All the teachers in the house, raise a forty...

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...I survived my first term of teaching. Sure, I've got a mountainous pile of corrections to do and next term to plan, but yeah, I didn't end up hulking out or setting fires or any of that kinda business. I got three weeks of holidays. Hell yes.

Tell me, does it get easier?

― Mike Stuchbery, Friday, 27 June 2003 10:34 (twenty-two years ago)

where do teachers live on the suicide list? its just after dentists, no?

seriously though Mike, good on ya. i couldn't do it myself, but its an honourable profession. have fun on the hols.

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 27 June 2003 10:45 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, good one, if it makes you feel any better my gf said it gets easier.

― Matt (Matt), Friday, 27 June 2003 10:59 (twenty-two years ago)

G'UH! I couldn't imagine looking into people's mouths every day for the rest of my working life. Yes, I can see the reason for their high placing on the suicide list.

― Mike Stuchbery, Friday, 27 June 2003 12:30 (twenty-two years ago)

no...and i couldn't imagine what you're doing Mike. I have some friends who've done it and they're pretty well all well and lovable.

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 27 June 2003 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Teachers are quite low down on the suicide list. They just stop being teachers.

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 27 June 2003 13:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Congratulations, Mike.

I start next Tuesday. 2nd Grade. It's my first year. And I can't even get into the classroom till Monday! Guess I'll just keep going over my lesson plans for the first month.

― Arthur (Arthur), Friday, 27 June 2003 13:59 (twenty-two years ago)

2nd grade is 7 years old or 14?

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 27 June 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't you have summer holidayz?

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 27 June 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

i didn't say to

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 27 June 2003 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Gaz-7.

Pete- We have year-round schools here in LA due to overcrowding. Plus it's always summer here, so we don't need summer vacations. I'm on the D Track--the schedule is July to early November, two month break, January to early May, two month break.

― Arthur (Arthur), Friday, 27 June 2003 14:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember not liking year round schooling myself, did it for two years when I was eight and nine, but that's because the break system wasn't as good -- short summer and three week periods off throughout the year. Two big blocks like that would satisfy the need for an actual vacation in my childlike soul.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 June 2003 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

― vahid (vahid), Friday, 9 December 2005 05:28 (nineteen years ago)

Damn, what's with the thread necromancy.

It's been almost two years now. Yeah, gets easier.

― Mike Stuchbery (Mike Stuchbery), Friday, 9 December 2005 05:47 (nineteen years ago)

well, i doubt it can get much worse.

― vahid (vahid), Friday, 9 December 2005 07:25 (nineteen years ago)

i am substituting in a continuation-type setting in a rough neighborhood, w/ security guards, kids on drugs, kids pushing drugs, kids threatening me physically, constant verbal and sexual abuse towards each other and myself, etc.

i don't have a credential for this but i sort of wonder what kind of credential you could get to prepare you for this.

― vahid (vahid), Friday, 9 December 2005 07:29 (nineteen years ago)

Okay, now, see I'm teaching at a cushy Australian private religious school.

You are doing twice the job that I am and I doff my cap at you.

― Mike Stuchbery (Mike Stuchbery), Friday, 9 December 2005 07:34 (nineteen years ago)

whatever. today one of the administrators referred to me as a "prison guard". i am just filling the state's legal obligation to have an adult in the room with these kids. nobody expects any actual learning to happen - i don't even think they expect that of the permanent teachers, let alone a short-term teacher.

they are just doing this because public schools = cheaper than prisons (you don't have to feed or clothe or house anybody).

― vahid (vahid), Friday, 9 December 2005 07:39 (nineteen years ago)

Daaaamn.

Which city, may I ask?

