Is it horrible for a teacher to pop in a movie???

[torinsmom]

And another thought if it is so terrible why again in this area are there at least 50 if not more qualified applicants for each job posted? There sure aren't 50 qualified RN's or Pharmacists for each job opening.

Wow! I am amazed at that! In North Carolina, there are 2-3 schools fighting over ONE teacher! And no one said that teaching is terrible. It IS stressful, in a way that only someone who has been there, done that knows. Most teachers love what they do, or else they wouldn't be doing it for such low compensation.


A few years ago, I had brain surgery for a congenital defect. My room parent arranged for a different parent to volunteer each morning for 3 hours and another every afternoon for 2 hours for the two weeks I was out(with the other teacher and an assistant present). When I came back, I had parents tell me that they had planned on working for the morning at school and then going on to work. Well, guess what? After doing a small fraction of what I do everyday, they called in to work and went home to rest! LOL Same thing happens almost every month after field trips.

I told my administrator that when a parent complains that the teacher isn't doing enough, they should encourage that parent to spend a day working in the classroom alongside the teacher. It would probably blow their minds!

Marsha

 

[speedydisteen]

If you teach, how do you feel about putting in movies?

I'm not talking about educational shows that go along with the curriculum. I'm talking about fluff cartoons or movies.

Today, I was a bad teacher and popped in a movie that had no real educational content. It was only 30 minutes, and I was literally about to blow my top and I needed a BREAK!

I feel bad about it now, but it was Friday afternoon, dang it!

How do you feel about putting in movies occasionally? Do you feel guilty when you do?

my mom does it as a reward. it's fine.

 

[ADisneygirl]

Most days we don't have the option of popping in a movie. All vidoes must be related to the curriculum we are teaching and must be in our lesson plans as well. The only exception I can think of is the day before a holiday -- like the day before Christmas break we get to watch a Christmas cartoon during the afternoon class party.

Things are very strict in my county.

 

[pajamommy]

I teach preschool (all-day, daycare school-readiness program) and I let my kids watch a little bit of movie everyday. They takes naps, so before their nap, while on their cots and settling down, I pop in a movie for 15-20 mins. They love it. They know that when I shut off the movie it is time to sleep, and I go around and cover them all up and say goodnight! Sometimes we also watch a movie on Fridays, with popcorn....the kids love to bring in their own movies from home to share with their friends.

 

[Dina]

Noone said teaching is terrible (I loved it)--- however a few people flamed the OP because they can't spend a half hour at work popping in a video. I'm just saying that it's comparing apples to oranges, because most people probably come home--- and their work day is done, and that's not true for teachers. I just found the comparisons a little unjust.

 

[poohs_hunny]

I invite anyone so bent out of shape about a teacher showing ONE thirty minute fluff video during a whole school year to come and take my job - you'd obviously be much better at it than I am!

ITA. I have no problem when others post differing opinions, but I do have a problem when it's done in a disrespectful way that implies teachers who put in a video are "slacking off" or trying to get out of work. That's the last I'm going to say about this, because as a previous poster said, when it comes to understanding how hard teachers work, you either get it or you don't.

 

[mrsg00fy]

I don't have a problem with it.

 

[miss missy]

My DD 7th grade social studys , has seen parts of happy gilmore, billy madison, the mummy and "that baseball one with the scary dog?" so far have no idea what the teacher was thinking.. I don't care tho.. what the heck

DD she said "like if we write alot that class, like take alot of notes then he will put on a movie for the last 10 minutes "

 

[summerrluvv]

Wow! I am amazed at that! In North Carolina, there are 2-3 schools fighting over ONE teacher! And no one said that teaching is terrible. It IS stressful, in a way that only someone who has been there, done that knows. Most teachers love what they do, or else they wouldn't be doing it for such low compensation.

I'm not quite sure that the compensation is that low. Teachers have the summer off, school holidays off and in our district work about 190 days (counting inservice days) out of the year. The annual salary sounds low, but when you factor in the days actually worked, even counting that extra couple hours of grading papers at home, it's not that bad.

 

[Planogirl]

I see nothing wrong with an occasional video. I can see where the teacher could use a break and so could the kids! As long as they're not behind, what is the big deal?

