Very OT: Educator Survey
I think it's off-season, since the football season is over, so off-topic is okay, correct?\
If not, I apologize, feel free to delete.
I'm working on a Masters' Education program that involves reading levels in the classroom. If you are in education on ANY level, it'd be helpful to have your input on this survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FM93T9Q
Edit: Since some have indicated a willingness to discuss this further, if you are interested to respond or engage in dialogue on the subject of classroom literacy/ reading abilities, please send me an email at the following (temporary email that lasts 24 hours)
Thank you all for taking time to respond to the survey.
December 31st, 2013 at 11:24 AM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 2:04 PM ^
he complete lack of respect teachers get now is depressing. All the ills of society are laid at our feet. We are overpaid, underworked purverors of mediocrity.And do other professions get great respect? Lawyers are ridiculed all the time. Lots of people hate doctors, businessmen, government officials, you name it. People are going to bitch about whatever. Ultimately, it's your choice to internalize it or brush it off. Personally, for every person I've known that ridicules the teaching profession, I've known probably 4-5 who tell me "Wow, that must be a tough job."
December 31st, 2013 at 2:44 PM ^
The difference is that physicians, lawyers, etc don't have state and federal legislatures drafting up legislation to take away their salaries and tenure. It is distressing when I see some state legislature blaming me for the ills of society or some kid that cannot read. How am I supposed to teach who comes to class hungry everyday due to not having ANY food at their apartment or falling asleep everyday in class due to spending the night in a women and children shelter. I see students for one 1/24 of their day. The other 18/24th hours of the day directly impacts if they are even going to have the capacity to learn. 1/4 of my freshmen biology students this year have been suspended for drug use. I have four students who have shown up a grand total of three days this semester. Yet, I am expected to teach them how to decode DNA into the constituent amino acid chain.
There is a reason I am planning on going back to school for either my EdD or a JD after my wife finishes her masters.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:26 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 4:47 PM ^
Good point, and one that I have pondered frequently. I am in post-secondary now after several years in K-12, and my dad was a high-school teacher his whole career, and my mom and my grandmothers and my brother and my sister-in-law, and my wife, have all taught or are still teaching. I have used the "no respect" line myself, and thought about what it means, and in the end the thing that pisses me off is the pay. People could make jokes about me all day long, like they do about lawyers, if I got paid like they do. I have friends who are doctors that make 5 times what I do, or businessmen with considerably less education who make double my salary. The "respect" thing, especially in our society, means having your hard work rewarded, and when you don't, it's easy to feel dis-respected.
EDIT: this is meant as a reply to #36, BTW.
December 31st, 2013 at 10:15 PM ^
The lack of respect goes beyond pay and general comments and attitudes though. My mother in law taught at a Catholic High School for nearly 30 years. When she first started teaching, she said parent-teacher conferences (meet the teacher nights) were productive and constructive, and the attitude of most parents was "what can I do to make sure Johnny is doing what he's supposed to be doing--what can I do at home to help Johnny improve." Eventually that changed to what she called beat the teacher nights, and the attitude of parents was more along the lines of "how dare you fail my darling, brilliant, and morally upstanding Johnny." If that weren't bad enough, somewhere along the way administrators started caving in to parental, school board, and other pressures and pretty much put the onus on teachers to ensure their students passed.
She also blamed Sesame Street for changing the mindset of students (I think there were a lot more factors and this mindset has only accelerated as the years have gone by) to where there is an expectation that they be entertained more than educated,
December 31st, 2013 at 1:46 PM ^
I'm the one that thinks reading is very over-rated as a means of learning and would be very happy to explain why and what I've seen while teaching. If you want a contrarian view to what I expect the norm to be, feel free to contact me. I teach chemistry and physics and would be happy to explain why I feel that reading is either irrelevant or negatively impacts the learning of those subjects, although I do like reading and think that people should enjoy reading, but it doesn't help people understand science at all and I think has hugely crippled our teaching and understanding of science.
December 31st, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^
That is good and all except when it comes to when my students are expected to perform on common assessments which directly assess a student's ability read and write at a technical point of view. I would love to use a modeling approach (have done so extensively early on). I feel I am doing my student more of a service for later on in their education and post-secondary careers if I am teaching them how to read. I couldn't care less if my students know how to use a Punnett square three years after they have me. That is a skill only for taking the MME, ACT, and AP test. Having worked as a molecular biologist and done a bit of genetics, nobody actually uses Punnett squares outside of high school and freshman college biology. However, technical reading and writing is an essential skill for success in STEM careers.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:11 PM ^
So what are the kids supposed to do when they get to more advanced levels and have to read complex studies with technical wording?
December 31st, 2013 at 3:16 PM ^
My dad has been teaching for 27 years and his first comment when it come to the pay has been that it is just about right. The benefits he receives and the time off, roughly 3 months a year, is not something you're going to find in 99% of the professions out there.
From my view point, I loved having my dad home over the school breaks with me while I was growing up. I never had to spend summers at the babysitter and had my family around for the entire Thanksgiving and Christmas break. Some of the beat memories I had growing are because his schedule allowed him to be home at certain hours and when I wasn't in school he wasn't either. He could coach my sports teams or simply watch whatever activity I was involved in.
Also, my wife is a teacher in a low income school district. All of her student loans were federal and because she worked in a low income area about 90% of her student loans were forgiven after 5 years of teaching. I'm not sure this is the same everywhere but for us it was close to a $20,000 bonus.
Honestly the only negative thing I have witnessed from the family member side of education is that it is expensive to travel when teachers have time off. July and Christmas are very expensive times to fly anywhere. If you keep that in mind it is not a surprise when booking airfare to Hawaii.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:05 PM ^
I think the subject is a huge part of the workload. I teach English at the high school level, and I feel like all I do is work and sleep during the school year. I just don't see how people with families do it.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:39 PM ^
Going to post your survey to my Twitter PLN as well. That should help bring in some more reponses for you. Good luck in your research!
December 31st, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^
Thank you!
Again, if you wish to answer further questions/ are willing to dialogue about the topic of greater literacy levels in the classroom, the use of strategies such as context clue, shoot an email to me:
The above email is temporary, however.