legal to have "blackout dates" in school calendar for teachers? (Houston: middle school, renewal)

[David Dollar]

Originally Posted by Texascrude

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Secondary ed may be an exception (I can only speak to elementary ed from personal / family experience), but the 'degree' required for elementary ed is a complete joke. My wife finished her "4-year degree" in 2 1/2 years -- INCLUDING the semester of student teaching. If you've ever seen the curriculum for some of the required classes, you would stop wondering why there's such a big push for science and math education for our teachers in this country. Half of what they learn is a bunch of diversity crap on how to avoid offending anyone

Under that assumption, anyone could finish any degree in that amount of time. Most degrees require the same number of credits.

[dosto]

Originally Posted by Texascrude

My wife finished her "4-year degree" in 2 1/2 years -- INCLUDING the semester of student teaching.

What university did she go to? I know some online degree do allow that, but, in general, a good program is 4-5 years long. Getting a degree from a good Uni makes it easier to find a job. I really wonder how she managed to complete the number of hours required by the state in 2.5 years from ground zero. Or did she have her core done when she started the program?
Teaching programs are not easy. I work for one. I can't tell you how many students we get who decide to go into teaching, because they failed trying something else and think it's going to be an easy ride for them. Again, I am talking about good face-to-face programs. If you are interested, I can give you a list of classes our students are required to take. A lot of them fail. Then, after getting the degree, one has to take state licensing examinations. Many do not pass from the first try.

[Texascrude]

Originally Posted by dosto

What university did she go to? I know some online degree do allow that, but, in general, a good program is 4-5 years long. Getting a degree from a good Uni makes it easier to find a job. I really wonder how she managed to complete the number of hours required by the state in 2.5 years from ground zero. Or did she have her core done when she started the program?
Teaching programs are not easy. I work for one. I can't tell you how many students we get who decide to go into teaching, because they failed trying something else and think it's going to be an easy ride for them. Again, I am talking about good face-to-face programs. If you are interested, I can give you a list of classes our students are required to take. A lot of them fail. Then, after getting the degree, one has to take state licensing examinations. Many do not pass from the first try.

Arizona State University. Diversity classes seemed to make up the bulk of it -- classes you could only fail by calling the teacher a racial slur. How to teach special ed students -- once again, classes you could only fail if you were a character straight out of South Park.

Did she have to take science classes? Not beyond her 1 or 2 classes to fulfill the gen-ed requirements. Math classes? Once again, nothing beyond what a typical high schooler would learn. I know programs vary by state, and maybe Texas has a more rigorous curriculum, but in general the only people who didn't breeze through it and pass the licensing tests were people who had no business going to college in the first place.

[msims042]

I think this thread got off topic, but I love being a teacher and the "flexible" hours, I was just wondering if it was allowed to have dates where we cannot take off. There's an important trip in the next couple of months and the Friday I would have to take off is on a "blackout date"=not allowed. Therefore I cannot go on the trip. Teachers can love their jobs, but still need a day here and there to get to be able to do things that are important to them.

[Thila]

Agreed. I attempted to answer your question on the third page. I forgot to mention though that private schools may have different rules than public schools in Texas. Believe me, most teachers I know use their sick days for "mental health" days or to catch up on grading papers.

[houstonlibrarian]

That is part of it with any profession you get into. We have days as librarians that we are not allowed to schedule as vacation days.

As to the debate about whether teachers are getting paid for the summer or not, it is a moot point. It is two months off in the summer. I think a lot of people would be ok with getting two months off even without getting paid. If all of my salary was squeezed into 10 months instead, I know I would be ok with two months off where I don't get paid. The getting paid or not getting paid is only 5% of the issue, it's the having two months off that is the beauty of it. Most cannot do that, even with expending vacation days(if you somehow had that many). Just not allowable.

[dosto]

Originally Posted by Texascrude

Arizona State University. Diversity classes seemed to make up the bulk of it -- classes you could only fail by calling the teacher a racial slur. How to teach special ed students -- once again, classes you could only fail if you were a character straight out of South Park.

Did she have to take science classes? Not beyond her 1 or 2 classes to fulfill the gen-ed requirements. Math classes? Once again, nothing beyond what a typical high schooler would learn. I know programs vary by state, and maybe Texas has a more rigorous curriculum, but in general the only people who didn't breeze through it and pass the licensing tests were people who had no business going to college in the first place.

Don't know much about Arizona Uni, but here most face-to-face programs are very rigorous. Some students fail, unfortunately. It also depens on faculty. Having great professors makes a huge difference. The program I work for has a lot of sciences and math. Actually, it's a BS, not a BA that students get at the end. Nowadays, most dictricts require a math test while applying for teaching jobs. I know HISD does for sure. I've seen the classes and have sat in some, so I know first hand they are not easy. We have a bunch of students change their majors after the first 2 semesters in the program. They realize it's not so easy as they've thought.

Licensing exams is another problem. They are not easy.When some students do manage to graduate, it doesn't mean they pass their licensing exams. And now that ISDs have been upping their requirements on licensing, it's getting more difficult.

[LostInHouston]

Originally Posted by Texascrude

Did she have to take science classes? Not beyond her 1 or 2 classes to fulfill the gen-ed requirements. Math classes? Once again, nothing beyond what a typical high schooler would learn.

You said she was in an elementary ed program, right? Did you think she should be taking class on differential equations? I wouldn't expect an elementary teacher to be learning material that they won't ever use in the elementary classroom.

Furthermore, aspiring teachers have already learned the material when they were in grade/middle/high school. The point of a teaching degree is to learn how to teach... not to learn the material you will be teaching.

[crone]

dosto,

Are veteran elementary teachers required to upgrade their skills? A young friend of mine had a very hard time in elementary school with reading. So did her mom, who was an almost full time substitute teacher. The family always provided the child with all the after school help that was available plus tutoring. After 6 years in the same elementary school, frustration sent them to a private school. Placement testing revealed that the child was unable to read. I am still trying to get my head around the fact that 6 years in the same school, with the same teachers in the classroom plus as tutors, not one person snapped to the fact that the kid could not read. This happened at one of the 'better' schools in Klein ISD. Her story creates grave doubt in my mind regarding the quality of Texas schools.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by LostInHouston

You said she was in an elementary ed program, right? Did you think she should be taking class on differential equations? I wouldn't expect an elementary teacher to be learning material that they won't ever use in the elementary classroom.

Furthermore, aspiring teachers have already learned the material when they were in grade/middle/high school. The point of a teaching degree is to learn how to teach... not to learn the material you will be teaching.

In order to teach anything, you need some depth in the subject matter you are going to teach. You cannot just know high school math in order to teach math in elementary school because you need to understand the concepts. While I don't think that Calculus or DiffEQ is necessary for elementary school teacher, I do think that they should have a decent precalculus course as well as College Algebra and perhaps Solid Geometry.

You cannot teach high school math without a good understanding of college mathematics beyond the actual high school classes you will be teaching.

The fact is that one of our problems with elementary school teaching involves the teaching of incorrect mathematical concepts and teaching kids to solve problems using rote methods. That is no longer ok with most school systems. It is one reason why children get confused. If the teacher does not understand something, they cannot answer questions and they cannot teach to understanding.