Listen Up, This woman speaks the truthMUD has kindly agreed to let me sit in his chair and speak on an issue close to my heart today. I was a teacher for over 30 years and feel a strong connection to those who still ride herd over the kidlets out there in the classrooms across the USA. Teachers face some tremendous challenges these days and most work their tails off doing the best they can for their students. Just talked to a teacher who has a suicidal student. That is seriously hard. The faint of heart do not go into teaching or they most certainly don’t stay past the first year when they realize how tough it is.
Sometime MUD will tell you about the day he subbed in a high school physics in the am and kindergarten in the pm. Give him physics any day.Recently four teachers in our district were told their contracts would not be renewed because they weren’t doing a satisfactory job. They hadn’t received any unsats on their evaluations. Their students were meeting those dreaded state standards. I personally worked several years with one of these individuals. She is an outstanding teacher.So why would the district do such a stupid thing you ask??? The answer, of course, is MONEY. They can fire a second or even third year teacher and hire a cheaper first year teacher or even better just squash all the kidlets into the rest of the classrooms so everyone has 30 students instead of 23. Now I understand money shortages, but that is no reason to lie and tell teachers they aren’t doing the job when in fact they actually are. There is a policy that covers the need to eliminate jobs due to money but the administration chose not to follow it. Sadly for the district and the students, these teachers decided not to fight this battle so they will be teaching somewhere else next year.So the message I leave you with is---Go tell a teacher some where that you appreciate the tremendous job they are doing. You could even buy them a daisy or two to make them feel special. Have a good one.
MG
Note - I have fought in a war, dug ditches and commanded units but nothing was as tough as the job of teaching our kids. (Especially Kindergarten) MUD
You guys are great. Keep up the great posts. Being married to a teacher (ESL) and living in Texas, we are right in the cross hairs, it seems. We have been overseas for 3 yrs, and now back in the job hunt. It appears that the ISDs may want to hire my wife, only because in Year 1 they can let her go at any time. How's that for flexibility in the budget? Thanks for your 30 years, Mrs. Teacher. You guys are on the front lines, and you are appreciated!
ReplyDeleteExpatFromHell
Teachers, cops and firemen have always in my opinion been overworked, under paid and under appreciated. People put so much emphasis on "education" but when it comes down to it no one ever does anything about it. It takes a special type of person to say "hey, I want to teach under disciplined kids packed in like sardines for next to nothing, and have to buy my own supplies." Teachers have a true passion and I vote to give them a raise instead of Congress! Oh, wait..you can't vote on that. Congress can just say when they get a raise. Ok, ok off my soap box. Thank you to all teachers! You are wonderful!
ReplyDelete