Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's our area's way of "fully staffing" schools with folks who have no training.

1. One wonders why we have to come up with creative ways to fill teacher vacancies - could be that teachers have to deal with the condescension, disrespect, and know-it-all attitude of parents in "our area" - cause-effect of the need to "fully staff" our schools.
2. "The folks who have no training" are carefully vetted by FCPS - they are long term subs, IAs, parents who have put their children through the system and have volunteered during that time, professionals transitioning for various reasons, including those looking for something meaningful to do with their time and, maybe, give back to their community...until they find out why there are those vacancies in the first place, and run for the exits!
3. Like the draft or jury duty, our country should introduce mandated teaching service in a public school for all of us to learn to respect our diligent, hardworking, sincere educators, entrusted with molding the foundation of the future of our country.

NP. The bolded perfectly describes my short-lived experience as a sub with FCPS. I had considered a career switch for some time and thought I might enjoy teaching. SO GLAD I decided to try subbing before going to all the time, trouble, and expense of becoming a teacher trainee and acquiring licensure, etc. What a hellish experience.

I took on an elementary school long-term sub role and regretted it within days. There was zero training, and I was expected to take on ALL of the responsibilities of a teacher - to include lesson planning, grading, parent/teacher conferences, classroom management (of a very unruly and poorly behaved class), etc. The few kids who actually wanted to be there were a delight, but the rest made it their mission to be as disruptive and disrespectful as possible. When I asked for help from admin, I literally got a shrug.

Needless to say, I absolutely ran for the exits after about a month there. Never again - but at least, now I know.

You proved my point that it is only once you are in a classroom juggling all the many duties of a homeroom teacher all day everyday, that one realizes the true worth of a teacher.

If a teacher's salary were to be doubled, society would begin to respect the amazing people who are entrusted with the foundation years of our children's future.

Instead, armchair critics heap insults on teachers and talk about how they have to reteach their kids - my foot! Put yourself in a teacher's shoes - teach 20-30 clones of your own all day, for a week - and you'll kiss the ground on which a teacher walks. #RespectTeachers
#MandateTeacherDuty

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you trust a surgeon with no training to operate on their own? That’s what a teacher trainee is doing. He or she is teaching in a classroom alone with no training. He or she is expected to perform the work of a teacher without training. Why should we expect a teacher in this position to do as well as traditionally train teachers?

If all the surgeons quit because they were being paid like teachers, we might have to trust a carpenter to put us out of our pain!

This analogy is so lame and overused by people who have no clue what a teacher's day to day is like for what they get paid, plus the bonus of insults from the broader community who don't actually get in the weeds to help.

Instead, go to your nearest school and volunteer as a monitor - give a teacher a break to use the restroom or eat their sandwich for lunch.

Teachers generally don’t want parents helping out as they are nosy and spies.

Perhaps because only the nosy spies volunteer! Teachers welcome supportive parents, not nosy spies. Try a full day of dealing with an energetic classroom of 20-30 students and then care to compliment your child's teacher on "FCPS Cares". Appreciative parents outnumber nosy spies, but the community only hears condescending critiques from the latter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a sub and I only sub in Kindergarten - I'll take both the teacher and IA job. I've subbed as a Kindergarten IA in over a dozen classrooms this year so I've witnessed first hand the teaching styles of a dozen different teachers. Some have been excellent. A couple have been average. And then the worse one is a teacher trainee. She told me she's in her second year as a trainee. She's a very sweet woman who is a career switcher. She has a good class of kids, only one child has challenging behavior and it is very mild. But she is super disorganized. She can't keep to the schedule. I sub in this school frequently and every single day I'm at this school, her class is the last one to come out for recess - sometimes as much as 15 minutes later than the rest of the K classes. I hope she's getting support because she seems to enjoy her job and she is really good with her interactions with the children.

Re: this teacher trainee, I'd just like to add my own experience. I had an incredibly challenging child in my class. This girl would throw tantrums, climb inside the supply closet, lock herself in the bathroom, etc. And she would almost always do this right when we needed to transition to a special. So, all the other kids would line up to leave, but she would prevent me from taking them as I would have to find a way to get her out. I couldn't just leave her in the classroom unsupervised. I couldn't put my hands on her to haul her out. So, her behavior would constantly make our class late to their next special or to recess, lunch, etc. It was one of the most demoralizing things I experienced. I couldn't do anything with her - one time I made her go to the front office with me, and after explaining the issue, the assistant principal simply gave me a withering look and sent us back. Admin did NOTHING to help. And so everyone thought the issue was me not having my act together, or being "disorganized," as you said. The reality was quite different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's our area's way of "fully staffing" schools with folks who have no training.

