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I thought this was an interesting article--for any of the teacher debates, but especially this one. The district in this article is considered one of the better districts in our state. It outlines some of the "extras" teachers do every day that they are not paid for....and they could cut back even more but they don't want to hurt the kids too much.
"As part of an unusual union strategy, many are no longer chaperoning school dances or volunteering with school clubs. As soon as their eight-hour shifts are up, they walk out school doors together -- though grading and lesson plans still get done."
One thing they could do that students/parents would feel immediately is to stop grading papers and doing lesson plans at home...on their own time.
This district has tried, several times, to pass refereda to elevate budget problems mainly due to rapid growth in the town. The people in that town are now feeling the effects of this, in a big way...eliminated many sports, fees have gone up to $300+/sport, etc.
I think one way that teachers can "prove their worth" is to stop doing ANYTHING outside of their contract for a couple weeks...
I thought this was an interesting article--for any of the teacher debates, but especially this one. The district in this article is considered one of the better districts in our state. It outlines some of the "extras" teachers do every day that they are not paid for....and they could cut back even more but they don't want to hurt the kids too much.
"As part of an unusual union strategy, many are no longer chaperoning school dances or volunteering with school clubs. As soon as their eight-hour shifts are up, they walk out school doors together -- though grading and lesson plans still get done."
One thing they could do that students/parents would feel immediately is to stop grading papers and doing lesson plans at home...on their own time.
This district has tried, several times, to pass refereda to elevate budget problems mainly due to rapid growth in the town. The people in that town are now feeling the effects of this, in a big way...eliminated many sports, fees have gone up to $300+/sport, etc.
I think one way that teachers can "prove their worth" is to stop doing ANYTHING outside of their contract for a couple weeks...
Chaperoning the occasional dance and/or heading a club that rarely meets more than once a week and grading papers/doing lesson plans outside of school should be part of the contract. Teachers have to stop thinking of grading papers,etc. outside of 'regular' school hours as extra work and start thinking of these as part of their job.
When I was teaching I never ONCE considered grading papers, attendance at certain school functions, parent/teacher conferences held at NIGHT as anything other than part of my job. Then again, I worked in a Catholic school where we were paid peanuts and had no contract, but I doubt the job description and duties of a teacher in a public school are much different.
Those teachers still won't get fired. You want to know why? Because no one is complaining about them. The teachers that parents complain about are the hard teachers. If you want to be a lousy teacher, all you have to do to keep your job is give a lot of A's. Parents and students will love you and the administration will leave you alone.
Getting rid of tenure won't get rid of bad teachers, it will get rid of good ones who stand their ground for their students. The ones who make noise and arne't an easy A. THEY will be the ones who parents complain about (as is the case now) but they will get fired because it will be easier to fire a teacher and replace her than to deal with an irate parent.
Seriously, I will not stay in teaching if they take tenure away. Teaching chemistry, I am the teacher most likely to cost a student their 4.0. It's just the nature of what I teach but parents are MAD when their "A student" gets a B. I've alread been challenged this year by a father who insists his son is an A student but I'm seeing B work. If they take tenure, I either need to start giving out A's like candy to keep my job or find another job. I have four more years to go before I tenure anyway and have two children of school board members next year . I may not make it to tenure, not because I'm bad but because I'm good. I'm not an easy A. Parents don't like teachers who stand between their child and the high GPA they think their child deserves.
You're missing the point. Teachers who are not tenured are let go all the time because administration does not want to deal with yet another tenured teacher who insists on "standing her ground", aka insubordination.
In my experience it is the untenured teachers who go the extra mile and are enthusiastic about their jobs and have a reason to do the best job they can, while it really doesn't matter what the tenured teacher does, as no one can touch him/her. That's pretty heady for the teacher, don't you think?
Imagine a world where everyone was afforded such protection in their jobs after being tenured. No need for me to elaborate; the possible repercussions are pretty obvious.
Chaperoning the occasional dance and/or heading a club that rarely meets more than once a week and grading papers/doing lesson plans outside of school should be part of the contract. Teachers have to stop thinking of grading papers,etc. outside of 'regular' school hours as extra work and start thinking of these as part of their job.
