Parents, please don’t ask me to stay after school and tutor your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it really your personal time? I don’t think teachers workday is done at the ringing of the last bell.

Teachers have contract hours. At my school it's 8:30-4. The kids are all gone by 4 and so are most of the teachers, and although some stay longer to finish stuff I'd say more arrive early, before contract hours, but not all do. Some work just the contract hours, some work extra hours without extra pay.

So school ends at 3 and kids come back at 4 for help. No they ask for help after school and the teacher is on the clock.

Plus 8:30-4 is only 7.5 hrs.

No I am not on the clock at that time. I have to say your attitude is supremely selfish.

What are your hours? How many planning times do you have a week vs actual work hours, plus lunch.

Why is it so hard for you to understand that the hours that a teacher needs to put in to do their job (excluding working with kids after school) far exceeds any planning time they get? Do you think teachers are just making this up. If I got adequate planning time. I would not need to spend 30 hours a week beyond contract hours doing work. The problem with teaching is that it’s actually two jobs treated as if it is one.

You need a mentor.

Maybe you are working hard but not working smart.

I think it’s reasonable to help students from 3-4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always do it when asked because I would feel bitchy saying no, but I have to admit. I really resent it. That is my personal time, that I don’t get paid for and takes time away from my family. Plus I have hours and hours of work to do after school just to do the basics of my job. No one would dream of asking their attorney or accountant to stay after work and work with them for free. It’s really unfair for you to put teachers in that awkward place of either having to work for free and feel resentful, or feel bad for saying no.

You should not feel at all guilty about saying no. "Sorry, I don't do tutoring in my personal time, but here's a list of tutors in your area that I've heard other students using. You'd have to ask them for their current rates."

Ok, so technically they don’t ask me to “tutor”. That’s my word. They will ask if Johnny could stay after school one day and get help. I would feel bad for saying no, but honestly after school I am making copies, emailing parents, doing so many other things. It just seems rather presumptuous that parents would expect it, yet it seems to be a common expectation. In our society. And I have heard people criticize teachers who “don’t want to stay after and help out kids”. Yes, I care about kids and want them to do well, but to put it bluntly. Not at the expense of my own (very little) personal time.

Well if you KEEP DOING IT of COURSE THEY WILL KEEP EXPECTING IT. Can't you see you are your own biggest problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t a math teacher supposed to teach the kids the math? If it’s not happening, why? Is there something wrong with how it’s being taught or the expectations? It’s not true that other professions don’t work extra. I’m an attorney and I’m asked to deliver x product (the equivalent for you would be teaching x concept). I work until it’s done, even if it means working weekends or staying late.

Learning cannot occur for many reasons. Many kid sizes don’t pay attention, fall asleep in class, spend ages in the bathroom, don’t come to school. They are robots who produce x when y is inputted. I will help kids after school if they ask for it, show up when they say they will and don’t waste time in class screwing around.

This...and let's not forget the kids that saunter in an hour late every. single. day and then disrupt the class and ruin the lesson for everyone else, because, hell, they've got no idea what's going on anyway. You drop your kid off late every day? Don't expect me to take time out of my already jam packed after school hours (I usually leave between 5 and 6) and tutor him or her. Imagine if your client sauntered in an hour late every time you had a meeting.... Educating people is a 2 way street. If parents and students don't carry their weight, it's a dead end street.

[Anonymous]

What does your union contract say? Or are you a non-union teacher ?

[Anonymous]

Gah... who wants to become a teacher after reading this. Send any kids reading the college forum over here to see what they can expect.

[Anonymous]

Why do you do it!! I’m a high school teacher and when parents ask this of me I literally tell them “that is a paid service you will need to contract out with a tutor.” No f -ing way I’m staying after and doing it for free when people charge $75 for it and they’re kid usually isn’t even asking for helping during my actual class. Just say no OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it really your personal time? I don’t think teachers workday is done at the ringing of the last bell.

