Teacher Burnout

http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0805/c…

You don't have to flame me if the chart doesn't point to your favorite, I was just sharing something I thought was interesting.

x-posted.

funny how the board mbrs voted to keep their bonuses....

CREW TAKES AWAY SALARY FROM MORE THAN 30,000 TEACHERS AND SUPPORT STAFF IN AFTER-HOURS LEGAL MANUEVER

        Waiting until after business hours last night, Superintendent Rudy Crew, with the backing of five (5) School Board members, took away millions in guaranteed salaries from 33,000 teachers and support staff (as well as from thousands of other employees at the School District).  After the close of business, Crew sent a letter to UTD President Karen Aronowitz informing her that he was slicing all of the contractual salaries for teachers and others that were guaranteed to go into effect July 1, 2008.  All of the employees’ salaries would remain frozen, taking away more than $40 million dollars from the employees.

        Crew, with the backing of Board members Evelyn Green, Martin Karp, Tee Holloway, Gus Barrera and Sol Stinson, broke the United Teachers of Dade contract by reopening salary negotiations, while at the same time unilaterally cutting the salaries.

        “Every educator in Dade County has now seen the real side of Rudy Crew and these five (5) Board members.  Under the cover of night they have broken their promises to the teachers and gutted their July 1, 2008 salaries.  It is inappropriate to balance the School Board budget on the backs of our teachers,” said Karen Aronowitz, President of UTD.

        UTD will fight the salary cuts until this injustice is corrected.  In the meantime, UTD will meet with the District starting sometime this weekend.  UTD will also be taking legal action and engaging in public education activities to expose this covert and completely inappropriate salary cutting maneuver.

        “Dr. Crew and these five (5) school board members could have risen to the occasion, but instead have chosen to run from the crisis.  Our members deserve better,” said Karen Aronowitz, President.  “Board members and Rudy Crew can call it whatever they want. We call it theft.”

If you are taking the FTCE General Knowledge test......especially the Mathematics subtest!


the greatest study aid I found is Cliff Notes FTCE: General Knowledge.

HANDS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!

I feel more confident than ever since I started using it to study. Whatever you do..........dont buy that other book, Worse study aid EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! <<<---------do not do not get!!!!!!!!!


Hope this helps some of you out ;)

i have a very classic oppositional-defiant student in my math class who shuts down completely at the first sign of anxiety. he triggers easily, and once he's triggered there is no carrot or stick i've found to refocus him to school work. he had a rough day yesterday, not doing any work in any class. at the end of the day (my math class) he shut down immediately, and then suddenly snapped, shoving another student to the ground and then fleeing to the bathroom.

sigh.

So, today I had to administer the reading portion of the third grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (or WASL) to my third grade students. One of my boys opted out. Two of three that remain read at a second grade level. One of them reads at a first grade level. One of my 2nd grade level boys muddled through. The other flat out refused, but (thank the powers that be) in a polite way. I had him write out his refusal, and let him return to class.

The other one. *sigh* My little guy who reads at a 1st grade level. He wouldn't refuse. He refused to refuse. He insisted on trying to stumble through the whole text. He insisted on trying to answer the questions. He lay his head down on the table and cried. I was crying, too. In fact, I had to leave the room for a few minutes (there was another proctor there) to collect myself.

I hate this effing test. I hate making my children, who are struggling already with so many mental, emotional, family and social problems, all of which affect their self-worth, take this test that is obviuously too hard for them, and which they could never hope to pass at this time.

I feel like I am torturing them. It feels like abuse. I can't do this. All he had to do was ask to stop, to ask to be excused. I gave him every out I could without saying "Please tell me you're done. Please ask me if you can stop."

At last, near lunchtime, I asked him, "J., are you done, or do you need more time? (pause) Are you done?" He insisted on finishing writing an answer.

I love this kid, and hate myself. Or, at least, I hate what I represent right now...the evil system that forces a kid to feel like crap because they have disabilities and disadvantages.

Okay, so before I ask my question I figured I should give you background. I teach Acting, Stagecraft 1, and Adv. Stagecraft. I am in the shop painting/sawing/drilling almost everyday.

At the beginning of the year I bought a bunch of clothing so I'd look professional. I look young and I teach high school, so that's a bad combo. I quickly found out that another bad combo is professional dress and the movement required of an acting class and the paint of the Stagecraft class. I have lost all of my "nice" clothing to paint. Right now I'm in active production (aka. a show will be premiering on Thursday, so we're in crunch time), so I assumed that it'd be okay that I wore clothing that would facilitate my movement/painting skills.

I was told today that a big concern for me and my future at my school is that my professional attire was lacking. I HAD a wardrobe, it's destroyed, and as I'm a single mother/teacher, I obviously don't have much extra cash laying around. All of the coaches/dance instructors get to wear warmups. The band director wears shorts and a t-shirt when they'e in marching band season. When I suggested that while in production I wore whatever best suited the day in the theatre, it was said that maybe I could change out or something... There's not enough time and/or clothing to do that. I'd only be in "normal" clothing 1 period a day!

Help!?! What do I do? I love this job and I don't want to lose it, but I'm seriously at my wits end.

Am I insane to think that asking an Acting/Stagecraft teacher who is actively constructing to be in traditional professional attire? Now, don't get me wrong, if I'm not actively in the shop I do dress much more professionally, however, not to the level of my colleagues as I still require movement for my acting exercises.

Suggestions?

xposted a smidge

While I don't agree with the general description of teachers thought I would share it anyway

Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked;not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM
with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X30 children
X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is$50,000. $50,000/180days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your
kids!)

WHAT A DEAL!!!!

During class, after several weeks of discussing with one child that you can't talk back to the teacher and that some comments are unnecesary.

"Miss, I know why I always have a comment for everything, because everything you tell me is wrong."

Yes because I can hear your voice and see your lips moving, but it wasn't you talking.... 0_o

X-posted wherever I can

Hey as you may know the Governor of California has just asked schools to cut their budgets by 10% or he has decided to take 4.8 billion dollars away from schools, I am hoping to that everyone in California can help. I have a pre-written letter under the cut that I will be sending home with my students I would love to flood the offices of our representatives with letters of protest. Thanks for your help

Hi, I've found that there are a lot of teacher's aides posting and commenting at teacher communities, and I thought it would be nice for us to have our own community, so I'm starting one.  It's not totally set up yet, but you can find it at <lj user=teachers_aide>. Please comment here or friend the community if you are interested.
Thanks