How many teachers are leaving your school next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:until SPED has its own payscale that is different and more than the regular teacher payscale, no one should take a SPED teacher position.

SPED teachers have to be a teacher + case manager + following IEP goals and accommodations/modifications + in some cases has to be collaborative teacher in team taught classes thus sharing teaching roles with gen ed teachers.

SPED teachers are severely underpaid.

A lot of teachers will tell you it isn’t about the pay. It’s the disrespect and the poor working conditions. Fix those.

So true. Teachers who have been around for a while and have pretty decent salaries (>100K) are leaving before retirement age. And the working conditions *should* be much easier to fix than pay!

Sometimes it's like Gatehouse knows what could help working conditions.... but goes in the complete opposite direction....and more people leave.

As much as we like to dunk on Gatehouse (and they deserve it), this is national problem. It’s going to take a state and national policy overhaul to solve it.

Agree to an extent. Gatehouse has ways they can alleviate some stress and unnecessary tasks for teachers. They often go the other way and pile it on. Not smart during a national teacher shortage. But agree the problem is bigger than all of us.

Everyone at Gatehouse is perpetually justifying their own existence. They’ve got to keep changing and adding and creating new initiatives … or they won’t be needed. And then they’d end up back in the classroom that they were so desperate to escape.

[Anonymous]

My mom was a teacher at my ES in the early 80s. She walked out the door when the kids left. This was back when there were textbooks and workbooks for everything. She never wrote lesson plans. She taught everything from the teacher’s manual. That’s what they were for! She graded spelling tests on Friday night (I would help her) but that’s the only time she took work home. There was an occasional math or science test to grade. No days spreadsheets to fill out, no data meetings, etc. No retakes to grade. If kids didn’t do their homework, they got a zero. No real parent communication then either except an occasional note home for bad behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a teacher at my ES in the early 80s. She walked out the door when the kids left. This was back when there were textbooks and workbooks for everything. She never wrote lesson plans. She taught everything from the teacher’s manual. That’s what they were for! She graded spelling tests on Friday night (I would help her) but that’s the only time she took work home. There was an occasional math or science test to grade. No days spreadsheets to fill out, no data meetings, etc. No retakes to grade. If kids didn’t do their homework, they got a zero. No real parent communication then either except an occasional note home for bad behavior.

Everyone probably also did the same assignment. For math as an example, she probably wasn’t planning for a number sense lesson, whole group lesson, 5 different math stations and 2 small math groups daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching seems like such a straightforward job when you aren’t in it. So much convoluted nonsense in a job that should be “plan the lessons, teach the kids.”

plan the lessons,
teach the kids

if it were only that easy.

gotta grade papers constantly to give immediate feedback; do that for 28 kids times 5 periods and that's 140 grades per task...

call parents, counselors, admin to update on students who are not passing

go to meetings before, during, after school and on your planning periods that include IEPs, evals, and LSCs; parent/teacher conferences, department meetings; CT meetings; PD meetings; staff meetings; etc.

attend school events; do hallway or cafeteria watch duty

stay afterschool twice a week to offer students support out of the class and to make up or retake assessments

printing/copying, preparing and reflecting on lesson plans

deal with students who are absent or consistently on their phones or take longer bathroom breaks or don't return from lunch on time

take attendance and update it

remediate and reteach content

make sure to have classroom stocked with school supplies because kids can't afford to bring them to class but yet they are on their smartphones

***
there is a lot you left out between planning a lesson and teach the students.

To be fair, the PP did say “if you aren’t in it”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:until SPED has its own payscale that is different and more than the regular teacher payscale, no one should take a SPED teacher position.

SPED teachers have to be a teacher + case manager + following IEP goals and accommodations/modifications + in some cases has to be collaborative teacher in team taught classes thus sharing teaching roles with gen ed teachers.

SPED teachers are severely underpaid.

A lot of teachers will tell you it isn’t about the pay. It’s the disrespect and the poor working conditions. Fix those.

So true. Teachers who have been around for a while and have pretty decent salaries (>100K) are leaving before retirement age. And the working conditions *should* be much easier to fix than pay!

Sometimes it's like Gatehouse knows what could help working conditions.... but goes in the complete opposite direction....and more people leave.

As much as we like to dunk on Gatehouse (and they deserve it), this is national problem. It’s going to take a state and national policy overhaul to solve it.

