Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Sadly most of the U.S. teachers come from the bottom half of their high school graduation class with SAT scores well under 1000. Entry into education colleges are just not at all competitive. One way to turn our education system around is to mandate a higher bar into the profession.
[Report Post]"

Nice try....nope. I had high SAT scores, and I have extensive graduate school degrees and continuing ed.
Have you taken the Praxis for certification?Clearly you weren't aware of the standard.You and the "disdain"poster need to get off this thread. Both of you are not teachers,not in the field, not helpful!

One of the main reasons teachers are leaving is exactly this attitude...people have no idea what goes on in a school.

Just because YOU had high SAT scores (and by HIGH, I'm sure you mean 1500+ out of 1600, right?) doesn't mean that all of, or even MOST teachers do. Just because you go to a lot of training classes doesn't mean that you are an effective teacher. It just means you go to a lot of training. So, nice try in trying to sound like you're the best thing since sliced bread and that parents should be honored to have you teach their children.

Praxis - HAHA - the standard is set quite low. Most education colleges have a 100% pass rate. Obviously the standard is too low and supports the point to raise the standard of who teaches. You obviously didn't know that as you try to make the Praxis exam sound like it is as strenuous as the MCAT.

Check out FACTS published by Time and others: Less than 25% of new teachers come from the top third of their college classes; By contrast, In Finland, Singapore, and South Korea, 100% of educators come from the top third.
Nearly 50% of new U. S. teachers come from the bottom third of their class. (You know where these four countries stand on the TIMSS exam, right?)

What is the #1 indicator for a child's success in school? It's not class size. It's not high spending per pupil. It's not SES status or poverty. It's not access to technology. It's not the number of workshops attended by teachers. It's the effectiveness of the teacher and clearly Finland, Singapore and South Korea know that top students make top teachers. Why hasn't the US realized this?????

Clearly teachers are a big part of the problem but sadly, they won't admit it.
Stop drinking your union Kool-Aid.

Take your elitist attitude underwritten by your skewed facts and consider :
All those countries you mentioned have homogenous populations. Stop comparing what goes on in Finland to what goes on here. I dare you to walk in an American public school classroom and try to make it through the day. And, yes, the parents of the kids I teach are lucky to have me as a teacher.

I was just about to post a similar comment. How many kids in a Finnish school don't speak Finnish? How many South Korean children don't understand Korean? This country has unique educational challenges, for better or for worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Sadly most of the U.S. teachers come from the bottom half of their high school graduation class with SAT scores well under 1000. Entry into education colleges are just not at all competitive. One way to turn our education system around is to mandate a higher bar into the profession.
[Report Post]"

Nice try....nope. I had high SAT scores, and I have extensive graduate school degrees and continuing ed.
Have you taken the Praxis for certification?Clearly you weren't aware of the standard.You and the "disdain"poster need to get off this thread. Both of you are not teachers,not in the field, not helpful!

One of the main reasons teachers are leaving is exactly this attitude...people have no idea what goes on in a school.

Just because YOU had high SAT scores (and by HIGH, I'm sure you mean 1500+ out of 1600, right?) doesn't mean that all of, or even MOST teachers do. Just because you go to a lot of training classes doesn't mean that you are an effective teacher. It just means you go to a lot of training. So, nice try in trying to sound like you're the best thing since sliced bread and that parents should be honored to have you teach their children.

Praxis - HAHA - the standard is set quite low. Most education colleges have a 100% pass rate. Obviously the standard is too low and supports the point to raise the standard of who teaches. You obviously didn't know that as you try to make the Praxis exam sound like it is as strenuous as the MCAT.

Check out FACTS published by Time and others: Less than 25% of new teachers come from the top third of their college classes; By contrast, In Finland, Singapore, and South Korea, 100% of educators come from the top third.
Nearly 50% of new U. S. teachers come from the bottom third of their class. (You know where these four countries stand on the TIMSS exam, right?)

What is the #1 indicator for a child's success in school? It's not class size. It's not high spending per pupil. It's not SES status or poverty. It's not access to technology. It's not the number of workshops attended by teachers. It's the effectiveness of the teacher and clearly Finland, Singapore and South Korea know that top students make top teachers. Why hasn't the US realized this?????

Clearly teachers are a big part of the problem but sadly, they won't admit it.
Stop drinking your union Kool-Aid.

Take your elitist attitude underwritten by your skewed facts and consider :
All those countries you mentioned have homogenous populations. Stop comparing what goes on in Finland to what goes on here. I dare you to walk in an American public school classroom and try to make it through the day. And, yes, the parents of the kids I teach are lucky to have me as a teacher.

Anonymous wrote:I am also an elementary ESOL teacher and it is exhausting. I just finished writing my lesson plans for tomorrow and I still need to go in an hour early to get everything ready. We work our butts off and are always blamed when our students don't make miraculous gains. All of my students make the expected gains but their peers have a 5 year head start in English. Apparently the 5-7 years it takes to master a language must be miraculously shortened by me and my colleagues. The paperwork is enough to make you cry. I enjoy teaching kids but all of the other BS sometimes makes me want to quit. I can't because I'm a single parent. How about teaching overseas OP? I did that for a few years pre-kids and LOVED it. I keep my eyes open for jobs overseas myself

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the trolls.

