The Teacher Thread - Page 26

New York Ranger, Texas......and I have been all over the state.....Ft Worth, McAllen, Houston, rural East Texas.....right now outside of Houston.

Yep, they do......and it keeps getting worse......I keep asking "What the Hell do they want?" And you know, there is no really clear answer.

Most of them have no idea what they want. They're products of the very same system they hate so much so the ability to imagine something more or different isn't easy.

Thank you to everybody who pmed me. It means more than you will ever know.
I will respond to each of you individually tonight.


I don't agree with them, but I guess it is a feeling we are making too much money and not producing results. However, we are producing better and better results each year. Despite deep cuts in education. I read recently that if the US removed the scores from the bottom 14 states we would rank within the top 3 in Math and Reading. We would also be in the top 5 in Science.

If I was to get an actual teaching job(At least a 2-3 year wait for me) instead of subbing, I would make about 40K a year. If I didn't have wealthy in-laws, I would never be able to afford a house, a new car,...

I spent 5 years in college (4 years BA and 1 year for a credential), if I was to spend less than 18 months getting certified as a charge nurse, I would have a job within a week and have a starting wage of at least 65K.

Students just hate us because we are in charge for at least an hour each day.

Edit- I sound a bit in this post, but IRL I am not so upset. It is my fault for choosing this career. I am still very young and have the ability to do something else.

I think this is one of the things that will need to evolve. What if students owned their educations?

The biggest problem I have is the 2 or 3 students who ruin it for everybody. The incident I had with the spitting student lasted a good 10 minutes. The class never really returned to the topic at hand(Popcorn reading).

I have read dozens of books and attended maybe 30 teachers conferences and I have yet to find a way to keep high school students engaged or even awake during math and science. They just can't handle it. When I make them at least try math problems they look at me with the most hateful eyes.

Good for the self-motivated, but I'd have written all my reports on Cheetohs eating or something.

And it gets worse, had a kid try and take their life next door to my class.....just how I wanted to end the effin' week....

thanking this thread for distracting me the night before SATs

So? Problem Based Learning and the (terribly named) Assessment For Learning offer a lot more than people are able to give it credit for. I'm not sure I buy the ''kids naturally hate math and will stop at nothing to avoid it unless we drill and kill". We're trying to re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, here. I'm still not sold on the idea that separate "subjects" need to exist that way either, to be honest. Still working out my overall philosophy, and I'm not sure I'll ever finish, but I'm convinced the status quo is broken. One size fits all = disaster waiting to happen. I can speak to the 2-4 students 'ruining' it for everyone. I'd argue that a lot of those kids don't have school as a priority- another issue I have with having the kids ranked according to age rather than cognitive ability level. What happens with them? Sweep them under the rug because they're undesirables? I've heard that you can only teach the teachable.... but it's usually by people who seek to maintain concrete power relationships wether they're conscious of it or not. Interesting thoughts and discussion. I'll toss this out to the panel: What do you do when the kid is belligerent or obstinate towards you. When they literally tell you 'no' but don't offer so much as to give you reason to kick them out/principals office/etc? Personally, the first thing I do is question the validity of the assignment I gave. After all, if a kid is more interested in texting and playing a game on their phone, I'm clearly not engaging them well enough.

If my students are doing independent reading, I encourage them to read literature, but I also keep a fair amount of Game Informers and graphic novels. Usually reading is at the end of class, and I can use this as an incentive: "Get your work done, and you can read about (insert popular game title). I've also had students write video game reviews and walkthroughs for video games. I had one student write a very good essay comparing and contrasting futuristic first-person shooters and realistic first-person shooters.

For required reading, I have to get a little more creative since some of my students just won't try or can't. Listening to an audio recording or setting up reading circles help. My division also uses a program called TeenBiz3000, which is extremely helpful since the reading is based on the student's reading level. If a student is being a problem, I can put him on the computer and work on a TeenBiz article.

If all else fails, I'll take the student to a teacher who has planning. Teachers in my building are very good about this, and we help each other out.

The real problem is the removal of corporal punishment in schools.

I went to a private religious school that actually believed and practiced that.

And I'll bet you never even came close to spitting on the blackboard or cursing out the teacher, did you?