plans, logs, materials. Make the this year's investment count toward an easier next year, so the admin burden doesn't weigh so heavily and you can spend more time with your child. Take advantage of the predictability, the lack of moving parts, the fact that you don't need to answer hundreds of emails per day.

I hope you have some good colleagues, who can count on you, and whom you can turn to in turn.

Aren't you supposed to have lesson plans done in advance?

New poster here and also a teacher. Not if you want to them to correspond to what you are currently teaching. I know some teachers have their whole year planned out day by day, but I don't, mostly because I don't teach the same thing from year to year. Emergency lesson plans work in a pinch, but they are not great. I am also a secondary teacher and I wouldn't say my lesson plans take me 3 hours when I am out, but it is pain to try to make something that is simple enough for a sub who is not trained in your content subject to teach, but also worthwhile for the students to complete (i.e. not just busy work).

[Anonymous]

Yes, the students' time is best used in the context of the units they have been studying. OP is trying to minimize the disruption her absence will create by avoiding a generic busywork plan.

[Anonymous]

All I ever got in school on sub days was generic busywork -- i.e., "Class, Mrs. Goodteacher has you reading A Tale of Two Cities, so I'd like you to open the book and continue your reading." I can't imagine a sub actually teaching us something, unless she was there for an extended period of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I ever got in school on sub days was generic busywork -- i.e., "Class, Mrs. Goodteacher has you reading A Tale of Two Cities, so I'd like you to open the book and continue your reading." I can't imagine a sub actually teaching us something, unless she was there for an extended period of time.

9:05 poster here. WHen I make my plans, I try to make them general enough that any sub can follow them, but still related to the content. So maybe I have them read something together and then the students have to answer questions about the reading on their own. It is a little easier with me because I teach English - I can imagine it would be harder to do this if you teach math since there is much more specific content involved. At my school, we also have a preferred list of subs so if I know I am going to be out, I will try to get one of those subs because I know they are competent and will do what I want them to do. Some subs are great, some are not so great (i.e. they sleep or read the paper instead of teaching), and after awhile you get to know which ones you can rely on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't stand the term "teacher hours".
I'm mad that I thought summers, holidays, and weekends meant "family friendly". I'm furious that my 4 year old has ANOTHER fever and I'll be at the computer for the next three hours writing sub plans.
I'm pissed that I'm too old to change my career.
But mostly I'm upset that while I'm actually good at teaching, and love doing the actual delivery-of-instruction thing, I'm using energy being annoyed at all the other things we have to do.

I thought teachers get the summers off. They don't?