This is a post that will resonate with most other teachers. The writer of this blog worries that she will be penalized if she doesn’t work for free.
I came home crushed today…my spirit shattered…my morale broken. Sometimes I feel like being a teacher in the public school system is like being in a dysfunctional relationship where you just keep finding reasons to justify the abuse you’re accepting. It’s like the battered woman that finds every reason to stay, because at the end of the day…it’s for the kids right? When is enough, enough?
I am writing this because I was literally penalized on my teacher evaluation because my family duties and responsibilities prohibit me from working free overtime. And do I still work overtime? Oh yes! Absolutely! Perfect example…on Friday I stayed on campus til 7pm. But that was mainly organizing materials for Science and Math. Writing a Science Assessment, grading papers, setting up my small groups and lessons for the following week, and cleaning the room. Is that me being professional? I guess it depends on who you ask…
I pride myself in the level of engagement in my classroom, my ability to challenge students with higher order thinking questions, and my relationship with my students. It gives me chills to know that I have such power over these little minds…and I’m helping them grow and learn. But despite the fact that I’m engaging my students in rigorous lessons, and that I’m a teacher that is WITH my students (on my feet and engaged with them) the majority of the day, and involved with my school’s committees and clubs…I still feel like it’s never good enough. I’ve tried to sit behind my desk a few times to get “data entry” done…and it was impossible with the amount of students who continually came to me to ask questions. It’s just not something that’s feasible within a teacher’s contracted hours. Furthermore, my job is to teach…not neglect my class and sit behind a desk all day. Well…today I got a big “slap in the face” when I opened my email first thing this morning. I received a bad evaluation for “Professionalism and Collegiality”. Do I get such surprise emails when I’ve done something amazing???? Absolutely not!…My friends, I am the only one in the intermediate grades at my school that is teaching 5 subjects. I meet with all academic teams on a daily basis, I plan for the Science team on my own, and I run the Drama program with my colleague after school each week. Not to mention I’m involved in committees and other things that support our school. I walk the hallways making sure I smile and greet every person in the morning – kids AND staff. I carry a bag home with work every day and stay up for countless hours after my children have gone to sleep. Monday through Friday, I am guaranteed grading papers with feedback and notes so that I can review with my students in class. I am a dedicated teacher…and I pride myself in the fact that I am professional, and I am a team player! Is that someone you would call unprofessional?
But God forbid I told myself that on weekends I would be with my family. God forbid I don’t sacrifice my family for free work. But with all that I do, at the end of the day…if I don’t work weekends or until 1am every night…I will NEVER be caught up with data or work. Because without the new data and lesson plan requirements, grading papers is ALREADY cutting into my personal life. And while I don’t mind the grading because I am passionate about my job…PLEASE tell me what a teacher with 3 kids who can’t work free overtime needs to do in order to avoid a negative teacher evaluation???? I’m hurt! This is terrible!
Friends, this is why labor unions were created, to prevent the exploitation of teachers and other workers. The writer says that other teachers are afraid to speak up. This is why labor unions were created. And this is why the overlords of economy and efficiency are eager to crush public sector unions, so people can be compelled to work 50 and 60 hour weeks without overtime. This is why so much money is pouring into charter schools, because 90% or so are non-union. This is why Teach for America is the workforce for many charters, because they are right out of college, they don’t have children, they have lots of energy, and they don’t mind working 10-11 hour days.
If you/we let this continue, teaching will be a job for temps, not a profession.
Get your union to stand up for you. If you don’t have a union, start to organize one. Join the Network for Public Education and let us magnify your voices. Join us at our annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina, in April, and meet other teachers and allies from across the nation.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Your problems the one all teachers face. There is no one to fight for our civil rights. The courts are too expensive and the unions do not fight for our rights.
I must publish thicker every day, because this happened to me, too in 1998, when they accused me first of a crime and then of incompetence….becasue nothing stops them… and I belonged to the most powerful union in the nations, the UFT headed by Randi herself..
THIS I S WHAT IS STILL ONGOING, and until the public knows, until the media or a viral movie, of some VOICE breaks through, teaching as a profession IS OVER.
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
Diane, our IFT affiliate is feeble. They did not defend the overloading of our schedules by requiring us to teach an additional class at our high school. They admit our recently-negotiated union contract is riddle with errors (nearly all in favor of management). Teachers are now required to volunteer their time working athletic events. (We were given a small stipend to work these events up until the new contract.) Our superintendent tells us we’re broke, yet they find ways to put unqualified cronies into comfy, well-paid positions. Meanwhile, our union leaders tells us that writing SLO’s are good because they help us guide instruction (omitting the fact that failure to meet the SLO can lead to job loss because it impacts your evaluation.)
Now Bill Briggs, another useless piece of IFT garbage, tells us he is working on a bill to allow college seniors who are ed majors to become substitute teachers. (I have strong reservations about this, because he ‘s not supplied more details). Briggs never ONCE contacted us about Will Guzzardi’s bill which allowed parents to opt out of PARCC testing, which is “officially” prohibited in Illinois. So, I guess that there are some issues rank-and-file teachers are not allowed to comment on.
Like the above teachers, I work 70+ hours a week. The only reason I feel more forutnate is that my children are grown and out of the home, although my doctgor tells me I need to make more time for myself, family and friends.
I love teaching; I love my kids; I just wish the insanity above us would stop.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to vent. Now, I must attend the Church of Grading Papers and CCSS-Based Lesson Plans.
In NJ a college student with 60 credits can substitute, and do NOT have to be ed majors.
In Utah, substitutes only need a high school diploma. Some districts require a degree, but as the pool of subs shrinks, I expect we’ll be back to high school diplomas again.
In Vermont, you had to have a pulse
DEAR ELEANOR
The unions, for the most part do not defend a teacher for any grievance. A 12 year old girl said I cursed at her in front of the class (thirty kids). The superintendent legally decided that this was corporal punishment, did no investigation, did not put out charges or give me any indication as to why I had been removed from my classroom, and six months later said I had been found guilty of corporal punishment…by her alone.
The UFT Manhattan Bureau chief who sat in on this ‘meeting,’ told me to ‘sit down,’ when I was astonished and asking what he heck was going on.
I left and filed a lawsuit, and that got me back to the school, but to a closet where e a few kids were pulled out to be with me, who had taught the entire 7th grade with curriculum I wrote, which was already famous IN THE STATE and studied by Harvard for the Pew research. Resume here, where I write about education.
http://www.opednews.com/author/author40790.html
The war on teachers worked in NYC, and now is the way it is around the nation, because THERE WAS NOT A SHRED OF ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ANYTHING A PRINCIPAL DOES..
Teachers are fodder for the failed human beings who run the show.
And, BTW, my niece is a principal, and a wonderful one at that, the exception to the rule
I paste this it every commentary here, but do not know if you have read it… this is the writing on the wall , written a decade ago.
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
I am tired of working all day at school and having to come home to a couple or three hours worth of work due to new mandates or grading writing assignments due to the fact our state is pushing writing 24/7. I would say I have graded around 1000 essays so far this year. My morale is low. My irritability is high, which is causing a rift at home with my family. My eyes are tired. I have gained weight — no time for regular exercise or normal suppers for my family. I get up every morning with a feeling of dread. I loved being a teacher until the past couple of years. However, I cannot find a job making what I do at my age. I can retire in 3 years, and I am. I cannot work under the circumstances I am at this point in my life.
I might mention that I also sponsor a club that meets until 5 one day a week; have to work at ball games (mandatory); give up planning once a week for silly PLC meetings; and come in early to tutor (free service) on average of 4 days per week. Overwhelmed.
Suggest that all teachers, at some point, decide what is appropriate supervision
and what is abuse of authority.
I have been reading your posts for a month now and I assumed from your immense output that you didn’t have a family. I salute you for being one of the most valuable members of our society. Remember you will never receive praise or thanks for the good that you do. Institutions have terrible flaws and general evaluation teacher tests are as absurd and low quality as the businesses that design them. Don`t be put off or downtrodden as you and your ilk are the salt of the earth.
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If you are responding to me, this is my 1st post.
This is something ALL teachers face, no matter who or what awaits them at home or otherwise. Those in power have that power if we give it to them. Nothing will change until teachers change their point of view about how much free time they will unconditionally and conditionally keep giving. The more you give, the more they take.
Public education is immersed in a culture of fear of not doing enough. Those who truly care about their students already worry enough about doing enough for them without being written up or judged for what they “do not” do.
The issue I’ve noted of late is that teachers are divided. Some think they can’t give up doing extra work to send a message because it will hurt students, i.e. work to rule. They don’t realize that in the end the students are the ones who are being hurt the most regardless if teachers work 100 hours or not.
The more you give, the more they take. They will continue to take until we finally stop giving too much.
Well said…I’ve always said..you can be a rug, to be walked all over, if you don’t lie down.
*can’t…..(be a rug if you don’t lie down.)
You got it right.
That’s the culture… but it is the isolation, too. !5,880 districts and most teachers do not know what is going on in the school down the road, let alone in th next district or the sate across the nation.
We are divided to begin with. The lords of this fiefdom take advantage of our isolation, and our dedication.
It is only strong unoin with a grievance process which they stand by, that can make a difference. I have the contract on my desk. If the uFT followed it, I would not have to face the bullies that I faced, and do it alone. No grievance I filed was ever won, and most were rejected. I paid 25 thousand bucks to free myself from a rubber room.
We do the job, because we can do no less than do our best…. and they use that… they are immoral, unethical and my dear, many are criminals who are free to abuse their power.
This year I have done something I never before did as a teacher. I limit myself to a maximum of two hours of additional work on Mon-Thur after I get home (never on Friday) and a maximum of 5 additional hours over the weekend. As it is, the truly non-profit charter middle school in which I teach expects us to call parents multiple times for discipline issues (not possible when some do not provide a working phone or email or do not speak English). I do what I can during the day, but I arrive at school before 7 AM and usually do not leave until 3:45 or 4, which means my trip home is often double the 20-25 minutes of driving in.
I know one team leader in our school who will do NO work once he leaves the building.
When I taught at the school at which I was for 13 years I usually worked a 70-80 work week. I am now 69. It takes a huge amount of emotional energy to deal with the issues our students raise for us. I want to be able to enjoy my aging cats, things my wife and I share (last night I made us a sitdown dinner for the first time since the school year started), some things I want to read, some writing I want to do.
