Anonymous wrote:^ Gatehouse pays good money to former teachers to create curriculum by subject, as I understand.. Why aren’t you using these?

PP you're replying to here. I don't work for FCPS. My county offers a framework of the SOLs for easy reading , but it's up to use to develop our yearly curriculum design. My department has created one that we're using so I have a rough idea of what unit we're doing when, but it's still up to me to make the resources for the units themselves. I have a large number of SPED students, ELLs, and very low level readers in my class, as well as numerous gifted students who are reading at a college lexile. Even if I used the worksheets and resources created by my department in the past, I still have to differentiate it to both my lower tier students and my upper tier students. That take times that I spend, outside of my paid contract hours, to do.

Anonymous wrote:^^That is why we have schools like KilmerES and BurkeES- they are for kids with EBD. Peerhaps, you should contact the county in which you work and start processing the paperwork!

I’m not in northern VA. Some of these students eventually get moved to another school or program but it takes a loooiong time. The more run of the mill behavior issues barely even register with me anymore. Sad but there are so many lost kids out there without any parent available to be there for them. So many kids beg me to take them home. I got a Valentine’s Day card from a girl last year who said she would clean my house if she could live with me. She has just turned 7. Her parents never registered her for school until a neighbor asked them how old she was so she started kindergarten a year and a half later than she should’ve.

^ Gatehouse pays good money to former teachers to create curriculum by subject, as I understand.. Why aren’t you using these?

^^That is why we have schools like KilmerES and BurkeES- they are for kids with EBD. Peerhaps, you should contact the county in which you work and start processing the paperwork!

I'm a first year middle school English teacher making around $50k a year. I do leave within 30 minutes of the end of school, but I take a bag of grading home with me and I'll generally spend at least an additional hour or two planning or catching up on emails. I have around 90 students and give detailed feedback to their writing assignments, but even the boring grammar worksheets take time to grade.

My school has a block schedule with 75 minute classes and I teach the same 3 blocks everyday with one block for planning. 4 of the 5 days a week, my planning is taken up by meetings.

I don't think non-teachers understand what we mean by planning and what exactly about it takes so long. My school provides me with a textbook, the state gives me the Standards of Learning that I need to teach, but it is up to me to figure out what I'm do every day. I make most of the resources that I use: worksheets, cloze note pages, PowerPoints, quizzes, tests, example paragraphs to show a skill we're learning, etc. Everything that the kids interact with, I generally have created myself, outside of my work hours.

If I only worked from 7:40-3:20, my contracted hours, my students would start on page 1 of the textbook the first day of school and work their way through it. Life would be great for me, but then I'd hear complaints from parents and administration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exactly PP. Gone are the days kids step through the doors ready to learn. You know it's bad when you have 4 and 5 year olds swearing at you and when you call home about behavior, parents either don't answer or call back or they tell you it's your problem while he/she is at school.

How do you keep a straight face when a 4/5 year old swears at you? Or take it seriously for that matter, I would be way more concerned about an older child, one who actually knows what the words mean cursing at me. Maybe the problem is expectations placed upon 4/5 years olds. Ready to learn??? Gone are the days when kindergarten was actually fun for 4/5 year olds, what ever happened to singing ABCs and 123, creative movement, story time, snack time and nap time.

I agree that the expectations are very out of line with normal child development. The expectations are fear based instead of based in the reality of what is normal childhood development. When teachers have to evacuate their classroom because a kindergartener has gone crazy and is throwing stuff everywhere while telling you “Don’t effing come closer or I’ll rip your effing head off” I most certainly try to keep my poker face while pushing students out the door. I have at least two students similar to this every year in my kindergarten classroom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just highlighting the BS that they cry about way too often. I know MANY teachers. I know not one who stays more than 30 minutes past their contract time. My pint is that they should consider other employment if they do not like their salary and benefits.

That’s because they are planning and grading late in the evening after their kids go to bed and on the weekends. I’m in IT consulting and my mom was a teacher. My job is way easier.

When I am running late, it’s not a big deal. I don’t have 20+ people waiting for me.
When I need a break between meetings I can take one.
If I am sick, I can work from home.
When I am out I don’t have to find a sub and plan their work for them.!
I can take my vacation and make my Dr appt when I want, within reason.
I can take a long lunch if I want.
I can go to another company without losing the benefits of my tenure and experience.
And about a million other things.

