I am a 3rd year high school teacher in Ohio. Even though I have grown up in Ohio my whole life, I WANT OUT! I want to go to a nicer area with natural beauty. As I look around, however, it seems to me that all areas are experiencing the same problems that public schools are experiencing in Ohio. Can anyone tell me otherwise, so that I have SOME faith left in public schools? Some problems that I have been experiencing are:
-No more time to actually help students - I am doused in so much paperwork, have so many meetings about test analysis and curriculum, have to take part in a book club about how to teach (even though I spend thousands of dollars on this little thing called a MASTERS degree in education)
-There are 7 class periods in a day, and the one that I have set aside for "planning" and/or helping out students, I have to attend pointless meetings that have nothing to do with the students
-Class sizes are up to 30 kids. That means I have a total of 180 papers to grade. As a high school English teacher, that's 180 5-page essays to grade at a time.
-School claims to have no money (so no more field trips), however they found the cash to purchase pointless "professional development" books for every member of the staff. This professional development (called RTI) does not even work with a high school curriculum
Those are just a few complaints that I have about where I work now, and I have been looking for a better school district SOMEWHERE in the US. The cities that I have been looking into are: Seattle, Austin, San Diego, Portland, Santa Cruz, and Denver. I basically want a clean city with natural beauty, a good music scene, nice people, and a good public education system.
Any suggestions? Or should I just find another career path?
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