So, now you're telling us you're a kept man.......congrats!
You assume too much. Your assumptions are not facts.
My wife works for Tulsa public. Aides can make 10-13 per hour depending on the discipline. General aide versus high needs SpEd versus mild autism versus reading specialist etc.
I believe TPS will only add a teacher if it splits classes down from 32 into around 16-17. They'll fill a room with 32 kids with one teacher and no aides. This is elementary school. The aides are generally added not due to over crowding but the sped or other disabled / at need students. IEPs can be but aren't always a big part of this.
This has been an interesting thread to see both sides of the issue.
What irritates me is the constant "drip" the media about teacher pay. It seems every 2 to 3 days there is always a "fed" story on the news about this. They are moving to TX. They don't get paid enough. We are last in the country. It. Never. Stops. Repeat. For me, this doesn't help their case because I really despise this type of media manipulation/deception. It just reminds me of the way liberals function... What goes into this is the lack of honesty. If they get 3 months off, then yes, they are being paid for 9 months of work, not 12, and that can't be ignored in the what the number is as well. If they do indeed have 3 months off, they are free to take a summer job and augment their income.
With all that said, I do think they are underpaid, especially the ones that work hard and do the job right. At the same time, they knew this going in. Having had experience now as a parent, I can say our son has had some really exceptional teachers (10%), some adequate teachers (40%), and a whole lot of terrible teachers (50%).
Maybe some teachers put in 60-80 hours, but not all of them do. We've had ones that barely teach, preferring to use the "Smart Board" to put on videos to teach instead. They don't grade papers at home either, they make the students grade them for each other. Well, those are some of the bad ones that show up. There are the ones who look for any reason to get out of coming at all. They take every possible day off for every possible reason, then show up and give the kids tests/quizzes on what the sub never bothered to teach them. They have allowed bad morale and victim-hood take over the schools - as long as these attitudes persist, I don't see things improving. The attitude and apathy that has become pervasive in public schools isn't so peachy for parents or students either. When you think of schools, it isn't the students that are thought about first, it is the teachers. I have to ask myself if that isn't part of the problem.
I can't gripe about the exceptional ones, they are truly great and do an excellent job, but here is the thing - they get paid just the same as the ones who do terribly. There is that fair pay thing again that liberals love so much. Let's make every thing fair = there is no incentive for a teacher to work hard, improve their value, and possibly negotiate their wage based on the good work they do. What would be great is if they were graded on criteria and their pay for each year was based on their performance from the previous year - maybe this would weed out the bad ones and reward the good ones.
I also get that there are a lot of parents who don't teach their kids a damn thing these days, and that kids are more screwed up than ever making teachers' jobs all the more difficult.
What irritates me is the constant "drip" the media about teacher pay. It seems every 2 to 3 days there is always a "fed" story on the news about this. They are moving to TX. They don't get paid enough. We are last in the country. It. Never. Stops. Repeat. For me, this doesn't help their case because I really despise this type of media manipulation/deception. It just reminds me of the way liberals function... What goes into this is the lack of honesty. If they get 3 months off, then yes, they are being paid for 9 months of work, not 12, and that can't be ignored in the what the number is as well. If they do indeed have 3 months off, they are free to take a summer job and augment their income.
With all that said, I do think they are underpaid, especially the ones that work hard and do the job right. At the same time, they knew this going in. Having had experience now as a parent, I can say our son has had some really exceptional teachers (10%), some adequate teachers (40%), and a whole lot of terrible teachers (50%).
Maybe some teachers put in 60-80 hours, but not all of them do. We've had ones that barely teach, preferring to use the "Smart Board" to put on videos to teach instead. They don't grade papers at home either, they make the students grade them for each other. Well, those are some of the bad ones that show up. There are the ones who look for any reason to get out of coming at all. They take every possible day off for every possible reason, then show up and give the kids tests/quizzes on what the sub never bothered to teach them. They have allowed bad morale and victim-hood take over the schools - as long as these attitudes persist, I don't see things improving. The attitude and apathy that has become pervasive in public schools isn't so peachy for parents or students either. When you think of schools, it isn't the students that are thought about first, it is the teachers. I have to ask myself if that isn't part of the problem.
I can't gripe about the exceptional ones, they are truly great and do an excellent job, but here is the thing - they get paid just the same as the ones who do terribly. There is that fair pay thing again that liberals love so much. Let's make every thing fair = there is no incentive for a teacher to work hard, improve their value, and possibly negotiate their wage based on the good work they do. What would be great is if they were graded on criteria and their pay for each year was based on their performance from the previous year - maybe this would weed out the bad ones and reward the good ones.
I also get that there are a lot of parents who don't teach their kids a damn thing these days, and that kids are more screwed up than ever making teachers' jobs all the more difficult.
You know it Dennis.... How do you think I afford this hobby on a teacher salary? Even though I'm over paid. [emoji23]So, now you're telling us you're a kept man.......congrats!
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Jeff aren't you hanging out at your pool waving at your neighbors when they go to work.
I have a Masters degree in Elementary Special Education, I was voted Teacher of the Year this year and South Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year in 2015. I don't bring this up to brag, instead I mention it to state that I agree with you in some ways. There are really excellent teachers and there are some teachers who have reached tenured status and they do just enough, but not more. Then there are those like myself and there are a lot of us, that believe in what we do enough to give everything we have to make this better. I believe in my students and in special education so much that I give everything of myself so much that at times my own daughter just get what's left each night and that's not much. Sometimes I'm ashamed that I don't have the energy or time to spend with her during the week, or that I miss out on some of her school related functions. I just pray daily that she sees the value I see in changing the life of just one child and making them believe in themselves. As far as other teachers go, I have 2 other Sped teachers I work with in my building and they drive me crazy. They are just buying time to retirement and they do very little, but I just remind myself that my hard work, dedication to students and parents isn't about them and it isn't even about me, it's about being something to someone else who needs someone to believe and invest in them.
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Everything you just described is a cross section of every job profession in the world. There are some that excell, some that show up for the paycheck and some that hate to be there but they have no other place to go.
Yes sir. Of course I do, but my view is from a kiddie pool because that's all my teacher salary affords me and my neighbors aren't jealous, the are laughing!!!!
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Nope, jeff has a huge heart and a charitable streak as we have seen on the forum over and over. Never ceases to amaze me the hearts you see when you deal with teachers day in and day out. Opinions may vary on pay, but the fact remains that teachers are the foundation of growth and development for our youth. I'm retired and do hang out in my pool and wave at the kids as they go off to school and the wife as she heads to wherever wifes go. a bunch of teachers and professors made it possible for me to have that luxury by instilling what I needed to know, how I needed to conduct myself in school and creating realistic expectations for me. Thanks for that.
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