The Reality of Teaching

Tweet On Tuesday, I received the email that appears below from a friend. I'd like to think that he was just being funny (he does have an unusual sense of humor), but I'm pretty sure that he was horrified by what he read here and wanted to make sure I knew.

In the next few days, I'd like to analyze different parts of this email and give my opinions about it, because while the actual information may be factual (I'm not sure - I'll have to fact check it), there's a lot more to it than the "facts." Unfortunately, people read this nonsense and form negative impressions of public employees without truly using their critical thinking skills to analyze what they're reading.

This is the email I received (my analysis starts below the email):

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Subject: Fwd: Soooo, this is what the big fuss is about in Wisconsin...... Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:22:45 -0400 (EDT)

2010 WISCONSIN TEACHER AVERAGE WAGE AND BENEFITS (remember this is for 9 months of work)

TEACHERS:

Milwaukee $86,297
Elmbrook $91,065
Germantown $83,818
Hartland Arrwhd $90,285

Men Falls $81,099
West Bend $82,153
Waukesha $92,902
Sussex $82,956
Mequon $95,297
Kettle Mor $87,676
Muskego $91,341
(highest paid teacher was $122,952 and the lowest was $64,942)

STAFF:

Arrowhead - Bus Mng - Kopecky - $169,525
Arrowhead - Principal - Wieczorek - $152,519
Grmtwn - Asst Princ - Dave Towers - $123,222

Elmbrk Elemetary - Principal - Zahn - $142,315 (primary school)
Madison - Asst Principal - McGrath - $127,835

UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN STAFF (2009 salary alone):

Michael Knetter - Prof of Bus - $327,828

Carolyn Martin - Chancellor Mad - $437,000

Hector Deluca - Prof of Nutritional Science - $254,877

Source: Madison.com

How about some other "public servant job" ? What do they make?

Madison Garbage men (2009 salary only):

Garbageman, Mr. Nelson earned - $159,258 in 2009, including $109,892 in overtime and other pay.
Garbageman, Greg Tatman earned - $125,598
7 Madison garbage men made over - $100,000
30 Madison garbage men made over - $70,000

MILWAUKEE CITY BUS DRIVERS (salary only):

136 Drivers made more than - $70,000
54 Drivers made more than - $80,000
18 Drivers made more than - $90,000
8 Drivers made more than - $100,000

Top Driver made $117,000

Source WTMJ

(In contrast, the average private bus driver makes $9 - $13 an hour (about $20,000 yr) with no pension, or healthcare.)

AND THEY EXPECT THE TAXPAYERS TO CONTINUE PAYING 100% OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS’ GENEROUS RETIREMENT ON TOP OF ALL THIS!

IT'S WORSE THAN ABOVE. IN THE BOOK "OUTRAGE", AUTHORED BY DICK MORRIS, PAGES 176 - 196, THE FOLLOWING UNION RULES APPLY IN NEW YORK SCHOOL SYSTEM. I SUSPECT THESE "RULES" ALSO APPLY IN OTHER STATES, INCLUDING WISCONSIN. DON'T BELIEVE ME - CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF!

1. SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS CANNOT ASK HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS TO TEACH MORE THAN 3.75 HRS./ DAY.

2. TEACHERS CANNOT BE ASKED TO SUPERVISE LUNCHROOM OR STUDY HALL, HELP STUDENTS ON/ OFF BUSES, HELP COLLEGE APPLICANTS PREPARE

TRANSCRIPTS, SCORE CITY-WIDE TESTS OR WRITE TRUANT SLIPS.

3. A TEACHER CANNOT BE PAID MORE OR LESS THAN ANY OTHER TEACHER AT THE SAME SENIORITY LEVEL (I.E PERFORMANCE GETS NO CONSIDERATION)

4. THE RIGHT TO HIRE OR NOT HIRE A TEACHER IS DETERMINED BY "TRANSFER RIGHTS" - NOT PERFORMANCE.

5. THE RIGHT TO HIRE OR FIRE A TEACHER IS LIMITED BY THE "TEACHER'S RETENTION RIGHTS" -- AGAIN, NOT BY PERFORMANCE.

6. PRINCIPALS CANNOT HIRE, FIRE OR PROMOTE TEACHERS, DETERMINE THEIR PAY, WORK HOURS, ASSIGNMENTS, REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS.

7. PRINCIPALS CANNOT ASK TEACHERS TO SUBMIT LESSON PLANS.

8. TEACHERS CANNOT BE ASKED TO MEET BEFORE OR AFTER SCHOOL W/O CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS IN ADVANCE.

9. TEACHERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ATTEND FACULTY MEETINGS MORE THAN 2.5 HRS./MONTH.

YOU HAVE TO ASK - WHAT DO THE TEACHERS DO FOR THIS EXORBITANT PAY? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHY DO 40% OF OUR STUDENTS FAIL TO MAKE

PASSING GRADES AND WHY DO WE HAVE OVER 40% DROP-OUT RATE OF OUR STUDENTS?

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My Analysis:

Let's start with the very first part: 2010 WISCONSIN TEACHER AVERAGE WAGE AND BENEFITS (remember this is for 9 months of work)

Nine months of work? Really? First, instead of saying teachers only work nine months of the year, you could argue that teachers are forcibly unemployed for three months of the year. The salaries teachers receive are based on the number of days worked in a school year, which varies from state to state. In Iowa, teachers' contracts are usually for 188 days. In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee school calendar shows 186 teacher contract days (if I counted correctly).

In the private sector, assuming an employee has earned 4 weeks of vacation per year, s/he would work 240 days. Assuming another 10 days off for federal holidays, that brings the total to 230 days per year. An employee with only 2 weeks of vacation would work 240 days a year.

So that's about 40 to 50 days more than a teacher works, but that doesn't tell the whole story. When I was teaching (and I believe this is true for most teachers), I worked at least two hours extra at home every evening and an average of 5 extra hours on the weekend. (This would be time spent checking papers, figuring grades, filling out reports, making lesson plans, gathering materials, writing parents, etc.) So, assuming a 36-week school year and 15 extra hours at home per week, that multiplies to 540 extra hours per year. Based on an 8-hour work day, that extra 540 hours is the equivalent of 67.5 days. Added to the 188 days of my school contract, I was actually working the equivalent of about 255 days per year.

That still doesn't tell the whole story. Teachers must keep up their teaching certificates. This requires coursework that must be taken during the summer. Teachers must also keep up with new trends in their fields. This also requires continuing education during the summer.

Over the years, I've often heard people say, "But you only work nine months of the year!" And I would respond, "Well, if it's so great, why don't you become a teacher." At this point, most would just shudder and walk away. Occasionally, one would say, "There's no way I would put up with those kids." Perhaps this is why teachers need a bit of a break during the summer.

First Day of School

Tweet The first day of school is so exciting. Everyone is excited...students, parents, and teachers. But it's a little difficult to talk about the first day of school because everyone is starting at different times. Around here, some schools started at the beginning of August and some won't begin until after Labor Day. So, to start with, I just want to wish everyone an exciting, productive, and safe school year.

I also want to tell a story. Last week I was talking to the father of one of my former students. He was telling me that his son, I'll call him John, had graduated from college a couple of years ago with a degree in elementary education. He hadn't found a teaching job and so had taken a few odd jobs. The father said that John could have found a job if he had been willing to move, but John had fallen in love and wanted to stay in the area. (What we don't do for love!?)

John had just taken a job in a office supply store when he got a call from the personnel director of a school system that needed a new kindergarten teacher. At the end of last school year, one of the kindergarten teachers had retired and the student numbers indicated that the teacher would not need to be replaced. However, after this year's registration, they found that the numbers of incoming students had actually increased. Fortunately, John had his application on file, received the call, and took the job.

So last week on Monday, John started his new job. He walked into his new classroom and discovered it was filled with the former teacher's supplies, books, and papers from the last 30 years. Nothing had been cleaned. Being the trooper that he is, he called his mother. Together, they began clearing out old papers. They sorted through books. They organized supplies. Mom went shopping for containers and notebooks and folders and all the things that a new teacher might need.

They worked until midnight and then started in again bright and early Tuesday morning. Throughout all this, John was having to attend new-teacher orientation and in-service meetings. And then he was told that open house would start at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. SURPRISE!

As John's father was telling this story, John was experiencing his first open house. Dad then told me that he had a new-found appreciation for teachers. He said that never knew all that a teacher was expected to do. He didn't realize that teaching was such a small part of a teacher's job. He also didn't realize how much of a teacher's salary goes right back into the classroom. (Most sources put this number at somewhere between $200 and $1000, but many spend much more than this.)

Needless to say, John has been thrown into the lion's den of teaching. John will soon discover that every day of teaching will be frustrating. Every day of teaching will have chaos. Every day of teaching will have some new experience that could never be taught in a college course. Every day John will work harder than he ever has. At some point every day, John will wonder why he decided to become a teacher.

But, every day will also have joy. Every day some student will amaze him. Every day some student will make him laugh. And hopefully, every day, something will happen that helps John remember why he decided to become a teacher and that he'll be happy he made that decision.

8 Things Teachers Can Learn From Lady Gaga

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Image via Wikipedia

I'm sitting here this Friday morning watching The Today Show. Lady Gaga will soon perform on their outdoor stage. Her fans started showing up for the concert two days ago and so far 20,000 people are estimated to be in Rockefeller Plaza. She has almost 12 million fans on Facebook.