Agree to an extent. Gatehouse has ways they can alleviate some stress and unnecessary tasks for teachers. They often go the other way and pile it on. Not smart during a national teacher shortage. But agree the problem is bigger than all of us.

Everyone at Gatehouse is perpetually justifying their own existence. They’ve got to keep changing and adding and creating new initiatives … or they won’t be needed. And then they’d end up back in the classroom that they were so desperate to escape.

Half of the instructional coaches that we have wouldn’t exist if we weren’t trying to squeeze every living drop of data out of these kids. Half the CLTs are just picking apart the wording in the state standards and then picking apart the pacing guide. For my ES teachers, do you notice that there is very little care or attention given to social studies? I have never seen a SS coach, I don’t even know if they exist. It’s not tested heavily so it ends up at the bottom of the totem pole for schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a teacher at my ES in the early 80s. She walked out the door when the kids left. This was back when there were textbooks and workbooks for everything. She never wrote lesson plans. She taught everything from the teacher’s manual. That’s what they were for! She graded spelling tests on Friday night (I would help her) but that’s the only time she took work home. There was an occasional math or science test to grade. No days spreadsheets to fill out, no data meetings, etc. No retakes to grade. If kids didn’t do their homework, they got a zero. No real parent communication then either except an occasional note home for bad behavior.

My mom was an ES teacher through the 80s and 90s and she always stayed late after school. She had books and a manual, but wrote up her own lesson plans and differentiated. Plenty of grading was brought home. She helped kids who were multiple grade levels behind get caught up. Lots of “problem kids” over the years requiring a lot of communication with parents and the principal. Sounds like your mom was either at a really high SES/low needs school or more of the do the bare minimum type. Good teachers have always had a very high workload if their student body was anything other than average or higher than average kids from homes with involved parents and little SES diversity.

[Anonymous]

At least seven teachers and three IAs at our elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a teacher at my ES in the early 80s. She walked out the door when the kids left. This was back when there were textbooks and workbooks for everything. She never wrote lesson plans. She taught everything from the teacher’s manual. That’s what they were for! She graded spelling tests on Friday night (I would help her) but that’s the only time she took work home. There was an occasional math or science test to grade. No days spreadsheets to fill out, no data meetings, etc. No retakes to grade. If kids didn’t do their homework, they got a zero. No real parent communication then either except an occasional note home for bad behavior.

My mom was an ES teacher through the 80s and 90s and she always stayed late after school. She had books and a manual, but wrote up her own lesson plans and differentiated. Plenty of grading was brought home. She helped kids who were multiple grade levels behind get caught up. Lots of “problem kids” over the years requiring a lot of communication with parents and the principal. Sounds like your mom was either at a really high SES/low needs school or more of the do the bare minimum type. Good teachers have always had a very high workload if their student body was anything other than average or higher than average kids from homes with involved parents and little SES diversity.

By your definition I”m a “good” teacher some years and a horrible one others.

I’m also really tired of the value of a teacher’s worth being tied to how many hours you put in after school. It is completely ridiculous. In my work (pre-K/K) the most important part is that I’m not stressed out and can listen and respond to kids to help them progress, not how late I stayed after school. It is a twisted idea to think that staying after school and perhaps being less efficient or have a poorer grasp of the material makes you a better teacher.

[Anonymous]

Part of the problem with staffing is a generational divide. Gen Z is very “I work to live, I don’t live to work” and are all about self care and mental health. This is the age group of your newest teachers. They will not let a job stress them out or overwork them. That’s not compatible with teaching, if anything teaching is an anti self care job (ex. Making sub plans while sick)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem with staffing is a generational divide. Gen Z is very “I work to live, I don’t live to work” and are all about self care and mental health. This is the age group of your newest teachers. They will not let a job stress them out or overwork them. That’s not compatible with teaching, if anything teaching is an anti self care job (ex. Making sub plans while sick)

I’m Gen X and have started doing more self care, in part because as a preschool teacher we are given assessments as teachers 3x per year. The thrust of the assessments is based on how we react to the children, how we listen to them, give them choice and respond to their thoughts. The observers write down every interaction they can for 4 20 minute observations. Funny that the effect of this new state requirement is that I see that I need to do more self care rather than just showing up because when I go to work sick, I am not optimizing my interactions with children. I am also realizing the fastest way to burn out is to continue to show up stressed and sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching seems like such a straightforward job when you aren’t in it. So much convoluted nonsense in a job that should be “plan the lessons, teach the kids.”