+1

First and foremost, excluding a few bad apples, thank you to all teachers for educating the children.

I used to work for FCPS Dept. of IT in 1996 and my salary was 60k/yr with 3 years of IT experience, grade US-24 I think. I am quite sure that a teacher with 3 years of teaching experience would have made 60k/yr in 1996. I couldn't understand why IT people in FCPS made more than teachers. Go figure.

PP- I think you left out the word NOT, as in I am quite sure that teacher with 3 years of teaching experience would NOT have made 60K/yr in 1996. In 1999, I had been teaching 7 years in FCPS and had a master's degree. I was making $42K.

If you were a US-24, you were probably working a 219-day contract, if not longer. It definitely wasn't the 194 day that teachers had.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you only teach 3 classes per day, you are a PT employee. I have 5 classes per day and one planning period of 45 mins and a 30 min lunch. I cannot plan for 5 classes each day and grade in 45 mins. It is not possible. The salaries in this area aren't as low as some other states but this area is $$$$. My kids qualified for reduced priced meals and free preschool the first few years I worked in this area.

No if you are on block scheduling that's a full time schedule. 3 classes of teaching, 1 of planning each day. A duty is also included on one of those A or B days so that day is 2 classes and 1 duty, and 1 planning. If you are on traditional scheduling still, you would teach 4-5 of those 6 blocks which is equal to us teaching 3/4.

I've never heard of any school with this scheduling. I teach math plus 4 math small groups, reading with 5 small reading groups, phonics with 5 small reading groups and well as science or social studies each day. Each one of those (including the small groups) requires a lesson plan. We have weekly lesson plan checks and they are included in our teacher duties which is part of our annual EOY evaluation. Plus two out of five planning periods is cooperative with either grade teams or content teams. A third planning can be used for IEP or SST meetings which means that some weeks, I get only two 45 min planning periods per week.

You've never heard of block scheduling? Okey doke. Where do you teach,1981?

lol.

Anonymous wrote:Exactly PP. Gone are the days kids step through the doors ready to learn. You know it's bad when you have 4 and 5 year olds swearing at you and when you call home about behavior, parents either don't answer or call back or they tell you it's your problem while he/she is at school.

How do you keep a straight face when a 4/5 year old swears at you? Or take it seriously for that matter, I would be way more concerned about an older child, one who actually knows what the words mean cursing at me. Maybe the problem is expectations placed upon 4/5 years olds. Ready to learn??? Gone are the days when kindergarten was actually fun for 4/5 year olds, what ever happened to singing ABCs and 123, creative movement, story time, snack time and nap time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m happy with my salary and am embarrassed when I hear teachers complaining. No one forced them to become teachers. They knew there was limited salary potential when they became teachers. Teachers complaining should find another job. Anyone thinking teachers have it easy should become a teacher.

You are not correct that I have time to go in late or leave early. I’m after school every day with students and am often correcting papers, emailing parents, going to meetings or completing paperwork outside of work hours. People work late in many professions but please don’t say every teacher has part-time hours.

I’ve been a public school educator for almost 30 years, first as an elementary teacher and now a principal. I’m guessing that the complaining you’re hearing is not just about salary alone, but about the lack of respect. I mean, just look at this thread. It started from the cesspool known as Fairfax Underground that relishes in judging hardworking teachers by their salaries. Teaches are getting trashed left and right. All the teachers I know (and yeah, I know quite a lot) knew they were signing up for a less than stellar salary and hard work. What they did NOT sign up for was the disrespect and the assumption by others (not all) that they are lazy, just want summers off, are phoning it in, and doing something any idiot can do, etc.

Maybe that’s it. This is my 20th year teaching and I’ve never been the type of person that is bothered if others do not respect what I do. I’ve heard disrespectful comments about lawyers, cleaners, people who work in restaurants, doctors, the military, cleaning crews, etc. You will always hear people thinking that some profession is overpaid, has it easy or is for people who could not find employment elsewhere. I do not need to be validated by anyone else. I like my students and like my coworkers and most parents.

