Teachers Pay To Be Based On Students' Test Scores

[deanws]

Obviously Mr. E knows about teachers and teacher training.

Being a teacher takes skilll, organization and the patience of Jobe. She or he has to be very flexible; sometimes the best laid plans go awry, because of "cut-up" kids, a bad day, or some children who simply have not gotten the foundation necessary for your grade, so you have to start all over with them.

A teacher must have a very good knowledge of curriculum, psychology, child development or any subject he/she teaches. They are under alot of pressure to perform and can be evaluated on a whim. Around here, the poor teachers are weeded out.

THEIR PAY IS THE WORST OF ALL PROFESSIONALS. That is why many leave. For myself, the relationship I have had with children and many parents has made it all worthwhile. I wouldn't trade teaching for anything. But teachers shouldn't be doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They deserve more. Around here at least, the parents are very good and supportive of the teachers.

Also, don't forget about the days when the children were really on a roll and they caught on quickly. You had to go back and redo another plan for the rest of the week. When that happened...it always made me happy!!! Their little faces just glowed with excitement. First graders are the sweetest thing in the world.:angel: They always wanted more and more work. That is why I always thought they were the easiest to teach. I LOVED to teach reading.

 

[close_enough]

in this day & time, i don't see this working, but i could be wrong.....i had a jr high school teacher that told the entire class one day that" i don't care if you learn anything or not; i'm still going to get my bread & butter on the table"...this was years ago in the early 70's....sadly i think that's how a lot of teachers think....not all, but a lot....also, i think a lot of teachers are afraid of students, so they don't want to push any of their "buttons" so to speak....afraid they'll get beat up, stabbed etc....& then you have some students that simply don't WANT to learn & it doesn't matter if the teacher tries to teach any harder/better....

 

[Marthatex]

I think most children want to learn when they're young, but if they become frustrated, fall behind or can't learn because of some disability that is not diagnosed, then by junior high or high school, yes, they ACT like they don't WANT to learn.

Maybe some kids should be steered toward carpentry, mechanics or plumbing by high school. They can SURELY make more money than a teacher and perhaps be more satisfied. I definitely do not think all students should have a college-bound curriculum. There are definitely other choices.

Teaching to the test every day is just plain boring. No wonder alot of the kids are turned off. You bet teachers are afraid of some of the kids. Also kids are much less respectful than they used to be and that is the result of our "lovely" societal influences and language usage by parents these days, as well as not being taught to respect those in authority - whether it be police, teachers or parents, grandparents.

I don't blame parents one bit who put their children in private schools; I would have done the same if we hadn't lived in what was considered a good school district. Also I decided I wanted my children to learn to "roll with the punches". We had good teachers and bad, but they survived it all and somehow managed to do pretty well. Half of what they learn is at home. Book reading included.

 

[Lynni]

Oh, and about evaluations. In many schools, including the one where I teach, a teacher should be prepared to be evaluated at any time. I have had my principal and any one of the many assistant principals walk into my classroom and sit through a lesson. They write up my evaluation, then I get a copy, they get a copy, and a copy goes to the superintendent. All teachers should expect at least one monthly evaluation.

Thank you for posting this-I was one who mentioned teacher evals. I am glad to hear it's done correctly in your district. Ours is the biggest farce I've ever seen. As I mentioned, the teacher gets about 48 (or was it 72?) hours notice the prinicipal is coming for an eval so they can "prepare." If you're a non-tenured teacher, you get 2 evals a year. If you're tenured, you get only one. The principal can come into your room anytime he/she wants, but cannot do a formal eval. based on what you are doing. It's in the teacher's contract.

I know my DH & some friends thought I had the easiest job in the world-you just teach kids, big deal. They never understood why I was ready to collapse on Friday nights. I tried to explain to them that kids don't always want to be taught. I eventually gave up trying to convince them-they just didn't get it. Teaching can be emotionally exhausting as well as physically. It is not a job for the faint of heart, but unfortunately, it is a profession that harbors some lazy people. It's pretty easy to be a lazy teacher, as least in my district. I've seen teachers never correct the students work or others who don't follow the curriculum and other outrageous things. And once those teachers get tenure, that's it, they have it made.

