MCPS Parents -- What would you tell teachers if you could?

[Anonymous]

Stop being a bully. Kids don’t learn through threats, punishments, shaming and yelling.

Also don’t use the N-word or any slur words. If you are a male teacher, do not leer at, touch, take undue personal interest in, comment on the body or clothing of, or ask about the love life of any girl in the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

And how much are you paid for your job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

What jobs have you had that required 7 full days of work a week to get it all done? Please let me know so I can avoid those fields when I quit teaching. Do you also have to use your personal leave so you can stay home and work? I know plenty of us do that, too.

I’ve searching for other jobs, like most of the teachers I work with. I’m a great worker and I’m not afraid of hard work or long hours. I’m just done being exploited, however, and being told “it’s my job” to give up all of my personal time to grading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

And how much are you paid for your job?

Not PP, but I can tell you my jobs haven’t had union protection or tenure. All jobs have upsides and downsides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

And how much are you paid for your job?

Not PP, but I can tell you my jobs haven’t had union protection or tenure. All jobs have upsides and downsides.

It’s clear teaching has far more downsides. That’s why so many are quitting and why positions can’t be filled.

Tenure only makes a difference if you last a career. Most teachers don’t, so that’s not the boost you think it is. And union protection didn’t help me when I was a bulled by another teacher, and you can watch the news right now to see how it didn’t help the many teachers treated poorly under just one principal.

If your job had as many downsides as teaching, you would also leave it. My guess is you get paid a lot more and you put up with a lot less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

And how much are you paid for your job?

Not PP, but I can tell you my jobs haven’t had union protection or tenure. All jobs have upsides and downsides.

It’s clear teaching has far more downsides. That’s why so many are quitting and why positions can’t be filled.

Tenure only makes a difference if you last a career. Most teachers don’t, so that’s not the boost you think it is. And union protection didn’t help me when I was a bulled by another teacher, and you can watch the news right now to see how it didn’t help the many teachers treated poorly under just one principal.

If your job had as many downsides as teaching, you would also leave it. My guess is you get paid a lot more and you put up with a lot less.

Editing to add -
I somehow read “tenure” as “pension” in your post. Pensions aren’t a big deal since most won’t see them. As for tenure, I’ve known plenty of teachers with tenure who have been let go. I’ve never really figured out what tenure does for me other than meaning admin needs a reason to fire me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

And how much are you paid for your job?

Not PP, but I can tell you my jobs haven’t had union protection or tenure. All jobs have upsides and downsides.

It’s clear teaching has far more downsides. That’s why so many are quitting and why positions can’t be filled.

Tenure only makes a difference if you last a career. Most teachers don’t, so that’s not the boost you think it is. And union protection didn’t help me when I was a bulled by another teacher, and you can watch the news right now to see how it didn’t help the many teachers treated poorly under just one principal.

If your job had as many downsides as teaching, you would also leave it. My guess is you get paid a lot more and you put up with a lot less.

Editing to add -
I somehow read “tenure” as “pension” in your post. Pensions aren’t a big deal since most won’t see them. As for tenure, I’ve known plenty of teachers with tenure who have been let go. I’ve never really figured out what tenure does for me other than meaning admin needs a reason to fire me.

And my company can fire me for no reason at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

And how much are you paid for your job?

Not PP, but I can tell you my jobs haven’t had union protection or tenure. All jobs have upsides and downsides.

It’s clear teaching has far more downsides. That’s why so many are quitting and why positions can’t be filled.

Tenure only makes a difference if you last a career. Most teachers don’t, so that’s not the boost you think it is. And union protection didn’t help me when I was a bulled by another teacher, and you can watch the news right now to see how it didn’t help the many teachers treated poorly under just one principal.

If your job had as many downsides as teaching, you would also leave it. My guess is you get paid a lot more and you put up with a lot less.

Editing to add -
I somehow read “tenure” as “pension” in your post. Pensions aren’t a big deal since most won’t see them. As for tenure, I’ve known plenty of teachers with tenure who have been let go. I’ve never really figured out what tenure does for me other than meaning admin needs a reason to fire me.

And my company can fire me for no reason at all.

And that’s true for teachers in the first years. Many teachers don’t even make it to tenure.