I am paid decently, but not excessively. I do what I can to help my students and support the mission of the school. But at this point I do set limits. I think we all need to do so.
I’ve been special education teacher for twenty years and this article really resonated with me. Just this year I decided to take a leave of absence because I couldn’t do it all and stay healthy. I think this article should be reading material for all americans. They should know what it’s really like to be a teacher these days.
You’ve said a mouthful. It’s as if they want to drum our best and brightest out of the profession and hire young people who take direction well and work as much as they want them too at very little pay. I agree unions are there to represent and defend our rights but what happens when the unions sell out. We are so used to our unions protecting us, when they don’t, we seem paralyzed. When we have to stand up and demand our rights we are afraid but we must act or what you fear will truly happen. A temporary job, low paying by people who facilitate test taking and computer work. Forget personal interaction and creativity and higher level anything. You teach what they want you to. This is dismal not just for teachers but for our kids. If you are in a union that is not working for you, get out and find another, form a new one, use your union dues for a lawyer. Fight for your right to be the teacher your students deserve and hey, that doesn’t take an all your valuable personal time.
You’ve said a mouthful. It’s as if they want to drum our best and brightest out of the profession and hire young people who take direction well and work as much as they want them to at very little pay. I agree unions are there to represent and defend our rights but what happens when the unions sell out. We are so used to our unions protecting us, when they don’t, we seem paralyzed. When we have to stand up and demand our rights we are afraid but we must act or what you fear will truly happen. A temporary job, low paying by people who facilitate test taking and computer work. Forget personal interaction and creativity and higher level anything. You teach what they want you to. This is dismal not just for teachers but for our kids. If you are in a union that is not working for you, get out and find another, form a new one, use your union dues for a lawyer. Fight for your right to be the teacher your students deserve and hey, that doesn’t take an all your valuable personal time.
Temps don’t work for free…so the day they finally get rid of all the teachers good luck because when I was a graphic design temp, I got time and a half for over time and double time on the weekends or if I went over 50 hours a week! Can they imagine paying those kinds of wages. I know what this teacher means…with all this data collecting, there is no way a teacher can keep up (class DOJO is just one of many teacher’s new nightmares). I’ve spent several weekends writing an assessment that will be used to evaluate how I teach…write the assessment, write the rubric, write the SLOs (student learning objectives), then chart the students’ progress. Of course I’ll pass…I’m doing all the work and no one is check up on it…what a colossal waste of my weekend time. My kids are grown so it’s not that big a deal…but it’s my time and I’m not getting paid for it! I was much better off when I was a TEMP!
Actually, it is a big deal, even if your kids are out of the house. School districts all across the country are imposing asinine mandates that are not even proven to be beneficial to anyone.
I tired of giving up my time for school. My husband, who is a professional also, comes home with no work. My parents never brought their work home, and certainly made overtime wages past 40 hours per week. I cannot think of any of my close friends who are not teachers that bring home work to finish or do not get paid for extra hours they work.
I had the same situation at a public school in Brooklyn. More work was piled on us, without any logic as to how we were going to steal the time. The principal commented on teachers who left the building without large bags of work. The UFT finally came in, and quite shaken, the principal eliminated “observation conference notes.”
In addition to your husband coming home without work — does your husband supply his own office supplies, such as copy paper, toner, construction paper, markers and staplers? Teachers are really going to have to step up! I noticed the young TFA temps do not even know what their rights are, or what assistance a union can provide. They quit after a year or so, anyway, and more newbies come in.
State and national unions are important and we need to support them. Sadly, in many school districts, the same union advocates (President, Officers, representatives) are teachers, too. If a person works in a school district run by a culture of fear, those same union advocates may be afraid of some retribution for speaking up to help someone. The retribution can be subtle. You begin to question yourself and your competency and morale continues to be low. Over time, it can ultimately lead to no one saying much, out of fear and that’s when administrators can take advantage of the staff. Some school districts, generally larger ones, have full-time union Presidents. Perhaps the unions there, are stronger.
Ha, unions in large cities aren’t stronger, just more ineffective in cities like Los Angeles, easier to buy and become merely organizations trying to survive instead of helping and protecting their membership.but hey, they collect your dues really, really well.
I have been up since 6:00am grading papers, organizing data that must be turned in, figuring how I am going to individualize my instruction for each of my students, plan for this week, and gather materials needed for the week. I still have a ton left beyond this. I used to have time to plan during the week and have everything ready to go. This year is dramatically different. I am only half way through my career and I don’t think I can keep this up for the second half. I am constantly exhausted and never have time for my family. Maybe this is how the state plans to get rid of me. Push me as far as they can while i jump through hoops in hope of keeping my job.
I live in a right to work state and my union is virtually powerless in spite of the fact that I have to contribute about $1000 a year in dues to keep my job. They cannot negotiate anything except wages. And the last contract they negotiated required us to work five unpaid days a year. Not furlow days where you stay home and don’t get paid, but five days when you go to work for your full day and DO NOT get paid. To prevent anyone calling off on their five days, those days are not identified. Instead our paychecks are simply adjusted to reflect that loss of pay. And on top of that, I rarely leave school before 4 PM (more likely 5 or 6 PM) every day except Friday. I am in my classroom for 5-6 hours to cover that every Saturday.
I can’t understand why unions negotiate against their teachers’ best interests. It happens where I am, too, and I’m sick of it.
Your blog post is a timely one for the elementary teachers in Ontario (Canada) whose union is currently engaged in challenging negotiations with our provincial government.
Overall, I identify about 90% with the writer (I am fortunate to receive those “surprise emails” of gratitude when I’ve done something well . . . from parents, occasionally my 7/8 year old students, and from colleagues) and therefore have never felt, as some of us understandably do, that teaching is a thankless job. I identify 100%, though, with the feeling that I absolutely must work for free in order to do both what is expected of an elementary teacher and also what I feel my students need in order to succeed.
I am on the verge of agreeing that public & political expectations border on abusive labour practices, but I hesitate to go quite that far because I grapple with the fact that I chose this profession. I love my job (for the most part). I have to accept that I choose to work an abundance of free overtime (I have an extremely supportive husband and no children) because I want, at the very minimum, to do what is expected of me by my employer. More accurately, I do it because of the even higher expectations I hold for myself in ensuring a positive school experience for my students. Yet, as I type this response, I’m feeling so disconcerted because the writer’s words in the very first paragraph keep ringing louder and louder in my head . . .
“Sometimes I feel like being a teacher in the public school system is like being in a dysfunctional relationship where you just keep finding reasons to justify the abuse you’re accepting. It’s like the battered woman that finds every reason to stay, because at the end of the day…it’s for the kids right? When is enough, enough?”
The more I reflect on those words, the more I realize that the main difference between the blog writer and me is the negative teacher evaluation that prompted her to write. Had that happened to me (and I don’t doubt it could) I think my 90% identification with her would jump another 10%. Enough would be enough.
You have given me much to think about . . . to think about deeply. I need to assess my feelings of self-worth as a person, not just as a teacher, and determine where my boundaries lie. If I am to value myself, I need to know where my “enough” is and give it a firm stronghold. My union is determining that for me right now and I have not, until your post, appreciated them fully. I’m sorry for that. It’s not too late.
To the original writer: Thank you for your brave and honest post, but thank you mostly for how much you do for your students and our profession.
To Diane Ravitch: Thank you immensely for giving the post a wider audience.
To my teachers’ union (ETFO): Thank you for having the much-needed strength and objectivity that I don’t seem to have . . . yet. I hope I do soon.
YOU SAID:”Sometimes I feel like being a teacher in the public school system is like being in a dysfunctional relationship where you just keep finding reasons to justify the abuse you’re accepting. It’s like the battered woman that finds every reason to stay, because at the end of the day…it’s for the kids right? When is enough, enough?”
You made me cry! How sad!
We need a viral video where teachers, one after the other, stand up and say the things they say here. We’re preaching to the choir, and while it is important to finally have a place to put voice to what is happening to us, WE NEED TO GO TO THE NEXT STEP AND MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD… THEY ARE KILLING THE PROFESSION. THIS IS SCANDALOUS.
WE NEED A FILMAKER who can break through the wall of silence and tell the public how they kill teachers.
Once again, I end a comment with the letter I wrote in 2004, about what happened to me in 1998. GO, read it. If the union does not step up, they will of anything short of murering us
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
It’s Sunday. I have three children. I would love to take them apple picking on this beautiful fall day. Instead, I have to write immensely convoluted lesson plans a la Charlotte Danielson (who I have doubts is a real person.) Useless waste of my time.
Yesterday . . . I attended an information session for the WellHealth information session.
Teachers are in a turmoil about their health insurance since the district has been starving our Trust and paying zero for at least 6 years. Teachers are worried about their family health insurance. We see some light but the abuse has been extensive and big changes are being made.
Many teacher meetings I have attended recently are about paying bills, paying school loans, trying to make the basic necessities available for teacher families. While groups like NPRI publish about the wealthy teacher scoundrels – the reality does not match the right wing think tank teacher attacks.
So I want to make it clear to the powers that be . . .
SNAP – Food stamps.
Teachers qualify for food stamps.
I recently watched a teacher explain to an abusive CCSD Trustee – the SNAP card he uses to feed his family. While she ignored his story, the teachers all nodded and supported his efforts to explain the difficulty of living on a salary that never increases while his family goes without due to broken contractual promises.
Teachers cannot eat a cape.
CHIP
Teachers qualify for CHIP.
Here is a facebook post from a teacher concerned about changes to our insurance – she gives instructions on how to apply for child insurance:
I just applied yesterday and basically what I found out is that you will need to apply after November 1st. If you apply the first through 15th coverage would start December 1. After the 15th, January 1. You pay reduced fees on a quarterly basis and that is based on family size. You can find out if you’re eligible on their site. I called and spoke to someone cause of an error on my application (due to it not yet being Nov 1st) and was informed that there is no govt penalty for being uninsured as long as it is less than 60 days. So I’m going to be dropping teachers health for my children and putting them on CHIP. Because I can’t afford $220 a check.
When a child is ill, a teacher is not worried about a cape.
Housing
Teachers qualify for housing support.