When I was teaching I never ONCE considered grading papers, attendance at certain school functions, parent/teacher conferences held at NIGHT as anything other than part of my job. Then again, I worked in a Catholic school where we were paid peanuts and had no contract, but I doubt the job description and duties of a teacher in a public school are much different.
Actually the contracts are pretty specific. The teachers are contracted for XXX number of days and those contracts usually spell out what hours they need to be in the school building. I know in our district, for example, the teachers are contracted for 200 days, 188 student contact days. They are to be in the building for 1 1/2 hours either before and/or after school class hours. After those hours, technically they are not required to do anything associated with school. They VOLUNTEER to do otherwise. You have totally missed the point of this post, however. The thread topic is how to teachers prove their worth, my response was to stop doing all of the extras. People would then get an idea of all of the things teachers DO above and beyond what they get paid to do. I highly doubt any of these teachers consider these things outside of their "job", however, when the teachers have been asked to do more and more and more without any additional compensation in any way, shape or form AND are working without a valid contract, this is one way to get the school board to move....
Those teachers still won't get fired. You want to know why? Because no one is complaining about them. The teachers that parents complain about are the hard teachers. If you want to be a lousy teacher, all you have to do to keep your job is give a lot of A's. Parents and students will love you and the administration will leave you alone.
Getting rid of tenure won't get rid of bad teachers, it will get rid of good ones who stand their ground for their students. The ones who make noise and arne't an easy A. THEY will be the ones who parents complain about (as is the case now) but they will get fired because it will be easier to fire a teacher and replace her than to deal with an irate parent.
Seriously, I will not stay in teaching if they take tenure away. Teaching chemistry, I am the teacher most likely to cost a student their 4.0. It's just the nature of what I teach but parents are MAD when their "A student" gets a B. I've alread been challenged this year by a father who insists his son is an A student but I'm seeing B work. If they take tenure, I either need to start giving out A's like candy to keep my job or find another job. I have four more years to go before I tenure anyway and have two children of school board members next year . I may not make it to tenure, not because I'm bad but because I'm good. I'm not an easy A. Parents don't like teachers who stand between their child and the high GPA they think their child deserves.
Ok, I am going to disagree with this--you may cost a student that is not strong in the sciences their 4.0 but for kids that enjoy the sciences, Chemistry is an "easy" class for them and history is their "hard" class that is going to cost them their 4.0....as witnessed personally with my DD-who has a 99.8 going in her AP chem class, and a 90.9 in her Honor's World History. Tenure or not is not going to change that one bit. However, I do feel teachers SHOULD have tenure and contrary to popular belief, tenure does NOT prevent teachers from being fired. Also, YOUR (general your, not specific) opinion of a "bad" teacher may differ from other's opinion of a "bad" teacher-so, who's OPINION is correct??
I think one way that teachers can "prove their worth" is to stop doing ANYTHING outside of their contract for a couple weeks...
May be until we are PAID for doing it? My school expects me to stay until 3:30 no matter what--because that is what they are paying me--but to expect me to be at sport games and dances? The school can't have it both ways--demanding I am accountable for my 8 hour day, yet wanting additional time FREE...
Would we expect doctors or lawyers to work for free? Why not have police offices put in a few extra hours everyday..
I am going to ask my local wally world if they can give up some free stuff....
Chaperoning the occasional dance and/or heading a club that rarely meets more than once a week and grading papers/doing lesson plans outside of school should be part of the contract. Teachers have to stop thinking of grading papers,etc. outside of 'regular' school hours as extra work and start thinking of these as part of their job.
Grading outside of school time is an obligation all teachers meet and no one I know with anything but full cooperation. BUT, chaperoning dances or other outside of school activities (which BTW can be as often as twice a week) infringes not just on my own family time but also on my other part time job. Many, many teachers HAVE to work part time in order to make ends meet. It is beyond ridiculous to tell us we have to work nights and weekends beyond our 40 hour work week when our salaries are being cut and we have to take on other jobs to make ends meet.
