Hey Toby!

[Osmer_Toby]

no, that's a common misconception here. we don't get paid year round. don't know about john, but i doubt he does, either.

picture this for a minute: 115 13/14 year olds, 6.5 hours per day, 182 days per year. that's 136,045 hours, per year, of direct responsibility for a teenager. that averages out to 372 hours per day, including weekends and holidays.

we don't need the summer off. we need to be institutionalized.

 

[Big Mike]

no, that's a common misconception here. we don't get paid year round.

My girlfriend's sister and brother-in-law are both teachers. They each have about 4 years experience and the both make around $50K/year (CDN) They get July & August off, with pay. They get a lump payment for July & August in June before their time off.

I know it's an important & stressful job but it looks pretty sweet from where I'm standing. Especially when I think of how lazy most of my teachers were.

The worst part is that teachers here are always complaining about something. Class sizes are too big, not enough funding...etc. Hey, everybody I know could complain about their jobs...it's just that most of us don't have a public union to complain for us... :roll:

OK...I'll stop ranting now. I'm not against teachers...I'm just bitter that I don't have a job solving crimes on a tropical island.

 

[terri]

I don't begrudge the teachers their down time, and I am certain they deserve each and every MNIUTE of it.....dealing with those little monsters. We all have stress, but not the stress of dealing with a roomful of kids, AND their parents, who are for the most part happy to shove off that responsibility onto someone else. UGH! I couldn't do that job. I'd ***** slap them all into the middle of next week.

That said, I would still welcome the year round classes...because those kids need it. It would benefit the kids, not necessarily the teachers. Although, I would think it might be less stressful to have more time time pack in the same lesson assigned for that academic grade. A couple of the teachers I've talked to have complained of feeling that time pressure - getting it all in. It seems like a no-brainer, but I'm outside of the system, so I can't say.

 

[manda]

I know it's an important & stressful job but it looks pretty sweet from where I'm standing. Especially when I think of how lazy most of my teachers were.

Sweet? Come do it for a while. Yes, everyone has stressful jobs. Yes, teachers agree to do the job when they start. Most however, have no idea what they are getting themselves in for, and what is expected of teachers for the amount of money we are paid is ridiculous. I challenge anyone who says that teachers are lazy, whingers and thinks its a sweet deal, to come try it out for one day.
I just wrote a huge list of things you could do before you even start teaching at 9am but it would bore you so i deleted it.

The worst part is that teachers here are always complaining about something. Class sizes are too big, not enough funding...etc. Hey, everybody I know could complain about their jobs...it's just that most of us don't have a public union to complain for us... :roll:

Don't you think there is a reason teachers complain? Its because we are educating your children, our future, if we don't have things neccessary to run a school, then your children can not be taught.
We don't whinge for the sake of whinging, we demand these things be amended and made a priority by our greedy governments because our job is one of the most important ones in the workforce.
Teaching is a vocation and is therefore full of passionate people who care about the education and well being of children. We argue and fight for funding so that your children and our future can all receive the best education that is possible.

Class sizes...so the children get the best education possible, not so we can sit back and have a break. With smaller class sizes, teachers will actually do more work because more work will be ploughed through each day and more individualised programs would be implemented.

Not enough funding....so the children get the best education possible, not because we want more money to have a bigger steak lunch. Funding means resources, funding means extra support for kids with language, learning, speech, hearing, and ESL problems.

If teachers didn't complain that the conditions in schools were good enough, then I'd be worried. Teachers complaining means they are doing their utmost to make sure the children they teach are exposed to the best education that they can receive.

Get used to it, because unless governments wake up and see that education should be a top priority, teachers are going to keep on complaining until children are given the learning environments that they deserve.

 

[Sharkbait]

Well said, mandababe.

To address the paying thing. Here in Indiana our contract runs year round, but we only get paid for the time we're in session. There's an option (that most people take) to spread their paychecks out over the full 12 months though. So I get paid for 9 months, but it's spread over 12. Weird, I know.

As far as it being a 'cush' job. In some respects it is. I don't have to get filthy and exhausted working in a steel mill or something like that. But people that complain about teachers having it easy think that we walk in the door with the kids, are there from 8 till 3, and go home, then have all summer to relax. Don't I wish. My day often runs from 5am until 9pm with 20 minutes to wolf down my lunch, usually while tutoring some kid who could really give a rat's ass about literature. Most teachers are expected to run at least one extracurricular activity (and with the stipend we get for them, I usually make less than the local fast food fly-slinger for the hours I put in), which keeps us at school late in the evening. I coached volleyball a few years ago, and I realized that between mid july and late november, I did not see my house in the daylight. Gone before dawn, home approaching midnight.

