Opinions of Teachers

[velvetpage]

I just looked something up on a news website, and got sidetracked by an article claiming elementary teachers are set to strike over prep time. In actual fact, what the article said was that teacher locals across Ontario are bargaining for 200 minutes per week of prep time, and that this is the most important issue to teachers. After reading the article, which had only one glaring mistake (200 minutes of prep time still won't make our contracts comparable to secondary teachers, who get 300 minutes) I made the mistake of looking at the "sound off" comments.

Several started with, "Fire all the teachers". Several more complained about teachers' vacation time, and that the Pension Plan is rich on taxpayers' money (which is flat out untrue; I pay 9% of my salary into that fund, so there's a good reason it's rich. We don't let the government touch it at all, which is the other reason it's rich.) One idiot seemed to think we were asking for 200 minutes a day. I'm thinking we failed to reach that one when he was in school.

I habitually spend between nine and ten hours a day at school. Of that, approximately twenty minutes is spent in supervision time, another forty minutes is scheduled lunch or other breaks, and the rest is teaching time, prep time, and unpaid prep time (that is, time no one recognizes as part of our official work day.) Until this year, I never ever was caught up on marking. The reason I managed it this year was that I had 200 minutes per week; some of it was supposed to be library time, and some was my regular prep, but it all got rolled into whichever half of my job needed me the most. The year I taught grade 4, I made a September School Year Resolution not to bring work home on weeknights. As a result, I put in three or four hours minimum every weekend, in addition to my ten-hour days.

Could someone please explain to me why high school teachers get respect, while elementary teachers don't? They teach one or two subjects at no more than four or so grade levels; they get an hour and a quarter of prep time every day, and put in little to no supervision time. This adds up to a whopping 200 minutes more prep time than we have, every single week. Usually, their pay scale is better than ours, too. I teach English, Math, Social Studies, Music, French, Art, and social skills/study skills, plus trading off science for a different grade of Social Studies and Music. I teach officially at two grade levels, but with integrated special ed, it's usually more like five - all at the same time. I'm expected to understand and accommodate every learning style, special need, cultural peculiarity and personality type with my comprehensive planning for each and every lesson of the day. Yet my job is easy, since I get the summer off. No other reason.

Teachers should try working in the real world for a while, people say. I say, bring it on. Extend the school year so it's all year round, and watch kids fainting from heat exhaustion because the province is too cheap to put in air conditioning. I think it would benefit kids to go all year round, with maybe six weeks off total during the year, but it's not practical in our climate. Try lightening the teaching load so it's not feast or famine - too much for anyone to do in a reasonable work day, or boredom for ten weeks. Try allowing teachers to set the curriculum, instead of a government who think they can legislate raised standards. Then we'll talk.

Okay, I feel better now. But, logically, is it so nuts that teachers want to be treated like professionals and have the paid time to do professional things? Community at large - weigh in, please.

Comments

[akomachi.livejournal.com]

Its not like they are asking for a fricking miracle. Give them what they want. They teach your kids, why deny them preparation time? Oi.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I have a friend who once put up with a long rant about teachers having it easy from a family member before asking that person if she were willing to give up her comfortable job to homeschool her kids. When the woman said no, or rather gave a blank look, my friend's answer was - "Then you need us. It's a bad idea to anger and alienate people you need." Amen to that!

[lousy-timing.livejournal.com]

Now, I realize that I run the risk of earning someone's wrath here, but I always thought it would be easier to teach high school that the younger set. I suspect this is because the noise level in the elementary classes is enough to put me on edge.

It makes no sense at all to me why you wouldn't have the same prep time. Perhaps you don't have exactly the same things to do, but there are certainly a lot of other things you have to do for younger children that you do not have to do in order to help older kids to understand concepts because they already have the basics under their belts and can draw upon them.

Also, I am all for doing away with long summer holidays and going to two breaks for kids that are of a decent length, but not so long that they get bored and drive their parents crazy, and not so long that teachers go without salaries. It should feel like a vacation, not a period of unpaid unemployment.

Whether you're in America or Canada, the complaint I've been hearing from teachers is the same- too many hours for too little pay. The fact that this is what we do to the people our children spend the most hours of their day with is horrifying, never-mind the fact that it's insulting to your profession. People tend to have all sorts of opinions of how other people should be doing their jobs or spending their money, but the fact is, they probably couldn't do half as well with the same circumstances if they were plopped into them.

Frankly, "plopping" them into them is probably the best way to get things changed, but oh, the mess it would make!

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

You're right on all points except one. You will not hear me complaining that I'm poorly paid. The upper end of my salary scale is around $70 000, which is comparable to others of similar education working for private companies and certain government jobs. It's not comparable, really, to many who are in similar lines who are considered self-employed, but I wouldn't want to be self-employed, so I'm okay with that. Of course, in the States, teachers don't get nearly that much, so there, the complaint is valid.

In France, kids go to school for six weeks, then get two weeks off. One of those weeks off is designated as a working week for teachers; it's like a whole week of P.D. days. There are four of these two-week holidays throughout the year. THey get six weeks or so in the summer, too. It makes a lot of sense. By November, kids are starting to get stressed from too much school and not enough break. By the end of February, everyone's nerves are frazzled. But by this point in the summer, I'm begging for things to keep me busy.