During recent CCSD school board testimony, a male teacher spoke about his housing subsidy and other government support he applies for to make ends meet in his household. How can any educated and skilled man or woman continue in such a profession when he has to confess in public his family does not have enough?
No one lives in a cape.
Loans
Significant school loans – almost every teacher I know has them and we balance our loans with our bills as we take out more loans to again further our careers. When the district does not honor the salary schedule, investments made by educators to become more skilled are not honored and it puts educators in a position to leave in search for places the do pay as promised.
Teachers are not whining about our plight – we are starving, sick, and without housing. We are worried about our families. It has become crazy.
We are not spend-thrifts – but we do need the basics and to oay our bills.
I really need the money – you can keep the cape.
Is this how Nevada wants to continue to treat its most educated population? Teachers are the people in Nevada with graduate level degrees but we cannot get fair treatment? We get in lines for our government subsidies – Food, Insurance, Housing – because we can not meet our obligations? Can you really say it is our own fault? We have worked, been dutiful, and seemingly successful within the system Nevada outlined – don’t you think we should be able to have enough to eat too? Which boot strap should educators pull up – work ethic, education, intelligence? Tell us and we will do it.
Everyone in Nevada has hard times. I’m in the community and I know. I would never suggest teachers have it as bad as my student families or others I serve in my neighborhood. The struggle is real.
My effort here is to explain away the myth perpetuated by politically motivated think tanks who get an abnormal amount of air time and space in the local press. Teachers barely make ends meet.
We dont need pity. We need action to rectify this injustice.
Maybe you should rally with teachers at 100 schools on Oct 23rd – because there is something very unfair about CCSD and Trustee decision making and the game playing with our contract. Respect and fair treatment is necessary as teachers line up and weep with most of our community in the government subsidy lines.
Las Vegas High School 6:15am to 6:45am
6500 E Sahara Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89142
Northeast Las Vegas
Stanford Elementary 3:00pm volunteers 3:32pm to 4pm staff
5350 Harris Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89110-2508
Northeast Las Vegas
Harris Elementary
8:00am to 8:22am
3620 S Sandhill Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89121-3436
Near Boulder Station Casino
Culley Elementary
6:40 am
1200 N Mallard, Las Vegas, Nevada 89108
Near Torrey Pines/Washington
Durango High School
6:30am to 6:45am
7100 W. Dewey Dr.
Near Rainbow and Russell
Kitty Ward Elementary
2:31 – 3:00 p.m.
5555 Horse Drive
Las Vegas, Nevada 89131
Northwest – Area North of 215 and Durango
West Career and Technical Academy
11945 W Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, Nevada 89135
6:15-6:35AM
Summerlin
Lied Middle School
5350 W. Tropical Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89130
6:45-7:10am
Near Ann Rd & Decatur
Northwest Career and Technical Academy
8200 W Tropical Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89149-4583
6:30-6:45am
Centennial Hills -near 215 & 95
Jeffers Elementary School
2:25 – 3:00
2320 North Clifford Street 89115
Right across the street from Von Tobel Middle School – Carey and Pecos area.
Check the ccea-nv.org website for updates on the 100 payday rallies on October 23rd.
Angie.
This posting and the heartfelt comments on this thread touch on what was perhaps the most important reason why I politely but firmly resisted the suggestion by many of the teachers I worked with to enter the profession.
Let me add that I don’t find a single one of the comments to be overdone or overwrought. Almost all the teachers I worked with in elementary and HS (minus the inevitable few exceptions in any large group of people) put in far more time (and energy and money) than most people realize or are willing to acknowledge. It was simply typical to do “extras” that administrators never took note or, or spend money on classroom materials that were needed but not provided, or on making sure that students didn’t go hungry at lunchtime, or sacrifice time with family and close friends, or “put off” doing that one special activity (just two examples: music & jewelry making) that involved some of their deepest life-long passions.
For the shills and trolls of the rheephorm movement that visit this blog in order to vent their spleens: you know the price of everything but you haven’t a clue about the value of anything. I excuse no one, including myself, from doing their jobs well and properly. This posting has nothing to do with your knee-jerk “soft bigotry of low expectations” about public school teachers. It’s from firsthand experience. And when I’ve informed folks about same? I have had people tell me to my face that I couldn’t be right, that I didn’t literally see what I saw and heard what I heard and experienced what I experienced, because admitting that I was right would undermine every idea they had about lazy over-paid teachers that work less than anyone else and still have longer vacations than they deserve.
And don’t get me started on everyone else that works in public schools like teaching assistants…
Most crazy props to all you teachers out there from a most decidedly KrazyTA.
😎
Krazy, you’re awesome. Just saying.
cyn3wulf: I humbly acknowledge your kind words.
But let me describe “awesome”—and it ain’t me…
When I was a bilingual (Eng/Span) aide I worked, more than with any other teacher, the kind of a person you could call (the rheephormsters sorely misuse this phrase) “the rising tide that lifts all boats.”
The whole school, from admins and teachers to TAs and cafeteria & maintenance workers, knew that this teacher invited into her classroom every problem kid in the school. I am saying she made it explicit. Any kid short of the kind of problems that got you expelled and sent to special schools was welcomed in her class. And school admins and teachers were way more than happy to oblige.
She was like the Rock of Gibraltar: unyieldingly firm, patient and polite while putting up with nothing from nobody.
It has been more than 30 years ago, but this one example is still fresh in my mind. A third- or fourth-grader, scrawny little white kid, a real terror. No wonder: his dad, a big, burly and threatening presence on campus the few times he came, was worse with his own flesh-and-blood. Among other things, he dressed the boy in little more than rags; one of his favorite “discipline” techniques was to starve his son, so this young child was coming to school hungry all the time.
I want you to picture this: a past middle-age, short, dumpy looking woman, heavy-set, using a cane to help get around, gets the kid in her classroom and moves a lot faster than you think someone of her physical condition could. She calls the father into the school. They talk face to face. [Remember: every other adult in the school is scared of the guy, including the sometimes tough-talking principal.] She tells him in no uncertain terms that, among other things, he is never going to starve his son again and that she is going to make sure the boy has proper clothing—and dad better help out with that too.
No compliance, right to the police.
Apparently the father had never met a “Mark Twain” kind of person.
¿?
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
Until that student graduated from elementary school, this teacher (using her own money and utilizing school programs) made sure he never missed a meal, was properly clothed, got some medical care, and was taken care of in other ways.
With the proper supports in place—most importantly, a caring, dedicated and courageous professional educator—that kid did a 360.
That’s what “awesome” looks like, talks like, acts like.
I am being presumptuous, but I think you will agree with me.
But thanks again for the kind thought.
😎
P.S. Today she would be kicked out at the end of the school year based on the phony metrics of rheephorm success aka standardized test scores. And that kid…
Better not to think too much about what happens now to kids like him when rheephormsters kick her like out of public schools for all the wrong reasons.
You said: “I have had people tell me to my face that I couldn’t be right, that I didn’t literally see what I saw and heard what I heard and experienced what I experienced, because admitting that I was right would undermine every idea they had about lazy over-paid teachers that work less than anyone else and still have longer vacations than they deserve.”
I believe that this kind of in your face ‘opinionating’ is now part of a culture, where people are wedded to their beliefs and that nothing, like facts will convince them they are wrong.
We see it in the people who pretend to be leaders…look at Jeb caught in his mindlessness, but sticking got his line.
I meet very smart, educated people who are convinced that those who need food stamps or any social aid are lazy.
Let’s face it…the television has convinced people that they have the right to their ‘beliefs,’ and that they have the right to get in your face, and the right to…
well, no one listens to arguments… they just wait to have their turn to tell you how wrong your are.
The media has won. I read this in college: ‘The Hidden Persuaders’ and ‘The Waste Makers’ by Vance Packard.
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc1004/article_903.shtml
I recommend it, as I recommend this book ‘The Sibling Society,’ by Robert Bly
which creates a lens to look at our society. I didn’t read it…I listened to the audio and I loved it. He didn’t talk quite this fast as he does intros introduction.
and finally, this one is A MUST READ; In the Absence of the Sacred; by Jerry Mander
http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/mander.html
Susan, take heart. While there are many who found themselves in your situation,
there are many others who work under supportive principals.
Yours is a cautionary tale which we thank you for sharing. I myself ran into situations which
were similar to yours. Sometimes it’s better to try to stay hidden while you do your thing, but
People like us just seem to stick out and what we value others see as a flaw.
You teaching was stellar, NOT a flaw. Be proud.
You are so sweet.
I am proud, and I do not post this here because I need to tell my story… it was 16 years ago and I have a very busy productive life.
BUT it was freaking 16 years ago, and my dear, although there are wonderful principals. and my niece at the Horace Mann School in San Francisco is one, I happen to know what is happening IN nYC because I meet teachers all the time. What I said here does not begin to reveal the reality. Lenny tells it as it is. LAUSD sent 80,ooo teachers out the door. Kaen Horwitz site http://www.endteacherabuse.org chronicles that, as does Betsy Combier’s Gotcha Squad in NYC.
The NYC Teacher newsletter is a font of such egregious behavior.
It has ben hidden for so long that it is high time for teachers to COME OUT AND TELL THE STORY.
Moreover, as this process to cause schools to fail the schools, so they can be privatized moves form the big systems of the 15,880 school districts in this nation, nice principals will be forced to meet mandates from oh high, and suddenly, teachers who thought they were safe with mr Nice guy, will hear this line, which one principal told me, with a big smile, as he was leaving the school for another job, “it was nothing personal Susan.”
Yeah, Larry, it was very personal, you urinary appendage.
I have to tell my story, because you see, I was soon famous, that it shows how NOTING stops them, when the budget needs trimming.
But you are so kind…
A friend of mine. who I met in 1989 when he started working as a teacher for the first time in the high school where I was teaching, is still in the classroom. He told me this summer (2015) that he has 12 years to go to be able to retire and support the lifestyle he and his wife live.
Because of all the additional demands on his time to work for free thanks to fraudulent, corrupt autocratic corporate education reform, he has resorted to hiring a retired English teacher he knows and respects to correct his students classwork, and he pays that retired teacher $25 an hour out of his own pocket.
My friend now works more hours without extra pay and then pays someone else to correct work he doesn’t have time to correct becasue of all the demands created by NCLB, RTTT and the Common Core Crap.
Isn’t that worse than just working many extra hours for free?
