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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - 2:23 pm
This was read at a local Chamber of Commerce meeting here. “I am a teacher! What I do and say is being absorbed by young minds who will echo these images across the ages. My lessons will be immortal, affecting people yet unborn, people I will never see or know. “The future of the world is in my classroom today and this future has potential for both good and bad. The pliable minds of tomorrow’s leaders will be molded either artistically or grotesquely by what I do. “Several future presidents are learning from me today, so are the great writers of the next decades and so are all the so-called ordinary people who will make the decisions in a democracy. I must never forget these same young people could be the thieves and murderers of the future. “Just a teacher? Thank God I have a calling to the greatest profession of all! I must be vigilant every day lest I lose one fragile opportunity to improve tomorrow.”
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Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - 3:22 pm
It seems that many people are getting greedy. Including the politicians, cops and teachers” ---Anonymous. This is a comment on the latest poll about teachers deserving a pay rise. I am all for diversity of opinion but I would just like to refute this statement unequivocally with a simple example. Mathematics is often something that confounds me, but on this occasion it proves quite useful for showing how grossly underpaid teachers are. That they are concurrently undervalued is also demonstrated by the widespread opinion of people like the person who made the above comment. Let’s take the most minimalist value for teachers. Let’s say that teachers are nothing more than glorified babysitters and for now say nothing of the value of the knowledge they impart on our children. Let’s also take the smallest possible family, with only one child. If we only treat teachers as babysitters, how much should we pay them? What would you pay a snotty teenager to look after your kid when you go out with your partner? If you are a tight-arse, no more than five dollars an hour I’d say. Ok so let’s do the math. Teachers look after your kid for 5 hours a day, 200 days a year (This is not including time spent supervising at recess and lunch, marking assessments after work and other extra curricular work such as dramatic productions and sports teams). So 5 times 5 times 200 equals $5000. AND THAT IS JUST FOR YOUR KID, NOT TO MENTION THE 29 OTHER KIDS THEY “BABYSIT” IN EVERY PERIOD, EVERYDAY. If we factor in the other 29 kids in the class, teachers, if only valued at 5 bucks an hour as a babysitter, should be on $150,000 dollars a year! Teachers don’t even earn a third of that. Maybe they should all quit and all become private babysitters, not only would they earn more, it would also save them the stress of having to actually teach the little shits something….. ETA : this was in an email sent to me, there are other copies I've seen of this that make the rounds from time to time!!
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, September 01, 2004 - 5:25 pm
Bravo to the first one!!! And if we're talking "overpaid"...can we focus on someone who can live above the poverty level, please? While my family is personally not below poverty level, I teach in the second poorest county in our state...so even our low teacher's pay is one of the higher paying jobs. I'm not complaining about my pay at all...but if ANYONE says I'm overpaid after obtaining TWO degrees, State Certification AND all the "extras" I do, well, then....I want them to do MY job for MY pay and see how they feel about it! On a much brighter note...I have great kids this year! My freshmen have ALL, yes ALL, turned in their required handbook slips and they have until TOMORROW to do this! They were ALL early!! I can't believe it! To top it off, I get to end my day w/ seniors (my favorite) AND a smaller class than the rest of my day! WOOHOO!
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Bearware
Member
07-12-2002
| Thursday, September 02, 2004 - 2:43 pm
Wow, teach, a coup! My day is ended with the 'basic' class of seventh graders, who are SUCH a handful! I end the day exhausted! As for pay, I agree, - I have 3 degrees, am working on national certification, spend at LEAST 12 hour days 4 days a week and all for what my brother's secretary makes. I know I love my job, and that does help - but I challenge ANYONE who thinks I'm overpaid to come do this job the right way for a month.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, September 02, 2004 - 7:17 pm
There's the key Bear...the "right" way! Someone once told me "If you don't care, teaching is the easiest job in the world. If you do it right, it's the hardest job in the world."
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Danas15146
Member
03-31-2004
| Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 10:20 am
To all the teachers -- all I have to say is "thank you" MOST parents appreciate what you do and how difficult it is. The teachers in our district are paid pretty well - but when you consider the time that our teachers put in (classroom and outside the classroom) I would never suggest that it is too much.
