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Our kids were done today. I'm done next Friday except I have to get my room rearranged over the summer so I will work some days. Then I have to start a week before the kids in the fall.
I find the summers off argument laughable. I have about 4 more weeks a year off as a teacher than I had as an engineer but as an engineer, I, rarely worked evenings and weekends and when I did I was paid for working them. As a teacher, I spend my weekends catching up on grading and getting ready for next week as a matter of routine.
Although I am not a teacher, I have many,many friends who are teachers or admins in school disticts and I too,find the "summers off" pretty amusing.
Of course, 20+ years ago ,prior to graduating from college,I also thought that teachers must have it made,getting the Summers and holidays off,but I know better these days.
My friends spend hours at night doing their lesson planning,evaluations,etc... I know that where they live (most in MD and PA) they are required to continually take courses to recertify,etc...
There is very little downtime for them at all.
Most of them also don't take the entire Summer off ,they either tutor,work summer school and I have some that help the district writing curriculums.
They all have double masters,one with a phd and they don't make what they are worth.
They LOVE their jobs though and although they miss out on a lot of their own children's activities at school (because they have to be at "back to school " night or parent/teacher conf,etc...) they are making a huge difference in another child's life and they rarely complain.!
So, I applaud all that you do!
Just a quick side note though... you mentioned you were an engineer and got paid for the "ot" that you did,weekends,evenings?
My husband has been an Engineer for 20 some years now,never gets any OT,at all must be where he has been working!
I'm already in one of the highest paying states for teachers. If I moved, I'd be moving down. I can't go lower. The problem is no demand.
Not necessarily. My wife and I both work for the same school district. We are both in our late 30's. I am originally from Ohio, she from western PA. We are now in Virginia which is a right to work state (no collective bargaining). I am finishing my 16th year. She is finishing her 3rd, but she started off on step 11 as the district credited her with her ten years working in a private school. We pay about $120/month (I don't think that is too bad) for a pretty good health plan for a family. Dental is maybe $13? The state retirement is good and our district has a supplemental retirement that all teachers are enrolled in (also very good). The cost of living is high and a beginning teacher with a Masters starts at $50,223 (no raise over this year). The contract is 193 days. Step 9 is almost $61k. It isn't a ton for this area, but we have never felt as though we couldn't afford to go out once in a while, travel a little, buy a new car every few years, etc. While budgeting we bought a new townhome in '93, then a new single family house in '00 and that is while she was making 1/2 her current salary w/ the public schools. We can still put a little into an annuity and a little more in a 529 plan for our child. We recently moved closer to our schools into an older house. Each year we "claim" the maximum on our taxes for expenses that you can without receipts (I think it is $200), but we never spend that much on our classes. We are supplied by the district with pretty much whatever we need. I would never expect to run out of basic materials part way through the year.
I just wanted to say that it isn't so bad all over.
Yes the supplies are for the kids. I ran out of printer paper in November. If we were going to do labs and such, I had to buy some more. I also bought over 300 pencils, which the kids just walk off with. That part bugs me. If I could just buy a class set and have them there it woudn't be so bad but they take pencils and pens. They also show up to class without paper. Then there are things like hand sanitizer, soap so they can wash up after labs, detergent so I can clean glassware after labs, kleenex so they can blow their noses, and supplies for labs that don't come from chemical supply companies (like the food labs I do)....it adds up fast.
I never understood this type of example. Just wondering: If you run out of paper and you buy more to supply the class, what reason does the school district have to buy more? If the kids show up without paper and pencils, then their grades should be docked, not your bank account.
I never understood this type of example. Just wondering: If you run out of paper and you buy more to supply the class, what reason does the school district have to buy more? If the kids show up without paper and pencils, then their grades should be docked, not your bank account.
Well, there's the way things should be, and there's the real world.....I've taught classes where the entire class would have their grades docked because few remember to bring anything.....and then we'd get raked over the coals for failing all of those students.
And I'm sure every teacher can tell a similar story.
Maybe if you went into the classroom you could make things different.
Although I am not a teacher, I have many,many friends who are teachers or admins in school disticts and I too,find the "summers off" pretty amusing.
Of course, 20+ years ago ,prior to graduating from college,I also thought that teachers must have it made,getting the Summers and holidays off,but I know better these days.
My friends spend hours at night doing their lesson planning,evaluations,etc... I know that where they live (most in MD and PA) they are required to continually take courses to recertify,etc...
There is very little downtime for them at all.