1. One wonders why we have to come up with creative ways to fill teacher vacancies - could be that teachers have to deal with the condescension, disrespect, and know-it-all attitude of parents in "our area" - cause-effect of the need to "fully staff" our schools.
2. "The folks who have no training" are carefully vetted by FCPS - they are long term subs, IAs, parents who have put their children through the system and have volunteered during that time, professionals transitioning for various reasons, including those looking for something meaningful to do with their time and, maybe, give back to their community...until they find out why there are those vacancies in the first place, and run for the exits!
3. Like the draft or jury duty, our country should introduce mandated teaching service in a public school for all of us to learn to respect our diligent, hardworking, sincere educators, entrusted with molding the foundation of the future of our country.

NP. The bolded perfectly describes my short-lived experience as a sub with FCPS. I had considered a career switch for some time and thought I might enjoy teaching. SO GLAD I decided to try subbing before going to all the time, trouble, and expense of becoming a teacher trainee and acquiring licensure, etc. What a hellish experience.

I took on an elementary school long-term sub role and regretted it within days. There was zero training, and I was expected to take on ALL of the responsibilities of a teacher - to include lesson planning, grading, parent/teacher conferences, classroom management (of a very unruly and poorly behaved class), etc. The few kids who actually wanted to be there were a delight, but the rest made it their mission to be as disruptive and disrespectful as possible. When I asked for help from admin, I literally got a shrug.

Needless to say, I absolutely ran for the exits after about a month there. Never again - but at least, now I know.

You proved my point that it is only once you are in a classroom juggling all the many duties of a homeroom teacher all day everyday, that one realizes the true worth of a teacher.

If a teacher's salary were to be doubled, society would begin to respect the amazing people who are entrusted with the foundation years of our children's future.

Instead, armchair critics heap insults on teachers and talk about how they have to reteach their kids - my foot! Put yourself in a teacher's shoes - teach 20-30 clones of your own all day, for a week - and you'll kiss the ground on which a teacher walks. #RespectTeachers
#MandateTeacherDuty

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you trust a surgeon with no training to operate on their own? That’s what a teacher trainee is doing. He or she is teaching in a classroom alone with no training. He or she is expected to perform the work of a teacher without training. Why should we expect a teacher in this position to do as well as traditionally train teachers?

Are you sure there is absolutely no training?

I guess when there is not an experienced applicant pool, this is what we have. Alternatives: putting 35 kids in a class.

Yes. They are given a mentor teacher (so another teacher now has less time to plan!) but that’s it. It’s insane. All for $45k/year.

We already have 35 kids in classes. My son’s 5th grade is 33. My high school classes have 34/33/31/29/23 (the last is a remedial class that was supposed to be capped at 15, then 20)

The alternative is we pay teachers more so more people see it as a reasonable option for a career, or we make the conditions better (smaller classes, increased planning time). Both cost more money though. This is cheap.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a sub and I only sub in Kindergarten - I'll take both the teacher and IA job. I've subbed as a Kindergarten IA in over a dozen classrooms this year so I've witnessed first hand the teaching styles of a dozen different teachers. Some have been excellent. A couple have been average. And then the worse one is a teacher trainee. She told me she's in her second year as a trainee. She's a very sweet woman who is a career switcher. She has a good class of kids, only one child has challenging behavior and it is very mild. But she is super disorganized. She can't keep to the schedule. I sub in this school frequently and every single day I'm at this school, her class is the last one to come out for recess - sometimes as much as 15 minutes later than the rest of the K classes. I hope she's getting support because she seems to enjoy her job and she is really good with her interactions with the children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you trust a surgeon with no training to operate on their own? That’s what a teacher trainee is doing. He or she is teaching in a classroom alone with no training. He or she is expected to perform the work of a teacher without training. Why should we expect a teacher in this position to do as well as traditionally train teachers?

If all the surgeons quit because they were being paid like teachers, we might have to trust a carpenter to put us out of our pain!

This analogy is so lame and overused by people who have no clue what a teacher's day to day is like for what they get paid, plus the bonus of insults from the broader community who don't actually get in the weeds to help.

Instead, go to your nearest school and volunteer as a monitor - give a teacher a break to use the restroom or eat their sandwich for lunch.