 

[torinsmom]

I'm not quite sure that the compensation is that low. Teachers have the summer off, school holidays off and in our district work about 190 days (counting inservice days) out of the year. The annual salary sounds low, but when you factor in the days actually worked, even counting that extra couple hours of grading papers at home, it's not that bad.

Well, in NC, teachers are still paid well below what other careers with a 4 year degree pay. When all is said and done, I work at least 40 hours a week AT school, plus the work I do at home, parent conferences(done before and after school)etc. We do get summers off, UNPAID I might add, but speaking for myself, I do a lot of the planning for the next year then, and also spend many hours of my own time preparing my classroom before the start of the school year. We have 190 school days in our calendar, plus 9 professional days we have to be there, plus 5 days before school starts when we have
meetings and workshops that are mandatory.

Teaching is a very stressful job. If we didn't have some perks, like having summers away from school, there would be an even greater teacher shortage.

Marsha

 

[aprilgail2]

I'm not quite sure that the compensation is that low. Teachers have the summer off, school holidays off and in our district work about 190 days (counting inservice days) out of the year. The annual salary sounds low, but when you factor in the days actually worked, even counting that extra couple hours of grading papers at home, it's not that bad.

Holy cow when I did the math based on that my brother is making over 500 a DAY. There are 8 periods in the day, he only works for 3 of them, the rest of hte time he is senior class advisor and he normally gets all his grading and prep done during his down time from that.
My daughters teacher last week was relieved by a sub in the second half of the day so she could get the report cards done, they don't even have to do those on their own time here...And I know for a fact that her teacher does not put in extra hours at the school, We see her driving in when the bus is picking my daughter up and she usually is driving back down the block after school before the school bus even gets here! On Fridays they have a work room and a movie room, there are THREE second grade teachers , one takes the work room, one takes the movie room and the thrid one gets free time to do as she wishes! They also get a nice lunch break while the kids are at lunch and recess because I see them at local places sitting down and having a nice lunch, so no working through lunch for them either...

 

[Feralpeg]

I'm not quite sure that the compensation is that low. Teachers have the summer off, school holidays off and in our district work about 190 days (counting inservice days) out of the year. The annual salary sounds low, but when you factor in the days actually worked, even counting that extra couple hours of grading papers at home, it's not that bad.

I have no idea what other teachers make. I take home $2000.00 a month after tax. I go to work at 7:30 am and leave school at 4pm. I get 20 minutes for lunch. No other breaks. I normally work at least one to two hours each evening grading papers or going over yearbook pages to make sure we meet the deadlines. I teach high school English, yearbook and computer class for middle school. I normally work about 4 hours on Sunday afternoon preparing materials for the next week. It is true that teachers have the summer off, but we do have preplanning and post planning meetings we attend before and after the school year begins.

Until this year, I had not taught in 30 years. During those 30 years, I was a Systems Manager for a large software company. I was used to calls during the night, deadlines, problem employees and pulling 48 hour straight shifts during conversions. It took just five months of teaching school for me to develop an ulcer. Teaching is by far more stressful (at least for me) than the IT industry ever was. I don't know about other teachers, but I can't leave the issues at school. I constantly stress over how to reach those kids that aren't doing well. It just isn't for me.

You guys are hearing it before anyone else. I will not be continuing to teach next year. I have my resignation letter ready and will be turning it in at the end of this next week. I will finish the school year and then I'm done.

I am in awe of those of you who teach. I guess I am just too old and don't have enough patience to do this anymore. Those of you who do have my greatest admiration!

 

[mytwotinks]

OK, how about food? That's right - we can't because of allergies and nutrition issues. Small toys? Then parents will complain (probably not to the teacher's face) that the kids are getting junk that just takes up space. Any other ideas? My kids can only stand so many cutesy pencils...

~Why not have a parent come in and do a craft with the kids.
~Have a parent come in and read a story to the kids.
~There is usually at least one fireman/police officer parent in every class that could come in and talk to the kids.
~Have the kids play bingo and let one of the kids call out the numbers

Honestly, the movie thing drives me crazy. I know that there are kids in my dd's school who don't even watch t.v. at home and every parent has a different idea of what shows are appropriate for their kids to watch. There are many cartoons that my kids would not be allowed to watch. Someone mentioned the Simpsons earlier and I would honestly be mad if my kid was shown the Simpsons. There are other "treats" that a teacher can give her class besides food and movies.

