Why Are Teachers So Resentful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids school has no homework and teachers get a daily planning/work period of over an hour a day. I have no idea how they claim they are working so many extra hours. Standing around talking, I guess.

You are hilarious. One hour a day is not enough to keep up with grading, plus teachers need to plan. I guarantee that your school's teachers don't actually get that planning time each day, either. They will be pulled out into meetings or given supervision duties or other obligations. Guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting teacher threads are always filled with teachers claiming they work 60+ hours a week, but there's always a delay in grading, sending communication, etc. 🤔

I'm a high school English teacher. There is a "delay in grading" because it takes me 20-30 minutes to carefully read each essay and write thoughtful, individualized feedback that will help students improve. I have over a hundred students, all of whom are preparing for exams in May, and I have no time during the school day to grade because I am forced to cover for colleagues who are out or attend (largely useless) meetings. This means the bulk of that grading must take place at home. This means over 30 hours of grading to be done in the evenings and weekends, BUT I also have to plan lessons, organize advisory activities, and complete paperwork. I write a lot of letters of rec for college as well, and each of these means at least one meeting with the student, plus time to write the letter.

If you have any ideas for me that won't involve ignoring my own family and letting my home fall into utter chaos, I'm all ears. Right now, I'm doing the best I can.

I understand that the majority of parents think I am stupid and lazy, and that I complain too much. I am actively looking for a new career after almost 20 years of teaching because the criticism and attacks just really get me down at this point, and I live in a perpetual state of anxiety and dread about everything I need to get done.

I especially enjoyed the scathing posts about teachers and letters of rec a few weeks ago.

I’m also an English teacher. I could have written your post above. I am also looking to exit the profession after 2 decades of successful and meaningful teaching.

Sometimes I remind myself that the DCUM posters who gleefully attack us don’t represent the majority of families. Still, the posts are tiresome. That LOR thread was deeply insulting, as are the many threads that refer to us as lazy and uneducated. I usually see them as I’m taking a break from evening grading, or Saturday grading, or Sunday grading.

Since the DCUM angry parents aren’t going to say it, I will: thank you for what you do. I may be a teacher, but I’m also a parent. I know what you’re sacrificing for your students: the hours, the time with your own family, and even your happiness. I appreciate you.

[Anonymous]

I can believe that many teachers spent a lot of hours working, but I want to make a couple of points : 1. That’s true also parents and we do feel overwhelmed working so we can pay school tuition and the teachers salaries 2. The fact that you work long hours doesn’t make you a good teacher. There are a lot of excellent teachers at my school but also a lot of mediocre ones that teach just the bare minimum and never respond to emails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can believe that many teachers spent a lot of hours working, but I want to make a couple of points : 1. That’s true also parents and we do feel overwhelmed working so we can pay school tuition and the teachers salaries 2. The fact that you work long hours doesn’t make you a good teacher. There are a lot of excellent teachers at my school but also a lot of mediocre ones that teach just the bare minimum and never respond to emails.

I suppose the chance that you’re writing to two very strong, dedicated teachers didn’t cross your mind?

Excellent teachers exist. You actually acknowledged that above. And you’re writing to one of them might now.

For you to imply that I may be lazy, and for you to throw the silly “I pay your salary” argument at me… well, you did that to be disrespectful and disparaging.

Excellent teachers are tired of the lowly, cowardly shots at our profession. And both of us just wrote that we are looking to exit the field. Who will be left when the strong teachers walk away from this treatment?

I would like to find a reason to stay because I am very good at what I do. But each little comment like yours above drives another nail.

[Anonymous]

I’m not even a teacher. I’m a parent volunteer. Most of the parents are great. Several have become lifelong friends. But some parents are so entitled. They demand everything from childcare during events to specific events. They never think to themselves, “I can also volunteer and do these things for my community.” They just demand existing volunteers.

I have a demanding full-time job, a marriage and a mother of 3. The work I do for the school is unpaid.

I can’t imagine being a teacher. A few parents are so awful they ruin what would otherwise be meaningful and pleasant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not even a teacher. I’m a parent volunteer. Most of the parents are great. Several have become lifelong friends. But some parents are so entitled. They demand everything from childcare during events to specific events. They never think to themselves, “I can also volunteer and do these things for my community.” They just demand existing volunteers.

I have a demanding full-time job, a marriage and a mother of 3. The work I do for the school is unpaid.

I can’t imagine being a teacher. A few parents are so awful they ruin what would otherwise be meaningful and pleasant.

Most parents are lovely! I have over 20 years of experiences (parent/teacher conferences, community events) that remind me of the many supportive parents who see teachers as partners, not adversaries.

Unfortunately, the few hostile ones sour the work environment with insults and unreasonable demands. I constantly remind myself that you simply can’t make some people happy, no matter how much you give them.

Thank you for your support, both on this site and at your school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

I’m the teacher PP.

We have lost our way. 20 years ago, my job was to teach. I had clear lessons, clear expectations, and time to provide clear feedback. I had fewer students and more planning time.

Now I have larger classes and more of them. I am no longer supposed to teach. We aren’t supposed to be “the sage on the stage”; in fact, we are marked down in our evaluations if we are caught doing that. We are supposed to be the “guide on the side,” as students learn cooperatively through group work and gallery walks. I am now a guide, a counselor, a social worker, a nurse, an entertainer, a mentor, and a data collector. Teacher? That’s just one of many hats now and I don’t think it’s considered the most important.

And this new version of teaching isn’t benefiting the students. And those of us who have been in the profession a long time know it.

