Teachers

[Dumac]

Slightly off topic but I really want to know, is the bible belt area actually similar to how Top Gear showed it a while ago? I was really interested in visiting there but I figured I might get beaten up...

I don't watch Top Gear, but I doubt you would get beaten up.

Where would you even want to visit, though?

 

[Fingolfin269]

Great teachers are underpaid but there is typically no system in place to reward great teachers. They will continue to outperform the average regardless of pay because that is just who they are.

 

[torpid]

Too many variables to make a sweeping conclusion like this.

 

[gothamhunter]

1. Here teachers are not required to do any thing like that here. There are no continueing education that is required to maintain your teaching credentials.

2. I know multiple teachers, no they do not spend hours at home doing work.

3. Wrong teachers spend the break going on vacation.

4. Average teacher salary in Cali is over 50K, all the teachers I know and I knew a few make over 65K a year.

Just because where you live in Cali (or Cali in general) has this situation doesn't mean it's like that for the majority of other teachers.

1. That would be nice.

2. When do they ever grade tests? Read papers? Work on assignments or lesson plans?


4. Cali has a higher living expense, so it would make sense to have higher salaries.

 

[HAL9000]

I don't watch Top Gear, but I doubt you would get beaten up.

Where would you even want to visit, though?

Not sure just somewhere in that area, I want to know what it's like, if it's actually how people say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOpKv9D7rA

 

[DCal430]

Also here it is almost impossible to fire a teacher who is tenured. So bad teachers continue to teach.

 

[NFS4]

1. Here teachers are not required to do any thing like that here. There are no continueing education that is required to maintain your teaching credentials.

2. I know multiple teachers, no they do not spend hours at home doing work.

3. Wrong teachers spend the break going on vacation.

4. Average teacher salary in Cali is over 50K, all the teachers I know and I knew a few make over 65K a year.

1) Teachers here in NC (at least my wife's school system) have to take classes to keep their certification
2) Can't really make blanket statements for all teachers though. School is officially "over" for my wife at 3, she stays until 5 or 6, and then sometimes after dinner, she's working another one or two hours on school stuff, planning ahead.

This is what has caused the MOST arguments that we've ever had in our two years of marriage.

3) My wife feels like she has to be doing school work even when she's not in school or on "break" during the course of the normal school year. She's not really "off" until summer break; but even then, she has required classes/seminars that she has to take.
4) Here in my wife's school system, the starting salary is just over $30,000 and there are no teachers unions in NC.

 

[DCal430]

Just because where you live in Cali (or Cali in general) has this situation doesn't mean it's like that for the majority of other teachers.

1. That would be nice for my wife and I so we could have that time and money back.

2. When do they ever grade tests? Read papers? Work on assignments or lesson plans?

They spend an hour or two after class, but not all evening and night.

3. Our vacation this summer consisted of a weekend getaway to Door County, Wisconsin.

Sucks for you, but I know multiple teachers and non spent the summer doing any work.

4. Cali has a higher living expense, so it would make sense to have higher salaries.

See response

 

[DCal430]

1) Teachers here in NC (at least my wife's school system) have to take classes to keep their certification
2) Can't really make blanket statements for all teachers though. School is officially "over" for my wife at 3, she stays until 5 or 6, and then sometimes after dinner, she's working another one or two hours on school stuff, planning ahead.

This is what has caused the MOST arguments that we've ever had in our two years of marriage.

3) My wife feels like she has to be doing school work even when she's not in school or on "break" during the course of the normal school year. She's not really "off" until summer break; but even then, she has required classes/seminars that she has to take.
4) Here in my wife's school system, the starting salary is just over $30,000 and there are no teachers unions in NC.

I was just pointing out to the OP that his claims wasn't true for all teachers, or even most.

 

[HAL9000]

1) Teachers here in NC (at least my wife's school system) have to take classes to keep their certification
2) Can't really make blanket statements for all teachers though. School is officially "over" for my wife at 3, she stays until 5 or 6, and then sometimes after dinner, she's working another one or two hours on school stuff, planning ahead.

This is what has caused the MOST arguments that we've ever had in our two years of marriage.

3) My wife feels like she has to be doing school work even when she's not in school or on "break" during the course of the normal school year. She's not really "off" until summer break; but even then, she has required classes/seminars that she has to take.
4) Here in my wife's school system, the starting salary is just over $30,000 and there are no teachers unions in NC.

My Dad's a teacher and he spends maybe an hour or two after work doing work some nights, on breaks he has a proper break, I've no idea why your wife needs to do courses and training all the time...? What does she teach...?

