Kill me now! Kill me now!

We're having a birthday party for my 7 year old twin girls.

At home.

That's right, I've got a house full of screaming 7 year olds. The last line I heard before retreating to the office was "I just swallowed my throw-up."

Kill me now.

-Steve

 

Get out while you can!

I can remember those days,you haven't seen anything yet.

 

you think 7 is bad?

wait till they hit 13.

 

Have they learned to play "Guess what I stuck in my nose?" yet?

Cinderella is right, at 7 you're still the object of adoration.

By 11 or 12 you're doing good if all you get is a look of disdain.

 

and nowadays? at 11 or 12 they're still playing "Guess what I stuck in my nose" -- but it's a MUCH more dangerous game.


One of these days, you're going to look back on these days and think: That was the easy part.

 

welcome to my world! grade 1 teacher, everyday 7 hrs. ohh and the 13 yr olds, been there done that 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. i would take 7 yr olds over 13 anyday. have fun!

 

Only a 7 hr day? 9 months out of the year? 4 days off for Thanksgiving? 2 weeks off for Christmas? 1 week off in the Spring? Sounds like an easy job .



















However, my wife (third grade teacher) keeps telling me that it definitely is not as easy as it looks.

 

she's right--its even EASIER. My lil sis teaches 3rd grade and one day I had off and her class computers needed fixing so I went in and helped out with the class ALL DAY LONG. I even did a lil bit on motorcycle safety and proper equipment/gear.

She bitches and moans all the time about all the work she has to do and how she never gets any free time and yadda yadda yadda.

Honestly, I don't get it. It was quite simple babysitting a bunch of kids, teaching em basic skills, making and correcting assignments (I also graded all her papers for the day and managed to do it in half the time she would have), escorting them to lunch, etc.

She still complains all the time, I just quit listening since I know the facts. I'd rather deal with a bunch of 3rd graders who KNOW who's in charge and 9 outs 10 times WILL respect the authority as well as understand who knows better vs try to convince some executive big shot that his computer systems are so out of date that he's losing money by continuing to use them.

*sigh*

 

Truer words never spoken. Then the true nightmare begins. She won't be talking to you till, say 21. But they do come back. At least my 3 did. Enjoy the moment.

 

webcrush, you have no idea!! i have read studies where teaching is considered the most stressfull job, period. teachers most often work well over 50-60hrs a week, while getting paid for 40. put in 100's of their own money to prepare for class. constantly have admin looking over your shoulder watching your test scores. if they arn't good enough you are gone (think about that if the kids dont do their job, which can often happen, you get punished). most often you are the only thing resembling a parent to them, so you are also trying to teach them the proper way to act as well as learn. in middle school i have dealt with threats, accustations from disgruntled students who TRY to get you fired (all it takes is ONE story to raise a question). i had a kid BLAST out of my class yesterday bgecause he was choking another student and was getting in trouble. he RAN out (i was ont he other side of the room and couldn't get him) jumped the fence and took off (remember grade 1) after 2hrs of police, and helicopters searching for him, they found him under a car. how about that responsibilty. being responsible for someoe else delinquent kid. if something happened to him id be sued. and dont get me started on having to teach all the different levels of kids in a class, some whop are above grade level, some who are barely alive and getting accross everything to ALL of them. like i said you have no idea! if ya think ya can do it, for the pay we get, jump in and give it a go for a year. i think you will be very suprised.

 

You forgot to tell him about making sure the kids take their medicine daily.

 

THANKS STEVE!!! You just made me glad Im working

 

I would bet the studies were done by "education associations" aka teacher's unions. I could apply 90% of these stressful activities to my former job as a restaurant manager, except the children were adults that acted like children. We were open 24 hrs a day, 364 days a year. I worked 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, minimum 10 hours a day (paid for 40 hours). Lousy benefits, no sick pay (you had to trade shifts with another manager when sick) work all holidays, 2 non-consecutive days off per week during which I switched from day shift to nights or night shift to day. My "children" stole everything not nailed down, and some things that were, carved tables, sliced seats, burned rugs, smashed windows, tore toilets out of the floor and urinals off the wall, paid with stolen credit cards or ran out on checks, passed out or threw up in bathrooms and on tables, started fights involving as many as 30 people (usually large, drunk, nasty people) set fires, assaulted my employees verbally and physically, contaminated their own food and tried to blame the retaurant to get free food and filed numerous lawsuits for everything you could imagine. I averaged 10 calls a week to the police for emergency assistance on top of paying $1000 a week to have uniformed police in the restaurant on weekend nights. This doesn't even consider the employees, who in that business are often no better than children themselves. All this for less than 30k a year. You still want to trade jobs? I haven't mentioned half the crap I had to deal with.