Most of them also don't take the entire Summer off ,they either tutor,work summer school and I have some that help the district writing curriculums.
They all have double masters,one with a phd and they don't make what they are worth.
They LOVE their jobs though and although they miss out on a lot of their own children's activities at school (because they have to be at "back to school " night or parent/teacher conf,etc...) they are making a huge difference in another child's life and they rarely complain.!
So, I applaud all that you do!
Just a quick side note though... you mentioned you were an engineer and got paid for the "ot" that you did,weekends,evenings?
My husband has been an Engineer for 20 some years now,never gets any OT,at all must be where he has been working!
My experience is that, in engineering, usually, either your base pay is higher and you're not paid for OT or you get a lower base pay and are paid for OT. Your husband, likely, has a higher base pay than I did. I have many friends who have never been paid OT but their base pay was $15K higher than mine to compensate.
Some companies prefer to pay for what they get and some perfer to pay more so they feel they can demand more. I prefer a company that has lower base pay and pays OT because they discourage the OT. Which means I get a life after work.
My husband is in IT. He is paid a premium because they know there will be times when they need him 16 hours a day for a week. He doesn't get OT but he also can't turn down OT. He's already been compensated for it. Where I used to work, I could turn down OT (most of the time, on occaision it was mandatory) but didn't get paid for it if I didn't work it. It depends on what companies prefer and how often they ask for OT. If they have employees work it all the time, it makes sense to bake pay for OT into their base salaries and not have to worry about OT pay blowing a department budget.
Well, there's the way things should be, and there's the real world.....I've taught classes where the entire class would have their grades docked because few remember to bring anything.....and then we'd get raked over the coals for failing all of those students.
And I'm sure every teacher can tell a similar story.
Maybe if you went into the classroom you could make things different.
I can't skip assignments because I'm out of printer paper. I can't not have kids take a test because they didn't bring a #2 pencil. I can't dock grades because kids don't remember things because parents would have my hide. The vast majority of my kids would suffer if I did any of these and I'd be, rightfully so, fired.
I wish we could do what they do in elementary school. They give all the kids a supply list that includes things like printer paper, kleenex, hand santizer, pencils, paper, etc, etc, etc... then pool everything. While some kids can't contribute, there's enough to go around. Being in high school, either the kids bring it, I have it or we do without. I had, exactly, one student donate a pack of printer paper to my room this year. High school kids won't bring anything unless you give them extra credit for doing so. While I hate the practice, I understand why teachers do it. I think credit or extra credit should be subject related. Bringing kleenex because you like to blow your nose doesn't seem extra credit worthy to me but it's the only way to get kids, and their parents to pitch in. What I spend in just kleenex and hand sanitizer in a year is rediculous, then add printer paper, pencils, loose leaf (and my kids complain because it's not college ruled, UGH). It would be one thing if they compensated my pay for what I have to spend on the classroom but they don't.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 06-17-2009 at 05:20 AM..
Well, there's the way things should be, and there's the real world.....I've taught classes where the entire class would have their grades docked because few remember to bring anything.....and then we'd get raked over the coals for failing all of those students.
And I'm sure every teacher can tell a similar story.
Maybe if you went into the classroom you could make things different.
I have been teaching elementary school for 16 years.
I never understood this type of example. Just wondering: If you run out of paper and you buy more to supply the class, what reason does the school district have to buy more? If the kids show up without paper and pencils, then their grades should be docked, not your bank account.
And what do you do when a student's parent doesn't care or cannot afford to pay for these supplies? Sure, a pack of notebook paper is cheap, but when you have people scraping change together for food, they're not going to be worrying about notebook paper.
If you buy into the sob stories, you'll spend every nickel of your woefully inadequate salary buying supplies for students. I cut it out when I stopped at the convenience store near campus after school, and the same students who couldn't afford a pencil or paper were buying a three-piece-and-a-biscuit and a pop. Keep expectations high in this area as well. Students will find a way.
And what do you do when a student's parent doesn't care or cannot afford to pay for these supplies? Sure, a pack of notebook paper is cheap, but when you have people scraping change together for food, they're not going to be worrying about notebook paper.
Some loose leaf paper is one thing. Buying reams of paper for a class or paper towels is another. The school should provide these things.
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must be where he has been working! 
I can't skip assignments because I'm out of printer paper. I can't not have kids take a test because they didn't bring a #2 pencil. I can't dock grades because kids don't remember things because parents would have my hide. The vast majority of my kids would suffer if I did any of these and I'd be, rightfully so, fired. 