 

[Possessed Freak]

I taught for 2 years at a private school (Catholic). Talk about underpaid. I would still be doing it if I could afford to live on the pay. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing a child learn something. I taught kindergartners how to do subtraction, I taught 3rd graders binary, I taught 8th graders MS-BASIC. They soaked it up like a sponge.

 

[gothamhunter]

See response

An hour or two? How many students do they have, 5? Can you imagine reading/correcting 20 kids worth of homework in a couple hours? I'd have to say they're skimming.

 

[Drekce]

That they usually spend the entire time taking required courses and paying for the continuance of their license, cleaning out and organizing their room, and making lesson plans for the following year.

That is not true at all. I'm married to a teacher (chemistry), and all she did all summer was go to the beach and shop. She's an excellent teacher at an exclusive private school, and is probably paid about right.

 

[gothamhunter]

That is not true at all. I'm married to a teacher (chemistry), and all she did all summer was go to the beach and shop. She's an excellent teacher at an exclusive private school, and is probably paid about right.

It's not true for HER.

 

[DCal430]

If you don't count all the classes they're required to take every year to maintain their teaching certs...

California no longer requires any classes to maintain your teaching credentials.

 

[trmiv]

Speaking as the husband of a teacher, they are overworked and underpaid. Especially here in NC, where the pay sucks. Also my wife spends a lot of our money on stuff for her classroom and students that she doesn't get reimbursed for. All we get is a lousy tiny tax deduction that doesn't amount to nearly what she spends. Plus the NC State Employee's heath plan SUCKS, and it just got way worse. So as a result we put my wife on my insurance, which costs us an extra $200/month.

She is passionate about being a teacher though, because she loves her students and loves to make a difference for kids. She probably spends more time on things than a lot of other teachers do. During Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc, she'll spend days making pen/pencil toppers for her kids, or personalized cards for each student. When she teaches Shakespeare she decorates the classroom to look like a Theater in the Round. When she teaches Lord of the Flies, she decorates the classroom to look like a jungle island. She's always making teaching aids or various handouts for the kids to help them. These are things she does to connect with students and help them learn, but she doesn't get paid any extra or reimbursed for any of this.

Also my wife is always doing something at home school related. Grading papers, lesson plans, answering student emails, answering parent emails, updating the grade book (online). It usually ends up me cooking dinner every night because she never has the time.

 

[NFS4]

My Dad's a teacher and he spends maybe an hour or two after work doing work some nights, on breaks he has a proper break, I've no idea why your wife needs to do courses and training all the time...? What does she teach...?

My wife teaches second grade. And considering that the school system is making serious cutbacks, they are sharing teaching assistants instead of having a dedicated assistant for each class.

She normally has around 20 - 23 kids, and she has to grade papers, plan lessons, keep "running records" for each of her kids charting their progress through the year, and bunch of other random stuff that I don't understand or just try to block out of my mind.

As for the classes, she has regular math/reading seminars. She also had two technology seminars this summer. One was training on using the new smartboards that were provided for the classrooms, and one was on iPads (don't ask me why they're giving these kids iPads to use :thumbsdown

 

[xanis]

Where's the "paid adequately" option?

My mom is a teacher (special education) and the amount of shit she and her colleagues put up with from parents and students on a daily basis is unreal.

 

[gothamhunter]

Speaking as the husband of a teacher, they are overworked and underpaid. Especially here in NC, where the pay sucks. Also my wife spends a lot of our money on stuff for her classroom and students that she doesn't get reimbursed for. All we get is a lousy tiny tax deduction that doesn't amount to nearly what she spends. Plus the NC State Employee's heath plan SUCKS, and it just got way worse. So as a result we put my wife on my insurance, which costs us an extra $200/month.

She is passionate about being a teacher though, because she loves her students and loves to make a difference for kids. She probably spends more time on things than a lot of other teachers do. During Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc, she'll spend days making pen/pencil toppers for her kids, or personalized cards for each student. When she teaches Shakespeare she decorates the classroom to look like a Theater in the Round. When she teaches Lord of the Flies, she decorates the classroom to look like a jungle island. She's always making teaching aids or various handouts for the kids to help them. These are things she does to connect with students and help them learn, but she doesn't get paid any extra or reimbursed for any of this.

Also my wife is always doing something at home school related. Grading papers, lesson plans, answering student emails, answering parent emails, updating the grade book (online). It usually ends up me cooking dinner every night because she never has the time.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Fingolfin269]

Speaking as the husband of a teacher, they are overworked and underpaid. Especially here in NC, where the pay sucks. Also my wife spends a lot of our money on stuff for her classroom and students that she doesn't get reimbursed for. All we get is a lousy tiny tax deduction that doesn't amount to nearly what she spends. Plus the NC State Employee's heath plan SUCKS, and it just got way worse. So as a result we put my wife on my insurance, which costs us an extra $200/month.