― Mike Stuchbery (Mike Stuchbery), Friday, 9 December 2005 07:39 (nineteen years ago)

east palo alto

― vahid (vahid), Friday, 9 December 2005 07:45 (nineteen years ago)

seriously though Mike, good on ya. i couldn't do it myself,

kill me now.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Friday, 9 December 2005 07:48 (nineteen years ago)

vahid - tell us more pls. what happens in an average class?

mikey - fuck man.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Friday, 9 December 2005 07:51 (nineteen years ago)

has anyone been following the grad student labor strikes at NYU?

― thor heyerdahl (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:39 (nineteen years ago)

Hahaha poor gaz =)

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:00 (nineteen years ago)

Thank fucking god I'm no longer a teacher.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Friday, 9 December 2005 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

I have just finished my first term of teaching. I am teaching adults so I don't have any major behavioural issues, the work load is huge though I have been teaching a minimum of six days a week for the last three months and I have been working until 2am most evenings just to try and keep my head above water. On the plus side though, it is seriously the best job I have ever had (getting paid to chat all day isn't a job!) and now I have got the best part of a month off work! I don't think I could have coped with disruptive kids on top of the work load though. You guys have my full respect!

― Davel (Davel), Friday, 9 December 2005 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

I have a question. Other than funerals etc, are schoolteachers allowed to take days off during termtime?

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 9 December 2005 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

sure, that's what substitute teachers are for (this is where someone posts a pic of peggy hill... i can't be bothered).

― thorstein veblen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 December 2005 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

[*]

― HH, Friday, 9 December 2005 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

I'm built like a tank and have a really good disciplinary system behind me, so I have no problem with kids, it's just the fucking marking that kills me.

I believe in my particular education system, we get fifteen six days a year. The little darling constantly infect you.

― Mike Stuchbery (Mike Stuchbery), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:52 (nineteen years ago)

I'm going to take NY state certification test tomorrow. I'm student-teaching and going to grad school now. So far, so good.

Substitute teaching = bad idea

― Super Cub (Debito), Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:02 (nineteen years ago)

substitute teaching in tough urban school = really bad idea

― Super Cub (Debito), Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:04 (nineteen years ago)

really? why?

i am trying to think of it as a character-building exercise, also worst-case-scenario preparedness routine.

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:25 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah vahid I should think after that, any school would be totally deal-able.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:28 (nineteen years ago)

One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas. One week till Xmas....

...and a merry one to any other utterly f***ing exhausted teachers out there.

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:49 (nineteen years ago)

are schoolteachers allowed to take days off during termtime?

Yes. we got ten "personal" days per year. All of mine would go towards dr.'s visits and the like b/c it's very hard to do those sort of things when you're a teacher.

I found being a sub in a tough urban school far easier than being a teacher in one. Maybe it was b/c I didn't really give a shit as a sub and mainly just talked with the kids to keep them from tearing up the room.

As a full-time teacher in such a school I rarely ever taught. Behavior and emotional/social issues with the kids took up about 80% of my time. The rest was spent teaching them the state test as that was all we were allowed to teach.

I've been wanting to write a book about it but I've just summarized in two paragraphs "WHY I QUIT TEACHING".

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

You should totally write a book tho Sam! I'd love to read how you coped with such work. Esp because the school system you worked in seems so different to that I grew up in.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:51 (nineteen years ago)

But Miss Misery, were you really surprised that teaching in a difficult school would be difficult?

― Super Cub (Debito), Saturday, 10 December 2005 03:35 (nineteen years ago)

What are you doing these days, Sam?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 10 December 2005 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

I'm currently looking for a job Andrew. :)

Cub, I didn't have a choice where I was placed. I wouldn't neccesarily have wanted to teach in the suburbs but nothing in my teacher training prepared me for what I had to face. Teachers tend to stay at my former school for one year. That's so bad for the kids. I barely made it to three but I tried my hardest.

Difficult schools are difficult because of poor administration, badly-run districts and uninvolved parents. Kids in the ghetto can behave and learn just as well as white suburban kids with the right environment. It's just a shame that the adults around them don't care enough to provide it.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Saturday, 10 December 2005 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

are schoolteachers allowed to take days off during termtime?

