Teachers - How Hard is Your Job, Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be the voice of dissent here.
A boyfriend that I lived with for 2 years was a teacher.
He never ever brought work home unless he "goofed off" during a planning period, he had 2, in addition to lunch.
He did all his grading during those times, he said lunch hour was more for socializating and he wasn't interested.
It was his 5th year teaching the same grade, and he had perfected his curriculum the first couple years and continues to follow that with some tweaking.
He was home by 4 pm every day.
It was eye opening to say the least!

Pp here. I forgot to add he was awarded "teacher of the year" 2 years in a row. He did go to the library once a month on Saturday morning for kids that needed extra help.

Great! He's an exception. There are always exceptions. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Or are those teachers just not showing up on this thread to defend themselves?

He taught next to an older female teacher who took every other Friday off for the entire year and wore sweatpants to work. We used to make bets if she would show up and we figured out the pattern. It's like the floodgates have opened and I am remembering all this stuff.

He also had paid continuing Ed that he would take the day off and have a sub to go to a conference or something. It didn't count against his actual sick or vacation days.

As I posted earlier, it is easy to be a lazy teacher.

Whether you will be continued to be employed by the school district depends on whether they care about you being a lazy teacher. Frankly, male teachers often get more of a pass because people assume they are a good influence on the children.

I have been called in to IEP meeting where the classroom teacher was completely unprepared for the meeting and didn't even know the child had an IEP, had been making no accommodations, had little data on the child. No consequences for the teacher! If you are in a school like that, it is easy to be a teacher, no doubt.

I have also worked in schools where principals require lesson plans be turned in weekly and scrutinize them to be sure you are on the right topic and are planning 3 separate instructional groups for your above, on and below grade level math and reading groups. (The three ring circus). That's a harder job for sure.

To the comments about 11 weeks off in summer-- this year it was 9 weeks -- it was UNPAID. That is a break. But it is UNPAID.

If teaching is such a great and easy job why aren't more people clamoring for the position?

No one can seem to answer that question. But they all want to be administrators and tell you have to do your job with no experience or idea what is required of the job. Want to know why the education system is messed up. Not because of teachers but because of administrators and know it all politicians who want to tell teachers how to teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer School and Tutoring is all optional and is not part of the teaching contract. If your job is hard, I want to hear about your actual teaching job, not how hard it is to fit in some side job. You picked a job with retirement benefits over current pay. That's a trade off that means less pay each year, but coverage over more years.

Right! Because you have done the job before so you know this from experience. Yes! That's it!

?? The question is about how hard your teaching job is. Not your tutoring job. If someone asked me how hard my job was, I wouldn't include the difficulty of volunteering for my town committee or my kid's soccer team. It's just not part of the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be the voice of dissent here.
A boyfriend that I lived with for 2 years was a teacher.
He never ever brought work home unless he "goofed off" during a planning period, he had 2, in addition to lunch.
He did all his grading during those times, he said lunch hour was more for socializating and he wasn't interested.
It was his 5th year teaching the same grade, and he had perfected his curriculum the first couple years and continues to follow that with some tweaking.
He was home by 4 pm every day.
It was eye opening to say the least!

Pp here. I forgot to add he was awarded "teacher of the year" 2 years in a row. He did go to the library once a month on Saturday morning for kids that needed extra help.

Great! He's an exception. There are always exceptions. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Or are those teachers just not showing up on this thread to defend themselves?

He taught next to an older female teacher who took every other Friday off for the entire year and wore sweatpants to work. We used to make bets if she would show up and we figured out the pattern. It's like the floodgates have opened and I am remembering all this stuff.

He also had paid continuing Ed that he would take the day off and have a sub to go to a conference or something. It didn't count against his actual sick or vacation days.

As I posted earlier, it is easy to be a lazy teacher.

Whether you will be continued to be employed by the school district depends on whether they care about you being a lazy teacher. Frankly, male teachers often get more of a pass because people assume they are a good influence on the children.

I have been called in to IEP meeting where the classroom teacher was completely unprepared for the meeting and didn't even know the child had an IEP, had been making no accommodations, had little data on the child. No consequences for the teacher! If you are in a school like that, it is easy to be a teacher, no doubt.

I have also worked in schools where principals require lesson plans be turned in weekly and scrutinize them to be sure you are on the right topic and are planning 3 separate instructional groups for your above, on and below grade level math and reading groups. (The three ring circus). That's a harder job for sure.

To the comments about 11 weeks off in summer-- this year it was 9 weeks -- it was UNPAID. That is a break. But it is UNPAID.

If teaching is such a great and easy job why aren't more people clamoring for the position?

