I hate being a teacher...what do i do

sj quik wrote:

unlike many jobs, you do take a lot of work home with you. and though it may be hard for people to understand, you are constantly thinking about what you have to do and how you can do it better.

I agreed with everything you wrote - except for this paragraph.

Most jobs, in this day and age, require that you take work home with you to get the job done. In my company, at my level, you have to carry a blackberry to respond to questions ANY time of day. Plus, I typically put about 10-12 hours a day in the office, plus an hour or two at night, as well as a full day on Saturday, and partial day at home on Sunday.

And also, if you're concerned about your non-teaching job - you'd better be constantly thinking about what you do and how you could do it better - because if you're not, guaranteed someone else is, who can come in and TAKE your job - without cause in the corporate world (no union).

There are simply a lot of things you don't understand about being a GOOD teacher.

There is a BIG difference between an average teacher, and an excellent teacher. Many people think that ALL teachers are people who failed at everything else in their lives, so they teach(and to be fair- that is true to a degree)

However, there are great teachers out there who deserve much more money than they get, and more thanks than they get.

Teachers who have a talent for what they do and enjoy helping kids are not deserving of the label you(and most people) give the majority of the profession.

I love seeing all of the professionals that want a break from the hard life that is the corp. world. Two months is the average in a tuff classroom for them.

They've taken an accounting class and believe that they can now teach 9th graders Algebra I. It usually does not work out.

All work is difficult because it you get what you put in. I teach 6 hours a day. Plan for 2 hours. Grade for 1 hour. Coach for 2 hours. Work towards a masters degree for 2.5 hours. Eat, shower, and blink the rest of the day. I could just teach for 2 hours a day and give lots of worksheets like most teachers do; however, that is so lame it makes my teeth hurt.

So, it's what you put into it. BTW, I've spent every summer since I've been a teacher in various locations training. I've gotten to visit some of the greatest cities in the USA, but sometimes not much more than a dorm room and a lecture hall.

To the origional poster. It gets easy after about 3 years.

I'm a film editor. I learned on the job, which was a "right place, right time" kind of deal. Don't count on this happening with you.

You don't really need a lot of experience to edit commercials (our tape editor does commercials on the side.) You're pretty much just pushing the right buttons on the computer while a director tells you what s/he wants. You can go to a video school and learn Avid editing (which is what I do), or the new standard for a lot of commercials and some films, Final Cut Pro. Several thousand dollars for a few weeks of training. Some schools have connections in the industry.

If you get on a network show, there is a built-in vacation (hiatus) between seasons. These are anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months. You can go on unemployment. This is fine if you're single (I am), but I know a lot of people with families who get very anxious around hiatus time. Also, the show is dictating when you are taking your "vacation." Again, fine for me as it's in the winter and I can go skiing, or travel somewhere warm.

I'm not sure how much experience it takes to make a commercial, just how much it takes to edit one.

blue wrote:

There are simply a lot of things you don't understand about being a GOOD teacher.

There is a BIG difference between an average teacher, and an excellent teacher. Many people think that ALL teachers are people who failed at everything else in their lives, so they teach(and to be fair- that is true to a degree)

However, there are great teachers out there who deserve much more money than they get, and more thanks than they get.

Teachers who have a talent for what they do and enjoy helping kids are not deserving of the label you(and most people) give the majority of the profession.

Well said...

The problem I have with the public school situation in the US is the fact that the only way teachers get a raise is to 1) get more education, and 2) length of service.

Why not pay for performance? Pay higher performing and motivated teachers more? Is there something I'm missing here (and please don't give me tired old union arguments)?

The union situation is unbelievable to me because it punishes motivated and talented teachers by forcing them into a pay structure where they will ALWAYS be paid less than those teachers with more experience.

Just because someone has been doing something a long time doesn't mean they're good at it.

BarryP wrote:

I finaly got out. I went back to school 2 years ago and am now an engineer. So far, so good. Very low stress. Decent pay. I get to swim every day during the 1 1/2 hours I take for lunch (that's right....1 1/2 hours, not 40 minutes).

In addition to the bratty kids and difficult parents, I also found the staff, in general, to be extremely immature. They basicaly behaved like large teenagers.....forming clicks, gossiping behind your back, whinning about every little thing. And then, to top it off, the admistration treats you like....well....like you're a child.

No offense to you teachers, but that was my experience.

Post of the day. And I'm a veteran teacher who's had a lot of success and plan to stick it out to the end, but your comments about much of the staff are pretty close to the mark in every building that I've taught in.

choco man wrote:

the people who usually complain about teaching being a rigorous and such a hard life are usually the ones who just plain bad at it. sure it has long hours, but those hours decrease significantly after the first two years when you have your courses laid out and rhthym down.

Bullsh!t. I'm in my 29th year and working harder than ever, and if that's because "I'm just plain bad at it", then explain why I was nominated for a national teaching award this winter on the basis of my students' test scores.

I love teaching, but to respond to your post, read the brackets. Your world isn't very different from mine.

[quote]Jibber wrote:

Please, tell me how teaching a classroom full of kids is harder than:

Dealing with unreasonable [politicians/bureaucrats/administrators/pricipals/parents] who have power over your position.

Negotiating [grades/behavior] with [parents] who are always right.

Supervising [children] who seem to be coming in with more and more of an "entitlement" complex.

[Taking your job with you everywhere] - [home, family gatherings, the supermarket, etc.]

[quote]

PDX Track wrote:

[quote]Jibber wrote:

Again, you chose your profession, I chose mine. If you sit around and complain about how bad teachers have it - then GET OUT OF THE PROFESSION!