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax Underground has FCPS salaries listed.
Quite a few make 75k+. How is this a bad salary? They teach 3 periods and have a planning period (many teacher friends leave early or go in late - many principals allow such) 180 days a year? I know IT project managers who make the same (with 8 years experience) and work 9-630 with only 2 weeks vacation . I think Ryan and the others in Richmond need to stop acting so entitled. If you don’t want to teach, please quit. I’ll gladly take the career switcher program and take your job. And teachers don’t have shutdowns, yearly RIFs, and staying late as part of the culture.

They teach 5 periods- 150 students.

I have taught high school in FCPS for 25 years. I make $95K.

I like my job. I like working with teenagers. I am good at it -- they let me know.

BUT it took 25 years to get to this salary. I'm "old" now. I don't complain what I make now, but I sure did 15 years ago when I could barely make ends meet.

I certainly don't blame the 50% of teachers who leave the classroom within the first five years. You have *no idea* what kind of stress teachers have to deal with. It isn't for everyone. And to be good at it is *truly* harder than it looks. Be grateful. I am.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you only teach 3 classes per day, you are a PT employee. I have 5 classes per day and one planning period of 45 mins and a 30 min lunch. I cannot plan for 5 classes each day and grade in 45 mins. It is not possible. The salaries in this area aren't as low as some other states but this area is $$$$. My kids qualified for reduced priced meals and free preschool the first few years I worked in this area.

No if you are on block scheduling that's a full time schedule. 3 classes of teaching, 1 of planning each day. A duty is also included on one of those A or B days so that day is 2 classes and 1 duty, and 1 planning. If you are on traditional scheduling still, you would teach 4-5 of those 6 blocks which is equal to us teaching 3/4.

I teach at a school with block scheduling, and this is not the way my schedule works at all. Our "constant" period is 3rd period, so I see that class every day. Therefore, on "A" days, I teach 1st, 3rd, 5th, and remediation block. I have planning and meetings during 7th block. On "B" days, I teach 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and remediation block. I have planning and meetings during 6th block. If we didn't have block, that would mean I'd teach periods 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, with planning/meetings during periods 6 and 7.

It is not the number of class periods taught that is challenging; it is the number of hours of instruction. Planning for 90-minute blocks isn't easier than planning for two 45-minute periods, so it is a ridiculous argument to say teachers "only" teach three periods per day. I have students in my classroom for all but 110 minutes of the day. Of those 110 minutes, I generally have meetings for 60-90 minutes. That leaves me 20-50 minutes of planning/lunch/bathroom time per day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just highlighting the BS that they cry about way too often. I know MANY teachers. I know not one who stays more than 30 minutes past their contract time. My pint is that they should consider other employment if they do not like their salary and benefits.

That’s because they are planning and grading late in the evening after their kids go to bed and on the weekends. I’m in IT consulting and my mom was a teacher. My job is way easier.

When I am running late, it’s not a big deal. I don’t have 20+ people waiting for me.
When I need a break between meetings I can take one.
If I am sick, I can work from home.
When I am out I don’t have to find a sub and plan their work for them.!
I can take my vacation and make my Dr appt when I want, within reason.
I can take a long lunch if I want.
I can go to another company without losing the benefits of my tenure and experience.
And about a million other things.

+1

First and foremost, excluding a few bad apples, thank you to all teachers for educating the children.

I used to work for FCPS Dept. of IT in 1996 and my salary was 60k/yr with 3 years of IT experience, grade US-24 I think. I am quite sure that a teacher with 3 years of teaching experience would have made 60k/yr in 1996. I couldn't understand why IT people in FCPS made more than teachers. Go figure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just highlighting the BS that they cry about way too often. I know MANY teachers. I know not one who stays more than 30 minutes past their contract time. My pint is that they should consider other employment if they do not like their salary and benefits.

There is absolutely no way this is true.

I am a teacher, so I definitely know MANY teachers, as well.

I have worked in four schools, and I can easily count on one hand the number of teachers in each school I have known who leave within 30 minutes of their contract time on a regular basis. At my current school, there is a minimum of 12 teachers, myself included, who are still in the building four hours after students leave. This has been the case in all of the schools in which I've worked, so it is not just the culture of the staff in my current building.

I'm not complaining, but I am rather just trying to point out that your observation about the MANY teachers you (apparently) know is NOT the norm. Or it is complete BS.

It's a shame you have to state this, but if you don't non-teachers will look at your clarification and say it's a complaint.

BTW OP, it's 194 days not 180. Just a correction, not a complaint.