No one can seem to answer that question. But they all want to be administrators and tell you have to do your job with no experience or idea what is required of the job. Want to know why the education system is messed up. Not because of teachers but because of administrators and know it all politicians who want to tell teachers how to teacher.

Actually, I have worked for administrators with a lot of classroom teaching experience who were totally awesome leaders. A good principal/AP can make a teacher’s job so much “easier.”
It sounds like you have not had this experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's only unpaid because you choose not to receive a paycheck during that time.
My mother chooses the option to be paid throughout the year and her paycheck is spread out accordingly.

Oh, dear Lord.
Teachers are paid according to the length of their contracts.
Most teachers in FCPS are paid for 194 days. That means they work 194 days and are paid for that.
In the summers, when they don’t work, they don’t get paid.
If a teacher opts to have the pay spread out in order to receive a paycheck during the summer months, that means that the other months’ paychecks are LESS in order to pay for the months off. The pay is spread out. They are not being “paid” for the summer.
It is still unpaid time.

b

Yes, that's what I said. I thought it was obvious.
Why would you be paid when you are not working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be the voice of dissent here.
A boyfriend that I lived with for 2 years was a teacher.
He never ever brought work home unless he "goofed off" during a planning period, he had 2, in addition to lunch.
He did all his grading during those times, he said lunch hour was more for socializating and he wasn't interested.
It was his 5th year teaching the same grade, and he had perfected his curriculum the first couple years and continues to follow that with some tweaking.
He was home by 4 pm every day.
It was eye opening to say the least!

Pp here. I forgot to add he was awarded "teacher of the year" 2 years in a row. He did go to the library once a month on Saturday morning for kids that needed extra help.

Great! He's an exception. There are always exceptions. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Or are those teachers just not showing up on this thread to defend themselves?

He taught next to an older female teacher who took every other Friday off for the entire year and wore sweatpants to work. We used to make bets if she would show up and we figured out the pattern. It's like the floodgates have opened and I am remembering all this stuff.

He also had paid continuing Ed that he would take the day off and have a sub to go to a conference or something. It didn't count against his actual sick or vacation days.

As I posted earlier, it is easy to be a lazy teacher.

Whether you will be continued to be employed by the school district depends on whether they care about you being a lazy teacher. Frankly, male teachers often get more of a pass because people assume they are a good influence on the children.

I have been called in to IEP meeting where the classroom teacher was completely unprepared for the meeting and didn't even know the child had an IEP, had been making no accommodations, had little data on the child. No consequences for the teacher! If you are in a school like that, it is easy to be a teacher, no doubt.

I have also worked in schools where principals require lesson plans be turned in weekly and scrutinize them to be sure you are on the right topic and are planning 3 separate instructional groups for your above, on and below grade level math and reading groups. (The three ring circus). That's a harder job for sure.

To the comments about 11 weeks off in summer-- this year it was 9 weeks -- it was UNPAID. That is a break. But it is UNPAID.

If teaching is such a great and easy job why aren't more people clamoring for the position?

No one can seem to answer that question. But they all want to be administrators and tell you have to do your job with no experience or idea what is required of the job. Want to know why the education system is messed up. Not because of teachers but because of administrators and know it all politicians who want to tell teachers how to teacher.

Actually, I have worked for administrators with a lot of classroom teaching experience who were totally awesome leaders. A good principal/AP can make a teacher’s job so much “easier.”
It sounds like you have not had this experience.

Obviously I am not talking about them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer School and Tutoring is all optional and is not part of the teaching contract. If your job is hard, I want to hear about your actual teaching job, not how hard it is to fit in some side job. You picked a job with retirement benefits over current pay. That's a trade off that means less pay each year, but coverage over more years.

Right! Because you have done the job before so you know this from experience. Yes! That's it!

?? The question is about how hard your teaching job is. Not your tutoring job. If someone asked me how hard my job was, I wouldn't include the difficulty of volunteering for my town committee or my kid's soccer team. It's just not part of the job.

I think the summer school/tutoring topic came up because of two posters - one saying that teachers leave the building early and a teacher said she left to go to tutor. Another poster claimed that teachers got paid during the summer or had summers off. Teachers just want others to understand that they have other obligations during the summer - some directly job related, some not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's only unpaid because you choose not to receive a paycheck during that time.
My mother chooses the option to be paid throughout the year and her paycheck is spread out accordingly.

Oh, dear Lord.
Teachers are paid according to the length of their contracts.
Most teachers in FCPS are paid for 194 days. That means they work 194 days and are paid for that.
In the summers, when they don’t work, they don’t get paid.
If a teacher opts to have the pay spread out in order to receive a paycheck during the summer months, that means that the other months’ paychecks are LESS in order to pay for the months off. The pay is spread out. They are not being “paid” for the summer.
It is still unpaid time.

b

Yes, that's what I said. I thought it was obvious.
Why would you be paid when you are not working?