So as teachers, what can we learn from this?

Let's take them one at a time.

1. She loves her fans and has an amazing relationship with them. She sent pizza and water to fans who were waiting in line overnight.

As teachers we must have a love of our students. If you don't like children, why would you become a teacher in the first place? Students can tell if you truly like them or if you're just going through the motions.

2. She is fascinating to watch. She knows how to put on a show.

Teachers put on a show every day in class. It should capture the student's attention. I had a chemistry teacher who illustrated each day's lesson with a magic trick. No one ever skipped his class. We always wanted to see what he would do that day.

3. She is extremely talented. She knows her stuff.

Teachers must be talented in their subjects. Students immediately know if a teacher does not have an adequate knowledge of the material they're teaching.

4. She is cutting-edge. You never quite know what to expect from her.

Teachers need to surprise their students from time to time. The lessons learned when teachers break from the normal routine are the one students remember best. I still remember the math lesson when the teacher took us outside to use trigonometry to measure trees. I still remember when the Spanish teacher had us perform skits in Spanish on stage.

5. She has a knack for knowing what her fans want to hear and see.

Teachers need to keep up on what students are interested in and try to incorporate that into the classroom. I went to school during the Beatles era and remember how I loved it when we were able to play Beatles songs in band class.

6. She has an appeal for all ages. She calls her fans "little monsters," but I saw a lot of older people in the crowd.

Teachers need to appeal to their students. My favorite teachers were the ones who were down to earth and could communicate at their student's level. I had some who acted like it was imposition that there were students in their classes. There were others who knew their subject matter, but talked so far above their student's heads that the students learned little. And of course there were those who talked down to us, treated us as if we were morons.

7. She thanked her fans for making her dreams come true.

Teachers are definitely over-worked and underpaid. Perhaps if we were making the kind of money that Lady Gaga makes, we would be more appreciative. But the fact of the matter is that, if your job is teaching, then it is paying for all you own, do, eat, and enjoy. Your students are making your dreams come true, perhaps not all of your dreams, but in time, you will get most of the things you want. If your dreams are too big, then a teaching career is probably not for you.

8. She supports education.

“Don’t ever make the mistake that you’re a dumb blonde or a pushover,” she told Britain’s Mail on Sunday. "I was a grade-A student and I went to a really top school in New York where the children of middle-class parents are expected to achieve at everything.

“I started piano at the age of four and I passed every grade with top marks. I wanted to be smart because I wanted to be able to control things. My career isn’t about other people’s ideas and decisions. It’s about my decisions, my vision, my inspirations. I listen to other people, but I’m smart enough to know what to take notice of. Never underestimate the importance of education.” http://www.looktothestars.org/news/4702-lady-gaga-supports-education

I hope that every teacher supports education and encourages every student to be their best. It is so easy to give up on some of them, but they're the ones who most need their education.

I do have just word of warning. As a performer, Lady Gaga can get by with things that teachers can't. Teachers must remember to keep their attire and language appropriate for the classroom. You can be cool and keep it clean at the same time.

Facebook Impressions

Tweet I have quite a few teacher friends on Facebook. The other day I was looking through some of their profiles and photos. Most of them have pictures of their children or vacation sites, but there were a couple whose photos showed them at parties.

Now, I know these teachers and I know that they do not party all the time. They are hard-working, concerned educators who would do anything to see their students succeed. And yet their photos would give the impression that all their free time is spent consuming beer and posing for silly photos. There was one set of photos where the teacher had a beer in her hand in almost every picture.

I'm a firm believer that a teacher should be able to live his or her private life in whatever manner they choose, but posting photos on Facebook suddenly makes a person's private life very public. And if the teacher has chosen to "friend" any of his or her students, those students are going to have a very different impression of their teacher.

I know how students talk about their teachers. They're always trying to find out about their teachers' private lives and share the information with their classmates, friends, parents, and family. One student I had in class about 5 years ago worked at the local grocery store. On one occasion, I had purchased a box of Garlic Mashed Potatoes. She waited on me and evidently thought Garlic Mashed Potatoes was an odd choice for a teacher because she announced to the entire class the next day. Even today, when I see her at the store, she'll check my cart to see if there are any Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

If she was this concerned about one box of instant potatoes that a teacher had in her grocery cart, imagine what the student say about a teacher whose every photo shows him or her drinking. I personally think it should be the teacher's private affair, but once it's on Facebook, it's public. Teachers across the nation have been fired or asked to resign because of incidents like this.

All teachers should please rethink the items they post on Facebook. They should also reconsider "friending" students. It's a dangerous combination that could cost a teacher his or her job.

