What teachers really want to tell parents.

[BetteDavisEyes]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

There is very little personal accountability going on. In my mind, if you don't do the assignments you get zeros and your grade will go down. Natural consequence. Next time, you'll do your assignments. That is not seen as a valid argument for teachers. It will automatically (and has, even in my short career) become my fault that Little Suzie has 8 zeros. I have resorted to providing time for Little Suzie (and everyone else) to complete her assignments even if they were in school that day, but opted not to complete them the first time. And, I do this all for CYA, so that if mom is mad at me that Little Suzie failed, I can say: "I devoted x day and b day to make-up work entirely and she chose again not to complete it." (And, this is all backed up by the assignment schedule that is updated on my website daily.)

Something I've encountered this school year is parents furious because their little precious snowflake lost recess and/or classroom privileges due to not doing any work in the classroom. My kids know that failure to complete assignements in a timely manner results in them losing their Fun Friday activities. Some parents were demanding that I let their kids have their Fun Friday and they will do the work at home. Ummm...no. I told them in no uncertain terms that since it was CLASSWORK, it had to be completed in the classroom and I was NOT going to change my expectations for anyone.

Needless to say, I have some parents who dislike me intensely but frankly, I don't give a shit.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by BetteDavisEyes

Something I've encountered this school year is parents furious because their little precious snowflake lost recess and/or classroom privileges due to not doing any work in the classroom. My kids know that failure to complete assignements in a timely manner results in them losing their Fun Friday activities. Some parents were demanding that I let their kids have their Fun Friday and they will do the work at home. Ummm...no. I told them in no uncertain terms that since it was CLASSWORK, it had to be completed in the classroom and I was NOT going to change my expectations for anyone.

Needless to say, I have some parents who dislike me intensely but frankly, I don't give a shit.

I sincerely hope you are working for someone who appreciates what you are doing. I think your taking the harder but better path with your students is admirable, and I hope your principal does too.

ETA: teaching well is a pretty hard job, and frequently it seems to me that we'd be better off making sure that compensation and work conditions for good teachers are at least comparable to those in the fields that these good teachers could pursue if they left teaching.

But the tricky part is that you may not really have to teach well to stay employed as a teacher. I think most teacher can think of several colleagues who consistently do a weak job and yet don't really face any professional consequences. There is also another set of teachers who work really hard, but there's nothing that we presently measure that will quantify that they've make any difference at all.

So then you wonder, if some teachers can hold this job doing that little, that poorly, or with that little apparent effect, why should the taxpayers pony up more in compensation across the board as if everyone in the field is teaching like a rock star? It's not that retaining the top set of rock stars has no value; it's just that it's hard to figure out exactly what that value is.

And on some level the bottom line is that the present pay system is what the market supports. I can't imagine anything other than a gigantic teacher shortage having much effect to drive salaries or working conditions up, and with the rest of the economy in such a bad way, I don't see it happening.

Which is not to say that I wouldn't enjoy a big, fat raise.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

But the tricky part is that you may not really have to teach well to stay employed as a teacher. I think most teacher can think of several colleagues who consistently do a weak job and yet don't really face any professional consequences. There is also another set of teachers who work really hard, but there's nothing that we presently measure that will quantify that they've make any difference at all.

So then you wonder, if some teachers can hold this job doing that little, that poorly, or with that little apparent effect, why should the taxpayers pony up more in compensation across the board as if everyone in the field is teaching like a rock star? It's not that retaining the top set of rock stars has no value; it's just that it's hard to figure out exactly what that value is.

I know I'm double-posting, but I just read your post, and I completely agree. This is what makes things difficult. As I mentioned, tenure can be a huge controversy. My mom has mentioned on multiple occasions that there are definitely teachers out there who will work their asses off for 3 years - including coaching a team, staying to help students after school, volunteering at after-school events - and then once they receive tenure, they put in the minimum, and that's it.

It's unfortunate, because it's people like that who give other teachers a bad name, and who really end up cheating the students. I'm not saying everyone has to put in a ton of time outside of the 8 hours they're in the classroom, but when you only work hard to get something for yourself in this profession, I think it says something about how much you really care for the students you're teaching.

It truly takes a special person to be a good teacher. I applaud the ones who make a positive impact every day, and especially the ones who made a big impact on my life. Fortunately for me, I can say that's most, if not all of the ones I've had the privilege of learning from.

...And I'm sorry if I was ever a pain in the ass