Quote From: julie1418Thank you. Again, I always appreciate the support!
Some people definitely get into teaching for the wrong reasons. The summers off seem nice, but I was single when I taught, and I ended up always needing to find a temporary job for the summer. Those who are in it for the vacations are in for a rude awakening. If you don't LOVE teaching, the ten other months will seem like a life sentence!
The only way we are going to get better teachers is to make teaching more attractive. More money is part of the equation, but there is so much more. My middle school students would ask me why I wanted to teach; they would remind me that the money wasn't great, I wasn't really respected, and I had to deal with some pretty horrible behaviors. LOL! They would ask if I just could not do anything else (Nothing like teaching middle school for a few years to keep your ego in check!). They understood very well the public perception of teachers.
We need a real commitment to get the disruptive and violent kids out of mainstream classrooms. Average children should be able to learn in a safe environment. All the wonderful, hands-on things the homeschooling parents speak of, teachers can replicate or simulate when the children in the room know how to behave. Teaching is a JOY when you can get really active and watch the sparks fly.
Just as homeschoolers feel misunderstood, so do teachers. Teachers have the added burden of not really being able to defend themselves because we have to protect the privacy rights of all children. One poster (a thousand or so back) mentioned how the school did NOTHING to stop the class bully. What he did not know was that the school cannot reveal any information about the bully. If a child is diagnosed with ANY kind of learning disability or exceptionality, the school cannot suspend the child for more than ten total days per school year without a hearing - this is a federal law. Expulsion for ESE kids is next to impossible. The child must be arrested and convicted of a crime to leave the school.
I left education to stay home with my kids, but to be honest, I was ready to go. I took it all too personally. It was very hard to be blamed for things for which I had zero control. I was at the point where I could not turn on the news because I could not listen to another anti-public school, anti-teacher broadcast.
Indeed, students' privacy must be respected.
It was not too long ago I was privy to some information about a child who was the chief tormentor of my daughter. This young man's father committed suicide, and he was repeatedly told, either spoken or unspoken, that he was the cause! What child would not be damaged emotionally and in other ways, and seek out for other people to lash out his feelings?
My heart ached excruciatingly for this young man. Even before we found out this information, we knew there had to be some reason this child acted this way, and because I teach my children about grace (not synonymous with "doormat"), outside of the school atmosphere they would smile and greet this youngster with warmth. Seeing him smile back touched me so deeply I can't describe the well of tears I had to force back. He must have been surprised to see the mom of the child he had harassed being friendly towards him. Nobody liked this kid at school, due to his behaviour, and the vicious circle would continue in that atmosphere.
Parents want the best for their children, but what’s the best way to educate them? Dr. Phil’s guests face off in a debate about whether to school, homeschool or unschool. Dana and her husband, Joe, call themselves radical unschoolers. They say education happens as a side effect of life, and they don’t believe in tests, curriculums or grades. Are their three kids learning what they need to know? Then, RaeAnn says public schools are death traps and wants to homeschool her children. Her husband, Steve, says their kids are safer at school than they are at home. Can this couple reach a compromise? Plus, Nicole feels like an outcast at 26. She says she hated being homeschooled, and couldn’t relate to other kids. Share your thoughts here.