"Waiting for Superman" ~ Sundance Film Festival

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"Waiting for Superman" is a documentary about the public school system in America. It has just appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and has already been bought by Paramount.

Though I haven't seen the film, I imagine that it will have an impact on the public schools. While the film points out the many flaws in the system, it does offer possible solutions and hope.

Below is an interview with the director of "Waiting for Superman," Davis Guggenheim. You can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8hn8Rr-uOM

For more information there is another interview available on the Sundance Film Festival website at http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/waitingforsuperman_sundance2010

Source:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941947.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Money ~ Put In Perspective

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I'm always hearing about lottery winners who lose it all. Sometimes I just have to explain something in words to really get a handle on it.

If an average person works from the time they're 21 until they're 65, they will have worked 44 years. If I estimate that an average salary is $50,000 per year, that means an average person will have earned $2.2 million dollars in his or her entire lifetime.

Now consider Missourian Janite Lee who won $18 million in 1993. According to published reports, eight years after winning, Lee had filed for bankruptcy with only $700 left in two bank accounts and no cash on hand.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/8lotteryWinnersWhoLostTheirMillions.aspx?page=1

I have no idea how she spent her money, but imagine this scenario. A lottery winner found a house for $1 million, fell in love with it, and bought it. Property taxes on this might have been $50,000 a year. In eight years, that would have been $400,000. Let's say insurance was about the same amount. Then the winner found a nice Lamborghini for $200,000. Insurance, gas, and maintenance for the car might cost $100,000 over the eight-year period. Utilities, phone, water, and cable might run $50,000 over that same time span. Groceries and related items for two people for eight years could run $80,000. Let's say the person was also extremely generous to charities and the community, donating one million each year for a total of 8 million dollars. And lets say various other costs amount to another million dollars.

Doing the math from the above scenario, the person would have spent $11,230,000. An 18 million dollar winner should still have $6,770,000 to invest. Even if the income taxes took 35% of the original money, the person should have $470,000 left. That's still more that 20% of what an average person (see example above) makes in a lifetime.

Now think about the money that celebrities earn. Oprah makes about $260 million a year. Matt Lauer makes $12 million. Judge Judy makes $30 million. Jeff Gordon makes $26 million.

http://joeduck.com/2009/07/19/celebrity-salaries/

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/azetc/articles/salarycalculator.html

And then there are teachers. In our local district first-year teachers earn $30,000. A teacher with a PhD and 26 or more years of experience makes $64,519. Next year they're expected to take a 10% cut in pay.

So, there you go. Some people don't earn enough. Some people earn way too much. And some people, given the opportunity of a lifetime, lose it all.

Merit Pay for Teachers Based on Student Performance

Tweet Yesterday I wrote a short blog on Merit Pay for Teachers Based on Evaluations. Today I want to explore merit pay based on student performance.

There are two basic ways to judge student performance. The first is based on student grades. The second is based on standardized test scores.

Let's first look at merit pay based on student grades. Teachers do not all grade the same way. Some use points, others use percentages. Some use total sums of points, others use averages. Some weight their grades, perhaps making tests worth 80% and homework 20%, while others may weigh tests and homework equally. Different teachers use different grading scales: to get an "A" in one class, a student might need 95%; in another class only 88% may be needed for that same "A." Grading in math class, which may consist mostly of assignments and tests, may be done very differently from that in a social studies class where projects, presentations, and research may be the main focus. So, is it fair to judge a teacher by the grades of his or her students. Because grading is so subjective, I think it isn't fair. There is also the possibility of a teacher suddenly giving out a lot more "A"s and "B"s to students or watering down the curriculum so that more students earn higher grades. Either way, it would not be fair to give merit pay based on these grades.

Second, lets take a look at merit pay based on standardized test scores. It would appear that this would make merit pay more fair than basing it on grades. But is it really? I think back to when I started teaching. At that time, teachers with less seniority were given lower ability classes. For instance, the first many years I taught, I usually had a schedule of 5 General Math classes and one PreAlgebra. Teachers with more seniority were given (had "earned") the higher level classes of Algebra 2, PreCalculus, Calculus, Statistics, and these were full of "honors" students. Eventually, after many years, I too, had "earned" my right to teach some of these higher level courses.

In those first years, my students were rarely proficient on standardized tests. Many scored in the 1-15 percentile rank and most scored below the 40th percentile needed to be considered proficient. If my pay had been based on the scores of these students, I would not have been paid much. Even though many of these students had moved up two or three grade levels during the school year, they were still considered at risk. These were ninth grade students who started out doing 4th grade work and ended the year working at a 7th grade level. Even though they had moved up three grade levels, they were still two grades levels below where they should be. And on standardized tests, they still performed poorly. So, would it be fair to give merit pay to the teachers of proficient students (many who are high-achieving and in top level courses) and not to the teachers of less capable students who don't reach that magic number considered proficient? I think not.

I agree that almost every student has the ability to learn, but not all students achieve at the same levels, at the same times. In my opinion, it would not be appropriate to give teachers merit pay based on the performance of their students. If merit pay is given, it must be done based on some other criteria than teacher evaluations, student grades, or student scores on standardized tests.

Merit Pay for Teachers Based on Evaluations

Tweet I've been thinking about merit pay for teachers for a long time. It's a complicated issue that I will probably come back to from time to time.

Let me first say that I'm not against the idea of being rewarded for work. I agree that it does seem unfair when the best teachers are earning the same or less than their ineffective counterparts, but that's one of the problems. What I see as ineffective in a teacher may not be that way at all. Amazingly, students often learn very well from teachers I may have labeled inept. Thank goodness I was never in charge of any one else's evaluation.

But administrators do this all the time. In my school they would come in twice a year, watch you teach for 40 minutes, then write up an evaluation. I rarely saw them otherwise. I hate to think that my "merit" pay would be handed out or withheld based on these observations, regardless of how well-trained these evaluators are.

We never know how students are going to learn or what teacher will inspire them. The teacher that is most successful could be the one you once called a "fruitcake." The intellectual with the PhD may be the one who can never make a connection with the students.

20 Jobs for Retired Teachers

Tweet When I retired, everyone asked me what I was going to do with all my free time. My first response was that I was going to clean 32 years of school clutter out of my home. I figured that would take a long time, and it has. I'm still not done with that. My second response was "anything I want."

Today, I was thinking about jobs for retired teachers. Here is a list of what some of the retired teachers I know are doing:

1. Figuring income taxes

2. Tutoring

3. Substituting

4. Working for the local private school

5. Professional gardening

6. Helping home-schoolers

7. Painting, cleaning, construction

8. Helping at the local community college

9. Teaching in a bordering state

10. Artistic painting

11. Participating in community theater

12. Writing books/poetry/blogs

13. Administering AP exams

14. Checking GED exams

15. Delivering pizza, flowers

16. Sacking groceries

17. Volunteering at a hospital/care center/day care

18. Running a Bed & Breakfast

19. School Board member

20. City Council member

So if you're retired and would like a job to fill your time, you might want to try one of these. Some will earn you a little extra cash and some are strictly volunteer, but all will fill up that free time for you.

My Third Complaint About Parents

Tweet My third complaint about parents has several facets that are all related to each other.

1. Parents sometimes make excuses for their children.

On numerous occasions I had parents make excuses as to why their child didn't have their homework done or why they couldn't take a quiz or test or why they weren't in class. A few of the excuses were valid, but I must admit that I didn't understand a parent keeping a child home from school to babysit for younger children or so that the student could get some sleep before going to work in the evening. I didn't understand missing class for a haircut or not having assignments done because the family had company the night before.

2. Parents sometimes blame others for their children's behavior.

I actually had a mother blame me because her daughter had forged the mother's signature on a progress report. The daughter had a D in class and needed to maintain a C average because she was a cheerleader. I sent the progress report home with the daughter who was supposed to show it to her mother, have her mother sign it, and then return it to me. The report was signed and returned and I never gave it a second thought until the mother wanted to know why her daughter had received a D and was no longer able to cheer. The mother kept accusing me of not notifying her. I explained that I had. She said I hadn't. I explained that I had a signed report. She said that that was impossible because she had never seen a report and had never signed it. I never did get it across to her that it wasn't my fault that she hadn't been notified. The mother ended the conversation by saying, "Well, she's afraid of you anyway." Then she hung up the phone. I just stared at the phone for a few minutes, shook my head, went home, and tried to forget about the incident. Obviously, that hasn't happened yet.

3. Parents sometimes lie.

During the first round of parent teacher conferences in a school year, I used to ask for email addresses because it was always so much easier to contact parents by email rather than phone. When one student's grade dropped to an unacceptable level, I contacted his parents by email to let them know. I didn't get a reply from them, but that was not unusual. The student was an 18-year old senior who didn't need the credit, but the low grade would still affect his grade point average. Being 18, he should have been responsible for his own grade, but it was school policy that parents be notified. When he received a low mid-term grade during third quarter, his mother was irate. She demanded to know why I hadn't notified her. I explained that I had notified her, that I had sent her an email. She told me that was impossible because they didn't even have email. When I said I had the email address she had written down at the first conference, she replied, "Well, that's beside the point." Again, I couldn't make her understand that, yes, that was the point. I couldn't believe that she actually lied to me thinking that she wouldn't be caught.

These are just a few of many instances where parent have been less than cooperative. Thank goodness they make up just a small percentage of the parents a teacher deals with during his or her career. Believe me, if they were all like this, there wouldn't be many teachers stay in the profession.

My First Complaint About Parents

Tweet As a teacher for a great number of years, I have had my occasional run-in with parents. Most parents are great. They want the best for their children and want to support the teachers in their efforts to educate their children. However, there are some who test a teacher's patience.

My first complaint is that many parents feel that supporting the teacher means telling them how to do their job. Parents....please don't do this. Why? Here are some reasons.

The teacher is the one in the classroom everyday, not the parent. S/he is the one who knows what's going on in that classroom. There is a classroom dynamic that many parents do not understand. They see their individual child. The teacher also sees that individual child, but additionally sees that child as part of a group. The entire group has to function well and the teacher is in charge of that. Only a person in the classroom can apply teaching strategies that will work for the group and the individual child. Those teaching strategies can vary from class to class depending on the students. Even in the same subject area, a technique that works in one class may not work in another.

Parents often make unreasonable requests of the teacher, again trying to tell the teacher how to do his or her job. I had several parents request progress reports be sent home on a regular basis. Usually, that's not a problem, but some parents wanted reports everyday. I understand that they wanted to keep on top of their child's work, making sure all assignments were done, but again, they were thinking only of their child. I was often responsible for teaching 150 students. It is almost impossible to meet this parent request.

Another bad situation is when the parent wants the teacher to allow exceptions for their child. I know that every child is different, but when there are classroom rules and deadlines for assignments, every student in the class should be expected to abide by those. If my rules had been unreasonable, I could understand, but they weren't. There were parents who asked if their child could only do half of each assignment. There were parents who asked that their child not be held to any deadlines. There was one mother who wanted me to tutor her daughter one-on-one after school every day. That was fine until other students started coming in after school wanting the same treatment. I did what I could, but on a couple of occasions the daughter had to wait for me to help other students. It wasn't long before the mother had the daughter pulled from my class and placed with another teacher. It's not that I cared so much that the daughter was no longer in my class (actually, it was a relief), but I thought this sent a horrible message to the daughter.

Parents sometimes forget that teaching is a profession. Teachers have taken many classes in psychology and teaching methods and should be considered to be the experts in this field. To me, telling a teacher how to do their job, is like telling a surgeon how to perform an operation. I'm guessing these parents probably do that, too.

8 Benefits of Technology

Tweet Last week I wrote a post about "8 Dangers of Technology." One of the comments I received suggested I also write about 8 positive effects of technology. I think it's only fair that I balance the negative with the positive.

First, let me say that there are many more than eight benefits of technology. However, here are the eight that affect me most.

1. Technology allows me to write this blog. It gives me a chance to give advice and the opportunity to vent. It also gives me the chance to read the blogs of others for an ever increasing source of information. It allows me to communicate with the world.

2. Technology allows me to renew old acquaintances and make new ones on Facebook and Twitter. I would guess that at least 25% of my graduating class is on Facebook. It's been really fun renewing those friendships. Only a few friends are on Twitter, but I've been meeting more and more people there all the time.

3. Although retired, I still like to keep up with educational topics. Google Reader allows me to keep up on the latest technology in education. I've been able to share some of it with other teachers through social bookmarking sites like Delicious and on social media sites.

4. Technology has allowed me to blog, tweet, email, and surf the Internet, not just through my computer, but through my phone. I was at Walmart this morning and was able to let everyone on Facebook and Twitter know that it was snowing. I'm guessing no one cared that it was snowing, but it was fun being able to let everyone know.

5. I used to get most of my information from books, magazines, and newspapers. While I still read these, they only make up a small portion of my information sources. Now I use the Internet. I can get all the latest news, weather, sports, fashion, music, and get it in real time.

6. Technology allows me to keep better tabs on my finances. I can check bank account balances and investment values any time I want.

7. Most of my shopping experiences have changed since I've started buying online. I still go to the store for groceries, but the Internet allows me to purchase whatever I need. When I do go to the stores in town (most are discount stores), they rarely have the item I need. That never or rarely happens online.

8. And finally, the technology I grew up with has been made better. The old black and white CRT television is now an LCD flat screen HDTV. The transistor radio that I listened to all night is now XM satellite. Old vinyl records became 8-tracks became cassettes became CDs became songs downloaded to computers and MP3 players or iPods.

It is a wonderful technological world. If all this has happened in my lifetime, imagine what the future could hold for today's students. It's mind-boggling.

Intellectual Property ~ Who Owns It?

Tweet The Sunday, November 15, 2009 issue of The New York Times featured an article by Winnie Hu titled "Selling Lessons Online Raises Cash and Questions." You can find the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/education/15plans.html.