I would love to be able to hire a retired teacher to grade my students’ work. What a great idea!
During my last tenure, which was on the east side of Manhattan, , I assigned each of four classes ( with more than 32 children) to write a letter to me, once a week, about the book they were reading. There was serious criteria for this assignment, and it changed as the year progressed, as their writing and thinking skills improved. It was a clone of, Nancy Attwell’s Reader’s Letter program, which she did withholder 20 kids, in Boothbay Maine!
They wrote, in the form of a letter to me, and I read them all; there is no other way
To facilitate their learning of any skill, serious practice is required so they had to do some serious writing… and this meant I had to read every word, and sentence, in order to evaluate the skills.
I expected no less than 150 words, but they enjoyed communicating with me, and it was not unusual, by June, for moms letters to run 1000 words… and beautifully constructed sentences with some really interesting ideas.
Basically, I said, : show me,— describe something interesting about the book you are reading— give me more than plot summary… TALK about your book, IN THE the WAY that WE talk about the short stories and novels we read together here in class— “Show me interesting characters doing interesting things”… “talk TO ME on paper” …”And IF you want to see YOUR letter in the hallway display, show what you learned here. Describe irony if you recognize it, or copy a sentence that has a lyrical quality.
Thus, when they wrote these weekly letters they ‘talked’ about author’s voice and author’s craft, in their letters, as I did in class. It was not enough to say, “I loved the character” they had to explain why.
And I told them that they could write a postscript — P.S — where they could tell me about an idea for a story or character they wanted to write for their project… or even ‘interesting stuff they learned in our school, today.
Ohmigod. They did that ,and added personal information about their lives, what they thought about things. They had a lot to say, about the characters, and the behavior… things that they
HEARD ME discuss in class. And, their PS sometimes went for three pages.
They wrote TO me, not just FOR me. By now, you can see that I had undertaken a method that would require much of my home-time. Lucky my own sons were away in college.
How many hours —at home- do you think it took to read each letter, and TO RESPOND…
Oh, yeah. After all, it WAS a LETTER, and letters get responses!
I replied to each child. The letter always began with a discussion of the book they were reading at home, so it was easy for me to write something at the top of the page… “Dear Annie, I read a book just like this, once, and you might also enjoy it,” or, “I loved the way you used a metaphor to describe what was happening. Your writing is so sophisticated. I am so proud of you.”
They wrote, and I read… into the wee hours of the night.
DEAR MRS SCHWARTZ became so easy to them, that when as adults, they find me on Facebook, and write to me now— almost 2 decade later and begin, “Dear Mrs. Schwartz,” once again— they always remark ,”I can’t believe I just wrote Dear Mrs Schwartz.” I tell them they can call me Susan, now.
You see, these young kids, novice writers, KNEW they had an AUDIENCE who was LISTENING — someone WHO WANTED TO HEAR what they were saying and they began to write hundreds of words. OY VEY! I had no time at night for anything else!!!!
It took a long time to assess their output, looking at their language usage, and then the mechanics… grammar, punctuation, etc.
I also kept a RUNNING RECORD , and often a copy of the child’s writing for my home files.
I gave no tests, so record keeping was not about entering a ‘score!’ I ALSO PUT a skills sheet IN EACH FOLDER, “Here’s something that ….. name… can do as a writer” was stolen straight form Attwell. As parents had to sign the sheet, each week, they had a good idea of just how their child was progressing as a writer. THIS IS performance EVALUATION of writing. East your heart out Gates.
Thus, late at night, exhausted, and red-eyed, I listed a few things for each student, that would improve the writing ___ “Using periods is very helpful to me, Johnny, as I am reading your letter late this evening, and a period would help ME to KNOW when one thought ended and another began. Please! You say such interesting things… help me to read it… use punctuation.” Or, “ YOU may no longer use ‘their, there and they’re’ interchangeably when you write. I don’t give spelling tests… but you are required to use basic spelling knowledge.”
If I had not read their writing, how would I have known IN WHAT WAYS… HOW… they had grown as writers, so I could, finally give them a grade? How could I help them to improve if I did not read their writing?
I received no extra pay, for giving up my spring entire vacation to read all the final drafts of their short stories, and enter them in competitions.
But, the rewards were intrinsic : the kids won every competition in the state, and Pew came asking “how I got them to write like that!”, and studied me for 2 years.
Then, Stenhouse Publications asked me to write a book showing how I did it.
But, I couldn’t write that book…. by then I was in a rubber room , charged with INCOMPETENCE.
So pardon me, If I say — I WILLINGLY DID THE WORK, for my 58k salary, but did not EXPECT or DESERVE to be treated that way for my excellent service.
It pains me to read here at the Ravitch blog, how many teachers struggle.
MOREOVER, I am so ashamed of our legislature; THOSE charlatans made war on teachers by defunding education, and the MEDIA never hold them accountable…instead they treat us like servants, and then they blame us– genuine dedicated care givers. Shame on them for this BETRAYAL.
I assigned a similar monthly book review/report, and the average paper ran more than 10 pages typed on a keyboard. In that paper, the students had to identify a theme and then use examples from the story to prove that the theme was there. They had to focus on one character and show how the conflicts the character deal with revealed that characters personality. In addition, they had to identify what type of conflict it was: internal or external and what type.
And most of my students enjoyed the lessons where they learned how to judge a person by what they do when they are confronted by any conflict, internal or external, instead of what they say.
I was using this book report in the early 1980s with 7th graders and kept using it all the way to the end of my career in 2005.
At the beginning of each school year most of my students would be shocked that I was asking them to write something that long and that detailed. The complains would come in a flood telling me how mean I was.
I kept class sets of some of the best book review/reports that previous students had turned in in previous years and many of my new students knew who wrote these reports.
By the end of the year almost all of the papers that were turned in were earning Bs and As the first time around. I allowed revisions for students who wanted to improve a grade. Some students would revise the same report a half dozen times to bring a F up to an A+, and, boy, did I use up a lot of RED ink in my positive and constrictive criticisms as I graded those papers late into the night seven days a week. I’d make sure to point out the strong parts of each paper and the weak ones and then provide examples with an invitation to stop by before school, at lunch or after school to get more help so they’d know what to do to improve the paper and lift the grade higher. Unfortunately, many students never read a book or turned in the monthly book report/review.
And one rule was that students were to never read and write about a book they didn’t enjoy. I told them if the turned in a report on a book they didn’t like, that paper would earn an F.
Even then, each month the papers turned in filled a large box that I carried home and I carried a dozen around with me all the time. I corrected in the mornings before the first bell, I corrected at lunch, I corrected at my desk sitting down in a chair after school becasue I’d wait until the rush hour was over before I made the hour drive home. Then I corrected papers at home often until my eyes blurred and I was too tired to think.
It is late, and I am tired, but I was so appreciative of the time you took to tell me about your wonderful curriculum, and I wanted you to know that I experienced the same thing!
Children came to my class writing as they did in elementary school, and left writing like the young adults they would soon become.
I HOPE THAT OTHERS ARE READING OUR CONVERSATION IN THIS TEACHERS ROOM! We are the voice of the professionals, talking about BEST PRACTICE!
As I went through copies of my students work, today, and the end of the year reflections about their performance, which they had to write for their portfolio, I was struck with wonder, that I had accomplished this. It required a huge amount of time and energy, and I, too, lugged home their work, and read until it was almost time to go back to the school.
But reading what YOU did, I realized that the kids knew that we, as the teacher in that room for 10 months, had something to offer them — IF they, too, worked hard. They enjoyed being with us, talking with us, and sharing their thoughts with us. They respected our knowledge and saw our engagement with them, and that we cared.
Dedication shows. Kids recognize it.
I feel so sad that teachers today are gagged and bound by ant-learning mandates, because when a teacher is autonomous, and shares with children those things that inspired them… then the children are inspired to work hard.
Pew said I met all the indicators for those principles, and so did you. Your kids knew what was expected and the rewards were intrinsic… they learned and they witnessed their own success… they worked for YOU, and were rewarded by learning.
Gifted educators like gifted doctors grasp what needs to be done to achieve a goal.
They cannot be directed from on high by people who have no concept of how the human brains acquire critical thinking skills. Our students are emergent learners, but they are children, and like all children they need to be motivated to work, and to practice the skills that we show them.
Yes. It is ALL about work. The research of which I was part, was effort-based learning.
Click to access polv3_3.pdf
To get children to learn, they need to have clear expectations, and rewards for performance… the first 2 principles of learning. Lauren Resnick made this her thesis for the Harvard research.
I found, today, in that back room, The American Educator from 1998.
The cover headline was “Fixing_low Performing Schools. I wondered what I would find, and I opened to page 27, and it said: IT IS PARAMOUNT THAT WE RECONNECT YOUNG PEOPLE TO THE WORLD OF WORK!”
And Ironically, in that same American Educator, was an article called “Far and Wide: “Developing and Disseminating Research-based Programs,” 1998 By Rober t Slavin
I want to know why the PEW NATIONAL STANDARDS RESEARCH WAS NOT DISSEMINATED FAR AND WIDE?
Today, I found all the folders and materials form my 2 years as the cohort for this research in NYC District 2!
A huge crate with all the final books containing the NEW NATIONAL STANDARDS for Language Arts, and for Math.
I found the letters from from Chancellor Alverado touting the research that was coming to our district ( because PEW & Harvard went nuts when the saw my classroom and made me the cohort.) I saw the letters distributed by Superintendent Fink, the one who reigned over by district, and who would gather the glory and get the credit before she abandoned NYC to reign (briefly) over San Diego… until they found to she was a charlatan.
Nowhere , of course, was there any acknowledgement from them about my work, but from the researchers — I have the letters that told me how MY work had been featured in seminars at th e LRDC, and would be touring the nation as one of six educators who met ALL the PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING (I.E the standards) in a unique way..
And there were copies of those specific pages describing what I had done!
This was included in the book they published about the National Standards Research,
And Lloyd… if I had not seen these things, I would have thought I imagined those seminars, and all the work I did as a teacher-based researcher — because NOT A WORD is ever spoken pointing to this hugely expensive Pew research…12 district across the nation, thousands of classrooms, with the LRDC (Univ.Of Pittsburgh) the tools people doing the seminars, and Harvard coating the research to prove Lauren Resnicks thesis on The Principles of Learning.
