"Get out now before it's too late!"

1st: Bulldog, I LOVE your avatar. "Bubba Ho-tep" is a GREAT movie,.

2nd: Your friend is correct in that there is a lot of stress on us as teachers and we get blamed for all of the problems with our country. You can design your own lesson plans, as long as you stick to the material, at least in my state/district. All the standards do is tell you what ingredients to use, they don't tell you the recipe. You have to be able to let admin BS slide off your back and be able to roll with it. I'm not saying I can always do this, but you're going to have to be able to handle those things.

It sucks. Everything that your friend says is true. I retired after 31 years of teaching History and saw everything that she saw. People who are still teaching tell me that it's gotten even worse.

Teachers are being held accountable for things over which they have no control. And it's not going to change.

I recently retired as a teacher after 30 years. I feel sorry for my assistants that still have to go 10-15 years.

While I admire the altruism of those who want to go into teaching, I don't think I could in good conscience recommend it as a profession or career these days.

It's threads like this that reaffirm my decision to be a lay coach.

Being a professor would be cool, because you basically get to do what you want.....but I COULD NOT handle what you guys have been talking about.............

Absolutely HORRIBLE advice...give this advice to your "friend" for me....get out now! We, or the kids, dont need any more teachers like that around!
Its like any profession, u always are going to have the complainers..and whats easier to do, than to complain rather than looking inward at yourself. I can honestly say, those attitudes do exist, but you dont see the teachers going anywhere!! (depends on where you are I guess)

I love my job, and it is the best career out there! Stick with it, and keep the positive attitude, and stay out of the way of all the complainers!! (eat lunch in a small group, not in the teachers cafe)
Good Luck

teaching has become a nightmare of B.S. and paperwork with clueless administrators and politicians butting in at every turn




and this same thing holds true in just about any bureaucracy

so

at least when the kids mess up they have a reason----they are ignorant

maybe we can help them be less ignorant



rally cry of the redtaped teacher--------let's go stamp out ignorance

I am going to offend some people here but in my time in education I have come to conclude many teachers are constant complainers, whiners and have a victim mentality which I generally associate with their political leaning to the liberal side of politics.
Liberals tend to see themselves as fighting the good fight to free people and themselves from being oppressed by the man. The people on the right see themselves as victims of government oppression to be fair. Those of us who want true freedom are libertarians.

back to teaching. I generally think you get out of it what you put into it. your attitude makes you love it or hate it.

On my door I have a sign It says No Whining, No Gossiping, No Negative People Allow this includes teachers, students, Janitors and administrators.

I think there are a lot of teachers who just want to show up for a job, get paid and not have many expectations placed upon them and this is why education has become more of a factory.

teachers should welcome challenges instead they see it as an attack on them.

Trust me I have worked in education and in the other world. you are going to have many of the same people in the other world as well. the other world is not as forgiving either.

I loved teaching. I loved working with kids and teaching History. I used to say that I loved everything in the classroom but hated everything everything outside of it. Unfortunately what's outside of the classroom has become more important than what's inside. What did I hate?

1. Gutless administrators who won't enforce discipline and/or
use "zero tolerance" against good kids who screwed up once.

2. High stakes tests that take precedence over everything else.

3. Data. We were required to keep data on every test and report
how many boys/girls and how many blacks/whites passed
the test.

4. Common tests and lesson plans. We were all supposed to
to give exactly the same test and use the same lesson plans
at exactly the same time. F^&k that.

to add to something said earlier....if it weren't for the kids this job would be ok.....haha funny

the kids are the easy part......it's the idiot grown folks that are the problem....


"if it weren't for football i wouldn't be teaching" watch yourself......in most worlds, teaching pays 97 percent of your salary........make sure you know what can get you hired and fired.....it's usually not what happens on the grass.......

Don't know very many people outside of education that like thier jobs either. Welcome to the world.