Yes. we got ten "personal" days per year

Not in the UK. Obviously we can get time off for family emergencies, funerals, hospital appointments (and job interviews!) but if you need any other time during the year you have to take it unpaid.

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Saturday, 10 December 2005 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

One week til the end of my first Teaching Practise. It has its ups and downs, being a student teacher.

― Slumpman (Slump Man), Saturday, 10 December 2005 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

It's just a shame that the adults around them don't care enough to provide it

uninvolved parents is a HUGE factor at this school. i have 25-50% of the kids in a class show up without backpacks, books or pencils on an average day in these classes. on wednesday i had 13 out of 26 people more than an hour late for their first class.

i mean, WTF?

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 10 December 2005 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

Miss Misery, that sucks that you had such a bad experience. Have you considered trying to find a job in a more supportive and positive environment?

― Super Cub (Debito), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:45 (nineteen years ago)

i had five classes yesterday:

three were "honors" classes (ie college prep), prob. 90% white, 10% other.

out of 94 kids, i had one absence.

two were "regular" classes (ie good luck succeeding in college w/ these skillz), prob 50% hispanic, 40% other, 10% white.

out of 64 kids, i had exactly 23 absences.

hmmm.

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

i can only imagine a corollary of this is: a white teenager walking on the streets is waaaay more likely to be picked up by a concerned cop/parent/neighbor ("honey, where you going? let me give you a ride back to school. let's talk to the school psychologist") than a hispanic/black/polynesian student.

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:01 (nineteen years ago)

i think i am going to post to this thread every day. it is going to be my mountain, where i go to tell it.

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

east palo alto

Whoa - EPA. I lived there for a couple of months one summer. Had my car broken into and the battery stolen.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Have you considered trying to find a job in a more supportive and positive environment?

No, I've been scarred for life.

i think i am going to post to this thread every day. it is going to be my mountain, where i go to tell it.

Read TITWIS threads in 2003/2004. I would vent there, often during class. It was my lifeline!

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, this is a nice way to spend a prep period.

i wonder if i'll be doing this next year...

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

met one who teaches science at dizzee's old school

― Cadav'rous Carl (Cadav'rous Carl), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

four months pass...

Represent! Hired yesterday.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 7 May 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

Congratulations! NOW POISON THEIR MINDS.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 7 May 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

I NEED A JOB!

― Super Cub (Debito), Sunday, 7 May 2006 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

My first halfterm!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 13 October 2006 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

Congratulations! How'd it go?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 October 2006 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

Ok, this is the best job ever.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 8 November 2006 21:38 (eighteen years ago)

you are lucky.

I had a nightmare, I mean dream, about teaching last night and I've been away for almost two years now!

― Sam rides the beat like a bicycle (Molly Jones), Wednesday, 8 November 2006 21:57 (eighteen years ago)

I thought this was going to be a "yaaaayyy no child left behind is getting left behind" thread.

― researching ur life (grady), Wednesday, 8 November 2006 21:58 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, my school is incredibly atypical I think - I don't think I could survive in one like yours at all and really respect that you stuck it out that long? I work 123618273 hours a day but that is totally my only complaint and most of that is basically voluntary.

x-post we are leaving three or four children behind I think :(

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 8 November 2006 22:01 (eighteen years ago)

more teachers who love the job are U&K

(my dream last night was actually about teaching in my old junior high and being freaked out by how nice it was. nice schools are out there, if only in dreams)

― Sam rides the beat like a bicycle (Molly Jones), Wednesday, 8 November 2006 22:04 (eighteen years ago)

Halfway through my first placement in a rough primary school. This is tougher work than I presumed!

― scotstvo (scotstvo), Wednesday, 8 November 2006 22:39 (eighteen years ago)

I taught for two years with Teach for America in Mississippi...that shit ran me out after my two year commitment, but there are a lot of people still down for the cause as a result of TFA. Anyone else here a TFAer?