Check out private/independent schools. I teach at one and love it. Lots more freedom. Still stressful but not in the same way. Helicopter parents vs. absentee parents. Not such a cog. Still with kids. Bright capable hopeful kids with opportunities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Sadly most of the U.S. teachers come from the bottom half of their high school graduation class with SAT scores well under 1000. Entry into education colleges are just not at all competitive. One way to turn our education system around is to mandate a higher bar into the profession.
[Report Post]"

Nice try....nope. I had high SAT scores, and I have extensive graduate school degrees and continuing ed.
Have you taken the Praxis for certification?Clearly you weren't aware of the standard.You and the "disdain"poster need to get off this thread. Both of you are not teachers,not in the field, not helpful!

One of the main reasons teachers are leaving is exactly this attitude...people have no idea what goes on in a school.

Just because YOU had high SAT scores (and by HIGH, I'm sure you mean 1500+ out of 1600, right?) doesn't mean that all of, or even MOST teachers do. Just because you go to a lot of training classes doesn't mean that you are an effective teacher. It just means you go to a lot of training. So, nice try in trying to sound like you're the best thing since sliced bread and that parents should be honored to have you teach their children.

Praxis - HAHA - the standard is set quite low. Most education colleges have a 100% pass rate. Obviously the standard is too low and supports the point to raise the standard of who teaches. You obviously didn't know that as you try to make the Praxis exam sound like it is as strenuous as the MCAT.

Check out FACTS published by Time and others: Less than 25% of new teachers come from the top third of their college classes; By contrast, In Finland, Singapore, and South Korea, 100% of educators come from the top third.
Nearly 50% of new U. S. teachers come from the bottom third of their class. (You know where these four countries stand on the TIMSS exam, right?)

What is the #1 indicator for a child's success in school? It's not class size. It's not high spending per pupil. It's not SES status or poverty. It's not access to technology. It's not the number of workshops attended by teachers. It's the effectiveness of the teacher and clearly Finland, Singapore and South Korea know that top students make top teachers. Why hasn't the US realized this?????

Clearly teachers are a big part of the problem but sadly, they won't admit it.
Stop drinking your union Kool-Aid.

Sadly most of the U.S. teachers come from the bottom half of their high school graduation class with SAT scores well under 1000. Entry into education colleges are just not at all competitive. One way to turn our education system around is to mandate a higher bar into the profession.


And the cited source for this piece of wisdom is? And 1/2 of the American population graduated in the bottom half of their high school class. Entry into some education colleges is no competitive, just like entry into some colleges in general is not competitive. You have a lot of generalizations in your statement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, former teacher, also FARMS, voicing my support. Some crazy responses here, out of left field. Are you teaching elementary or secondary, and if secondary, what's the subject area?

OP here. I am an elementary ESOL teacher. I worked in the social work world before I went to grad school to get my masters in teaching. My only teaching certification is for ESOL but I'm certified K-12. I'm thinking that a change of scenery may just be what I need. I've been at the same school for 10 years. There are a lot of positive things about it, but as I stated previously, having my own kids became a game changer in that it's not fair to them when I have used up all of my patience during the school day on other peoples' kids and very little is left for my own.

Honestly, it's the behavior issues that get to me most right now since I've had my own kids. I have many lovely students with lovely, involved families but it's the select few that take up most of my patience. I could probably even deal with the behavior issues if the little time I have without students during the day wasn't micromanaged beyond belief due to one new initiative or another. To the posters who are ready to pounce on the FARMS issue--I don't even know who is FARMS and who is not (that info is confidential), so please don't use my personal experience as "evidence" to support your agenda when the students I'm referring to may not even be FARMS.

I've been thinking about what else I'm interested in and really the only jobs that fulfill me are in the helping professions. I would love to become a curriculum writer, but those jobs in my system rarely become available. Thank you to the posters who have shared BTDT experiences.

Anonymous wrote:Check out FACTS published by Time and others: Less than 25% of new teachers come from the top third of their college classes; By contrast, In Finland, Singapore, and South Korea, 100% of educators come from the top third.
Nearly 50% of new U. S. teachers come from the bottom third of their class. (You know where these four countries stand on the TIMSS exam, right?)

Anonymous wrote:"Sadly most of the U.S. teachers come from the bottom half of their high school graduation class with SAT scores well under 1000. Entry into education colleges are just not at all competitive. One way to turn our education system around is to mandate a higher bar into the profession.
[Report Post]"

Nice try....nope. I had high SAT scores, and I have extensive graduate school degrees and continuing ed.
Have you taken the Praxis for certification?Clearly you weren't aware of the standard.You and the "disdain"poster need to get off this thread. Both of you are not teachers,not in the field, not helpful!

One of the main reasons teachers are leaving is exactly this attitude...people have no idea what goes on in a school.

Anonymous wrote:OP, former teacher, also FARMS, voicing my support. Some crazy responses here, out of left field. Are you teaching elementary or secondary, and if secondary, what's the subject area?