The problem with "teachers pay teachers"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teacher is supposed to be provided with everyone she/he needs to instruct the students. She/he is not. That is the problem.

I agree this is the larger problem. The teacher needs a published book edited by professional editors.

You have no idea how many teachers fight this though. They want to teach what they want to teach.

Have you not seen the thousand posters from all over the US complaining about teaching to the test and how awful Pearson is? How cookie cutter a bought curriculum is? No one can speak in shades of grey anymore. It's like they've completely forgotten that teachers used to have curriculum materials given to them AND they had the option of providing their own.

I remember being in a meeting with the reading resource teacher to find out that she spent 80% of her time creating reading lesson plans for teachers. She showed me one she had been working all day on for writing a fairy tale as if that had never been done before in 4th grade. I asked "aren't you helping students with reading?" and the answer was that most of the individual reading help was done by the teacher and not the reading resource. The reading resource was there to support the teachers. True story.

20:08 again. I remember one more detail. The fairy tale was also teaching dialogue. Needed an entire day planning session to produce a lesson plan for teaching a fairy tale with dialogue.

I blame the teachers. All the teachers at our school are given the option of having curriculum materials given to them and they choose not to use them. We are an AAP center and the teachers use none of the AAP materials. It's infuriating. We have history books sitting on the side of the classrooms opened less than 3 times a year. The materials they provide in their place are not better and take more time.

We get total crap from the school. I create and update my own material to supplement the outdated textbook. My methods and materials are supported by current neuroscience research on how students learn. I love parents who tell me how to do my job. ?

[Anonymous]

I remember being in a meeting with the reading resource teacher to find out that she spent 80% of her time creating reading lesson plans for teachers. She showed me one she had been working all day on for writing a fairy tale as if that had never been done before in 4th grade. I asked "aren't you helping students with reading?" and the answer was that most of the individual reading help was done by the teacher and not the reading resource. The reading resource was there to support the teachers. True story.

This still goes on? I haven't taught in years, but I remember when the Reading Specialist went from taking groups of kids, to being a "resource." It was a joke. What a waste of resources. She never did anything to help teachers. I do think she had to be informed when we moved kids up to the next "level," but I don't think she ever checked anything. The teachers could never figure out what she did all day. I don't think she ever stepped into my classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a typical DCUM school thread full of parents who know nothing about teaching or how the education system works spouting off as if they do.

This. As a teacher, I just sit back and laugh.

Well, anybody can be a teacher you know.

You just go in there and hand out worksheets, and collect your paycheck for part time work. (Sarcasm)

According to DCUM, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most teachers are kind of dumb. Sorry. Not ALL teachers, but the bar to being a teacher is REALLY LOW, and it’s a profession that people go into when they aren’t really good at anything other than being patient and nice.

And teachers wonder why no one respects us? Maybe since it's so easy to do our job, we should just all quit and have the monkeys take over.

Signed,

A teacher (who has a masters degree from an Ivy and is currently in a doctorate program)

+1
A teacher long out of the classroom with Masters' Plus and who hates spelling errors and would never give the kids worksheets with those kinds of errors on them.

And, FWIW, you'd be surprised how many errors you can also find in textbooks............of course, you have to look for them.

+1
Teacher with two Ivy degrees.

“Most” teachers don’t have ivy degrees. MOST teachers are the as I described above. It wasn’t a personal attack, it is a description of the profession in general. This country hires thousands and thousands of teachers every year, and with no pay incentives,, MOST of them end up being pretty average.

[Anonymous]

Public school is designed for average kids so win-win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public school is designed for average kids so win-win.

I’m a teacher and I agree with this. Look, we aren’t the smartest, but seriously, neither are the kids. If your kid is smart, I always tell the parents to move to another school and go private. Public isn’t for smart kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public school is designed for average kids so win-win.

I’m a teacher and I agree with this. Look, we aren’t the smartest, but seriously, neither are the kids. If your kid is smart, I always tell the parents to move to another school and go private. Public isn’t for smart kids.

As a smart parent who went to public school, I don't understand this. I got an excellent education in a good public school district. I expect my kids to get an excellent education in a good public school district.

[Anonymous]

I’ve bought TPT activities for sub plans. Nice reviews or reinforcements.
There are some very clever and creative teachers on there. I’ve bought their activities and edited with my own problems.

