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

[Anonymous]

I totally feel your pain. I am a teacher myself. What's with the no-peeing during the work day comments? Is it an elementary school thing? I teach in a large high school and am very pregnant. I leave my classes at least twice during each 90 minute block to pee. Students keep working and there are typically no disruptions when I am gone.

[Anonymous]

ES teachers cannot just leave their classrooms full of kids to go to the bathroom unless someone else stands in for them. I worked with my mentor teacher years ago when I was student teaching and she said one of the reasons she always said she would have an intern is so she could go to the bathroom. She had irritable bowel syndrome and couldn't hold it. It made me feel sad for her. Plus she had the kids all day. They didn't change classes like in middle and HS so there was no break (except 30 mins for lunch and one planning time of 45 mins).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Whoever you are, I think we could be friends.
I'm the OP. I love this. (Honestly - I do. No sarcasm.)
I have three kids under four. They've been sick a gazillion times this year, and always with fevers, so that they can't go to day care and my husband and I alternate days off. I'm out of sick leave. So every day I'm out I lose pay now, and I still pay for day care. But that wasn't really my gripe. I am really really really trying to teach my students. I call 10 subs in order to get the one I know will do the best job. So I plan for their day without me to still be productive. They shouldn't just be busy (although I do throw in a video for the end of the sub's day. Guilty.)
Peeing isn't my gripe either. I only drink coffee before school, and I just go before they come in and again at lunch. I'm not very hydrated, but I don't blame this on anyone but myself. We should be so lucky that not being able to pee is the worst part of our careers.
I teach 2nd grade, with an out-of-touch administration who care for nothing but numbers. (Who don't know my kids' names, but do know that there are four of them who aren't reading at benchmark, so I must be the worst teacher on my team.)

[Anonymous]

Continued - my text broke off.

I know I could change schools. But sometimes the devil you know......
I know other jobs are hard. I do, I promise. Maybe one of my issues is when people hear teaching, they don't think "hard". They may think "summers off."
For example - Lily on "How I Met Your Mother" pisses me off. She's a kindergarten teacher. She talks about playdough and fingerpaint. What about reading levels and writing assessments?!

I know. I'm immature. I'm sticking with teaching, though! (As of this minute.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I totally feel your pain. I am a teacher myself. What's with the no-peeing during the work day comments? Is it an elementary school thing? I teach in a large high school and am very pregnant. I leave my classes at least twice during each 90 minute block to pee. Students keep working and there are typically no disruptions when I am gone.

PP,

HS teacher, too

If I left some of my classes for 5 minutes to pee, I'd see books flying out of the window and kids creeping out of the door. I'm sure others would be trying to get in a "quickie," too.

no can do . . . unfortunately

[Anonymous]

Problem is that public education is mandatory and free in America. You wouldn't have to put up with that non-sense if you were a teacher somewhere where teachers are treated with respect and school was a privilege.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you have 3 kids under the age of four, I think any job is going to be hard, especially if you are the one who has to take time off when they are sick. They are going to get sick esp when they are so little, there's really no way around that. The good thing is in a few more years things should get a lot easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally feel your pain. I am a teacher myself. What's with the no-peeing during the work day comments? Is it an elementary school thing? I teach in a large high school and am very pregnant. I leave my classes at least twice during each 90 minute block to pee. Students keep working and there are typically no disruptions when I am gone.

PP,

HS teacher, too

If I left some of my classes for 5 minutes to pee, I'd see books flying out of the window and kids creeping out of the door. I'm sure others would be trying to get in a "quickie," too.

no can do . . . unfortunately

How about kids flying out of the window??? When I was on my maternity leave with my first, my sub informed me one day that one of my students had tried to climb out the window during class! We are on the 2nd floor, but luckily there is another roof right outside, so if she had made it, it would not have been a big drop. Thankfully this year I have good students in all of my classes and I am able to leave to go to the bathroom and even make copies if need be.

[Anonymous]

OP, just be happy you can take a day off when your child is sick.

[Anonymous]

I had a good friend who, after her second child, decided to change careers. She used to be an accountant. Then she got a degree in special education so she could "have summers off" and "spend more time with her children." She has learned that although summer breaks are nice, she works like a crazymaniac during the school year. And the pay is "eh."

Good thing she LOVES (the idea of) teaching children. Hers isn't an easy job for sure. Neither is yours. My experience is that teachers who are good at what they do can do many, many other jobs. Sales? Management? Think about it.

[Anonymous]

OP, the salary discrepancy has to do with benefits such as sick days and so on. You are more than welcome to join my industry (health care) and maybe be paid a little more. But don't call in sick, or you'll be looking for your next job quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Problem is that public education is mandatory and free in America. You wouldn't have to put up with that non-sense if you were a teacher somewhere where teachers are treated with respect and school was a privilege.

Just curious - where are they treated with respect? I guess in places where schools are harder to come by, such as parts of Africa for example.

However, I think I'd rather have a system like that which exists in the U.S and most European and Commonwealth countries, where education is free and mandatory and teachers are not that highly paid nor respected, than a system where teachers are highly paid and respected but a small rich minority has access to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is that public education is mandatory and free in America. You wouldn't have to put up with that non-sense if you were a teacher somewhere where teachers are treated with respect and school was a privilege.

Just curious - where are they treated with respect? I guess in places where schools are harder to come by, such as parts of Africa for example.

However, I think I'd rather have a system like that which exists in the U.S and most European and Commonwealth countries, where education is free and mandatory and teachers are not that highly paid nor respected, than a system where teachers are highly paid and respected but a small rich minority has access to them.

I teach ESOL and most of the students I have had who have a real respect for teachers are from Asia and Africa. However, I think that's more a sign of their culture (respect for elders) than because education is hard to come by in their countries. That's not to say that other countries don't respect teachers, but from my 10 years of teaching this is what I have observed. Of course in many countries is OK for teachers to hit their students, so they also have a little bit of fear to go with that respect. I don't think teachers are especially well paid in those countries either, but they are respected because of their level of education.

[Anonymous]

You could be running your own business. No paid sick leave. No paid holidays. Every hour you spend dealing with a non-work issue is money that you lose. No one else is in charge of fixing the heating when it's busted. And in a bad economy the "layoffs" affect more of your kind than in most professions. Or you could lose $$ for every unproductive hour, or hemorrage $$ while you wait around for a client to send you the next step of the project.

Or you could have to work outside in this weather. Or be in food services, where 95% of workers get no paid sick time at all and most can't afford unpaid FMLA even if their employer is large enough.

Seriously, I'm sorry that it's so tough for you right now but look around you-- it's tough all over.

[Anonymous]

Comparisons to food service or outdoor workers are not really fair if you consider teachers as university-educated professionals, though I understand that the quality and extent of this education can (and should) be challenged. Small business owners may or may not have substantial formal education, but have certainly signed on for higher risk than salaried professionals.