plan the lessons,
teach the kids

if it were only that easy.

gotta grade papers constantly to give immediate feedback; do that for 28 kids times 5 periods and that's 140 grades per task...

call parents, counselors, admin to update on students who are not passing

go to meetings before, during, after school and on your planning periods that include IEPs, evals, and LSCs; parent/teacher conferences, department meetings; CT meetings; PD meetings; staff meetings; etc.

attend school events; do hallway or cafeteria watch duty

stay afterschool twice a week to offer students support out of the class and to make up or retake assessments

printing/copying, preparing and reflecting on lesson plans

deal with students who are absent or consistently on their phones or take longer bathroom breaks or don't return from lunch on time

take attendance and update it

remediate and reteach content

make sure to have classroom stocked with school supplies because kids can't afford to bring them to class but yet they are on their smartphones

***
there is a lot you left out between planning a lesson and teach the students.

To be fair, the PP did say “if you aren’t in it”.

to be fair, if you weren't in it...

well, to be fair, here's only a fraction of the reality of what is missing.

just to be fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a teacher at my ES in the early 80s. She walked out the door when the kids left. This was back when there were textbooks and workbooks for everything. She never wrote lesson plans. She taught everything from the teacher’s manual. That’s what they were for! She graded spelling tests on Friday night (I would help her) but that’s the only time she took work home. There was an occasional math or science test to grade. No days spreadsheets to fill out, no data meetings, etc. No retakes to grade. If kids didn’t do their homework, they got a zero. No real parent communication then either except an occasional note home for bad behavior.

My mom was an ES teacher through the 80s and 90s and she always stayed late after school. She had books and a manual, but wrote up her own lesson plans and differentiated. Plenty of grading was brought home. She helped kids who were multiple grade levels behind get caught up. Lots of “problem kids” over the years requiring a lot of communication with parents and the principal. Sounds like your mom was either at a really high SES/low needs school or more of the do the bare minimum type. Good teachers have always had a very high workload if their student body was anything other than average or higher than average kids from homes with involved parents and little SES diversity.

By your definition I”m a “good” teacher some years and a horrible one others.

I’m also really tired of the value of a teacher’s worth being tied to how many hours you put in after school. It is completely ridiculous. In my work (pre-K/K) the most important part is that I’m not stressed out and can listen and respond to kids to help them progress, not how late I stayed after school. It is a twisted idea to think that staying after school and perhaps being less efficient or have a poorer grasp of the material makes you a better teacher.

so delusional. do you teach high school?

oh right preK/K. of course you wouldn't need to stay after school.

different expectations for different age groups and different needs.

what material do you have to master other than changing a diaper and leading nap time at the preK/K level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a teacher at my ES in the early 80s. She walked out the door when the kids left. This was back when there were textbooks and workbooks for everything. She never wrote lesson plans. She taught everything from the teacher’s manual. That’s what they were for! She graded spelling tests on Friday night (I would help her) but that’s the only time she took work home. There was an occasional math or science test to grade. No days spreadsheets to fill out, no data meetings, etc. No retakes to grade. If kids didn’t do their homework, they got a zero. No real parent communication then either except an occasional note home for bad behavior.

My mom was an ES teacher through the 80s and 90s and she always stayed late after school. She had books and a manual, but wrote up her own lesson plans and differentiated. Plenty of grading was brought home. She helped kids who were multiple grade levels behind get caught up. Lots of “problem kids” over the years requiring a lot of communication with parents and the principal. Sounds like your mom was either at a really high SES/low needs school or more of the do the bare minimum type. Good teachers have always had a very high workload if their student body was anything other than average or higher than average kids from homes with involved parents and little SES diversity.

By your definition I”m a “good” teacher some years and a horrible one others.

I’m also really tired of the value of a teacher’s worth being tied to how many hours you put in after school. It is completely ridiculous. In my work (pre-K/K) the most important part is that I’m not stressed out and can listen and respond to kids to help them progress, not how late I stayed after school. It is a twisted idea to think that staying after school and perhaps being less efficient or have a poorer grasp of the material makes you a better teacher.

so delusional. do you teach high school?

oh right preK/K. of course you wouldn't need to stay after school.

different expectations for different age groups and different needs.

what material do you have to master other than changing a diaper and leading nap time at the preK/K level?