I used to buy all the nonsense about how hard teachers work and how underpaid they are. I was even a vocal local champion for the teachers when contract time rolled around. Then my wife started volunteering at school and she became friends with a couple of the teachers outside of school. The things we learned made us feel like total idiots concerning our past support of teachers, for a lot of reasons. There were some good, dedicated teachers, but they were the exception. For most, it is just a paycheck. Teachers are almost NEVER fired, at best they may be allowed to transfer to another school. Their benefits are only comparable to civil service jobs and they are usually higher than most of those, especially retirement benefits. They work 36 weeks a year for a full year's pay, and get sick time and personal time on top of that. They get volunteers to help them do their jobs. Very few spend time outside school correcting work or preparing for classes, that time is built into their day per union contract. They pay very little or nothing for usually top-notch health benefits. Some do buy supplies for class because the lion's share of budget increases in the schools go to teacher's salaries and benefits so school districts save money on school supplies.
Very little of their day is spent actually teaching.
And those parents who have never been around teachers when they talk about students and parents would be appalled at all the derogatory names and phrases they use to describe parents and students, especially those students with special needs or parents who take an interest in what goes on at school.
Most teachers just don't have much experience with the stresses and demands most other people deal with at their jobs, thus claims such as yours.
Have you actually ever seen a fellow teacher fired or been fired yourself?
Have you ever actually been sued or known a teacher who was sued for actions at school?
Have you ever actually seen a teacher punished or sanctioned in any way for not performing their job?

My daughter's school was evacuated to another nearby school during a bomb scare and she was left behind because she was in the bathroom which the teacher never checked before leaving the building (she had 30 kids to count upon leaving and couldn't be bothered). The administrators and teachers not only did not inform us of this event, they lied to us about the circumstances. When we put together the story on our own and confronted them, they insisted it was our child's fault (she was eight years old) and faulted US for making the teacher feel bad when we complained. The teacher was not only not spoken to about her mistake, she was defended by the system while they vilified our third grade daughter. This was after my wife had been volunteering in that same school for some 8 years and considered many of those involved in this fiasco personal friends.

I don't have the time to list all the disheartening things we learned about teachers, but I will never again buy the party line.
I learned first-hand the way things really are at school.
I am now a big supporter of vouchers and charter schools. The public tax spigot needs to be turned off when it comes to public schools.
You may be one of the dedicated few, and if that is the case then I apologise if I have offended you, but you would be in the minority.

 

Bad teachers should be fired.

Class room size should never be over 20-22.

Health insurance should be paid in full (my wife's is not. I think they pay about 25%).

Volunteers in the classroom? That assumes you have some parents who actually care.

Biggest problem in the classroom: parents pulling strings to get their kid advanced to the next grade, even if the child cannot pass the grade he/she is in.

 

Have you ever tried to teach adults?

I taught GED math voluntarily to guys that were COURT-ORDERED to get their GED or go to jail. A majority preferred to go to jail instead of sitting in a classroom for an hour. The coughing, blowing noses, interruptions to go to the bathroom, and cutting up in class were akin to teaching toddlers.

The only way I was able to teach these guys was to generate interest by relating math to real world experience. When they saw that I wasn't putting up with the shit and I genuinely cared about whether they learned enough to pass my class, they hunkered down and got the business done.

I learned that, to be an effective teacher, you have to CARE. If you don't your students will sense it and lose interest. I guess it's easier to blame lack of pay for poor teaching skills, instead of admitting you really don't give a shit.

My 2p worth...

 

OK, I had a really long response for this but I changed it.

I'm sorry you have had bad experiences with teachers but there are good ones out there. My wife is a teacher and works her ass off! Her pay is less than minimum wage and she gets no benefits. She usually uses about 30% of her pay for class materials etc. a month. She does it b/c she loves to teach children. She only wishes she worked 50 hours a week!

I have a job waiting on her for triple the pay with full benefits at a family business. She won't take it. She just loves to teach kids.

 

You left out The teacher must know the subject that is being taught.

 

In Your Corner,
If teaching is so easy with great pay benefits and low stess levels then I challenge you to begin teaching with an "Alternative Certification Program" without delay. Report back with your findings so I can laugh my ass off.

walt scarborough (married to a 1st grade teacher)

 

Not married to one, but an old girlfriend is one

Not only is it the teacher, but a lot has to do with the school system itself. Everything from the administration to the school building itself can make or break a good teacher. I would say it would be next to impossible to be successful in a sub-par system.

 

I disagree on the building part. A GOOD teacher can teach anywhere, and the kids will learn.