Teachers go through rigorous licening procedures, very similar (different content, obviously) to doctors, layers, etc. Yet we, on average, make 1/4 to 1/3 of what they do. My wife got a 4 yr degree and walked out of school to several $50K plus offers. I walked out of college, degree in hand, and had to shell out several hundred dollars to take entire batteries of tests, just to qualify for a probational licensure. Then I had to fight and claw for a $22K a year job.

 

[Sharkbait]

Oh, and as for those long summers off? Hah. I wish. I've been joking around about it for awhile, but nearly every teacher I know works at least one summer job to help offset the pitiful payscale. I also have to shell out a thousand or more dollars of my own money pretty much every summer to keep my licensure up to date. This summer, I'll be working several hours a day on homework of my own for a class on new trends in teaching writing. Zzzz, talk about a snoozer, but it'll give me good information to help teach my kids next year.

But that's really what it all comes down to--they're my kids, and I love them. Even when I can't f'ing stand them and am ready to throw them through the window just to get them away from me, I still love em and want to teach them to the best of my abilities.

 

[manda]

Hear Hear!
You said it John.
Even the 2 kids who make me want to rip my own skin off and hang it up to dry most days, made my heart skip a beat today when they both giggled at my silly joke. Noone has been able to make those boys laugh in ages and I finally got through to them today. It made me realise how little they are. Seeing those boys smile...damn, feels good.

Yeah, I worked a summer job as a waitress where I had a boss who treated me like some idiotic moron and I had to bring it into perspective when the most important thing they were talking about at the staff meeting was the kind of coffee beans they wanted bought that week.

I tried to get this writing through photography program off the ground with my class last year. It only went a third of the way I wanted to because I was stopped from doing certain things like building a website because of stupid policies and laws. I'd love to be able to get something like that off the ground porperly. The kids in my class absolutely loved it.

 

[Osmer_Toby]

Hey, everybody I know could complain about their jobs...it's just that most of us don't have a public union to complain for us...

the teacher's union is the only union in canada? :shock:

 

[Sharkbait]

Hear Hear!
You said it John.
Even the 2 kids who make me want to rip my own skin off and hang it up to dry most days, made my heart skip a beat today when they both giggled at my silly joke. Noone has been able to make those boys laugh in ages and I finally got through to them today. It made me realise how little they are. Seeing those boys smile...damn, feels good.

Yeah, I worked a summer job as a waitress where I had a boss who treated me like some idiotic moron and I had to bring it into perspective when the most important thing they were talking about at the staff meeting was the kind of coffee beans they wanted bought that week.

I tried to get this writing through photography program off the ground with my class last year. It only went a third of the way I wanted to because I was stopped from doing certain things like building a website because of stupid policies and laws. I'd love to be able to get something like that off the ground porperly. The kids in my class absolutely loved it.

Mmm, sometimes I wish I were still single!! :love: :love: :hug: :cheers:
You gots the right idea, mander! :thumbsup:

 

[Big Mike]

It's nice to see that you both are so passionate about teaching. I guess what I was calling complaining, is teachers fighting for the education of the kids. I hope I didn't offend any one.

Education is on par with health care as for being essential. Public Education could always be considered underfunded. I guess if I worked in the public sector and saw how governments waste money...I'd be pretty pissed and would be screaming for more funding too.

As it is, we could all do our jobs better if we had more funding. Here in the province of Alberta, our education system gets more money than any other province in Canada. They could definitely use more funding but where does it end?

 

[Big Mike]

Hey, everybody I know could complain about their jobs...it's just that most of us don't have a public union to complain for us...

the teacher's union is the only union in Canada? :shock:

There are other government employee unions...and they seem to go on strike even more often than our teachers. The nurses and the hospital support staff have been battling with the government for what seems a very long time.

I don't blame them for their position. They could use more funding to so their job better but so could the rest of us.

 

[Osmer_Toby]

well, my esteemed colleagues pretty much said all that needed to be said.

i get so tired of defending my profession- it's very discouraging to put my soul into what i do and find that in general, we are viewed with such derision. it wears on one after a while. people have such narrow views of what happens in education today; no one seems to take the time to learn what is really going on before engaging in teacher-bashing. i guess i would just ask that you truly look before you sling mud- i'm pretty sure that the vast majority of mud-slingers would be very surprised, and very contrite, after spending just one full day observing in a classroom and at the teacher's home (cause that's where one helluva lot of work gets done).

 

[terri]

I think all of you are underpaid heros. :hug:

A pity you didn't learn to swing the bat a little better, though.

 

[markc]

I had problems with several of the teachers I had who treated me like crap. Most of my teachers seemed to just treat me like "work". There was a handful, though, that made a real impact on my life. They taught me things that had nothing to do with the official subject at hand. They treated me like a person, not just some kid. I respect and thank them immensely for that.

To all of you who put you best effort into giving the kids what they need, I salute you. :salute:

 

[Sharkbait]

To all of you who put you best effort into giving the kids what they need, I salute you. :salute:

Yeah, well...to those about to rock, we salute yooooooo!!!! :salute: