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Nothing I have ever done has brought me as much joy as I have received from teaching children how to write the past 14 years. Helping young writers grow and mature has been richly rewarding and I would not trade my experiences for anything.
That being said, if I were 18 years old and deciding how I want to spend my adult years, the last thing I would want to become is a classroom teacher.
Classroom teachers, especially those who are just out of college and entering the profession, are more stressed and less valued than at any previous time in our history.
They have to listen to a long list of politicians who belittle their ability, blame them for every student whose grades do not reach arbitrary standards, and want to take away every fringe benefit they have -- everything from the possibility of achieving tenure to receiving a decent pension.
Young teachers from across the United States have told me they no longer have the ability to properly manage classrooms, not because of lack of training, not because of lack of ability, not because of lack of desire, but because of upper administration decisions to reduce statistics on classroom referrals and in-school and out-of-school suspensions. As any classroom teacher can tell you, when the students know there will be no repercussions for their actions, there will be no change in their behavior. When there is no change in their behavior, other students will have a more difficult time learning.
Teachers are being told over and over again that their job is not to teach, but to guide students to learning on their own. While I am fully in favor of students taking control of their learning, I also remember a long list of teachers whose knowledge and experience helped me to become a better student and a better person. They encouraged me to learn on my own, and I did, but they also taught me many things. In these days when virtual learning is being force-fed to public schools by those who will financially benefit, the classroom teacher is being increasingly devalued. The concept being pushed upon us is not of a teacher teaching, but one of who babysits while the thoroughly engaged students magically learn on their own.
During the coming week in Missouri, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill which would eliminate teacher tenure, tie 33 percent of our pay to standardized test scores (and a lesser, unspecified percentage for those who teach untested subjects) and permit such innovations as "student surveys" to become a part of the evaluation process.
Each year, I allow my students to critique me and offer suggestions for my class. I learn a lot from those evaluations and have implemented some of the suggestions the students have made. But there is no way that eighth graders' opinions should be a part of deciding whether I continue to be employed.
The Missouri House recently passed a budget that included $2.5 million to put Teach for America instructors in our urban schools. The legislature also recently acted to extend the use of ABCTE (American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence), a program that allows people to switch careers and become teachers without having to go through required teaching courses.
It is hard to get past the message being sent that our teachers are not good enough so we have to go outside to find new ones.
And of course to go along with all of these slaps in the face to classroom teachers, the move toward merit pay continues. Merit pay and eliminating teacher tenure, while turning teachers into at-will employees are the biggest disservice our leaders can do to students. How many good classroom teachers will no longer be in the classroom because they question decisions by ham handed administrators looking to quickly make a name for themselves by implementing shortsighted procedures that might look good on resumes, but will have a negative impact on student learning.
If you don't believe this kind of thing will happen, take a look at what has occurred in our nation's public schools since the advent of No Child Left Behind. Everything that is not math or reading has been de-emphasized. The teaching of history, civics, geography, and the arts have shrunk to almost nothing in some schools, or are made to serve the tested areas. Elementary children have limited recess time so more time can be squeezed in for math and reading.
Even worse, in some schools weeks of valuable classroom time are wasted giving practice standardized tests (and tests to practice for the practice standardized tests) so obsessive administrators can track how the students are doing. In many school districts across the nation, teachers have told me, curriculum is being based on these practice standardized tests.
That devaluation and de-emphasis of classroom teachers will grow under Common Core Standards. Pearson, the company that has received the contract to create the tests, has a full series of practice tests, while other companies like McGraw-Hill with its Acuity division, are already changing gears from offering practice materials for state tests to providing comprehensive materials for Common Core.
Why would anyone willingly sign up for this madness?
As a reporter who covered education for more than two decades, and as a teacher who has been in the classroom for the past 14 years, I cannot remember a time when the classrooms have been filled with bad teachers. The poor teachers almost never lasted long enough to receive tenure. Whether it is was because they could not maintain control over their classrooms or because they did not have sufficient command over their subject matter, they soon found it wise to find another line of work.
Yes, there are exceptions -- people who slipped through the cracks, and gained tenure, but there is nothing to stop administrators from removing those teachers. All tenure does is to provide teachers with the right to a hearing. It does not guarantee their jobs.
Times have changed. I have watched over the past few years as wonderfully gifted young teachers have left the classroom, feeling they do not have support and that things are not going to get any better.
In the past, these are the teachers who stayed, earned tenure, and built the solid framework that has served their communities and our nation well.
That framework is being torn down, oftentimes by politicians who would never dream of sending their own children to the kind of schools they are mandating for others.
Despite all of the attacks on the teachers, I am continually amazed at the high quality of the young people who are entering the profession. It is hard to kill idealism, no matter how much our leaders (in both parties) try.
Despite all of the attacks on the teachers, I am continually amazed at the high quality of the young people who are entering the profession. It is hard to kill idealism, no matter how much our leaders (in both parties) try.
I suppose I am just kidding myself about encouraging young people to enter some other profession, any other profession, besides teaching.
After all, what other profession would allow me to make $37,000 a year after 14 years of experience and have people tell me how greedy I am?
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Follow Randy Turner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rturner229
| flane01 http://t.co/U61C3YGw0A An excellent and very useful article @mayagizmo1@foggandy @vstand thank you @HuntingEnglish | ||
| LeedsUniCareers Want to make becoming a Physics teacher even more rewarding? Check out these £20,000 scholarships. Deadline 1st Mayhttp://t.co/RVddlJfcaj
21 hours ago from HootSuite
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| NedaJahrami I once genuinely thought about becoming a teacher just so I can tell dumb students "you shall not pass" while I laugh hysterically. | ||
| Hannahlongbone “@LeedsUniCareers: Want to make becoming a Physics teacher more rewarding? Check out £20,000 scholarships. http://t.co/wYw2ARy9Ah”@JDevine2 | ||
| masongengcaba Big cheer for @jacedurbsgirl becoming a dance teacher! Whoop!
20 hours ago from Trillian
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| le_elizza @keelicious94 IKR??!! Pity much . Never becoming a teacher in a future XD Seriously.Our generation was better tho. | ||
| Felicitasklsy Becoming a teacher so when I do attendance I can ask "will the real slim shady please stand up."...
19 hours ago from web
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| BrookdaleCCNews Interested in becoming a teacher? Join the Wall Higher Education Center @ Brookdale CC on April 15th (Monday) for... http://t.co/v7tpRFpSKt
18 hours ago from Facebook
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| keelicious94 RT @le_elizza: @keelicious94 IKR??!! Pity much . Never becoming a teacher in a future XD Seriously.Our generation was better tho.
18 hours ago from web
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| jacedurbsgirl RT @masongengcaba: Big cheer for @jacedurbsgirl becoming a dance teacher! Whoop!
1 hour ago from web
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| TooMessedUp My motto is: If you can't beat them, what's the point in becoming a teacher?
4 days ago from TweetDeck
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| chamiHeart RT @WoWFactz: Gene Simmons, from the band Kiss, was an elementary school teacher before becoming a rockstar. | ||
| sjaraarroyos @TeachersUtdWa , the work you do has inspired me as I transition into becoming a teacher in OKC in the weeks to come. #edreform
21 minutes ago from web
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| fiteach A seed of self-discovery and becoming a better person/teacher was planted with @Huberjanice and truly came to bloom with @andreasterzuk.
35 minutes ago from Echofon
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| escariot Here's a good read to anybody interested in becoming a teacher:http://t.co/UBkfaQyEE5
1 hour ago from web
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| CarolineR321 - Omg are you in his appartment on his bed? iIs he taking a shower? - this call is becoming very 1-900 - to talk to a hot teacher press 3 | ||
| ecsailig Learning on Other People's Kids: Becoming a Teach For America Teacher (PB) book download Barbara Torre Veltri http://t.co/SK5BAZyaw1
1 hour ago from Twitpic
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| MariaCiccione Coming up with my schedule for next semester is making this whole "becoming a teacher" thing a little too real. 😳 | ||
| TheGoddessNaomi RT @brenda_sparks: R U considering becoming a teacher? Might want to read this first. It isn't what it used to be. http://t.co/crCv8wptjw
1 hour ago from web
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| ImFilipinaDoe_ Business is my major but I should of stayed becoming a teacher. Cuz I love math and I'm so good at teaching it. | ||
| 19bhogbin RT @SPiccolo74: Becoming a student teacher a Loyola just to play ultimate
1 hour ago from web
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| TypicalGodGirl So, today a kindergartener held my hand for no reason and it's official I'm becoming a kindergarten teacher. #TheEnd
1 hour ago from web
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| Crystalyn__ Being a Toddler Teacher is so much fun. I'm thinking about becoming a kindergarten teacher in a couple years! (: | ||
Where is your data and citations to back up the nonsense that you're spouting?
I suppose it is my bad luck that -- in need of a job while I figured out what to do with my life and college degree in statistics -- I started to teach high school at a private school. I should have known when more experienced teachers asked me -- six weeks into the semester -- "why are you still smiling?" that I was going to be stuck. How could I know that teaching teenagers mathematics was a skill I would possess in a super-abundance? How could I know that I would never leave the profession once I embarked on it? But here I am, finishing up my 12th year as a public high school teacher, and I feel trapped indeed. I love what I do -- love it with a passion I cannot overcome, and yet I now feel trapped. Trapped in a job I love - and that society dictates I cannot really do, because you are right - nobody wants us to teach. We are glorified baby sitters, jumping through hoop-after-hoop, and nothing we do will ever satisfy the public.
But I wouldn't change a thing. NO job is perfect, nothing is easy. Money runs the game. Education, unfortunately, is no different. But I know that what I have out into this world is going to come back to me. And I have put love, devotion, trust, knowledge, patience, and wisdom out there - where can I find a job that allows me to learn and see others learn as well? You can teach a child to excel on ANY test. CCSS has its pro's and con's.
I would never tell someone not to become a teacher. I constantly recruit students and community members to teach. I have found that selfishness and teaching don't mix, though. I work in a Title I school. I work 7-4 (ok 5...). And dot get pd for anything after 2. But I love my job. I love my students. I know I'm making some difference, and that's enough.
I will say that I'm not totally opposed to merit pay because one of my biggest qualms with teaching is that no matter how good I am at it, I will never be compensated accordingly. However, I'm not sure how to make that work without implementing the silly policies mentioned in the article.
Sorry, I'm writing this in a bad mood after being chewed out by a parent--it's apparently my fault that the kid never shows his parents his grades. I suppose I should hide in his backpack...would THAT earn me a some merit pay?