― B.L.A.M. (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Wednesday, 8 November 2006 23:39 (eighteen years ago)

I teach 11th grade social studies. I love my job, but it is hard work.

― Super Cub (Debito), Wednesday, 8 November 2006 23:42 (eighteen years ago)

ex-NYCTF South Bronx. Moved into the non-profit world for the reasons mentioned above and more.

― one six oh (one six oh), Thursday, 9 November 2006 05:10 (eighteen years ago)

haha, I am sitting in the middle of a parent's evening at this very moment in our assembly - I don't have any more appointments until 6.45, so I'm ~~working hard~~ reading ILX

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Thursday, 9 November 2006 18:11 (eighteen years ago)

in our assembly HALL, even

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Thursday, 9 November 2006 18:12 (eighteen years ago)

doh. . .

i was going to say parent night was a waste at our school. you'd still till 8pm and were lucky if two parents showed up.

― Sam rides the beat like a bicycle (Molly Jones), Thursday, 9 November 2006 18:15 (eighteen years ago)

I am a maths teacher to 11-18 year olds. I love it too! My school is ultra cool tho, i know at least 4 teachers who graduated with me that are about ready to quit serious.

― Slumpman (Slump Man), Thursday, 9 November 2006 18:27 (eighteen years ago)

I stuck it out through my teacher training year, and really couldn't do it anymore. I felt bad for holding the good kids back while trying to get the bad ones to behave (I was teaching 11 to 18 yr olds).

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 9 November 2006 18:36 (eighteen years ago)

back in the saddle, again!

― rems (x Jeremy), Friday, 10 November 2006 03:12 (eighteen years ago)

(and I heart little people)

― rems (x Jeremy), Friday, 10 November 2006 03:13 (eighteen years ago)

I miss teaching a lot. My wife is in ed grad school and is student teaching in a 4th/5th grade class; her worst day at work sounds so much funner than my best day at work

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Friday, 10 November 2006 03:21 (eighteen years ago)

I teach 11-18's as well. My school is in quite a deprived area but I think it just makes the days more interesting. My gf teaches at a posh middle class school and doesn't like some of her kids at all (too arrogant)

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Friday, 10 November 2006 20:17 (eighteen years ago)

three months pass...

I had my first (proper) parents evening last night. Weirder than standing in front of a room full of children, weirder than attending meetings and setting detentions: talking to parents about their children! i'm sure they all look at me and think "who is this man-child to berate my lovely son?"

― Slumpman, Thursday, 1 March 2007 17:22 (eighteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

Easter fucking Holidays!

― Slumpman, Friday, 30 March 2007 13:35 (eighteen years ago)

I had a dream night before last that one of my former students had a baby and I went to visit her. She used to be my friend on MySpace before I lef it and I wonder if should go back in and try to find out if that dream was correct. I'm afraid to actually. She's about 16 now.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 30 March 2007 13:40 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

Not a good career track.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 19:29 (seventeen years ago)

Could be a frame-up.

― Laurel, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 19:32 (seventeen years ago)

Abbott was then arrested without incident.

I lead an odd life.

― Abbott, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 19:40 (seventeen years ago)

I admit you came to mind when I skimmed that. "Wait, WHAT...oh, last name."

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 19:47 (seventeen years ago)

That's why I changed majors and decided not to be a teacher. My flashy ways would not be tolerated and fuck if I'm not gonna carry guns.

― Abbott, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 19:48 (seventeen years ago)

Gregory Abbott?
http://www.45picturesleeves.com/sleeves/abbott2.jpg
SHAKE YOU DOWN, INDEED

― La Lechera, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 20:11 (seventeen years ago)

Im sorry... the town is called Placentia!?

― Trayce, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 23:05 (seventeen years ago)

DAN PERRY WAKE UP DAMMIT.

― Trayce, Thursday, 29 May 2008 01:48 (seventeen years ago)

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