Then, it is unpaid time. Some teachers just opt to have their pay spread out.
You said, "It's only unpaid because you choose not to receive a paycheck during that time.”
No, it is unpaid. Whether you choose to have your pay divided into 12 payments or 10 payments, in the end, it is the same amount because the summer months are unpaid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's only unpaid because you choose not to receive a paycheck during that time.
My mother chooses the option to be paid throughout the year and her paycheck is spread out accordingly.

Oh, dear Lord.
Teachers are paid according to the length of their contracts.
Most teachers in FCPS are paid for 194 days. That means they work 194 days and are paid for that.
In the summers, when they don’t work, they don’t get paid.
If a teacher opts to have the pay spread out in order to receive a paycheck during the summer months, that means that the other months’ paychecks are LESS in order to pay for the months off. The pay is spread out. They are not being “paid” for the summer.
It is still unpaid time.

b

Yes, that's what I said. I thought it was obvious.
Why would you be paid when you are not working?

Then, it is unpaid time. Some teachers just opt to have their pay spread out.
You said, "It's only unpaid because you choose not to receive a paycheck during that time.”
No, it is unpaid. Whether you choose to have your pay divided into 12 payments or 10 payments, in the end, it is the same amount because the summer months are unpaid.

Yes, again, you are not paid because you are not working.
Your original post on the matter was filled with dramatic capitalizations about being UNPAID and I was simply pointing out you didn't need to suffer needlessly for 9-11 weeks, you could simply have your paycheck spread out.
You can't be saying you expect to be paid for not working.

[Anonymous]

^^ is this what Common Core math has done?

[Anonymous]

No, it is what the common core marh trying to fix.

Seriously, i was a former academic, and was paid for 9 month a year. It is always confusing to my friends why that doesn't mean a 3 month summer off each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's only unpaid because you choose not to receive a paycheck during that time.
My mother chooses the option to be paid throughout the year and her paycheck is spread out accordingly.

Yes, only because there are significant deductions taken out monthly during the school year in order to receive $ during the summer months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer School and Tutoring is all optional and is not part of the teaching contract. If your job is hard, I want to hear about your actual teaching job, not how hard it is to fit in some side job. You picked a job with retirement benefits over current pay. That's a trade off that means less pay each year, but coverage over more years.

Right! Because you have done the job before so you know this from experience. Yes! That's it!

many of us do tutoring/summer school because of NEED and not desire...many of us are not paid well...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it is what the common core marh trying to fix.

Seriously, i was a former academic, and was paid for 9 month a year. It is always confusing to my friends why that doesn't mean a 3 month summer off each year.

It wasn't confusing. They were probably just sick of you complaining about it since they most likely work year round

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll be the voice of dissent here.
A boyfriend that I lived with for 2 years was a teacher.
He never ever brought work home unless he "goofed off" during a planning period, he had 2, in addition to lunch.
He did all his grading during those times, he said lunch hour was more for socializating and he wasn't interested.
It was his 5th year teaching the same grade, and he had perfected his curriculum the first couple years and continues to follow that with some tweaking.
He was home by 4 pm every day.
It was eye opening to say the least!

Your boyfriend was/is a terrible teacher. I teach secondary, and I have a few colleagues like this; they are a frequent topic of exasperated gossip in the staff room. Also, trust me, the students know. I overhear students complaining about a particular colleague who is lazy and does not correct/return their work, and who does not plan lessons, but shows up and "wings it", showing lots of clips from Khan Academy. I hope your (ex?) boyfriend found another profession.

How were you able to actually live with/date someone so lazy, unprofessional, and cavalier about wronging young people by depriving them of key concepts they needed for progress to the next level, but which they were not getting in his lazy, canned "lessons" (because, no, it isn't possible to teach effectively if one does what you describe)? Didn't it bother you that your boyfriend was a loser?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer School and Tutoring is all optional and is not part of the teaching contract. If your job is hard, I want to hear about your actual teaching job, not how hard it is to fit in some side job. You picked a job with retirement benefits over current pay. That's a trade off that means less pay each year, but coverage over more years.

Right! Because you have done the job before so you know this from experience. Yes! That's it!

many of us do tutoring/summer school because of NEED and not desire...many of us are not paid well...

I'm not paid well either (in fact less than a teacher and with no retirement benefits). Still if someone asked me how hard my job was, I wouldn't include commitments to other jobs. Is that so hard to understand?