How powerful is Broad, Walton, Pearson, Gates, Koch and clones, to not only ensure that the schools were defunded by corrupting the legislatures, but to bury the real standards research an d substitute the NCLB.
This was PEW, giving MILLIONS OVER SEVERAL YEARS to the 12 districts, which included, if I remember Rochester Public Schools, Beaumont Texas PS, San Diego, PS.
For crying our loud –this was Lauren Resnick at Harvard, Stephanine McConaughie head of the LRDC, the staff developers who develop staff developers across the nation!!! I have the letters from Vicki Bill, who went into the classrooms of the cohorts.
All that failing schools needed was money to build safe infrastructure, supply and support classroom instruction and hire enough QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL teacher-practitioners to ensure smaller classes, and full-time Pre-k and Kg, so all kids had that important early exposure to learning.
What astonishes me, is that I have spoken of the research here, many times, and to Diane personally, and it is as if I was talking about some cockamamie study.
I want to know what the ‘bleep’ happened to these standards for LEARNING and achievement.
Why was it Buried so completely that the narrative became one about TEACHING and failure?
I am a ‘mere’ teacher, no ph’d but several degrees, BUT there are plenty of academics who read this site…. isn’t it time that someone put the NCLB where it belongs __>>in the trash>> next to the alphabet soup — VAM&PARCC!
Isn’t it time that this research found its way back so that teachers like you and I can practice our profession?
We cannot let them sell the public on the MAGIC ELIXIRS,
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Magic-Elixir-No-Evidence-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-130312-433.html
“I want to know what the ‘bleep’ happened to these standards for LEARNING and achievement.”
I think the answer reaches back to the 1970s and the birth of the neo-liberal and neo-conservative movements that clearly believe it is okay to lie to the public to achieve their goals using any means possible.
It what’s happening wasn’t caused by a deliberate conspiracy set an motion, a conspiracy that has evolved and recruited other powerful corrupt psychopaths and power hungry fools, then it is was the perfect storm to destroy community based, democratic, transparent, non-profit public education.
I can not believe that this just happened by accident and then snowballed out of control.
A young teacher friend of mine who has 12 years left before he’s free from the American gulag of public education that exists today, thanks to the likes of Bill Gates and his Cabal that is attempting a hostile take over of as many countries as possible, said that lesson plans are now supplied to teachers. They are scripts linked to the Common Core Crap (CCC), and any teacher-made lessons must go through an administrative committee for approval to check and make sure the lessons are directly applied to the CCC and using methods only CCC approves of.
Okay. I get that, and see it as observable reality.
What I want to know is why I do not read about the Pew National Standards research here, or at the blogs of other Academics.
How did they silence RESNICK, or Vicki or Stephanie after years of work.
Are they so powerful that Pew was silenced after spending millions.
Hey, NYC got over tens of millions during that time, and there were 12 districts.
If they can do this, then all is lost, and I am going to go back to doing gym photography.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we followed the money that flows into PEW and the others that once were above being bribed and bought, that we’d find a river of cash flowing from one or more of the oligarch in the Bill Gates Cabal, the Walton family or the Koch brothers, etc.
Look at all the money flowing into that state education board election in Louisiana.
I guess you are right.
At Oped we all know about the cabals that run the show, and the new world order.
I cannot be naive about that, but I want so badly to believe that somehow we can break the wall and get to the public with the reality what LEARNING is all-out and what it takes to teach (WITTT by file label for my thoughts on this, which I will put on my own blog, if I ever get the chance.
It will take time to educate the voting public. All we need is a majority and 51% is a majority. The nonvoting public doesn’t count at the ballot box.
Oh, I must disagree with your “they treat us like servants”. No, they treat us like illiteartie, ignorant slaves, and I’m sure they would beat us with whips and torture us if they could and I think one day they probably will if the oligarchs have their way.
The union in my district negotiated a terrible contract about 15 years ago that remains. It states that teachers have to work “other duties as assigned” for no additional pay. About 10 years ago, a teacher tried to fight against this clause. He refused to conduct IEP meetings when not on contract hours, because he got no additional pay for them. The union refused to support him, and the district fired him because he did not do the “other duties as assigned.” It was a minor local news story, but there was no public outcry. In Utah, everyone just expects teachers to work hundreds of unpaid hours.
They are salaried workers. Working for “free” is expected of them.
Yep. That’s what they tell a friend of mine who is being forced to write the paperwork and conduct the IEPs of her entire special ed. department (there are over 100 kids on IEPs in the school). She has to give up all of her prep time, lunches, and several extra hours every day to get it all done. She’s terrified she’ll lose her job if she doesn’t do this, and she is the primary wage earner with sick kids who need insurance. That’s what happens–teachers are abused because we’re “salaried” and need the jobs.
To make matters worse, much of this overwork is fruitless work. CCSS demands endless writing instruction and practice –the soul-crushing aftermath of which is stacks and stacks of papers to grade. Sounds good to ed reformers, but is this grueling method really what makes good writers? In middle and high school English departments, the fixation on writing is nothing new: schools have been harping on writing for the past 20 years yet our grads are still largely weak writers. Little return on this investment. In my view, we have a crude and misguided notion of how to develop writers. Developing writing is not a straightforward matter; it’s complex I think one key factor is exposure to many, many readings in various genres. Only after reading hundreds of persuasive arguments, for example, are you likely to internalize the templates and the mental moves associated with good persuasive writing. Therefore wide reading (or being read to) is an indirect but nonetheless crucially important route to good writing. Another key factor is possession of a broad knowledge base; if you know about something, you can write about it; if you don’t, you can’t. To those who say you can always research before writing: you can’t comprehend the research without a good deal of prior knowledge built into your brain. Therefore, teaching about the world is an important route to making good writers Ironically, the time spent on the utterly unproven, dull and time-consuming Lucy Calkins-style writing curriculum steals time from these other, and probably more important, routes to developing writing ability. If we were smarter about curriculum, we could make better writers without annihilating teachers’ weekends and family time.
Read my comment to Lloyd. I wrote my own curriculum because I needed to teach writing the way kids learn, through practice, and it would have not consumed my entire life, if instead of almost 40 kids in each my four classes, I had 18 or 20, even 22.
CLASS SIZE MATTERS!
I also wrote my own curriculum even after California came up with its own standards in 1999, and I focused on writing. After every short story or poem, there was an essay with a prompt that I wrote that was designed to link the world of the students I taught with the world in the story or poem. For books and plays, there was an essay after every chapter or act, and before the writing started, we had a discussion about the prompt and what it was asking for. Some of those discussions were lively, especially the ones linked to “Romeo and Julie” where the girls took one side and the boys took another, and they debated a woman’s right to say no and mean it.
Oh Lloyd. It sounds wonderful. How I wish my own grandkids had such an English teacher. Today, I was organizing a new room, which holds all the materials and books, that I used to inform my practice, all the lesson plans, and the things i created, and copies of the student’s work.
It was treasure trove that shows the way it was when all I had was a batch of pamphlets with the state and city objectives, and I was expected to develop the lessons to engage children and meet these goals.
I wish I had a film crew to move along with me, in this room, for it is a testimony to the way it was when a teacher was autonymous, and could manage the practice.
I cried today, as I read the endow th year letters that the kids wrote to me, explaining what the learned and how they felt about their time with me.
I have to remember that. Once upon a time, I did something wonderful!
You sure did, Susan! Your students will never ever forget you. Please know that. Every time they put a pen to paper and a piece of literature brings tears to their eyes…..they will always remember you. No one can take our wonderful memories away. I thoroughly enjoy your blogs, Susan. Thank you so much! (:
It means so much to me, that you see the value of my comments.
This is an important conversation we are having.
I have delayed putting up my own blog, because it takes so much time to write here, but Diane has created a wonderful place for us to talk.
I also write at Oped News, as you know, and the publisher wants me to write some original articles on this subject… and I would , if I had the time.
For now, I read an write here, but I will sue some of the comments I write here, on my now Speaking As A Teacher blog, when I get the time to create the opening posts.
I want my voice to be different. Peter Greene has a very special voice.
I want to speak as a teacher about what it takes to teach, and I want to unfold the story –the plot and characters and charlatans who tread upon by classroom floor with the intention of sabotaging me.
I want to speak about BETRAYAL of trust, because teachers need to trust those who administer EVERYTHING THEY NEED as PROFESSIONALS.
I am so grateful and overwhelmed with emotions as I read all of these comments! I believe more people need to be a voice. In our schools we often feel alone due to fear, but this has reassured me that we are NOT alone!
This is a very unique blog.
You are not alone.
Teachers were silenced. The profession of pedagogy is disappearing. No one will want to teach if this goes on. I cannot believe that sixteen years after I encountered the war on teachers, things have only gotten worse.
We have a voice here, but we must get active!
Teachers need to ensure that the union protects them.
We need to throw out those that let administrators reign as lords of a fiefdom and bring civil suits against districts which allow workplace bullying. We need to demand autonomy to meet the needs of our children and end social promotion.
More important we need to elect people who know how crucial eduction is for democracy, because what is missing is the money to properly fund schools, to hire more teachers and offer smaller class sizes.
We have to see to it that our taxes do not fund bogus schools, and get the attorneys generals going after the criminals that cheat our children and our future..
When I started teaching full time in 78-79, the middle school didn’t have enough textbooks to go around so I created all the material I used on my own. We didn’t have a copy machine but we had a ditto machine and my fingers turned purple from using that machine every single day to run off the stories and worksheets my students read and worked on in addition to essays, poetry, short stories, etc.
When that first year ended, the stack of ditto masters was taller than me, and I was 6’4″ back then. I think I have shrunk two or more inches since then.
From the poetry and short story workshop I created, I took the best poems and short stories the 7th and 8th grade students wrote and submitted them to lit contests annually for K-12 students for several years. One year, the students at that one middle school that had a childhood poverty rate higher than 90% won half the awards in a state-wide poetry contest—the awards ceremony was held on the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
Then two of the short stories written by middle school students I worked with were accepted and published by the Los Angeles times in a special student magazine. I have a copy of that magazine somewhere in storage. Out of 10,000 stories submitted from schools across Los Angeles Country, about 25 ended up being selected and published in that mag, and two of them were my students.
Thank you for reading my blog! http://www.teacherteacherdiaries.blogspot.com
It is great to know that I am not alone!