Teachers generally don’t want parents helping out as they are nosy and spies.

Teachers welcome supportive parents, not nosy spies. Try a full day of dealing with an energetic classroom of 20-30 students and then care to compliment your child's teacher on "FCPS Cares". Appreciative parents outnumber nosy spies, but the community only hears condescending critiques from the latter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you trust a surgeon with no training to operate on their own? That’s what a teacher trainee is doing. He or she is teaching in a classroom alone with no training. He or she is expected to perform the work of a teacher without training. Why should we expect a teacher in this position to do as well as traditionally train teachers?

If all the surgeons quit because they were being paid like teachers, we might have to trust a carpenter to put us out of our pain!

This analogy is so lame and overused by people who have no clue what a teacher's day to day is like for what they get paid, plus the bonus of insults from the broader community who don't actually get in the weeds to help.

Instead, go to your nearest school and volunteer as a monitor - give a teacher a break to use the restroom or eat their sandwich for lunch.

Teachers generally don’t want parents helping out as they are nosy and spies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you trust a surgeon with no training to operate on their own? That’s what a teacher trainee is doing. He or she is teaching in a classroom alone with no training. He or she is expected to perform the work of a teacher without training. Why should we expect a teacher in this position to do as well as traditionally train teachers?

If all the surgeons quit because they were being paid like teachers, we might have to trust a carpenter to put us out of our pain!

This analogy is so lame and overused by people who have no clue what a teacher's day to day is like for what they get paid, plus the bonus of insults from the broader community who don't actually get in the weeds to help.

Instead, go to your nearest school and volunteer as a monitor - give a teacher a break to use the restroom or eat their sandwich for lunch.

Anonymous wrote:Would you trust a surgeon with no training to operate on their own? That’s what a teacher trainee is doing. He or she is teaching in a classroom alone with no training. He or she is expected to perform the work of a teacher without training. Why should we expect a teacher in this position to do as well as traditionally train teachers?

Anonymous wrote:Would you trust a surgeon with no training to operate on their own? That’s what a teacher trainee is doing. He or she is teaching in a classroom alone with no training. He or she is expected to perform the work of a teacher without training. Why should we expect a teacher in this position to do as well as traditionally train teachers?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And if we give teachers more planning time, all of those higher ups won’t be able to fill their schedules. They exist to create more work for teachers. We have a lot of teacher vacancies in my district but more people out of the classroom than ever. They create more work for us to justify their job.

Yet somehow all those people outside of the classroom get the 7% raise, too. It’s not people in the classroom breaking the budget. I bet there would be plenty to give in-classroom teachers a competitive raise even with a reduced budget if they didn’t windfall-raise the folks making the work in the classroom harder.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's our area's way of "fully staffing" schools with folks who have no training.

1. One wonders why we have to come up with creative ways to fill teacher vacancies - could be that teachers have to deal with the condescension, disrespect, and know-it-all attitude of parents in "our area" - cause-effect of the need to "fully staff" our schools.
2. "The folks who have no training" are carefully vetted by FCPS - they are long term subs, IAs, parents who have put their children through the system and have volunteered during that time, professionals transitioning for various reasons, including those looking for something meaningful to do with their time and, maybe, give back to their community...until they find out why there are those vacancies in the first place, and run for the exits!
3. Like the draft or jury duty, our country should introduce mandated teaching service in a public school for all of us to learn to respect our diligent, hardworking, sincere educators, entrusted with molding the foundation of the future of our country.

NP. The bolded perfectly describes my short-lived experience as a sub with FCPS. I had considered a career switch for some time and thought I might enjoy teaching. SO GLAD I decided to try subbing before going to all the time, trouble, and expense of becoming a teacher trainee and acquiring licensure, etc. What a hellish experience.

I took on an elementary school long-term sub role and regretted it within days. There was zero training, and I was expected to take on ALL of the responsibilities of a teacher - to include lesson planning, grading, parent/teacher conferences, classroom management (of a very unruly and poorly behaved class), etc. The few kids who actually wanted to be there were a delight, but the rest made it their mission to be as disruptive and disrespectful as possible. When I asked for help from admin, I literally got a shrug.

Needless to say, I absolutely ran for the exits after about a month there. Never again - but at least, now I know.

Anonymous wrote:And if we give teachers more planning time, all of those higher ups won’t be able to fill their schedules. They exist to create more work for teachers. We have a lot of teacher vacancies in my district but more people out of the classroom than ever. They create more work for us to justify their job.