RANT: Teachers, why are you so whiny?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest, any degree that you get in 4 years that isn’t a B.S. degree is an easy degree.

What do you mean? My undergrad degree in elementary education was a B.S. and was obtained in 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the drama here is coming from the constant and voracious needs of the children. It just never stops. There is no downtime during the school day when you are a teacher. You are running on adrenaline. You can't even pee when you need to. It just gets to you and until you do it yourself you just don't understand or have any appreciation for it.

Ugh. I hate when people (especially adults) use that word.

Signed,
ES Teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the drama here is coming from the constant and voracious needs of the children. It just never stops. There is no downtime during the school day when you are a teacher. You are running on adrenaline. You can't even pee when you need to. It just gets to you and until you do it yourself you just don't understand or have any appreciation for it.

Ugh. I hate when people (especially adults) use that word.

Signed,
ES Teacher

Are you the nut job who fired her babysitter for using "pee" rather than "urinate"? The second sounds grosser IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the drama here is coming from the constant and voracious needs of the children. It just never stops. There is no downtime during the school day when you are a teacher. You are running on adrenaline. You can't even pee when you need to. It just gets to you and until you do it yourself you just don't understand or have any appreciation for it.

Ugh. I hate when people (especially adults) use that word.

Signed,
ES Teacher

Are you the nut job who fired her babysitter for using "pee" rather than "urinate"? The second sounds grosser IMO.

No. I'm not familiar with that story. Sounds a bit extreme.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach Pre-Kindergarten. PRE-KINDERGARTEN. In the past six weeks I've written a 100+ page classroom portfolio for NAEYC accreditation, screened 32 four year olds and wrote a report on the aggregate data, retroactively entered student assessments from fall into our cloud based curriculum program that wasn't available when it was actually fall (because the city didn't pay the company for it in time), entered said assessments for winter into the system, conducted parent-teacher conferences, and written myriad lesson plans.

This is all in addition to teaching, caring for, and just being with 16 four and five year olds 5 days a week for many hours per day. And Monday I have an observation wherein a person unknown to me will come into my classroom for three hours to write down everything I do and say, and then "grade" my performance. I will only get the results in September, when I won't remember anything about what happened during the observation.

I really am about to collapse. Just so, so weary. Friday afternoon I had a dentist appointment and was actually looking forward to it because I could recline in a chair for a little while without doing any work. So please excuse me if I seem a little whiny, a little cranky. Sorry not sorry.

You are proving everyone's point! Here's the thing. MOST of us who work could come here and write a long exhaustible list of all the things we've done at work over the past month...it would be long and boring and tiring sounding, just like your rant. It's called work for a reason. We just choose not to, because we know it's ridiculously boring to have to listen to someone catalogue every single task they've been paid to do all week - something teachers don't seem to have picked up on, Do you not think other people are expected to complete lots of different difficult and strenuous tasks at work?? It seems like that is honestly how teachers who rant and whine all the time feel...you are coming on here and doing exactly what people in this thread are talking about. As a PP said, it does not make you guys look very intelligent.

You are MISSING the point. All the paperwork and desk time is IN ADDITION to PP being in a classroom with small children doing his/ her primary job (teaching) for I imagine over 30 hours a week. So that's almost a full work week right there. Do you know how exhausting it is body and soul to do just that? And then pile on all the other stuff, which I imagine is being done at home?

+100. I don't know why we don't just let teachers teach. A 100 page portfolio? WTH?

Amen. And now they want teachers to be held responsible for children's lives by taking down crazed gunmen who burst into schools with machine guns. What next?

Machine guns? Really? Are you that stupid?

What other kind of gun could shoot scores of people in a short time?

Machine guns are not legal, haven’t been for over 30 years. No mass shootings were done with “machine guns” so you look stupid when you say someone will “burst in with machine guns”. It does not help your argument when you have no idea what you are talking about.

Columbine was carried out with pistols and shotguns, VA tech was pistols. Not machine guns.

OMG. Scores of people are dead from mass shootings. They were all done with GUNS. Guns that could shoot many bullets in a short time. Stop being pedantic.

More people are dead from CARS, CARS that get into accidents.... no one is dead from machine guns, which is what the person was so worried about. No one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach Pre-Kindergarten. PRE-KINDERGARTEN. In the past six weeks I've written a 100+ page classroom portfolio for NAEYC accreditation, screened 32 four year olds and wrote a report on the aggregate data, retroactively entered student assessments from fall into our cloud based curriculum program that wasn't available when it was actually fall (because the city didn't pay the company for it in time), entered said assessments for winter into the system, conducted parent-teacher conferences, and written myriad lesson plans.