Angie Morales, thousands of people read your post and loved it. Thank you for writing it!
As a teacher with 24 years under my belt, I don’t recommend any student major in education…unless they like continually being told how bad they are and treated like crap by politicians and administrators that spend little if any time actually teaching their own class.
It’s long overdue that teachers seem to finally be speaking out. I hope it’s not too late.
This is a really good piece on a “low scoring” Michigan public school and the people who work there. The reporter observed the 6 week run-up to the state tests in one class.
It looks like they gave him full access to the school, and since he wouldn’t have gotten such a in-depth feel for the place without that, maybe public schools need to invite more reporters in. People don’t really know what goes on inside public schools- although everyone thinks they knows because most of us went to public schools 🙂
http://stateofopportunity.michiganradio.org/post/big-test-six-weeks-one-third-grade-class-low-scoring-elementary-school
I feel the same pressure! I’m in a situation where the district wants teachers to start clocking in (within 7 minutes prior to or following my official start time). There will be ONE card reader for 40+ people. Will we clock out at the actual time many of us leave (way after the official day ends)? Oh, no. There is no clocking out, only clocking in. Any credit for a teacher that starts her day on the clock shopping at a 24 hour Walmart for supplies that she will pay for herself? No, because she is not physically in the building. Nevermind that her first period is planning time and that she doesn’t have a morning duty to cover, so no students have been left unattended. Will there be any timekeeping of the hours a teacher puts in outside the buiding? Of course not! Teachers are lazy cheaters that sneak out of school while they are supposed to be on the clock. As if we could ever HOPE to get our work finished within the time we spend on the clock. And we wouldn’t even technically be ON THE CLOCK! WE’D JUST BE CLOCKING IN so we can either be ignored per usual or slapped on the hand for thinking we wee professional adults capable of deciding how to manage our time. Yes, please let’s start standing in line for several minutes each morning to prove we are behaving. If this actually happens, it is far more likely I will take sick days and go stand in a PICKET LINE!
This is part of what being a salaried employee is about. You are not paid for the time you do the job but for the work you do. And all too many teachers enjoy playing the martyr role, bashing other teachers for not working hours and hours off the clock instead of trying to find ways not to spend all their waking hours on their careers.
Don’t blame the victim here, Susan. Yes, teachers have allowed this to happen for far too long. But there is NO public support for teachers to protest this. Administrators, district and state personnel, and the general public just expect teachers to be monks. I’ve done everything I can to limit my work load, and I’m lucky that I can. But I’ve taught a lot of years now and can get away with that. And I don’t teach in a subject, such as special education, that requires huge amounts of paperwork. What do you expect teachers to do?
Abusive administrators in my district tried this nonsense last year as well, taking it straight from the evil Danielson rubric.
Teachers of the USA, WAKE UP!
We have power, we have voices, we have the ability to change things if we so choose.
Yes, we will suffer. Yes, some, maybe many, of us will lose our jobs at first. Yes, it will be a struggle requiring sacrifice, courage, and a commitment to bringing about change.
We can get rid of Randi and Lilly and elect union leaders who will work FOR US, not AGAINST US. If we can’t do that we can starve both the AFT and the NEA and start a different union.
We can walk out of our classrooms and refuse to put up with the nonsense. Yes, some of us will get in trouble, maybe be arrested, maybe lose our job. That’s how change is wrought. There is always a price attached. To do nothing, however, guarantees absolute destruction of our profession and our beloved public school system.
When we collectively wake up and decide that we will stand together, fight together, suffer together, and support each other through the battle then we will bring about mighty change, in concert with the parents and students who support us.
Stop being a victim! No one can make you a victim without your consent, as Eleanor Roosevelt so wisely stated.
You work for free because you choose to do so. For years we teachers put in that extra productivity for free “because of the kids”. We have always obeyed, done what we were told to do, questioned little, and made our students do the same.
The time has come to stop aiding and abetting our own destruction. Partner with other like-minded teachers and plan a way to fight back and survive!
Well said!
Hello, This sounds very familiar but sometimes those with children are likely to help others with children but not those without young children. We too have families, sometimes elderly parents or brothers or sisters that we would like to see or help when they are sick. Evaluations are now competitive but also include collaboration which is hampered when some teachers have a bond but do not open themselves to new teachers in their grade, especially if the teacher is older because tenure now means almost nothing. Teaching is all consuming and many of us are at work until 9 pm or later because there is a non-ending list of work to do. The SLO is the plan now for the “goal year” and it is like a job interview that lasts all year. The SLO scores count (starting next year) towards the following years’ evaluation. One teacher might write a Student Learning Objective Plan that is much more difficult than another and these results count towards evaluation. Principals may deny the SLO for any reason. There is no fairness in this process and the Danielson Evaluation with teachers uploading evidence of every aspect of their teaching is all consuming. Ms. Danielson states in her books that teachers will burn out if this is used for anyone but a week of student teaching because it is too much documentation. In effect we are asked to be all things to all students and work in the community beyond school hours, be invited to join district committees (but those invites are usually given to a select few). We are guilty before proving ourselves innocent which seems odd in this country. The principal can then come into the classroom and tell you what is wrong even if your test scores increases were better than any other teacher in the building, your students love learning and are ready for the next grade. If you are not spending money to be an interior decorator in your classroom and everything isn’t as neat as if you had a secretary to organize all of your things you are considered a bad teacher. I have been teaching a long time. I love helping students but the new SLO (goal year system) and new Danielson evaluation and trying to incorporate all ideas at every level with rigor makes us all overwhelmed and exhausted. We are also not allowed to use sick days earned by contract because Illinois made a law saying attendance may be used in evaluation. We are downgraded if we use sick days without a leave of absence. The leave of absence makes the days “unworked days” towards retirement so the district is always asking for a leave of absence if you know you will be gone for even a few days. Thank you again!
In Memphis, working for free is built into the system. To get a five on the professionalism rubric you essentially have to lead some sort of program for students, parents, and/or fellow teachers outside of the normal working hours. Not everyone can get paid to coach a sport or lead a music program….
While I most likely won’t enjoy the retirement benefits like those who worked from the 80s to the early aughts, I at least attained tenure before the school day got longer. This lengthening also happily coincided with the birth of my first child four years ago. This is the argument for a workforce with varying levels of experience, so that those who put in time their first decade of teaching can feel no guilt or shame in whittling their workplace responsibilities once they start a family; it is simply saddled by the junior members and the empty nesters. The big presupposition here is that the school doesn’t have too much turnover. If not, this could be a quite amenable agreement. Give the extra hours in the “boot camp” years knowing you can swipe out with the kids in the future. Shirkers should be required to put in time, or face consequences in their evaluation. There are too many staff who hang at the fringes of committees, just gathering the minimum required face time.
Also towards my good fortune is that I don’t teach reading, that position has become a data tracking hellhole. CTU filed and won a paperwork grievance against middle management for their spreadsheet-itis.
“There are too many staff who hang at the fringes of committees, just gathering the minimum required face time.”
That’s because most committees are nothing more than time wasters. My classroom job could and should fill all of my designated work time (and then some); however, it is co-opted, to a significant degree, by bureaucratic demands.
Unfortunately, there is a feeling out there that teachers are on a par with Mother Teresa and our job is our way of sacrifice for the public good. It’s a wonder we get paid at all.
Is a nurse expected to come in during their time off and work without pay? Usually they get overtime pay if called in above their normal hours.
In business the employees get comp time for their extra work, but teachers get read the riot act if they ask to leave early or come in late in order to visit the doctor.
All the additional required paperwork (without renumeration) is enough of a sacrifice without expectations to devote even more of our precious free time to our place of work.
Hold your hear high and think of this email as a commendation instead of a criticism. You are actually doing the right thing for yourself and your family (who should be your number one priority) and your boss is an ignorant control freak who should be focusing on his children and not on what your activities outside business hours.
“Friends, this is why labor unions were created, to prevent the exploitation of teachers and other workers.”
But, the unions don’t do this anymore. And haven’t for a while. Perhaps they need to be razed to the ground and built anew.
“Perhaps they need to be razed to the ground and built anew.”
Labor unions are democratic organizations and they have elections. If a union doesn’t change and support the workers that belong to it, an argument could be made that the members who vote for the leadership of the union did it to themselves.
There are local chapters, state level and national levels to large unions. It would be interesting to discover if all of those different elements of an entire union are all on the same page.
For instance, local chapters elect their own presidents and the rep council and may not be in line with the state or national on an issue.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU with 30 thousand teachers and educational support personnel) has released a position paper on the increasing reliance on standardized test scores in measuring teacher effectiveness and school improvement as part of its “Pencils Down” campaign against high-stakes testing in schools. The paper, titled Debunking the Myths of Standardized Testing, discusses the history and advancement of the high-stakes testing movement and provides evidence against its effectiveness despite being staple of corporate education reform.
http://www.ctunet.com/research/testing
Massachusetts’s Teachers’ Union Elects Anti-Common Core President
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/378075/massachusettss-teachers-union-elects-anti-common-core-president-patrick-brennan
In Florida, the teachers’ union has lobbied to limit the use of standardized tests, and the governor last week signed a bill that limits the number of hours students can spend taking them.
Dozens of New York teacher union locals demand that NYSUT (New York State United Teachers, the AFT) support testing resistance
http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=5544
As with general elections, unless you want to run yourself, your choices are limited.
For the national and state teachers’ unions, I agree—the choices are limited and often there is no choice, just another face but with the same agenda and lies thanks to bribes from billionaires.
But at the local level, it isn’t always this way. At the local level it isn’t as easy for the oligarchs to limit the choices and at the local level, the members almost always know who they are voting for because it is a lot harder to fool those teachers.
For instance, in the district where I taught, there were about 19,000 students and 700 teachers. No matter how many flyers the oligarchs fund to attempt to fool those 700 voters, those teachers tend to believe what they hear from their colleagues in the same school district and the flyers end up making the teachers angry and more militant. It’s also more difficult for the corporate education reform movement to reach those 700 teachers because many of them live scattered out in other communities outside of the district where they work.
This is why most of the resistance from teachers’ unions is at the local level and not from the state or national teachers’ unions where the oligarchs already own the stooges they helped elect.
