Centrist Simon Steele Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Well...I made it seven years, but I've officially made this my last year. Seven years of high reading/writing scores (last year my students were 77 percent proficient or above in reading, 68 percent in writing--which is really pretty great for a mixed group with the advanced/gifted kids removed to other classes and teachers), and without so much as a pat on the back, I am done. Every year it isn't enough. Anyway, I think I don't have the constitution for this kind of work. It isn't even all the Common Core stuff we've all been hearing about. You know what did it? I tried to teach Black Boy by Richard Wright and received feedback that I needed to go with more "traditional" texts. Looking back that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I had those kids ready to read that almost 400 page monster. They were excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Really, that's non-traditional? I read that in high school some years ago and my 9th graders are reading it now. But you made it 7 years, so you are more than just a statistic. Which is what is happening to the people I started teaching with. If anything gets me out of this it's gonna be the pay. I had a meeting with people running for union office today. They were like, "What are you guys thinking at your site" and I was like "We are super unhappy with our contract. Please go back in time and make it better." We are paid the 3rd worst in the country adjusted for cost of living. Good luck with your future endeavors! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Our board just voted to quit negotiating with our union because we tried to negotiate for more money that matched the cost of living increases last year. They were pissed. We got the old "summers off" response. I thought Black Boy would be standard too. I do think the pay will go up. Teach enrollment is down substantially. There will be panic soon to keep teachers in the business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterOJ Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I'm not a teacher. My wife and my mother both are though. Many of the friends we interact with in our private lives are also teachers, or education administrators. I think my wife and mother both have it somewhat better than most teachers. They do special ed. Which does have it's own particular headaches, but that comes mostly in the form of extra paperwork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Sorry to hear you're throwing in the towel but I understand. What will you do instead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 I'm not a teacher. My wife and my mother both are though. Many of the friends we interact with in our private lives are also teachers, or education administrators. I think my wife and mother both have it somewhat better than most teachers. They do special ed. Which does have it's own particular headaches, but that comes mostly in the form of extra paperwork. I think that area would be the toughest to teach. Special respect to Special Education teachers, I believe they work with a pedagogy that is not understood or respected by administration or fellow teachers. Sorry to hear you're throwing in the towel but I understand. What will you do instead? Well I have been accepted to do assistantship work while I finish my degree work and head for PhD. The faculty I'm working with are very enthusiastic in helping me find a place in higher ed, which I would love as the scholarship along with teaching is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazydog7 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Anyone who flippantly says those who can do and those who can't teach is a goddamn fool who has never tried to teach anything in his or her life. I've always admired you. You actually had the guts to stay in the trenches and fight something I never did. Within four months of clinical I knew I had made a huge mistake. And you can't say it to the administration so I will say it for you more "tradiitonal" approaches? What does that mean? Blow it out your ass Mr. Vice Principle in charge of curriculum integration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Cool. Good luck Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverine Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 There are certainly rough days in teaching that make me question whether or not I want to continue (I teach 8th grade math through Pre-Calc, small school). Makes me wonder if I should have stuck with engineering at times. With two little boys at home there are some great advantages for a parent, like summers off and having the same schedule as your kids once they start school. Standardized testing certainly puts a lot of pressure on teachers and it is kind of a strange situation since the students don't have a lot of motivation to do their best. Our students (in Minnesota), used to have to pass a reading, writing, and math test to graduate, but now they just have to take it. I don't think I have ever seen the other math teacher I work with as visually upset as he was yesterday when our test results were in for one grade level. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but Minnesota juniors usually score about 50% proficient on our own math test. So half our students are below where they are "supposed" to be. Yet our ACT scores are consistently in the top 2. I actually wish we would go to common core/national standards so we had other states to compare ourselves to instead of just failing ourselves on our own standards. Good luck Simon. I am sure your students will miss you, but you can only take so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Valley Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 This is the first semester that has kicked my ass to the point where I am thinking about switching fields. I'm taking the summer off. I should be good to go again in the fall. I'm scared of burnout. My job feels really rewarding most of the time, I'm just totally overwhelmed right now. Nine classes, I'm responsible for the labs and we have a new and totally awesome program in place which requires skills to teach that are very rusty and others that I don't have at all. We get ZERO support from administration and this is the fourth consecutive year without pay raises or even promotional pay. Discouraging. The summers off thing is the only reason I haven't burned out already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freshwater Spartan Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 At 7 years you beat the odds. About half of all new teachers are usually gone before 5 years.I have 10 years in. Not sure I'll make it to 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerraPrime Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Not having beein highschool I can't comment on the comparison, but higher ed does come with its own set of issues. Don't get me wrong - there are definite perks to a teaching/faculty position in higher ed. But it also does come with its own set of headaches and frustrations. For one, these are adults and many see their college education as a consumer product, and they make corresponding demands for such. Still, I don't want to sour you on your new career goals before you even start! ;-) And thanks for making the effort you did for the kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocksniffer Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I think that area would be the toughest to teach. Special respect to Special Education teachers, I believe they work with a pedagogy that is not understood or respected by administration or fellow teachers. Well I have been accepted to do assistantship work while I finish my degree work and head for PhD. The faculty I'm working with are very enthusiastic in helping me find a place in higher ed, which I would love as the scholarship along with teaching is great. always sorry to see a good teacher go...but i get it....several teachers in my family and some have left it for good due to all the reasons cited by you and other posters.... ...but like terra said, higher ed has whole different set of crap that can drag it down, in my opinion. i was first trained in my field in the navy .... marine geology, underwater mapping, hydrology etc. working with fellow service-members (as i am sure you know) was different, easier. respect was a given...then came grad school after i retired from navy...during graduate school, like everyone, i had to teach many labs (which was ok. we were usually in the field so i enjoyed that) but working with students in classroom...not so much. trying to teach those same subjects to groups of people that had little or no respect for "grad assistants" was a real pain in the ass. so much so i took my degrees to work in public sector til i retired for good... Anyone who flippantly says those who can do and those who can't teach is a goddamn fool who has never tried to teach anything in his or her life. I've always admired you. You actually had the guts to stay in the trenches and fight something I never did. Within four months of clinical I knew I had made a huge mistake. And you can't say it to the administration so I will say it for you more "tradiitonal" approaches? What does that mean? Blow it out your ass Mr. Vice Principle in charge of curriculum integration. :lol: Not having beein highschool I can't comment on the comparison, but higher ed does come with its own set of issues. Don't get me wrong - there are definite perks to a teaching/faculty position in higher ed. But it also does come with its own set of headaches and frustrations. For one, these are adults and many see their college education as a consumer product, and they make corresponding demands for such. Still, I don't want to sour you on your new career goals before you even start! ;-) And thanks for making the effort you did for the kids. i found that while they were adults in age they were less inclined to act it than any group of people i had ever met...perhaps that was just my experience...in addition i know i could never have survived the university politics among the faculty and staff... cheers to all teachers at every level, everywhere...you have my respect... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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