This is all in addition to teaching, caring for, and just being with 16 four and five year olds 5 days a week for many hours per day. And Monday I have an observation wherein a person unknown to me will come into my classroom for three hours to write down everything I do and say, and then "grade" my performance. I will only get the results in September, when I won't remember anything about what happened during the observation.

I really am about to collapse. Just so, so weary. Friday afternoon I had a dentist appointment and was actually looking forward to it because I could recline in a chair for a little while without doing any work. So please excuse me if I seem a little whiny, a little cranky. Sorry not sorry.

You are proving everyone's point! Here's the thing. MOST of us who work could come here and write a long exhaustible list of all the things we've done at work over the past month...it would be long and boring and tiring sounding, just like your rant. It's called work for a reason. We just choose not to, because we know it's ridiculously boring to have to listen to someone catalogue every single task they've been paid to do all week - something teachers don't seem to have picked up on, Do you not think other people are expected to complete lots of different difficult and strenuous tasks at work?? It seems like that is honestly how teachers who rant and whine all the time feel...you are coming on here and doing exactly what people in this thread are talking about. As a PP said, it does not make you guys look very intelligent.

You are MISSING the point. All the paperwork and desk time is IN ADDITION to PP being in a classroom with small children doing his/ her primary job (teaching) for I imagine over 30 hours a week. So that's almost a full work week right there. Do you know how exhausting it is body and soul to do just that? And then pile on all the other stuff, which I imagine is being done at home?

+100. I don't know why we don't just let teachers teach. A 100 page portfolio? WTH?

Amen. And now they want teachers to be held responsible for children's lives by taking down crazed gunmen who burst into schools with machine guns. What next?

Machine guns? Really? Are you that stupid?

What other kind of gun could shoot scores of people in a short time?

Machine guns are not legal, haven’t been for over 30 years. No mass shootings were done with “machine guns” so you look stupid when you say someone will “burst in with machine guns”. It does not help your argument when you have no idea what you are talking about.

Columbine was carried out with pistols and shotguns, VA tech was pistols. Not machine guns.

OMG. Scores of people are dead from mass shootings. They were all done with GUNS. Guns that could shoot many bullets in a short time. Stop being pedantic.

More people are dead from CARS, CARS that get into accidents.... no one is dead from machine guns, which is what the person was so worried about. No one.

Guns are abhorrent to me. I don't care about the difference in types of guns. I do know that they are all used to kill, and in this country they are too easy to obtain. Stop being obtuse.

[Anonymous]

I was once a para too OP. Each school has their really good teachers and the really bad ones. The whining never bothered me though- I personally wouldn’t want the responsibility of a teacher- and to deal with parents and IEP’s etc... what I found annoying were the smug, arrogant teachers who acted like they could walk on water.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if I know you OP. I'm a teacher who actually really loves my job (well 90% of the time, I am human!. I would love to make more, but consider myself fairly compensated and do enjoy the scheduled breaks. Really I have no regrets about choosing this profession and am grateful to be in it. I have a 'friend' (maybe you) who loves to point out to me all the time though, that teachers are the worst. I've heard how easy my degree is, how lucky I am to not work much, constant comparisons to how hard my life would be if I had real clients instead of parents and children. It's so tiring. I'm speaking for myself, but I chose this profession and am very happy. It's just tiring to continually hear how awful we all are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest, any degree that you get in 4 years that isn’t a B.S. degree is an easy degree.

What do you mean? My undergrad degree in elementary education was a B.S. and was obtained in 4 years.

A Bachelor of Science in elementary education? I’ve only see Bachelor of Arts in elementary education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest, any degree that you get in 4 years that isn’t a B.S. degree is an easy degree.

What do you mean? My undergrad degree in elementary education was a B.S. and was obtained in 4 years.

A Bachelor of Science in elementary education? I’ve only see Bachelor of Arts in elementary education.

Yes. My DW and I both have B.S. Education degrees from PA state universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest, any degree that you get in 4 years that isn’t a B.S. degree is an easy degree.

What do you mean? My undergrad degree in elementary education was a B.S. and was obtained in 4 years.

A Bachelor of Science in elementary education? I’ve only see Bachelor of Arts in elementary education.

For example:

http://bulletin.temple.edu/undergraduate/education/early-childhood-education-prek4/bs-education-early-childhood-education-prek4/

http://www.sru.edu/academics/majors-and-minors/early-childhood-(pk-4)-/-special-education-(k-8)

https://admissions.psu.edu/academics/majors/4year/?displayBy=alpha

https://www.csuohio.edu/undergradcatalog/edu/bsedu/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if I know you OP. I'm a teacher who actually really loves my job (well 90% of the time, I am human!. I would love to make more, but consider myself fairly compensated and do enjoy the scheduled breaks. Really I have no regrets about choosing this profession and am grateful to be in it. I have a 'friend' (maybe you) who loves to point out to me all the time though, that teachers are the worst. I've heard how easy my degree is, how lucky I am to not work much, constant comparisons to how hard my life would be if I had real clients instead of parents and children. It's so tiring. I'm speaking for myself, but I chose this profession and am very happy. It's just tiring to continually hear how awful we all are.

