Becoming a high school teacher

But fewer naked pillow fights?

 

Write-brained, the illustrious Greg Brady had it right when he once prescribed the itching powder for Marcia's callow friends. He didn't especially want to see them naked, he just wanted them the fuck out of his play room. Like I did.

 

The not-so-nice thing about Florida is that, as I previously noted, the president's asshole brother managed to railroad some tax changes through on his way out of the governor's office that have every public institution scrambling this summer to cut every possible cost. A lot of teachers who didn't have tenure yet became unemployed in June and school administrators are also taking salary cuts --- 2 percent, where I live. Police and fire departments are hustling to make ends meet down here as well.

 

I dunno if it's been covered on this thread, because I only read half the first page, but we had a previous thread about the hassles of being a male teacher, vis-a-vis accusations from female students. The schools apparently take a guilty until proven innocent attitude about it. If you're male, you have to know that going in. Perhaps this shouldn't be the deciding factor on whether to make this particular change, but it should be a factor. It would be foolish not to reconcile yourself with that aspect of the teaching work environment before going into teaching.

 

Same here in Cali, 2mcm.

Thousands of teacher layoffs earlier this year, due to the Governator proposing $4.8B in education cuts. Lot of teachers who just got hired a year or two ago are now out of a job.

 

1. Join the union. Even if you despise the NEA (or AFT) with every fiber of your being, join them. They will back you up (and schools do take "guilty until proven innocent," because they have the customer-is-always-right approach and don't want any bad PR).
2. Try not to put yourself in position where a female student can accuse you of anything. I've been in the classroom 2 years, I've coached girls basketball for 2 years, and have never had any issues. But I have some boundaries -- I never physically touch a student (even a pat on the back), never say anything that might be taken the wrong way (which means never complimenting a student's appearance) ... one big issue a lot of male teachers face is that some female students have everything hanging out and don't leave much to the imagination. If I say anything (and send them to the office for a dress-code violation), I look like a perv. If I don't, I'm being too lax and not enforcing the rules, therefore enabling them to keep on doing it.

 

The GOP is to education what the Dems are to health care.

Attempt to destroy the current system, by creating tons of unfunded mandates, hypersensitive regulations and force them to meet "standards" that are impossible to match.

In health care, the concept was to regulate insurance companies and hospitals to death, make it impossible for people to carry their own health coverage (or transfer it from job to job), and make it impossible for people to use a free-market alternative. The goal was to basically create a system where the employer must provide health insurance, with very little wiggle room in the process, so employers would eventually drop their health coverage, people would get mad and go to the government begging for socialized medicine -- break the system so "we" can fix it.

In school, it's the concept that every student should pass a college prep curriculum, even the ones that don't want to be there, and if they don't, it's the school's fault. And do it with less $$. And do it with overburdening regulations. And if you don't, we're going to close your school and give every kid a voucher for a private school (ahhh ... we see the actual motive). The end result is to make public schools look so bad that there will be a huge public outcry for vouchers, which will create a massive migration to private schools. Again, "break" the system so "we" can fix it.

 

Spot on.

People forget this was one of W's big tickets before 9/11.

Hey, but at least he got $4 gas.

 

read and learn about "NCLB" (No Child Left Behind) on your state's education website before diving in. Teaching is not some artsy Frank McCourt memoir these days, it's all about test scores and teaching to the test.

 

I'm in one of those states where teaching doesn't seem like an option for a new career, because of all the red tape. ... But I am looking at the possibility of some tutoring gigs as a way to make some money. I have some experience in ESL and adult literacy teaching.

 

My wife did this in 2001 -- took a buyout her paper was offering and went to school to get certified. She had a masters' but no education stuff. So she got all that, student taught, and eventually got a job.

Downside: She still makes way less money than she used to make (keeping in mind, that was as a mid-level, well-paid editor at a major metro). Finding a teaching job was harder than she'd been led to believe. Student-teaching pays absolutely nothing, which is kind of difficult if you're not 21 and living with your parents.
Upside: She's much happier than she has ever been professionally. She teaches eighth grade language arts in the small town where we live. She likes the kids, they like her, she feels she's doing something meaningful. There are worries about state cutbacks, but the atmosphere is nothing like what we're going through (other than the airline industry, I don't think the atmosphere anywhere is much like what we're going through).

One more thought: If you're like a lot of people in this biz, you probably can't see yourself in an office somewhere, working at a desk all day, going to seminars about some asshole's eight steps to success or something. Teaching is like what we do, in that you're out in the world, it isn't a corporate enviornment.

 

I actually get paid better now as a third-year teacher (about $7K a year more -- which includes a coaching stipend) than I did as a decently-paid (for my state) small-town SE with 9 years' experience. The salary increases -- you usually get a 5% raise.

Teaching is, personally, the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I really enjoy working with kids on a day-to-day basis, I live to see the light bulb go on in their heads when they figure something out, I crack up when I see them falling asleep mid-lecture. If the students see you care, they'll love you. It's pretty cool to see that happen.

NCLB is the downside. It's essentially a back-door path to vouchers (which has been the intent all along -- break the NEA/AFT's perceived hold on education and get kids back into faith-based schools ... interestingly, I've never had the NEA impact anything I teach ... I'm a member, but I probably disagree with them on 99% of issues, and a lot of teachers in my building would agree with me).