The article reminded me of a situation that occurred several years ago. There was a school employee who was working on a higher degree. There was another employee who had created a fair number of presentations and documents for the school. This particular employee was also resigning at the end of the school year to take a job in another district. The employee working on the degree had used some of the other employee's materials in his graduate assignments. The employee who had created them complained, but was told that anything created for the school district was the property of the school district. They determined that the materials she created did not belong to her. When she left the district, she had to leave all papers and disks of all created materials.

This had never come up before. We were all astounded to think that documents, lesson plans, projects, worksheets, tests, quizzes, and everything else we had worked so hard on, actually belonged to the school district.

When I retired, I left everything behind. It was actually pretty easy because my home already had enough school clutter. But every once in a while, I'll still find a test or worksheet tucked away in a folder on my computer. A few weeks ago, I found an Algebra project I had created hidden in a folder in the back of a file cabinet. I had written it years ago.

Now, after reading this article in the New York Times, I find that teachers are buying and selling their lesson plans and worksheets.

I can understand why a teacher might buy a good lesson plan. It takes so much time to create a good one, and if one is already made, and it's available for a reasonable price, why go to all the work of creating a new one?

I can also understand why a teacher might sell a good lesson plan. Teacher salaries are notoriously low. And yet teachers spend a great deal of their own money purchasing items for their classrooms. If selling lesson plans supplements the money a teacher spends on equipment or books, then it seems s/he is simply being rewarded for his or her work.

Of course, the critical issue here is the fact that the school districts these teachers work for might actually own the intellectual properties these teachers are selling.

And of course, there are the ethical questions. Some how all this just doesn't seem right. If I've written a fantastic lesson plan, it seems like it should be mine to do with as I want. It seems I should be able to sell it, give it away, or even take it with me to a different school district.

But there's also something that doesn't seem right about teachers selling lesson plans. I don't know what it is. As a teacher, I swapped ideas with other teachers all the time. But the idea of selling my idea to those teachers, well, it seems to lower the standards most teachers set for themselves.

I guess I really have mixed feelings about this. What do you think?

Something's Not Fair

Tweet Last Tuesday the local newspaper reported that the school board had unanimously voted for a 10% cut in the amount of money paid out through a state teacher quality compensation program. It also reduced first-year teachers' starting salaries from $30,000 to $29,750. Even with these cuts, the school board still needs to cut $2 million more. All this is due to an across-the-board cut by Iowa's governor. Even the governor is taking a 10% cut in pay.

Just a week before, I was reading about the fantastic profits reaped by the corporations that the tax-payers bailed out. These companies are still too big to fail, they still are completely deregulated, executives are still reaping huge bonuses, and they're keeping their profits instead of paying back the bail-out money.

Life isn't fair, and if you're a teacher, it really isn't fair.

If you're planning on becoming a teacher, you will put up with this kind of thing throughout your career. My first year of teaching, I was forced to resign at the end of the year because I had taken the job of another teacher who went on maternity leave. Since she had the right to return to her job, I had to leave. I did get another job in another school in the same district, but at the end of that second year, the position was discontinued because of budget cuts. Again, I moved to another teaching job in the same district, but every year there was always a fear that the job would be gone. Teaching staff was often reduced, salaries were cut or postponed, monies promised by the state or federal government never materialized, government mandates were inadequately funded, and it was the teachers who suffered. There were several teachers with large families whose children qualified for the free lunch program.

So for 32 years, I worked never knowing what the next year would bring. The year I retired, the retirement package paid the retirees' insurance premiums until age 65. That's actually a pretty good deal. But again, it was uncertain. This year's retirees only received a small amount of money for their unused sick days...no insurance.

So for those entering a teaching career, plan on things not being fair. Don't go into teaching for the money or for job security. Go into teaching because you love teaching children. And if that's not enough, don't go into teaching.

10 Misconceptions About Teachers

Tweet Today I had great plans to write a great blog post. Instead, I spent the day learning about Squidoo and that is where I posted my thoughts for today. It is a lens about the misconceptions students have concerning their teachers. I will list the myths here. For the details, visit http://www.squidoo.com/TeachersView.

10 Myths About Teachers

1. Teachers Live at School

2. Teachers are Just Another Brick in the Wall

3. Teachers Hate Students

4. Teachers Don't Know What They're Talking About

5. Teachers Can't Do Anything Else

6. Teachers Are Opposed to Homeschooling

7. Teachers Don't Keep Up With Technology

8. Teachers Like to Give Failing Grades

9. Everything is the Teacher's Fault

10. Teachers Are Overworked and Underpaid

"Characters Welcome"

Tweet Most of my favorite television shows are on USA Network. Its programming includes Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and reruns of House and NCIS. USA’s theme for several years has been “Characters Welcome.” As I was watching Monk last night, I started thinking about characters I’ve known in my life. As it turns out, many of them were teachers. Some taught me, some worked with me. They were likable, great teachers, but always marched to the beat of a different drummer.