I am a teacher and didn't want to wade into this thread because I don't disagree with posters about teachers complaining about their pay ( in the D.C. Region) or working so hard. I really enjoy my job. But I have worked in high poverty schools and although I loved the job I was unprepared for the emotional toll it takes on you. The things that some children go through are heartbreaking and after a while it really gets difficult to handle. I assume social workers and people who work in child welfare have similar experiences. There is no way to fully appreciate that weight until you experience it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if I know you OP. I'm a teacher who actually really loves my job (well 90% of the time, I am human!. I would love to make more, but consider myself fairly compensated and do enjoy the scheduled breaks. Really I have no regrets about choosing this profession and am grateful to be in it. I have a 'friend' (maybe you) who loves to point out to me all the time though, that teachers are the worst. I've heard how easy my degree is, how lucky I am to not work much, constant comparisons to how hard my life would be if I had real clients instead of parents and children. It's so tiring. I'm speaking for myself, but I chose this profession and am very happy. It's just tiring to continually hear how awful we all are.

I am a teacher and didn't want to wade into this thread because I don't disagree with posters about teachers complaining about their pay ( in the D.C. Region) or working so hard. I really enjoy my job. But I have worked in high poverty schools and although I loved the job I was unprepared for the emotional toll it takes on you. The things that some children go through are heartbreaking and after a while it really gets difficult to handle. I assume social workers and people who work in child welfare have similar experiences. There is no way to fully appreciate that weight until you experience it.

I'm just a lowly substitute in FCPS but I agree with this. I don't hear much whining from teachers, including the ones I sub for regularly when they have training days or whatever. I'm continually surprised at how hard 95% of the teachers I've met work, and the extra stuff their jobs entail that goes way beyond the classroom. I'm really thinking about it, and there's never been a time when I've been given a schedule and thought, "Wow, this is a pretty cushy gig!" because of the downtime. I actually do think they deserve higher pay, because our county is losing experienced teachers to surrounding areas, which is a shame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I disagree with all of what you said. You're stupid, and a moron.

Selection and education degrees should be much harder, and educators should be better paid.

I'm a high school teacher in a small k-12, and the elementary teachers on our team work incredibly hard. As a high school teacher, I put in many, many hours outside of the classroom reading and commenting upon student compositions, and I have never had a summer "off."

Also, my (subject area) MA was more rigorous than anything you could achieve, OP, judging by what you have written. Despite your enthusiasm for gossip and eavesdropping in the workplace (what SHOULD you have been doing at school while you were lurking around the teachers, scrambling to assemble the bits and pieces you overheard into a summary of someone else's job experience?), you know nothing about what it means to be a teacher.

Let's think about this together, OP: what SHOULD you have been doing with your time at work? I am glad you are not a para assigned to help my department. I know your type. Please, please concentrate on your own job.

I was in the break room, eating lunch with them.

Fwiw, I have 2 kids in HS and have been impressed with their teachers. They work hard, and they genuinely seem to enjoy their students. I am always blown away at fall conferences because they really seem to know my kids in the few weeks they’ve had with them. They even go out of their way to say hi when we see them in public. The ES teachers that I know HATE seeing their students in public and talk about hiding from them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I disagree with all of what you said. You're stupid, and a moron.

Selection and education degrees should be much harder, and educators should be better paid.

I'm a high school teacher in a small k-12, and the elementary teachers on our team work incredibly hard. As a high school teacher, I put in many, many hours outside of the classroom reading and commenting upon student compositions, and I have never had a summer "off."

Also, my (subject area) MA was more rigorous than anything you could achieve, OP, judging by what you have written. Despite your enthusiasm for gossip and eavesdropping in the workplace (what SHOULD you have been doing at school while you were lurking around the teachers, scrambling to assemble the bits and pieces you overheard into a summary of someone else's job experience?), you know nothing about what it means to be a teacher.

Let's think about this together, OP: what SHOULD you have been doing with your time at work? I am glad you are not a para assigned to help my department. I know your type. Please, please concentrate on your own job.

I was in the break room, eating lunch with them.

Fwiw, I have 2 kids in HS and have been impressed with their teachers. They work hard, and they genuinely seem to enjoy their students. I am always blown away at fall conferences because they really seem to know my kids in the few weeks they’ve had with them. They even go out of their way to say hi when we see them in public. The ES teachers that I know HATE seeing their students in public and talk about hiding from them.

Interestingly this is the complete opposite of our experience. My DS is a senior in HS.