[Anonymous]

My curriculum area used to have a great FCPS Blackboard site curated by our content specialist who would post great materials for each unit of study. The plans often included differentiation options and fun connections that I wouldn't had thought to make. I could edit them to fit my students and teaching style. Fast forward to now, and the county stopped updating the Blackboard site and tells us about the almighty eCart resources that are impossible to find. So, yes, I now use Teachers Pay Teachers for ideas and it takes me far longer to edit sub-par resources. I can't imagine being an elementary teacher and trying to create differentiated, engaging lessons for every subject, every day. There is just no way to realistically have that happen...especially if you are a newer teacher that doesn't have a resource bank to pull from.

[Anonymous]

So that is why the website is so popular. People cannot believe how much money teachers spend just to be able to do their job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My curriculum area used to have a great FCPS Blackboard site curated by our content specialist who would post great materials for each unit of study. The plans often included differentiation options and fun connections that I wouldn't had thought to make. I could edit them to fit my students and teaching style. Fast forward to now, and the county stopped updating the Blackboard site and tells us about the almighty eCart resources that are impossible to find. So, yes, I now use Teachers Pay Teachers for ideas and it takes me far longer to edit sub-par resources. I can't imagine being an elementary teacher and trying to create differentiated, engaging lessons for every subject, every day. There is just no way to realistically have that happen...especially if you are a newer teacher that doesn't have a resource bank to pull from.

Why are they impossible to find?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public school is designed for average kids so win-win.

I’m a teacher and I agree with this. Look, we aren’t the smartest, but seriously, neither are the kids. If your kid is smart, I always tell the parents to move to another school and go private. Public isn’t for smart kids.

As a smart parent who went to public school, I don't understand this. I got an excellent education in a good public school district. I expect my kids to get an excellent education in a good public school district.

I attended privates and ented public school in ninth grade. I was way behind. My daughter attended public since second grade. She is light years ahead of me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a typical DCUM school thread full of parents who know nothing about teaching or how the education system works spouting off as if they do.

Same thing on Facebook. Our schools are getting worse and worse because of the mob rule mentality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a typical DCUM school thread full of parents who know nothing about teaching or how the education system works spouting off as if they do.

Same thing on Facebook. Our schools are getting worse and worse because of the mob rule mentality.

What does Facebook (or DCUM posts) have to do with school quality?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teacher is supposed to be provided with everyone she/he needs to instruct the students. She/he is not. That is the problem.

I agree this is the larger problem. The teacher needs a published book edited by professional editors.

You have no idea how many teachers fight this though. They want to teach what they want to teach.

Have you not seen the thousand posters from all over the US complaining about teaching to the test and how awful Pearson is? How cookie cutter a bought curriculum is? No one can speak in shades of grey anymore. It's like they've completely forgotten that teachers used to have curriculum materials given to them AND they had the option of providing their own.

I remember being in a meeting with the reading resource teacher to find out that she spent 80% of her time creating reading lesson plans for teachers. She showed me one she had been working all day on for writing a fairy tale as if that had never been done before in 4th grade. I asked "aren't you helping students with reading?" and the answer was that most of the individual reading help was done by the teacher and not the reading resource. The reading resource was there to support the teachers. True story.

20:08 again. I remember one more detail. The fairy tale was also teaching dialogue. Needed an entire day planning session to produce a lesson plan for teaching a fairy tale with dialogue.

I blame the teachers. All the teachers at our school are given the option of having curriculum materials given to them and they choose not to use them. We are an AAP center and the teachers use none of the AAP materials. It's infuriating. We have history books sitting on the side of the classrooms opened less than 3 times a year. The materials they provide in their place are not better and take more time.

We get total crap from the school. I create and update my own material to supplement the outdated textbook. My methods and materials are supported by current neuroscience research on how students learn. I love parents who tell me how to do my job. ?

This is why other teachers don't get instructional materials to use from their school system. Teachers like this create and update their material because they feel textbooks and worksheets given are outdated. That would be fine if they just did this and didn't complain about the other material, but it happens that they always complain about the material given. Teacher created plans and curriculum material is great for the teacher who has a lot of experience. Not so great for the new teacher who is floundering. I bet this teacher doesn't share either.