I would support a change which saw four to six weeks of summer (otherwise the tourist industry would shut down) and several, one-week breaks during the school year, for a total of ten weeks. If teachers had any three or four of those weeks, their choice, as paid prep time, and report cards were always due immediately after a one-week break, the schedule would be reasonable. Unfortunately, this would require air conditioning in most schools, not to mention some concessions from teachers' unions to allow that big a change in working days. Still, I can dream.

[lousy-timing.livejournal.com]

Your pay sounds much better than that of most of the teachers I know here in the states, minus those who work for private schools and the few who are fortunate enough to work within very wealthy school districts with large hiring budgets.

Would you say that for you, then, the only real salary complaint is how it is disbursed over the summer?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. One benefit of a strong union is good wages. I think the grid needs some updating, and there needs to be a "master teacher" category added to it, but basically, as long as my salary keeps pace with inflation I'll be happy.

Around here, working for a private school usually means a pay cut. Many private schools do not hire certified teachers, because they can't afford us. Only the schools which cater to the rich kids can afford to pay their teachers the way the boards do. The schools designed for, for example, religious education, do not have the funds. I even know of people who got their B.A.'s then worked several years for a Christian school to get the experience necessary to get into teachers' college. After they had the B.Ed, they moved to the public board.

Good morning!

[lousy-timing.livejournal.com]

How did the rest of the night go with Elizabeth?

Re: Good morning!

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

She woke up at 6:00 and didn't go back to sleep, but other than that she was fine. She's very sleepy today though. She'll probably nap early and long, which will be really nice.

Since we have the car during the day for the first time all summer, we're going shopping this morning. Yay! New work-worthy shirts to go with my reclaimed pants! If she falls asleep in the car on the way home, so much the better.

Re: Good morning!

[lousy-timing.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely! Will 6:00 am be a good time for her to awaken once school starts, or will you want her to get up a bit later?

When Josie was Elizabeth's age, we didn't have a car at all, and then had just one for a few years. It was such a treat to have it for the day! Now, I know I am spoiled, but the distances between work, doctors, and home and lack of family, public transport, etc, make it a necessity to have two of them. It's expensive, though, and I rather miss the stories I got from riding the bus!

Re: Good morning!

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Once school starts, the schedule changes. I'm sure Piet would prefer that she sleep later, because he'll be responsible for her until he takes her to Oma's or daycare around 9ish. I have to be on the bus for work by about 6:45. It's only a ten minute bus ride, though, and the official school day ends at 2:45, so there's a payoff. I get there at seven, leave there before four, either work out, pick her up from daycare or take over from Oma depending on where she is, take her home, and then she's mine until Piet gets home at 7:15. Then she's his until bedtime, hopefully before nine o'clock. That's my "homework" time, if I have any marking to catch up on. It's not a great schedule marriage-wise, but it works for jobs and Elizabeth. And there's always weekends for the marriage side of things.

One thing about year-round schools...

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Down here in California, they started experimenting with the year-round school idea back in the late '70s. Southern California has a summer climate that's at least as extreme as Ontario, but I don't think that was a major issue, given the prevalence of a/c around here.

As I've heard it, the problem they DID encounter was maintenance. Buildings were basically falling apart after a few years, because they didn't have large chunks of convenient down-time to maintain them without interrupting classes.

Re: One thing about year-round schools...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I never thought of that. Ontario schools are in horrible shape, already, because budget cuts have affected out-of-classroom spending, such as maintenance, quite a lot. I think, though, it would depend on how other breaks were scheduled throughout the year.

Alberta, and one or two schools in Ontario, have been experimenting with a semester system which has people choosing when to take their longer vacation, which is never as long as the current one. I'd like to see more such pilot projects, if only to silence the people who like to complain about my huge vacation time.

[anidada.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's because I'm not a teacher, but it's always been my impression that all teachers, no matter the grade level, get treated like crap by the general public... I think it would be great if more teachers sounded off (as you have above) in response to those idiotic comments, so as to combat this sort of thing. Not that it would work, probably, but still. *sigh*

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

You're right that all teachers come in for some of it, but elementary teachers come in for more. The funding formula put down by the last government allots an extra 20% more per student after grade 9. That's inexcusable, especially since the amount of special ed help and general support decreases significantly at grade 9.

The reason for the teacher-bashing, I think, is about two factors. 1) Everyone, at some point in time, had a bad school experience, and these are far more memorable for most people than the good ones. It's not hard to believe there are lots of bad teachers out there, when the only experiences you can recall were all bad. 2) People are jealous of the long "vacation" time (in quotes, because everyone else gets at least a little bit of paid vacation, and I get none. My summer is unpaid days off.) The combination of these two factors, with governments which see school budgets as drains on their bottom line and teachers' unions which are constantly pushing to improve conditions without explaining the need for improvement, leads to collective dislike.

[jadecat.livejournal.com]

Well, not everyone gets paid time off. ;) I'm a temp and have been for the past yera- my version of 'vacation' time is that when I hit a certain number of hours I get a week's pay, this is to act as 'vacation pay.'

In any case, you sound an awful lot like my sister a few years ago when she was teaching public school. She loved the kids, loved teaching- hated the parents and in one case her principal (who always took the parents' side vs. the teacher). She's now in grad school studying parasites...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

True. Let me rephrase, then - salaried, full-time employees get paid time off. I'm a salaried, full-time employee, and I get none.

Some of the parents are fine. Most just want the best for their kids, and don't realize that getting mad at the teacher doesn't achieve that end. Some, of course, are real idiots. I should tell you my hair story sometime. (Everyone who has known me a while will now chime in on chorus: No! Not the Hair Story! Anything but That!)