She is passionate about being a teacher though, because she loves her students and loves to make a difference for kids. She probably spends more time on things than a lot of other teachers do. During Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc, she'll spend days making pen/pencil toppers for her kids, or personalized cards for each student. When she teaches Shakespeare she decorates the classroom to look like a Theater in the Round. When she teaches Lord of the Flies, she decorates the classroom to look like a jungle island. She's always making teaching aids or various handouts for the kids to help them. These are things she does to connect with students and help them learn, but she doesn't get paid any extra or reimbursed for any of this.

Also my wife is always doing something at home school related. Grading papers, lesson plans, answering student emails, answering parent emails, updating the grade book (online). It usually ends up me cooking dinner every night because she never has the time.

This is much closer to the teachers I personally know than some of the others described in this thread. Cali must provide their teachers with a lot of additional support if that description is the norm.

 

[NFS4]

Speaking as the husband of a teacher, they are overworked and underpaid. Especially here in NC, where the pay sucks. Also my wife spends a lot of our money on stuff for her classroom and students that she doesn't get reimbursed for. All we get is a lousy tiny tax deduction that doesn't amount to nearly what she spends. Plus the NC State Employee's heath plan SUCKS, and it just got way worse. So as a result we put my wife on my insurance, which costs us an extra $200/month.

She is passionate about being a teacher though, because she loves her students and loves to make a difference for kids. She probably spends more time on things than a lot of other teachers do. During Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc, she'll spend days making pen/pencil toppers for her kids, or personalized cards for each student. When she teaches Shakespeare she decorates the classroom to look like a Theater in the Round. When she teaches Lord of the Flies, she decorates the classroom to look like a jungle island. She's always making teaching aids or various handouts for the kids to help them. These are things she does to connect with students and help them learn, but she doesn't get paid any extra or reimbursed for any of this.

Also my wife is always doing something at home school related. Grading papers, lesson plans, answering student emails, answering parent emails, updating the grade book (online). It usually ends up me cooking dinner every night because she never has the time.

Man, we need to go have a beer together!

And I hear ya on the State Health Plan. The jacked up the rates last year. Luckily, my wife doesn't smoke and is not overweight, so she was able to keep the 80/20 instead of going to 70/30.
And agreed on the school supplies. My wife is always in Dollar Tree or Walmart or Target finding materials to use for class. She also goes to Stones over off Tryon Rd, but that place is a huge ripoff. Regardless, it's all out of pocket for us -- no reimbursement.

 

[HAL9000]

My wife teaches second grade. And considering that the school system is making serious cutbacks, they are sharing teaching assistants instead of having a dedicated assistant for each class.

She normally has around 20 - 23 kids, and she has to grade papers, plan lessons, keep "running records" for each of her kids charting their progress through the year, and bunch of other random stuff that I don't understand or just try to block out of my mind.

As for the classes, she has regular math/reading seminars. She also had to technology seminars this summer. One was training on using the new smartboards that were provided for the classrooms, and one was on iPads (don't ask me why they're giving these kids iPads to use :thumbsdown

Hang on so she needs regular maths/reading seminars to teach kids age 6?!

I can see the need to learn how to use smart boards and iPads etc, but can't they just learn that while they work... That's what teachers do here.

 

[Fear No Evil]

Teachers are a bunch of whiners. They usually pay next to nothing for health insurance, they have taxpayer protected pensions which they pay very little for, and they are nearly impossible to fire. Compare that to any other non-government job. They usually pay much more for insurance, have no pension, and can get fired at any time.

They have to work grading papers at night? Aww.. guess what.. so do a lot of other jobs. We have to work at night to finish up things from the day as well. Many people are also oncall 24/7 and have to get up in the middle of the night/weekends/etc.

Have to continue their education? Awww.. guess what. So does everyone else if they want to stay employed. Keep you skills current or you become less valuable.

Shut up and do your job. It can't be that bad because I don't see any shortage of people who are willing to teach. Like they say, those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.

 

[DCal430]

Most teachers here use scantrons for test. Takes 5 minutes to grade those.

English teachers are probably the exeption though. Those essays probably take a while to read.

 

[gophins72]

money aside and from what i've seen, a lot of the good teachers are handcuffed from teaching by ridiculous bureaucracy that would make even the worst of corporate america shudder. pingspike hits some of the issues.