I had one teacher in high school-he was a real winner. He'd hand out these sheets that we were supposed to read on Monday. Then on Wednesday, he'd pass out a quiz that we took over Monday's info. The rest of the week we studied "whatever," was how he put it. "You can just study whatever." He'd leave the class after he passed out the info. sheets or quizzes and come back 5 minutes before the bell rang. Some kids left the class one time to go to McDonald's and saw him there in the drive through. And the funny thing was you'd think the kids really liked having that freedom, but nobody seemed to-the class was always pretty disgusted with that teacher for being such a loser.

 

[deanws]

I think most children want to learn when they're young, but if they become frustrated, fall behind or can't learn because of some disability that is not diagnosed, then by junior high or high school, yes, they ACT like they don't WANT to learn.

Maybe some kids should be steered toward carpentry, mechanics or plumbing by high school. They can SURELY make more money than a teacher and perhaps be more satisfied. I definitely do not think all students should have a college-bound curriculum. There are definitely other choices.

Teaching to the test every day is just plain boring. No wonder alot of the kids are turned off. You bet teachers are afraid of some of the kids. Also kids are much less respectful than they used to be and that is the result of our "lovely" societal influences and language usage by parents these days, as well as not being taught to respect those in authority - whether it be police, teachers or parents, grandparents.

I don't blame parents one bit who put their children in private schools; I would have done the same if we hadn't lived in what was considered a good school district. Also I decided I wanted my children to learn to "roll with the punches". We had good teachers and bad, but they survived it all and somehow managed to do pretty well. Half of what they learn is at home. Book reading included.

Exactly. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[Mr. E]

Lynnie, our principal (principals, including assistants) just walk in at any time. You kind of know if it might happen one day because of word of mouth. Many principals try to hit a certain "pod" on a certain day (English pod, math pod, etc.).

My principal walked in on my worst class of the day on the Friday before Spring Break right before a pep rally! It was insane. Those kids were bouncing off the wall (I'm talking about 11th graders here). I continued with the lesson and managed them as best I could. Afterward, I asked her (the principal), "Why now? Today?" She said she had to get her evals into the superintendant for the month, and it just happened that way. She said she took into consideration the day, and the eval was glowing. They're not there to get us in trouble, they're just doing their jobs, too. Still, when they walk in I get all panicky, even when things are going great!

 

[deanws]

Lynnie, our principal (principals, including assistants) just walk in at any time. You kind of know if it might happen one day because of word of mouth. Many principals try to hit a certain "pod" on a certain day (English pod, math pod, etc.).

My principal walked in on my worst class of the day on the Friday before Spring Break right before a pep rally! It was insane. Those kids were bouncing off the wall (I'm talking about 11th graders here). I continued with the lesson and managed them as best I could. Afterward, I asked her (the principal), "Why now? Today?" She said she had to get her evals into the superintendant for the month, and it just happened that way. She said she took into consideration the day, and the eval was glowing. They're not there to get us in trouble, they're just doing their jobs, too. Still, when they walk in I get all panicky, even when things are going great!

I know what you mean. One time they walked in while I was doing an art project related to social studies. I would have rather been evaluated in math or reading. It turned out well...but Geeze! ART!?! :doh:

 

[Mr. E]

Yay! Art! My school is an Arts in Basic Curriculum School site (I am on the steering committee to get this going), so I am very big on using the arts in the core curriculum.


I agree, Marthatex, that not everybody should be college-bound. I think people should strive to be highly-skilled in their work and to seek the education they need to become highly-skilled, but traditional college isn't for everyone. A long time ago they "tracked" students into a skills-based education or a college-based education, and I'm sure there were a lot of problems with this, but today I am teaching kids who excel at the vocational school (some of my students spend 1/2 day at the "technology center" where they learn everything from cosmotology to masonry) but who fail their core classes. If I didn't have to follow the same curriculum with them as I do with my college prep classes, they might learn to appreciate English and reading. I would rather they grow up to be adult readers than read stuff they can't comprehend, like The Great Gatsby, and be turned off from reading forever. Kids who aren't going to a traditional college should not follow a college curriculum, imo.

Sometimes I think the system is setting kids up to fail. They worry so much about stupid standardized test scores that they forget that schools are supposed to prepare our youth for their future.