Oh yes it is. My contract hours end at 4:15 and I am DONE. Teachers who work hours after that for free are why we get paid crap. Of course they won’t raise our pay when martyrs will do it for free. I love my job but I am not a 24/7 employee and your kid’s essay is not more important than me spending time with my own children. When the bell rings, I’m off just like anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Team OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in biglaw. This kind of attitude would basically be grounds for termination. And non lawyers in law firms aren’t making that much to offset.

Ok, so because your job is crappy, although highly paid, that means that teachers should be expected to devote all their waking hours to work?

Read. PP is referring to non-lawyer jobs in law firms. PP is saying that those jobs don’t make much more than teachers to offset the expectation of many more hours worked.

Newish teachers are often making $60,000/year and sometimes much more, working 10 or 11 months per year (so that annualizes closer to $70,000). Most people making that kind of money in the private sector have much higher expectations placed on them.

These complainer PPs remind me of a teacher poster in another thread who was talking about how she has to stay until 6pm sometimes. Lol

Ok go away. You obviously have NO IDEA what you are talking about.

No. You can “go away” or make a reasonable argument. First year teachers with zero experience in FCPS start at $50,000-$55,000. More in Loudoun and Arlington. Newish teachers are easily close to $60,000. They only work 194 days per year.

No teacher only works that amount. This is why you are clueless, I assumed it was common knowledge by now that teachers put in way, way more than their contract hours. It would be impossible to do the bare minimum of their jobs if they only worked their contract hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does your union contract say? Or are you a non-union teacher ?

In Virginia, so non-union, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you do it!! I’m a high school teacher and when parents ask this of me I literally tell them “that is a paid service you will need to contract out with a tutor.” No f -ing way I’m staying after and doing it for free when people charge $75 for it and they’re kid usually isn’t even asking for helping during my actual class. Just say no OP!

I admire you and wish I had your backbone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it really your personal time? I don’t think teachers workday is done at the ringing of the last bell.

Oh yes it is. My contract hours end at 4:15 and I am DONE. Teachers who work hours after that for free are why we get paid crap. Of course they won’t raise our pay when martyrs will do it for free. I love my job but I am not a 24/7 employee and your kid’s essay is not more important than me spending time with my own children. When the bell rings, I’m off just like anyone else.

This 100%, Teachers are under a lot of pressure and made to feel guilty if they don't do all of these things that are expected of us . We hear ALL THE TIME from our administrators that "teaching is a calling" and no one wants to be the teacher that seems uncaring, so a great many of us do these things, which increases the pressure for everyone else, and the cycle continues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it really your personal time? I don’t think teachers workday is done at the ringing of the last bell.

Oh yes it is. My contract hours end at 4:15 and I am DONE. Teachers who work hours after that for free are why we get paid crap. Of course they won’t raise our pay when martyrs will do it for free. I love my job but I am not a 24/7 employee and your kid’s essay is not more important than me spending time with my own children. When the bell rings, I’m off just like anyone else.

This totally. I have heard administrators say that teaching is a calling like the ministry. Well no. Think about how many teachers are needed to fill our schools. Is it really reasonable to expect to be able to fill these jobs entirely with people who really want to devote their entire lives to it? I'm like you. I truly love kids and care about them, or else I wouldn't have become a teacher. But ultimately it is "gasp" a job. I want to have a normal workload and live my life like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is odd to me. When I taught school all teachers were available for a little while before and after school for extra help. Many of us had specific days and hours. That’s just part of the job. I was actually thrilled when a student took the initiative and came to me for help. Maybe teaching isn’t the career fit you, OP.

This is how it works for both of my children’s schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is odd to me. When I taught school all teachers were available for a little while before and after school for extra help. Many of us had specific days and hours. That’s just part of the job. I was actually thrilled when a student took the initiative and came to me for help. Maybe teaching isn’t the career fit you, OP.

Says who? Why should that just be part of the job? We don’t ask other people including doctors or nurses to stay after office hours to meet with patients.

Many doctor husband would disagree with you on this one—when they are on call they sometimes get 15 calls a day on the emergency line (Pediatrics) and very few of them are actual emergencies. His whole weekend can be ruined and he does not get paid for each call. And no, we are not super wealthy, we are drowning in loans.