I hear you, Lloyd, and you make a good point about the various levels of a union not being on the same page, but from what I’ve seen of the national unions in the news and from my experience with the local union, they are not listening to or representing their members outside of salary, contract hours, breaks, etc.(which I don’t mean to belittle in any way. However, the unions’ answer to the reform movement seems to be “reform lite.” Maybe that’s starting to change. I hope it is.
The democratic process tends to be messy and slow.
Unfortunately, too many people see that as a weakness rather than a strength. It’s much harder to go off half cocked; people really have to think about their position and work at reaching some sort of compromise rather than just willy nilly doing whatever they want. In other words, they can’t be a Bill Gates. They have to actually listen to opposing points of view.
“Unfortunately, too many people see that as a weakness rather than a strength.”
True and that is the reason the Roman Republic eventually became a Roman Empire with a dictator for life as an emperor, and we all know what happened next—the dark ages after the Roman Empire collapsed.
In addition, I think this is why Benjamin Franklin answered the following question like he did:
Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic, if you can keep it.”
The response is attributed to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN—at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation—in the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention.
The democratic process does tend to be messy and slow, and I do not see that as a weakness. However, I’m not sure that process is as firmly in place, particularly at the national level as you seem to think it is. We shall see.
I don’t think democracy is working at the national level at all, but it was working at the local level until the billionaires started to pump outrageous sums of money into even school board and mayor elections.
And let’s not forget that the president is not elected by the popular vote and never has. The leader of the U.S. is elected by a handful of people selected by each major political party and how they vote differs among the states. Some msut vote the party line. Others are free to cast their vote anyway they want and some must go with the majority vote in their state while others must split their votes linked to the ratio of votes in their states.
How many times do we hear about “family values” from the rheephorm-minded MSM and politicians and such?
The rheephormsters literally make it impossible for many teachers to spend sufficient, or sometimes even a little, time with their own families.
What painful and toxic hypocrisy.
😡
The deformers expect us to be monks or nuns and take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. We’re not supposed to have any family lives of our own, and we’re definitely supposed to get sick or injured.
So true. But it’s not just the “reform” people. And at least I can understand where they’re coming from. What really makes me feel ill is the number of teachers who pride themselves on feeling the same about it. They are in love with their altruism. The fact that it’s leaving us short of good teachers? The attitude is, if everyone was like THEM, it wouldn’t be a problem. So every teacher should be like Saint Me! If not, they shouldn’t be teaching!
WAY too much of this comes from teachers where I teach.
I agree. I wonder if you think most of this attitude comes from women???
I left this world three and a half years ago. I don’t have to spend hours writing lesson plans so detailed with mandated components that tell no one how or what I am teaching. I don’t have to write IEP performance goals that tell very little about how a child has progressed. I don’t have to scour the local used book store looking for books that my struggling high school readers can read and enjoy. (Hint: Humor still works when you are handing a book to a high school student who is reading at a first or second grade level.) I don’t have to make sure to examine all the graphs and charts generated by the computerized reading program. I don’t have to justify why in my professional judgement, I needed to extend a particular lesson topic beyond the scope of the official program. I don’t have to listen to administrators tell me how to teach a program for which they have only heard the marketing pitch. I don’t have to waste my time in meetings that do not apply to my classes. I don’t have to arrive at school at 7AM and leave by 5PM on a good day only to go home to more work. I don’t have to plan my liquid consumption around my class schedule, so I have time for a bathroom stop (four minutes between classes is not enough!) I don’t have to copy thousands of pages of exercises that legally should have been provided by the district. I don’t have to scavenge desks without holes gouged in their writing surfaces. I don’t have to wait two years for a locking file cabinet that was on its way to the dumpster. I am so glad I didn’t last long enough to have to reflect on my practice in writing in order to prove my professionalism on paper. I am so glad I don’t have to attend another disjointed PD session of revolving door initiatives (even though I actually learned some things that were never in fashion long enough to employ effectively). I am so glad I had the chance to spend time with so many wonderful kids.
Yeah, apparently the slim majority of our staff voted for two mornings a week, before school, of PD. Count me out. I refuse.
Wonderfully said. /s/ Retired airline pilot who substituted when he could (middle and high school).
Me too, except four years ago. Still miss my kids and so filled with anger and sorrow for my beleaguered colleagues like this writer.
I guess it’s four years for me too. I wonder if it is a good sign that I am beginning to forget how long ago I lost my job?
I see this played out every day. Teachers working so many hours for free and still feeling inadequate, overwhelmed, and demoralized. This treatment of teachers is unethical and abusive. Sadly, I had to make the decision to leave the classroom because of the impossible work load. My health and well-being were being compromised to a very unhealthy extent and while I wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives and be part of the worthy mission of educating children, I could be no good to anyone if I collapsed. It breaks my heart to see so many hardworking, conscientious, passionate, caring teachers being ground up in the political cogs of a dysfunctional system. My daily hope is that the pendulum starts to swing back to sanity.
I am getting there. I don’t know how I’m going to survive without a job, but I know I can’t survive this much longer. It’s hurting me.
Reblogged this on Politicians Are Poody Heads and commented:
I am so glad (for myself) that I am retired from teaching. But I am alarmed and devastated about what has been happening in our schools.
This article is well worth a read.
And my heart goes out to current teachers who are struggling with this on a day to day basis.
This is true with many salaried jobs. Salaried == abuse. I remember having to carry a pager or cell phone 24/7. I’d get calls all night long while it woke the baby. It is because the destruction of unions have hurt ALL workers. Now it is clawback where everyone working miserable hours wants the share the misery. Instead, true working Americans should demand politicians listen and everyone should have due process with collective bargaining.
I definitely agree – salaried employees are taken advantage of in every profession. Teaching is my second career and I certainly had jobs that allowed no personal life. There is a difference with teaching however. Most corporate jobs pay a lot more. People who work outside of education can generally (though not always) afford to have someone help take care of the kids, clean the house, do the laundry, etc. Teachers make so little that few can afford these luxuries and they still have to do all of the tasks necessary to keep a family running after they work ridiculous hours for the schools they work in.
Thank you for this letter. On Friday, we had early dismissal at 1:45 pm, so we could have a two hour Professional Development. What did we do? We went over Data for two f**ing hours!!! So afterwards, me and a few older colleagues like me wanted to get our normal Friday afternoon work done, like grading papers, setting up new stations, etc. 10 min. into this time we heard from the principal, “the building will be closing in 5 min. ” 5 MINUTES!!!! I yelled and cussed at the Universe, in my room, knowing that the others would also be upset, but too timid to voice it. Gather my bags up stuff and left, leaving me Sunday afternoon to work on this free Overtime that I have to use.
I hear her. I laugh when Cigna comes up with wellness plans, flu shots, mammograms, exercise sessions, coaches in order to keep teachers well, yet, teachers are sick from the stress of daily push of data and other demands. These evaluations are literally a waste of my time as was going over data for two hours.
Please, let there be a light at the end of this tunnel!!!
Not to mention schools are germ pools. How many of us have been sneezed on, constantly sick, or feeling like every deck is a bacterial culture?
I bought hand sanitizer in large economy size containers and left it on the bookcase by the door. Every once in awhile I even had kids dash in the door to steal a dab before heading off for their classes. I also had hand lotion for long Illinois winters on my desk, economy size as well. My students “of color” especially appreciated this amenity since being “ashy” was a major concern. Needless to say, I provided the tissue (by the bale) as well. Oh yeah, the cleaning supplies. My custodian was really good, but he frequently had far too much territory to cover. I miss our after school chats. I finally had to institute a swap system for pencils. The kids had to hand over their IDs to borrow pencils and other supplies. When I worked in upper middle class neighborhood middle schools, I used to walk around the building after school and collect pencils and pens off the floor. The pickings were incredibly slim in my low income high school. Ah, the memories.
I used to collect pencils and pens from the hallway floors after school and recycled them to the students. The kids were always stopping in the library to borrow a writing implement for their next class. I also kept a stash of snacks in my drawer to “feed the hungry” on those days they came in too late for breakfast.
This was not considered an extra – it was a curtesy to show I cared about the students’ well being. Everyone needs a safe haven – free of judgement for questionable behaviors and I tried to provide that for those needy students, especially the ones who were constantly being chastised.
Middle and high school students are coming into their own and they need encouragement even when their behaviors keep them from living up to their potential. How inhuman to reduce their essence into a test score to be used as a weapon to rid the school of expensive staffing.
Ah, yes. I forgot the snack drawer… Too many hungry kids and also a good way to show you cared without getting mushy.
I never thought this day would come but as a 28 year veteran educator I actually discouraged a college student from entering into the education profession. My reason? All of the above and I really care for this person. Working for free has GOT TO STOP!!
We tried going through the union and they helped with little raises but the school board and state will not stop, change, listen!
Teachers are being the unsuspecting victims of a systemic abuse perpetrated by the corporate reformers and its allies. It is not uncommon in history to read how elites controlled and manipulated entire populations for decades and even hundreds of years, taking advantage of them. In some cases, these elites employed pure violence and intimidation to create fear In other cases elites came up with a mythology to induce peacefully a docile behavior. In our times, sophisticated elites manipulate through the power of public relations and coercion. It is through the imposition of their narrative, and unwarranted and hurtful policies that teachers, feel confuse, vulnerable, frustrated, and on top of that guilty. A serious sociological study must be done to understand the incredible power that corporate reformers and the elite, have achieved. How come a group of millions of educated people have tolerated, accepted, or worse agreed to work in a toxic environment that demoralizes, humiliates, and penalizes?
Who wins, who loses, who cares?
In solidarity,
Sergio Flores.
Diane, thank you so much for posting my blog and being a voice! This must change! Much of this is simply because those in charge of education don’t have the “man power” to write our assessments and input data…but I doubt that. Too many people are sitting behind a desk giving orders while teachers work like hamsters on a wheel. I questioned my evaluation and I have yet to receive a written response. But I was told at a meeting that it’s a “non negotiable” for me not to have data input… and that the county wasn’t going to accept my answer that I have a family and that I can’t work so many hours off the clock.
http://Www.teacherteacherdiaries.blogspot.com
good site. Angie.