And I’m assuming you get paid 3 or 4 times more? Do you get time to prep for meetings and presentations built into your day? Can you pee on demand, or spend more than 15 minutes by yourself during the day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

I’m frustrated that ALL my grading (10-20 hours a week as an AP teacher) has to be done on my OWN time.

If your job meant that you had to work 12-14 hours Saturday AND Sunday in order to get work done, wouldn’t you question it?

This has been pretty much every job I've ever had except high school jobs like working at the mall

And how much are you paid for your job?

Not PP, but I can tell you my jobs haven’t had union protection or tenure. All jobs have upsides and downsides.

It’s clear teaching has far more downsides. That’s why so many are quitting and why positions can’t be filled.

Tenure only makes a difference if you last a career. Most teachers don’t, so that’s not the boost you think it is. And union protection didn’t help me when I was a bulled by another teacher, and you can watch the news right now to see how it didn’t help the many teachers treated poorly under just one principal.

If your job had as many downsides as teaching, you would also leave it. My guess is you get paid a lot more and you put up with a lot less.

Exactly. My boyfriend works from home, makes three times as much as I do, and he barely does anything. Plus, gets time off whenever he wants.

[Anonymous]

Teachers have it hard and I really appreciate all they do and don’t envy them. But not everything is sunshine and rainbows in other jobs. I use to tell friends the part of my day that saved my sanity was my 50min drive home where I could exist in complete silence between my corporate job and walking into Mom/Wife mode when I got home(and occasionally work would try to interrupt that).

I had to do real reflection on creating boundaries and determining what was most important on any given day. As they say, when you retire/die your inbox will still be full.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have it hard and I really appreciate all they do and don’t envy them. But not everything is sunshine and rainbows in other jobs. I use to tell friends the part of my day that saved my sanity was my 50min drive home where I could exist in complete silence between my corporate job and walking into Mom/Wife mode when I got home(and occasionally work would try to interrupt that).

I had to do real reflection on creating boundaries and determining what was most important on any given day. As they say, when you retire/die your inbox will still be full.

Yep. All jobs have upsides and downsides.

I worked for the feds and had some cool experiences, but they also psychologically tortured me. It took me about 2 years to recover from it, and in some ways I’m still not over it. What they did to me gave me nightmares and resulted in me going on anxiety meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have it hard and I really appreciate all they do and don’t envy them. But not everything is sunshine and rainbows in other jobs. I use to tell friends the part of my day that saved my sanity was my 50min drive home where I could exist in complete silence between my corporate job and walking into Mom/Wife mode when I got home(and occasionally work would try to interrupt that).

I had to do real reflection on creating boundaries and determining what was most important on any given day. As they say, when you retire/die your inbox will still be full.

Yep. All jobs have upsides and downsides.

I worked for the feds and had some cool experiences, but they also psychologically tortured me. It took me about 2 years to recover from it, and in some ways I’m still not over it. What they did to me gave me nightmares and resulted in me going on anxiety meds.

You left your abusive job. That’s what many of us are now doing within education. The turnover is HUGE. 3/4 my department has quit in the past 3 years, and the replacements aren’t lasting more than a year. Those of us who have soldiered on are all looking for an out, even those who stand to lose a ton by giving up pensions.

When teachers say it’s bad, please believe us. We often hear “everybody has it bad,” but we know that’s not true. We all have former colleagues telling us how great their new positions are. We all have husbands and wives who work less and make a lot more.

If you once had it bad, then perhaps you can sympathize with the modern teacher.

[Anonymous]

Teachers should tell parents to make sure your kid does their work and punish themnif they come in and regularly harass their teacher. If your teacher gives you the grade you deserve don't try to get them fired by complaining to admin that the big bad teacher gave my child a grade lower than an A and try to passively aggressively ruin a teachers career because you don't know how to parent and you entitled kid doesn't know how to take feedback. Teachers need support not parents fighting them and humiliating them with admin backing infrin of oversized classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s astonishing to me that teachers are complaining about having to grade essays and provide comments. That’s literally your job. WTH?!

It is their job but what they are saying is if they are teaching 5-6 classes with 120-140 students plus doing a club or extras, and they are a good teacher who provides support at lunch, when are you expecting them to grade those papers.

Class sizes for English at the high school level are around 30 or so, and are usually packed due to the teacher shortage. The number is closer to 140-150. Having only 120 students would be considered a "good year."