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Zules
Member
08-21-2000
| Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 10:42 am
Here's one by one of my very favorite spoken word poets. I suggest reading it outloud with a little attitude: What Teachers Make, or You can always go to law school if things don't work out By Taylor Mali www.taylormali.com He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests that it's also true what they say about lawyers. Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company. "I mean, you're a teacher, Taylor," he says. "Be honest. What do you make?" And I wish he hadn't done that (asked me to be honest) because, you see, I have a policy about honesty and ass-kicking: if you ask for it, I have to let you have it. You want to know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face. How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups. No, you may not ask a question. Why won't I let you get a drink of water? Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why. I make parents tremble in fear when I call home: I hope I haven't called at a bad time, I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today. Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?" And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen. I make parents see their children for who they are and what they can be. You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder, I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful over and over and over again until they will never misspell either one of those words again. I make them show all their work in math. And hide it on their final drafts in English. I make them understand that if you got this (brains) then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you give them this (the finger). Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true: I make a goddamn difference! What about you?
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Danas15146
Member
03-31-2004
| Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 10:51 am
Zules -- I love it! I work with alot of teachers (retirement planning) and I hope you won't mind if I copy this for them and share it mid-year when they start feeling unappreciated.
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Zules
Member
08-21-2000
| Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 11:00 am
Not at all Danas15146! And I don't think Mr. Mali would mind it either! Here's another: Undivided attention By Taylor Mali www.taylormali.com A grand piano wrapped in quilted pads by movers, tied up with canvas straps - like classical music's birthday gift to the insane - is gently nudged without its legs out an eighth-floor window on 62nd street. It dangles in April air from the neck of the movers' crane, Chopin-shiny black lacquer squares and dirty white crisscross patterns hanging like the second-to-last note of a concerto played on the edge of the seat, the edge of tears, the edge of eight stories up going over, and I'm trying to teach math in the building across the street. Who can teach when there are such lessons to be learned? All the greatest common factors are delivered by long-necked cranes and flatbed trucks or come through everything, even air. Like snow. See, snow falls for the first time every year, and every year my students rush to the window as if snow were more interesting than math, which, of course, it is. So please. Let me teach like a Steinway, spinning slowly in April air, so almost-falling, so hinderingly dangling from the neck of the movers' crane. So on the edge of losing everything. Let me teach like the first snow, falling.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 11:09 am
That's great Zules! I've been lucky enough to volunteer for each of my kids teachers the last 3 years and have learned a whole new respect for teachers than I used to have. Not everyone was born to teach other peoples kids, and when you get to see people in action who were born to do that it's great. I was reminded this morning why I adore teachers, lol. My not quite 6 year old had a very bad night. She was awake half the night and tossing and turning the other half. Poor kid was worn out, but not enough to keep home. I stopped by her class before school to explain to her teacher and let her know Kota gets grumpy when she's tired, so any change in behaviour she might notice is because she didn't get much sleep last night. She laughed and said that's ok, if she falls asleep, we'll just let her sleep for a while. How can you not love a teacher who is willing to let your child take a quick nap in class when she's exhausted?
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Schoolmarm
Member
02-18-2001
| Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 11:33 am
I've always told my students (who are going to be teachers) that they will NOT have normal work hours. Their homework and study will never end, but just be self-imposed and a necessary part of the job, and their life. And also, that they should tell all those people who think that they teach for "June, July, and August" that it's really not time off, as they have to take classes and prepare for the year and....and....and... We simply (or not so simply) work 12 hours a day for nine months instead of nine hours a day for 12 months. <note....the pay can get worse as you go to higher ed....I took two pay cuts recently. One from public school to a small university, and just this year from that university to a doctoral intensive one....now I'm working all the time, but don't have many classes to teach, AND my brother who flunked out of college makes much more than I do!>
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 2:28 pm
YAAAAAA for teachers!!! My daughter's 3rd grade teacher turned her entire learning abilities into A's and B's for the rest of her education! My music teacher I loved like another mother! But teachers (especially) in public schools not only don't get paid nearly enough but they also have to spend their own money to make their teaching better. I think its a disgrace! Teachers ROCK!
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 8:08 pm
Thanks....again! I've just spent the last 10 minutes savoring the uplifting messages here. Musical season has hit, so in addition to my regular 2 - 3 hours of paperwork a night, I'm now helping direct 3 hours a night, 4 nights a week. It's tremendous fun (we're doing Footloose!), but after just one week, I'm about wiped out...and needed a "pick - me - up." You all gave it to me in spades!
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