1. Don't listen to anyone that's just gotten out of student teaching. Student teaching can be a NIGHTMARE. My student teaching experience was one of the worst things I have ever gone through. Was supposed to teach 1 class of middle school PE each period; ended up teaching 2 classes in the gym. 50+ kids; freakin' terrible. I was s'posed to be 'co-teaching' with another educator; she dumped her classes on me and spent the semester in her office or in the stands doing her taxes, etc, etc... My university supervisor was a NAZI that and let the whole thing go down. The administration didn't do anything either; even a kid almost had her ear taken off because I had 65 kids in one gym to manage; the other teacher I was supposed to be with was in her office playing solitaire... Survived that one because the safety rules were very clear in my lesson plan. But, nothing happened to the other teacher, they tried to hang it on me and I went APE SH-T in the offce over it. Still my supervisor did nothing because she was 'preparing me for the real world.'

2. Once you get through the B.S. politics, teaching is a great job. The days are short, you get to work with kids and honestly, you end up working 185 days a year. Other professions; you're going to deal with the same B.S. politics, you're going to put in longer hours and you're going to work the full year. I have a friend who is an electrical engineer, he works 10-12 hour days, all year, sits in a cubicle and HATES it. Even though he's making 6 figures. I have another friend who works for the NSA (GPS expert) and he's in the same boat; hates every day of his life.

3. Teaching salaries aren't bad, once you've been in it for awhile. Plus, the more education you get the higher the salary. Lots of industries don't care if you get a Master's; you won't get much of a raise. Plus, I'll take a median salary of 50k; I'd rather have the flexibility of being a teacher than sit in a cubicle all day for twice the salary.

4. Yes, there is more being put on teachers; there are realy accountability issues going on. But, if you follow the state standards and do your best, then there's not much an admin can do to you. There's more in your lap if you don't have those standards and those tests; EVERYTHING falls on you then. At least now, the system has to take a portion of the blame, assuming that you're doing everything you can.

5. You have the opportunity to COACH and the time to do it. Coaching is the most rewarding thing I have ever done, teaching is a close second. Plus, the rest of the teaching staff can b-tch about preferential treatment all they want; just don't spend any time with them.

6. The sense of entitlement with the kids and parents is there; but you can limit it. Little Jimmy hasn't turned in half of his assignments; then it's on him. Go ahead and give him an IEP; he still doesn't do the work, then that's tough. You've done your best, you've talked to him about his missing work; he needs to get it done. There's nothing in an IEP that says a kid can turn in half of the assignments and pass; as long as you put your foot down with it. I have done it; had a kid do nothing in a Health class, gave hin the opportunity during an IEP session to make up the work. He didn't do it; HE FAILED. They want to put it on you; have records showing that the kid hasn't done the assignment; each time you talk to him/her about it,offer to help them out with it before or after school. Place as much of the burden on them as you can and keep track of it.

Let me preface this by saying that it is now way directed at anyone on this board. Everyone teaches under different circumstances; different districts, different kids, admins, etc...

In my experience, the teachers that are the most negative and struggle the most are those with NO classroom managment skills. They don't do much to keep the kids in line, and they pay for it as such. It's hard to teach a lesson when you've got half a dozen kids chatting and screwing around. I've seen it in practicums, I've seen it out in the 'real world' and it just kills those teachers.

If you want to be an effective teacher, you've got to set boundaries for the kids and put your foot down when they cross them.

If you have to talk to a kid about his behavior daily and kick him/her out on a regular basis, so be it. It'll wear on you, but in the long run, it'll make your life easier. I'll kick a kid out and make him/her come back after/before school and clean the room. In PE, I'll boot a kid, make him/her come back in during their lunch hour, eat in the gym and then clean it from top to bottom; I'll do the same thing after school.

Just make a record of it; again, if an IEP comes around, you've got documentation on your side. And believe me, once a teacher gets these management skills down, teaching is much easier. Plus; once you do it, you'll generally only have issues with the kids EVERYONE has issues with. Makes IEP sessions that much easier; lil' Johnny can't control himself in any class, then lil Johnny may not be in those classes very much longer.

Something to remember, NCLB sucks, but it does work both ways. Those kids that continually score low on the standardized tests are being put in special ed classes. 15 years old Bobby reads and does math at a 3rd grade level; it's niot your fault. You can't do much for him; he needs special attention and he'll get it.

The education system in this country is slowly evolving into a Western European format. College prep track and trade track. Hopefully, it sticks.