It started in first grade when the teacher made us practice drawing “o’s” over and over and over. She insisted we had to make perfectly round “o’s” because so many letters of the alphabet had that shape in them. O O O O O O O O O O O

My fourth grade teacher hated it when we dropped things on the floor. One day, we must have pushed her to the edge. She walked down every aisle and threw all our pens, pencils, and erasers on the floor and told us to leave them there. Actually, I think we pushed her over the edge. She may have even jumped.

We never had a regular physical education program when I was in elementary school. That same fourth grade teacher had us do marching drills for our physical activity. I can’t imagine how funny it looked to outsiders…thirty-five 10-year-olds doing marching drills. Left. Right. Left. Right. I must say, it did come in handy later in high school when I marched with the band.

Then there was the 7th grade science teacher who wanted to have the big discussion about science and religion. He found out it is not a good idea to have that discussion with 13-year olds. It was oddly funny, yes, but not a good idea. He’s the same teacher who gave a friend of mine a D with 17 minuses. I think he was being kind.

My 8th grade math teacher was 6’7” tall. He drove an Isetta to school. It was always fun to watch him arrive in the morning and leave at night.

The 9th grade biology teacher insisted we do experiments. You would think after the first one, he would have learned. We etherized fruit flies so that we could put them under a microscope to look at the chromosomes in their eyes. Unfortunately, they often revived while we were looking at them. Within a few days, they had found their way to the cafeteria. Lots and lots of them had found their way to the cafeteria. A second experiment involved incubating chicken eggs. We all expected to be playing with baby chicks; but instead, they exploded in the incubator over a weekend. When we came to school on Monday morning, the whole school smelled like rotten eggs. He insisted that the eggs did not have baby chicks in them. I never knew for sure. Another experiment involved mice. We put them on deficiency diets to see the results. Almost all of them died. I think we were supposed to get them back on the regular diets before that happened. And the last involved dissecting frogs. The frogs had been in the formaldehyde for a long, long time. I don’t even want to discuss what happened when we cut into them. The teacher was only at the school one year. I never knew if it was by choice or request.

One of my high school Spanish teachers always wore big fluffy bedroom slippers in class. When she left the room, she put on 4-inch heels. I don’t think the administration ever knew about the slippers.

The sophomore English teacher had a tic in her shoulder. We counted how many times in a class period her shoulder twitched. She was more interested that we learn “introductory adverbial phrases.”

My American history teacher hated doodling. Believe me, doodling is a hard habit to break. She yelled if she caught someone doodling. I got yelled at a lot.

The Advanced Math teacher used a gavel to start class everyday. He would pound it on his desk as an indication that it was time to start class. Oh yeah, we hid it several times. We had to.

After I started teaching, many more characters emerged. There was the Star Trek aficionado who taught physics, the Spanish teacher who cooked beans and rice on a hibachi in the carpeted hall, the science teachers who got into such a fight that the principal had to break them up, and the history teacher who dressed like Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln, depending on which war was being studied.

It is amazing what we remember about our teachers. I often wonder what quirky habits I displayed by which my students remember me. In the end, I’ve decided I really don’t want to know. And yet these teachers are the ones I remember best. These are the characters that make education interesting, fun, and memorable. And yes, we even learn from them.

I Am Not Michelle Pfeiffer

Tweet The student must have been having a particularly boring day. I must have been having a particularly cynical day. When she asked me why I didn't teach like the teacher in the movie "Dangerous Minds," I couldn't resist a smart aleck comeback. Now, I hadn't seen the movie and I assumed it was one of those Hollywood creations about the awe-inspiring teacher who saves the world and looks like Michelle Pfeiffer. My smart aleck comeback was:

Send in the hairstylist, the makeup artist, and the wardrobe expert so I can
look the part. Have someone write my script for the eight hours I stand in
front of students every day. Have someone from the commissary bring me my
meals so I don't have to cook. Have someone else do everything for me, so
all I have to do is stand up here and talk. Then pay me a million dollars
for what I've done, and I'll teach like any Hollywood starlet on the silver
screen.

I was tired of students thinking all teachers should teach like in the movies. School is not like Hollywood. Teachers are not usually actors or actresses. And their pay falls far short of those million dollar Hollywood salaries. The real teacher, LouAnne Johnson, probably made between 30 thousand and 50 thousand a year when she taught. Michelle Pfeiffer probably made millions for her performance. Somehow, it just doesn't seem fair.

I have since seen the movie and read a little about the teacher whose life the movie was based. I applaud her teaching style. She has done fantastic work, but even she is not Michelle Pfeiffer.