Teaching is totally out of control. I worked 7 hours Saturday and 5 hours Sunday in my classroom, and I didn’t get a single paper graded. The end of the nine weeks is near, and I am required to work on hours and hours of paperwork unrelated to what my kids are doing in our classroom. Paper grading and lesson planning is rushed because we are required to work on the unimportant. I think the governors and legislators have done this to exhaust us, frustrate us, and to discourage young people from going into this battered profession. They have destroyed the teaching profession.
Her comments about feeling abused hit home with me. It is not okay how teachers are treated. I worked 12 hours overtime just this weekend …..not to mention about 4 hours overtime Monday through Friday…..which is 20 more hours of overtime added to that 12 hours….which totals 32 hours overtime. My check will not even be five cents higher next week. We have to work so many more hours because we can’t get it all done during regular hours. It is an impossible load for anyone to carry. It is so sad to just want to grade papers, but meaningless paperwork with a deadline stands in your way. It has all gotten absolutely ridiculous! On top of all this, teachers are hated for cheating students out of learning and greedily getting our pay checks. How crazy!!!
If you think that is crazy, you should hear some the things that principals do to teachers. Lorna Stremcha’s story is THE story use, as her principal set her up to be assaulted by a student, and nothing happened to the principal…she was harassed, and eventually took him to court, as the UNION DID NADA!
Her story, in part is here
http://www.endteacherabuse.org/Stremcha.html
and here nycrubberroomreporter.blogspot.com/2013/10/lorna-stremcha-and-her-rubber-room.html
and she has written a book,
The tone of this letter represents EXACTLY why teachers are taken advantage of..”I work super hard and never sit at my desk and never eat and never go to the bathroom and I STILL got a crappy evaluation from my principal…” How about we quit being martyrs, do the job we’re paid to do, (No More folks! You’re not doing your colleagues any favors by doing stuff for free. That’s been a bee in my bonnet for a lot of years…why would they pay you if you’re flipping willing to do stuff for free???) and stand up for ourselves, both personally and through our unions? I’d like to leave this job..and it IS a JOB…with an ounce of dignity.
This is why we need Bernie Sanders.
I am so glad that someone wrote this. I am forty years old and have been teaching for fifteen years. I am one of the oldest teachers in my school. When I first came on staff I was the only parent, and had to sheepishly say things like, I can’t make a meeting at 7 am. I was even once advised that I should see if my neighbors who also had school going age children could drop my child to school.
Now, I see the staff at my school starting to get married and have children and they are all coming to me in tears, citing how they cannot keep up with the workload and asking how I do it. This is how I do it. I get up at 4 am every morning to go over my lessons. I stay till 6:30 every night. I work an hour after my daughter goes to bed, and I work both weekend mornings. And guess what, I am still behind every day because writing curriculum, maintaining the classroom, grading work from 120 students, attending meetings, maintaining bulletin boards, attending more meetings, just can’t be done otherwise.
Our right to negotiate language in evaluation was legislated away in Michigan. We have very little say over this matter.
Our right to negotiate language for evaluation was legislated away in Michigan. We have very little say in the matter.
I am facing a similar, yet also different situation. I am not going to make it much longer, maybe this year and next. And I don’t have enough years, nor am I old enough, to retire. It’s scary, but it’s hurting my health and family. Of course, unemployment will do the same. It’s awful.
It’s not just teachers who are penalized. I received comments in a review like that and I am not a teacher. I work in an office. There was a departmental meeting in fact that urged us to come in an hour earlier and stay an hour later–go that extra mile for the company–because those individuals who do will be rewarded come review time. So essentially, they want us to work 10 hours and only get paid for 8. Add on to that two hours of commuting and half the days is gone. When are we supposed to have a life? On the weekend? Yeah right, we’re expected to check in via email to make sure the sites are up and running.
It’s not fair. It shouldn’t be an expectation let alone something you or I are penalized for, I don’t care what industry we’re talking about.
AH yes. Remember when they used to tell us how easy computers were going to make our lives? As far as I can tell, technology has just resulted in making it easier for managers to make unreasonable demands of their subordinates. They have definitely allowed us to accomplish more, but I missed the time saving aspect of the promise.
I agree. I’m waiting for my smart phone to actually be smart but as you said, with computers failing to live up to their promise of time saving, and they’ve been around a lot longer, it’s going to be awhile before smart tech is actually smart. Maybe when they reach that point, they’ll start saving time?
I teach for free.
They pay me to grade.
Ah, yes. The post & commentary are reminding me why I left PRIVATE full-time teaching after only 2 yrs (decades ago). I was fresh out of college, took a job in the small for-lang dept of a part-boarding academy. We offered French, Spanish, German, Latin & Greek among the 4 of us. I was the main French teacher w/5 preps (Fr I-IV plus AP.). Private meant small classes, mostly-motivated students, minimum bureaucracy & supportive admin…
But private also meant: every teacher sat at the head of a table of students during lunch, had 1 or 0 unscheduled pds/day, was involved in sports 4 – 6pm or later (I drove kids & eqpt for the tennis team :), & salaries were 25% less than p.s.– many (like me) took a 1/2-price apt on the dorm floor as RA to make ends meet (essentially another 1/4-time job).
Teaching-wise it was a dream job, but entailed (just as noted here) 2 – 3 hrs nightly after the 8am-6pm classes & sport, plus 4 – 6 hrs wkends. Big plusses: set your own curriculum (parents bought the books); educated, involved parents foot the bill so keep them happy & you’re home free. Big minus is same as described here: 70 hrs/wk for a salary equivalent to that of a 40-50-hr/wk legal sec’y or admin asst.
I moved on to corporate work (in the purchasing end of engrg/ constr)– feeling I needed ‘in- & out- boxes’ — going home at 5, w/o h.w. & w/ a better grasp on the day’s accomplishments, & a more hierarchical career-path. I got what I wanted. Promotion was tied to hard work & accomplishment of clear-cut, attainable milestones. But w/n 8 yrs or so ended up at the exact same place as the many commenters here. Computerized evaluation of merit and work completed– the advent of MBO– arrived much earlier in the corporate world (late ’80’s).
The only difference between the trials & tribulations expressed here, & my corporate experience is pay. I was well-paid for working 80 hrs/wk on salary. However, as I used to say, ‘I don’t even have time to buy toilet-paper.’ And my job security was as tenuous as that of any teacher today, subject to sudden dips in economy/ project financing.
I was able to bow out as full-time Mom thanks to my husband’s job with the same corporation. Meanwhile things carry on in the same direction for him: he’s arrived at ‘retirement-age’ w/no change, in fact things have become worse w/automation, out-sourcing & recession. The jobs once done by sec’y’s & purch. dept I have been ‘eliminated’– i.e., transferred to the engrs; an 80-hr workweek barely cuts it; pensions disappeared in the ’90’s & 401k’s are not equivalent so folks are hoping to work until 70, one step ahead of a heart-attack.
My advice to teachers– as a parent & taxpayer, & as a part-time enrichment teacher who sees your daily struggle– echoes that of many above: you must join labor unions & you must fight within those unions against mgt. This is not only to preserve your sanity & health, it is necessary to preserve quality education for our country’s students.
You already know that Marzano/Danielson carves a huge notch out of your ability to get the autumn curriculum going. You already know that PARCC et al multiple state assessments warp and undermine your ability to help students learn during the school year. As a few in this comment thread have noted, continuing to kow-tow to the insatiable demands of the politicized school workplace accomplishes exactly nothing other than assuring more & ramping up of the same.
This is a world wide dilemma for teachers I think! It was one of the reasons I burnt out in the NZ system.
Ms. Ravitch should be taken to task for advocating unions, at least the NEA. That is based on my own experiences and a quarter century in elementary education http://endteacherabuse.org/Geery.html.
As challenging as the teachers’ unions are today, because they are clearly in cahoots with corporate “reformers,” don’t delude yourself by thinking that teachers who are not unionized are at an advantage. The pay can be as low as minimum wage and many schools don’t pay overtime.
I’ve worked throughout my career as an educator in jobs at schools that were not unionized and when employed as a full time teacher and paid as an hourly employee, I was NEVER paid overtime when told by schools I was required to put in more than 40 hours per week. That included staying late for parent-teacher conferences, open houses, professional development, holiday celebrations, etc. When I complained about it, since other teachers didn’t complain, I was seen as a malcontent. Some administrators told me to go home early and come back later, which was a terrible inconvenience for me since I didn’t have a car, not the remunerative solution I wanted.
It’s no better at schools where I’ve been a salaried educator, because employers are not required to pay overtime to salaried employees.
The deck is still stacked towards employers, not workers. Fight for unionization and work towards reforming existing unions that are not adequately serving teachers.
I belonged to a teachers’ union and was never paid overtime for all the hours put in outside of class time. In fact, we were paid nothing. We could work a hundred hours or forty a week and we were paid a set monthly salary ten months of the year but no check for two months during the summer during the summer break, and we were expected to return to work one to two weeks before the kids arrived and not get paid for that time.
But our local did negotiate a cap on how many hours we could be asked to work beyond our teaching day—-the district didn’t want that cap. They wanted the freedom to put us to work outside of our teaching hours any time they felt like it with no limit. Teachers balked at this because it was cutting into the time we spent outside of class planning and prepping lessons and correcting student work. If you are staying after school late to babysit a basket ball of football game, it isn’t easy to plan and prep for a lesson and it’s a challenge to correct work even though I managed with a clip board and a class set of student work for one assignment.
And if a teacher accepted an extra class or duty beyond the contracted five classes and one planning period, then we were paid by the hour for the extra class and a set stipend for the extra duty—but not a cent for all the extra work we took home to correct.
For instance being the adviser for the school newspaper sometimes meant being there at 6 AM and stayed until after 10 PM. When I totaled up all the hours I worked outside of my contractual school day, the stipend I was paid was about 0.19 cents an hour before deductions.
From what I’ve seen the teacher salary of a union member is about $10k more a year than a non union teacher and non union teachers work those extra hours that union teachers can negotiate to keep the abuse down.
For many of us working in non-unionized schools in lower ed and higher ed, it’s MUCH more than a $10K differential between us and unionized teachers. Last year, I grossed half of what a unionized first year teacher makes in my district and I’ve been teaching for decades.
Half! That’s horrible! No wonder the turnover rate is so high for corporate Charters. And I understand you have to work even longer hours with less freedom to really teach.
Our contract this year has the standard line “and all other duties assigned by the principal” and a new one: We may be required to work on Saturdays.