Again - to restate - unless you've been a corporate professional, you have NO IDEA what you're talking about....unless of course, you're married to someone who takes their non-teaching career seriously (that is, trying to get ahead).

wait, did you mention something about complaining?

i don't doubt that your work your ass off. but assuming you are paid for what you accomplish, i'm sure you're sleeping better at night. true, teachers chose their job. but we still have the right to complain about being undercompensated. and of course we can complain about those (many) teachers that are overcompensated, just as corporate workers probably complain about the salaries of CEOs.

The previous post filled in the sentences all to accurately.

I taught 3rd grade for 3 years-I can say that I was a solid teacher, not the best, but good. Perhaps with more experience I would have been better. I i know that I was good, based on the academic and behavioral growth of my students. I had students who couldn't read learn to read, and one student who was suspended 2-3 times per week in 2nd grade not get sent to the office once in my class-he was in tears when I got done. Blahablahblah.

My problem with teaching:

-students who can't read being passed on

-students who can't read who's parents think it is the teachers fault they can't do the homework and complain to the principal to get you in trouble

-students who are absent 30+ times a year b/c they don't think they have to be there and the parents know and don't care

-students who can totally make up stories to get a teacher in trouble

-students who can have brand new Tommy, Timberland, Polo, North Face... and not have a pencil

-students who serious need special services not get tested (had a kid who didn't know the alphabet and he got all passes grades k-2nd grade!)

-adminstrators who refuse to help with behavior issues(not a classroom management problem when a child has to be sedated-occurred 2 times)

-adminstrators refuse recess

-adminstrators changing reading programs every year

-adminstrators changing the name of the school so it won't get taken over by the state

-adminstrators that allow a parent to run the show

-adminstrators who waste tons of money and then claim their is no money for supplies

-adminstrators who don't inforce rules

-adminstrators who gives the kids who were sent to the office a quarter

-parents who don't care what their child does

-parents who don't believe their child would ever behave inappropriately

-parents who believe that what their child says is gospel

-parents who don't bother to see if homework is done

-parents who don't bother to attend parent conferences

-parents who hit their children in the head with a hammer

-parents who don't get their child glasses even when the teacher coordinates FREE doctor and glasses

-parents who allow their children to drink sugar water and chips for breakfast and lunch even when it is free at school

-parents who say that their nine year old needs to be put in jail to learn a lesson

If you have read this far I am impressed, want more?

The previous post filled in the sentences accurately.

I taught 3rd grade for 3 years-I can say that I was a solid teacher, not the best, but good. Perhaps with more experience I would have been better. I i know that I was good, based on the academic and behavioral growth of my students. I had students who couldn't read learn to read, and one student who was suspended 2-3 times per week in 2nd grade not get sent to the office once in my class-he was in tears when I got done. Blahablahblah.

My problem with teaching:

-students who can't read being passed on

-students who can't read who's parents think it is the teachers fault they can't do the homework and complain to the principal to get you in trouble

-students who are absent 30+ times a year b/c they don't think they have to be there and the parents know and don't care

-students who can totally make up stories to get a teacher in trouble

-students who can have brand new Tommy, Timberland, Polo, North Face... and not have a pencil

-students who serious need special services not get tested (had a kid who didn't know the alphabet and he got all passes grades k-2nd grade!)

-adminstrators who refuse to help with behavior issues(not a classroom management problem when a child has to be sedated-occurred 2 times)

-adminstrators refuse recess

-adminstrators changing reading programs every year

-adminstrators changing the name of the school so it won't get taken over by the state

-adminstrators that allow a parent to run the show

-adminstrators who waste tons of money and then claim their is no money for supplies

-adminstrators who don't inforce rules

-adminstrators who gives the kids who were sent to the office a quarter

-parents who don't care what their child does

-parents who don't believe their child would ever behave inappropriately

-parents who believe that what their child says is gospel

-parents who don't bother to see if homework is done

-parents who don't bother to attend parent conferences

-parents who hit their children in the head with a hammer

-parents who don't get their child glasses even when the teacher coordinates FREE doctor and glasses

-parents who allow their children to drink sugar water and chips for breakfast and lunch even when it is free at school

-parents who say that their nine year old needs to be put in jail to learn a lesson

If you have read this far I am impressed, want more?

marathondude wrote:

it seems to me that the problems you have with teeaching, is where you should become more involved. no? i mean these are very valid issues, and ideally as an educator, shouldn't it be your goal remedy said issues?

Easier said than done. How much do you really think one classroom teacher can do to change the above issues?

marathondude wrote:

point taken. however, the issues regarding individual students should be within reason. of course this is coming from an aspiring teacher (master's student in education), with little actual field experience. so this far, all my opinions about education and an educators role are utterly ideal. i'll let you know if i still the same way when i start teaching more.

I guarantee they will change.

I'm an almost-30 year veteran of high school math teaching where I've taught all levels from special needs to advanced placement, I've also coached track and cross country during that time. I hope that your idealism will be tempered by realism in a way that will result in a career that has been as rewarding for you as mine has been.

Being illiterate yourself can't have helped you as a teacher.

Careful wrote:

Careful Lech,

Just be careful entering the corporate world, that is all I am saying...

Right now you have a 3-month vacation each year right?

Maybe I will take your job for you. Want to trade? I am in media and I work like a slave.

umm are you serious? do you have any idea how hard teachers have to work and how it is non-stop prepping and grading and planning. Obviously you don't and that comment was very clearly a cut at teaching as a career.