Collective Bargaining is Important

Tweet I have been watching the protests and demonstrations in Wisconsin and definitely support what they're doing. While I'd like to think our employers would do the right things concerning salaries, benefits, working conditions, contracts, etc., the fact is that they don't. That is why unions and collective bargaining are so important.

Let me illustrate with a personal example. When I was first hired as a teacher, I took the place of a teacher who was going on maternity leave. I started in November and finished out the year. I was given a "non-continuing" contract. This meant that I had to resign at the end of the year so that the other teacher could have her job back.

As it turned out, she resigned. I also had to resign so that any teacher with more seniority in the district could bid on the job. Someone did, so I then applied for her job and got it.

At the end of my second year, the district eliminated my position and I was again without a job. Fortunately, a 9th grade position became available and I applied. Another teacher, who had completed his first year with the district, also applied and he had a coaching certificate. He was given the job.

When I asked why he was given the job when I had one more year of experience with the district, they argued that we had the same amount of seniority. Because my first year was with a "non-continuing" contract, they did not count that as a year toward my seniority. I didn't think that was right. Neither did the union leaders.

Needless to say, a grievance was filed and it went to arbitration. The arbitrator, after reading clear contract language that stated seniority was determined by consecutive years of teaching, ruled in my favor. I was given the job.

The district leaders were not particularly happy, but were always kind to me. They were nice men who just really wanted to hire the man with the coaching experience. In order to get what they wanted, they were willing to interpret the master contract in their own way. That is why there are unions ... to protect the workers. I can't imagine what they would have done had they not been nice men. I'm sure my life for the next 32 years could have been very unpleasant.

To do away with collective bargaining leaves workers, salaries, benefits, and working conditions at the whims of their employers. As I said, I'd like to think they would always do the right thing, but they don't. Even the nice ones make mistakes. Imagine what the not-nice ones might do.

And just for your information, the man with the coaching experience also got a job when another teacher moved. The coach and I continued to work together for another 30 years. He understood why the situation ended as it did. He was a union member also.

Great Teachers Who Aren't Teachers #3

Tweet Over the years I have learned a tremendous amount of information from people who aren't teachers. The third one I want to write about is a former boss.

When I graduated from college there were no teaching jobs immediately available. I worked as a cashier at a discount store for about a month, but I was not cut out for that line of work. After a trip to Job Service, I was given an interview at a publishing company. This company had several components, but my interview was in the radio department. After taking a test and surviving a lengthy questioning, I landed the job.

Now this job was about as far from my college major as could be. I had a degree in high school mathematics education. For this job I was writing blank radio advertisement. The department put out 3 publications every month. The first was for Continuity Directors and consisted of about 50 or more pages of radio ads organized by topic from Automobiles to Mortuary to Women's Wear. The second publication was Program Directors. It contained "Thot Starters" (one liners that could be used to write an ad) and tons of trivia. The third was for Station Managers. It provided summaries of promotions and contests with which other radio stations had had success.

The first day of the new job, my boss showed me to my desk, gave me the list of pages I was to write for the month, and a brief explanation of the kind of writing I was to do. Using samples from previous publications, and after asking someone how to turn on an electric typewriter, I started on my first page. I was able to write about six 30-second spots plus a few "thot starters." I turned it in and started on my next page. It wasn't long before my boss called me to her desk, offered me a chair, and together we went over every ad spot I had written. We talked about creativity, getting the customer's attention, word choice, punctuation, and numerous other techniques for excellent radio ad writing.

I took the page back to my desk and rewrote it. Once again she called me to her desk. Once again I rewrote the page. I did this three times before she approved it. I think I had the ads memorized by this time, but I must admit, the ads were pretty good...much better than those I had written on my own.

My boss did this with every page I wrote for several days. She was well-informed and intelligent, but most of all she was patient. She was an excellent teacher. The greatest accomplishment of that training period was when I wrote the first page that she approved without a rewrite. From then on, the job was a joy. I eventually worked up to writing about 15 pages per month for the Continuity Directors publication, three or four pages for Program Directors, and was put in charge of the Station Managers booklet.

The Station Managers publication furthered my education even more. I scoured newspapers for radio promotions and contests, requested information from the radio stations, put it all together, and even did the layouts for printing.

Not only did I learn about writing and advertising, but I also learned a tremendous amount of information about the topics that we researched to put in the advertisements. All in all, the two years I worked there were amazingly rewarding. I think I learned more in those two years than in all my years in college. I actually looked forward to Monday's and that's not something too many people can say.

But the most important part of all this was my boss. She was one of the best teachers I ever had.

Why Dad was Upset

Tweet

The article was about a father who was upset that his son's teacher had taken a photo of the son sleeping in class and emailed it to the father along with statement that the son had done nothing in class. The father felt the teacher should have just awakened the child and set him about his lessons. Most of the reactions to the article sided with the teacher.

So what does a teacher do with a sleeping student? When I started teaching, I used to just let them sleep. But as my teaching career continued, that was no longer an option. Every student in class is expected to be on-task 100% of the time. Every second in the classroom is supposed to be devoted to the learning experience. Why? Because 100% of the students have to be proficient by the year 2014. Students are not allowed the luxury to sleep in class, nor should they be.

However, when a teacher tells the parent that their son or daughter has been sleeping in class, it helps to have proof. Anymore, almost everything in the classroom needs to be documented. As it turns out, a photo is worth a thousand words. The photo provides proof to the parent and provides documentation to administration.

I don't think the teacher did anything wrong in this case. The teacher simply sent the photo straight to the father so that he would better understand why his son might be having trouble in class. I hope that after she sent the photo, she woke the student up and got him back on task. It is not a good idea in this day and age to let a student sleep in class. Administrators, other teachers, students, and visitors do often visit classrooms. The last thing a teacher wants to do is give the impression that he or she lets students sleep.

Dad mad over teacher's snap of student's nap - CharlotteObserver.com