+1

Add to this the lack of discipline and accountability due to lax and overindulgent parenting, and administrations more interested in the shiny new thing they can market rather than the daily work of education, teaching is not what it should be.

Absolutely. And administration has grown. Each new admin comes up with some sort of initiative which leads to more work for teachers, and often the work leads nowhere useful. It simply takes us away from what we should be doing: teaching.

This is what has with me out in the last few years. Now there is a literacy, math, and ESOL coach. I teach all three so I constantly have these people in my room observing me. Then we have to meet during my planning to talk about improvements. They are disconnected from the curriculum too. They tell me to do x but the curriculum tells me to do y. It wastes my time and 2/3 of them have never taught anywhere near my grade level. They also give weekly assignments for teachers so when we meet as a group every other week, we talk about our assignments. Too many people outside of the classroom making more work for the teachers. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can believe that many teachers spent a lot of hours working, but I want to make a couple of points : 1. That’s true also parents and we do feel overwhelmed working so we can pay school tuition and the teachers salaries 2. The fact that you work long hours doesn’t make you a good teacher. There are a lot of excellent teachers at my school but also a lot of mediocre ones that teach just the bare minimum and never respond to emails.

Private school is a choice. If you’re so overwhelmed you can work less and send your kid to public school. This is entirely a self-made problem.

-not a teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two things IMO:

(1) Educational standards have changed, making teaching more difficult. Textbooks are not used, which force teachers to come up with curriculum every day and find resources on their own. There are expectations that teachers teach to every level of student, which is, of course, impossible. It's exhausting and you cannot be successful.

(2) Parenting has changed. We wanted to believe that our child's peers would have engaged parents who cared about them and truly wanted to be there for their kids. What we found at private school was that the parents were disengaged and the kids were brats. At public, it was split with the good kids in the advanced classes and the kids with totally checked out parents in the other classes. You cannot teach when the kids don't care to learn.

I wanted to be a teacher and thought I would move to it when my financial situation allowed, but now at age 52, I have no interest in returning. I don't think they want teachers like me who like to teach math by the book with plenty of practice and repetition, regular tests and quizzes with fair grades, and a strict classroom with no phones or devices period.

Yes, all of this. As a parent it makes me so, so sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

This is true too. While I sympathize with teachers and believe the PP, as a parent, if you want a good outcome for your child, you practically have to homeschool afters school gets out. Schools are just not teaching. Which makes it so bananas because teachers are working really hard- but it is time and energy spent in the wrong way and it results in all but the lowest level learners left to teach themselves new material and be supplemented at home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The teachers aren’t well trained either. They present worksheets with incorrect spelling. They don’t know how to teach phonics. They are poor in math skills and even poorer in explaining concepts. They don’t understand higher level math and how they should be better supporting it. They don’t prepare kids adequately for the next grade. They are inexperienced and think that grabbing worksheets off TpT website is a best practice! I’ve not seen much creativity in the method of teaching in 9+ years.

I think this is correct, but I also think there are too many kids in a normal class that are quite literally incapable of learning at grade level and it sidetracks the whole class. I don’t know which problem came first

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

This is true too. While I sympathize with teachers and believe the PP, as a parent, if you want a good outcome for your child, you practically have to homeschool afters school gets out. Schools are just not teaching. Which makes it so bananas because teachers are working really hard- but it is time and energy spent in the wrong way and it results in all but the lowest level learners left to teach themselves new material and be supplemented at home

The comment at 07:40 explains why this is happening.

We have coaches and administrators who are considered the "experts" on curriculum and teaching methodology, but they are far removed from the classroom. Many haven't taught in years, and some weren't strong teachers to begin with.

Yet teachers have to stop our real work in order to attend their meetings, analyze their data, and implement their initiatives. I've come to realize that my job, in part, exists to help others stay out of the classroom themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can believe that many teachers spent a lot of hours working, but I want to make a couple of points : 1. That’s true also parents and we do feel overwhelmed working so we can pay school tuition and the teachers salaries 2. The fact that you work long hours doesn’t make you a good teacher. There are a lot of excellent teachers at my school but also a lot of mediocre ones that teach just the bare minimum and never respond to emails.

Yikes. This entitlement is rubbing off on your kids. I wouldn’t want to teach them or deal with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can believe that many teachers spent a lot of hours working, but I want to make a couple of points : 1. That’s true also parents and we do feel overwhelmed working so we can pay school tuition and the teachers salaries 2. The fact that you work long hours doesn’t make you a good teacher. There are a lot of excellent teachers at my school but also a lot of mediocre ones that teach just the bare minimum and never respond to emails.

Yikes. This entitlement is rubbing off on your kids. I wouldn’t want to teach them or deal with you.

And a bit short-sighted. The teachers are also overwhelmed workers, but they often can’t pay the private school tuition. Even with a discount, the tuition is often too much in relation to the low salary this poster reminds them she pays for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids school has no homework and teachers get a daily planning/work period of over an hour a day. I have no idea how they claim they are working so many extra hours. Standing around talking, I guess.

You are hilarious. One hour a day is not enough to keep up with grading, plus teachers need to plan. I guarantee that your school's teachers don't actually get that planning time each day, either. They will be pulled out into meetings or given supervision duties or other obligations. Guaranteed.

If you think teachers are allowed to actually do planning and grading during planning periods, you don't know anything about schools. I used to have 5 hours total of planning time each week, but three of those were stupid meetings that were useless to me. And that doesn't include any IEP meetings or the dozens of meetings about out of control students.