I teach 6th grade and can tell you that those pre-K teachers are some of the hardest working teachers around. They are required to have plans (there’s your differentiation) for EACH student simply because they qualified for pre-K through the county. Feel free to leave your HS job and come on down to the lower grades and maybe it’ll shut you up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a teacher at my ES in the early 80s. She walked out the door when the kids left. This was back when there were textbooks and workbooks for everything. She never wrote lesson plans. She taught everything from the teacher’s manual. That’s what they were for! She graded spelling tests on Friday night (I would help her) but that’s the only time she took work home. There was an occasional math or science test to grade. No days spreadsheets to fill out, no data meetings, etc. No retakes to grade. If kids didn’t do their homework, they got a zero. No real parent communication then either except an occasional note home for bad behavior.

My mom was an ES teacher through the 80s and 90s and she always stayed late after school. She had books and a manual, but wrote up her own lesson plans and differentiated. Plenty of grading was brought home. She helped kids who were multiple grade levels behind get caught up. Lots of “problem kids” over the years requiring a lot of communication with parents and the principal. Sounds like your mom was either at a really high SES/low needs school or more of the do the bare minimum type. Good teachers have always had a very high workload if their student body was anything other than average or higher than average kids from homes with involved parents and little SES diversity.

By your definition I”m a “good” teacher some years and a horrible one others.

I’m also really tired of the value of a teacher’s worth being tied to how many hours you put in after school. It is completely ridiculous. In my work (pre-K/K) the most important part is that I’m not stressed out and can listen and respond to kids to help them progress, not how late I stayed after school. It is a twisted idea to think that staying after school and perhaps being less efficient or have a poorer grasp of the material makes you a better teacher.

so delusional. do you teach high school?

oh right preK/K. of course you wouldn't need to stay after school.

different expectations for different age groups and different needs.

what material do you have to master other than changing a diaper and leading nap time at the preK/K level?

I teach 6th grade and can tell you that those pre-K teachers are some of the hardest working teachers around. They are required to have plans (there’s your differentiation) for EACH student simply because they qualified for pre-K through the county. Feel free to leave your HS job and come on down to the lower grades and maybe it’ll shut you up.

Teacher here. Can we not fight among ourselves? We ALL have it very hard in different ways.

It’s bad enough that we get dismissed and disrespected by people outside of our profession as much as we do. Let’s not do it to each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a teacher at my ES in the early 80s. She walked out the door when the kids left. This was back when there were textbooks and workbooks for everything. She never wrote lesson plans. She taught everything from the teacher’s manual. That’s what they were for! She graded spelling tests on Friday night (I would help her) but that’s the only time she took work home. There was an occasional math or science test to grade. No days spreadsheets to fill out, no data meetings, etc. No retakes to grade. If kids didn’t do their homework, they got a zero. No real parent communication then either except an occasional note home for bad behavior.

My mom was an ES teacher through the 80s and 90s and she always stayed late after school. She had books and a manual, but wrote up her own lesson plans and differentiated. Plenty of grading was brought home. She helped kids who were multiple grade levels behind get caught up. Lots of “problem kids” over the years requiring a lot of communication with parents and the principal. Sounds like your mom was either at a really high SES/low needs school or more of the do the bare minimum type. Good teachers have always had a very high workload if their student body was anything other than average or higher than average kids from homes with involved parents and little SES diversity.

By your definition I”m a “good” teacher some years and a horrible one others.

I’m also really tired of the value of a teacher’s worth being tied to how many hours you put in after school. It is completely ridiculous. In my work (pre-K/K) the most important part is that I’m not stressed out and can listen and respond to kids to help them progress, not how late I stayed after school. It is a twisted idea to think that staying after school and perhaps being less efficient or have a poorer grasp of the material makes you a better teacher.

so delusional. do you teach high school?

oh right preK/K. of course you wouldn't need to stay after school.

different expectations for different age groups and different needs.

what material do you have to master other than changing a diaper and leading nap time at the preK/K level?

I teach 6th grade and can tell you that those pre-K teachers are some of the hardest working teachers around. They are required to have plans (there’s your differentiation) for EACH student simply because they qualified for pre-K through the county. Feel free to leave your HS job and come on down to the lower grades and maybe it’ll shut you up.

and if you would focus on being a teacher in 6th grade, you would make sure all kids are learning their math and can read and write because when they get to high school, we have to pick up your slack.

you should lose your job because you surely are the problem that kids just get passed to the next level and then fall apart in HS.