Quote:
When I was teaching I never ONCE considered grading papers, attendance at certain school functions, parent/teacher conferences held at NIGHT as anything other than part of my job. Then again, I worked in a Catholic school where we were paid peanuts and had no contract, but I doubt the job description and duties of a teacher in a public school are much different.
At my school there are events every single weekend, frequently on both Friday night and then on Saturday morning. I do not remotely berudge the portions of my time taken up as part of my teaching outside of school (grading, lesson planning, parent teacher conferences or back to school night) but I am not going to give up a part time job that allows my family to keep our home so that extra curricular activities can continue to occur without cost to parents.
You're missing the point. Teachers who are not tenured are let go all the time because administration does not want to deal with yet another tenured teacher who insists on "standing her ground", aka insubordination.
In my experience it is the untenured teachers who go the extra mile and are enthusiastic about their jobs and have a reason to do the best job they can, while it really doesn't matter what the tenured teacher does, as no one can touch him/her. That's pretty heady for the teacher, don't you think?
Imagine a world where everyone was afforded such protection in their jobs after being tenured. No need for me to elaborate; the possible repercussions are pretty obvious.
You have to remember that you can still fire someone who doesn't do their job with tenure. What you can't do is fire them for frivolous reasons. THAT is a protection we all should have. As a teacher, unfortunately, it is only a matter of time before I come up against a family with the power to get me fired if they are not happy and it won't matter if I'm right (this has already happened to me once. My two years at the charter school saw a 31% and 35% increase in students passing the state science test. Scores dropped right back to where they were before I came after they fired me and replaced me. Without tenure, all you have to do is tick off the wrong parent/person and you're done. Being effective doesn't matter. Being liked is all that matters.). Tenure would be my only protection in such a situation. Tenure also prevents schools from firing highly paid teachers in order to replace them with cheaper teachers.
The reason tenure is needed is this isn't the real world. Out in the real world, there is a dollar value attached to what you do (teachers are a liability, we do not generate revenue). You have the power to increase your value and that value affords you some protection. Teachers have no such protection. There is no incentive for schools to pay and keep good teachers. From a budget standpoint, the cheapest teacher they can put in front of the classroom is the bargain NOT the good teacher. In industry, the good employee is the bargain and worth paying more to keep because they generate more revenue/save you more money. Teachers just cost. We need a protection not offered in industry because we exist in a different world. We don't have the protections the average worker has. No matter how good I am at my job, I'm a liability because there is no cost save or increased revenues because I'm better at my job.
If they do away with tenure, I will not stay in teaching because I know it's just a matter of time before I meet THAT parent and have to fight to keep my job. I'd rather leave on my terms than wait for that day....which could come next year as I will have two students related to school board members and the daughter of a very influential person in this community.... I've already taken heat because students didn't get A's and I actually failed a student who didn't put in the effort to pass. You are correct that I'm at greatest risk just before I'd reach tenure. It may be decided, that year, that there were too many students of parents who count who didn't get A's or I failed too many students and I may be given my walking papers. That's why they have a probationary period. To decide if they want to keep you long term.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 10-10-2011 at 03:49 PM..
Ok, I am going to disagree with this--you may cost a student that is not strong in the sciences their 4.0 but for kids that enjoy the sciences, Chemistry is an "easy" class for them and history is their "hard" class that is going to cost them their 4.0....as witnessed personally with my DD-who has a 99.8 going in her AP chem class, and a 90.9 in her Honor's World History. Tenure or not is not going to change that one bit. However, I do feel teachers SHOULD have tenure and contrary to popular belief, tenure does NOT prevent teachers from being fired. Also, YOUR (general your, not specific) opinion of a "bad" teacher may differ from other's opinion of a "bad" teacher-so, who's OPINION is correct??
I stand by what I said. I am the most likely teacher to cost a student their 4.0. Mine is a class that many students struggle with, especially, if they're weak in math. Someone who had to give it their all to get an A in algebra is probably losing that 4.0 to me because I'm going to ask them to apply that algerba and then some.... Sure there can be other classes that kids struggle with, and they happen, but more kids struggle with the sciences than are good at them.
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. I may not make it to tenure, not because I'm bad but because I'm good. I'm not an easy A. Parents don't like teachers who stand between their child and the high GPA they think their child deserves.
