7 posts tagged “teaching”
I don't understand how teachers are able to maintain and consistently update a blog during the school year. Especially during the beginning. Three weeks, and I've already exhausted myself trying to teach things that technically aren't even on this year's standards, but need to be taught so that we can move forward with some sort of common ground. Even if I feel like writing, I don't have the time to pause and arrange my thoughts coherently. Not a good sign, especially since I start grad school in two weeks. I think I forgot how to write a research paper. If they accept five paragraph essays and Jane Schaffer paragraphs I'll be good to go.
According to the head of my district union, there are two presidential candidates out there: one who wants to fix the problems of the educational system, and one who "wants to blame it all on the teachers."
In a fitting end to a summer school session that began with an admnistrator telling us that "these kids have been beaten down all year long," this group of enjoyable youngsters has proven that they are no slouches when it comes to administering a little beat-down of their own.
Summer school week #2 has been surprisingly low key, except for the individual who felt compelled to yank his own shirt down from the neck and expose his chest to the class. Then today, I observed startled looks from table group I was assisting, and I turned to see him lifting up a table, and depositing it's contents (all of my teaching gear for the day) all over the floor. I guess he didn't realize that hefting a table to display the strength of his cannons would cause everything on the table to fall off. Not my responsibility to show him that. I teach English, not physics.
Teachers underpaid?
Come on now.
I have fantastic benefits for myself, wife, and kid. Medical/dental/vision. I have the summer off if I want it. I have two weeks off during Christmas. A week for spring break. Nearly a week for Thanksgiving. Couple of days for Memorial Day. Holidays in every month except October and March. Paid jury duty for as long as needed. I get sick, I can take a day off. My wife delivers a baby, I can take a few days. Personal emergency? Day off. Doctor's appointment? Day off. All paid.
Oh, and if I do choose to work summer school, I work half days and STILL end up with a month off. I get a raise every year as long as I don't get fired. I can get a master's degree in basket weaving and my pay will go up.
Teachers underpaid, teachers underpaid, teachers underpaid.
Plus we all should get the same, regardless of what we teach, how we teach it, how hard we work at it, how knowledgable we are about our subject(s) etc. And of course, we should get more.
It's getting embarrassing.
Not to say that teaching is easy. Most teachers work hard, as far as I can tell. I'm fortunate to work alongside fantastic, motivated teachers who teach me a lot and have fun doing it. I enjoy teaching, and I love what I teach. I think my colleagues do as well. We put in exrtra hours, take work home, work on weekends, and we lug whatever happened in the classroom along with us, good or bad, whether we're at home, school, recreation, whatever. However, teachers don't have the market cornered when it comes to employees working late or taking work home. I will not presume to act as if my profession is put upon because we have to work outside our contractual obligations. In fact, if I had to presume anything, I would presume that working late, working extra, and working weekends is something that most hardworking professionals encounter once in awhile. And now we're back to summers off, weeks and days of vacation, all kinds of sick leave, fantastic benefits (and who gets that? Oh yeah, teachers), and I'm getting tired of hearing spokespersons, supposedly speaking for me, making me sound like a victimized crybaby.
I AM NOT UNDERPAID. Would I like more? Sure. Do I deserve more? Maybe. But I know for sure that I don't deserve to make as much as some teachers with my experience, and there are others with my experience who don't deserve what I make. And as long as the big wigs at national union headquartes fight any attempt to differentiate between educators, I doubt teachers who "deserve" more will get more. I'm a hard worker. Many teachers are hard workers. But we all don't work the same, and we are not all equally in demand, so to expect us to be uniformally paid on par with those in other industries who are in high demand is ridiculous.
Teachers know the pay and benefits before they start. No one tricked
us. No one victimized us. We can leave any time we want, but on the
whole, we've got a good gig going.I get a kick out of teaching. It's
fun, it's never dull, and it's a chance to learn and increase my own
education on a regular basis. AND I get time with my family. I've got
very little to complain
about, and I'm sure as hell not a victim.
"Strike a match and hope it lasts. Here's to following your own lead."
--Less Than Jake
The other night, I stayed up a little later than I'm used to. I was exploring Vox. There are all kinds of different groups one can join, depending on one's interest. There are groups about music. Groups about science. Groups about sports. Groups about politics. There is a group for pretty much anything a person would like to belong to. You know what I discovered? I couldn't find a group in which I truly "fit in." I wanted to find people just like me. People who enjoyed sports, reading, writing, punk rock, lifting, health, family, faith, teaching.
Let me rephrase: I fit in "a little" with all kinds of people. I can find something to talk about with almost anyone, but sometimes, when I try to talk about one of my other interests, I lose whoever it is I'm talking to. As soon as they realize I am not 100% "one of them" they give me the blank stare. The raised eyebrow. The puckered forehead. It's almost as if they smelled a fart, and I was the guilty party.
For example: I love snowboarding, yet I'm horrifically irritated by most snowboarders. It's rare for me to find a snowboarder that I get along with, and snowboarding is one of my passions. Maybe it's my fault. Or maybe it's that many of the snowboarders I come into contact with are blithering idiots. Maybe it's both.
Baseball is another one. I played baseball for the better part of my entire life. I was the only English major on my team at two different universities. Needless to say, we didn't start an after-practice literature discussion group.
Punk rock? My favorite music since I was a teenager, and I still haven't grown out of it. Yet, I don't agree with the message of a lot of the super-preachy political punk bands out there. I love the shows, I love the sound, I love the crowds--this music changed my life--but I'm not really on board with what it means to be truly "punk rock." Call me a hypocrite or a sell out.
At about 2AM, I finally grew weary of trying to find a Vox group that was my "perfect fit." I don't think it's out there. It was a little frustrating, but my quest for the perfect Vox group made me reflect on something I already knew. My diverse interests are part of what makes me...me. I'm not one of those people who can completely submerge themselves into a single group. And I wouldn't want to. I like the freedom of wandering from group to group. Sometimes that means I don't "fit in" as well as everyone else. That's my fault, but I'm ok with that.
I started this post with a quote from one of my favorite bands. It's from a song called "Faction." It's about belonging. The song states "Sometimes you just want to belong, at any loss at any cost." It feels good to belong. I searched for two hours the other night, just so I could belong.
But what are we willing to sacrifice so that we can belong? At what cost will we "fit in"? Sometimes we need to strike a match, and follow our own lead, regardless of who comes along with us. Here's to following your own lead.