That being said. If it was the first time of the year and my kids teacher was at the end of her rope and needed to take a 30 minute break to regain her composure, I would be o.k. with that. I think that is a much better reason than a reward for the class.

 

[summerrluvv]

Well, in NC, teachers are still paid well below what other careers with a 4 year degree pay. When all is said and done, I work at least 40 hours a week AT school, plus the work I do at home, parent conferences(done before and after school)etc. We do get summers off, UNPAID I might add, but speaking for myself, I do a lot of the planning for the next year then, and also spend many hours of my own time preparing my classroom before the start of the school year. We have 190 school days in our calendar, plus 9 professional days we have to be there, plus 5 days before school starts when we have
meetings and workshops that are mandatory.

Teaching is a very stressful job. If we didn't have some perks, like having summers away from school, there would be an even greater teacher shortage.

Marsha

The point is, your Summer is unpaid, so when you take your yearly salary divided by the number of days you actually work, it's not as low as everyone makes it out to be.

No one said it wasn't stressful. My job is stressful. Doctors, Lawyers, EMT's, Customer Service reps, etc. all have stressful jobs too.

I'm sure it's regional, but there is no teacher shortage around here.

 

[iloveboardwalk]

I can't believe how passionate some people are about one silly 30 minute video.

OP, that's it, you've deprived your students of 30 minutes of education and none of them will get into Harvard now, you must now go hang your head in shame.

I wouldn't have a problem with it if it were one 30 minute video with no educational value every week. Sheesh, lighten up.

 

[Hannathy]

No teacher shortage in the midwest either. Yes teachers were underpaid many, many years ago but not lately. The teachers I know about my age make as much if not more than I would make in my job and that is for working 185 days a year, of course subtract their 2 personal days and that brings it down to 183 days, no weekends, holidays either and as I showed they really only teach a bit over 6 hrs a day, but the have to be there 8hrs. but I would have to work a lot more than 183 days to do it! Some teachers have a lot of take home but others don't- how many papers does a kindergarten teacher have to correct that she can't check in an hour at school? How about Phys Ed teachers? I could put up with a lot of stress for $55,000 a year and their hours. Of course what job that pays 50 thous. doesn't have stress? Plus ours have excellent very cheap benefits, good beyond belief retirement and a guaranteed 4% raise a year. and you wonder why there are so many applicants.

 

[TJ's Mom]

No teacher shortage in the midwest either. Yes teachers were underpaid many, many years ago but not lately. The teachers I know about my age make as much if not more than I would make in my job and that is for working 185 days a year, of course subtract their 2 personal days and that brings it down to 183 days, no weekends, holidays either and as I showed they really only teach a bit over 6 hrs a day, but the have to be there 8hrs. but I would have to work a lot more than 183 days to do it! Some teachers have a lot of take home but others don't- how many papers does a kindergarten teacher have to correct that she can't check in an hour at school? How about Phys Ed teachers? I could put up with a lot of stress for $55,000 a year and their hours. Of course what job that pays 50 thous. doesn't have stress? Plus ours have excellent very cheap benefits, good beyond belief retirement and a guaranteed 4% raise a year. and you wonder why there are so many applicants.

This is too funny! For some it might be true but not most. Lets rework your facts. 185 days (for average), time on the weekend (will add 10 days for the year for that since it is just a few hours a Saturday), we can add another 10 days for timed worked in the summer that you don't get paid. 13 years experience = 44,000. And 6 hours a day? - Too funny. Try closer to 10. And most teachers don't teach PE. I have 150 kids at the high school AP level.

 

[Hannathy]

TJ's Mom If you go back a few posts I showed that an Elem. Teacher in our district has the Children for 6 hrs and 16 minutes a day. The other thing is the lunch is included in the 8 hrs not added which is the norm for most jobs you work 8.5 hrs a day. Even adding your days which I don't think are as many as you say, you are still way under the average worker works in a year for the for the money. At the HS level they teach 5 class periods out of 8 hrs , have a free lunch hour, have a prep period, and most monitor a study hour - which is actually another prep period but they have to stay in the room.


But don't take my word on it how about the US bureau of Labor statistics which puts the average teacher in the US as making $34.06 an hour. The WSJ stated that teachers make about 20% more than other comparable white collar workers of the same educational level. They are also one of the very few professions that still get automatic raises based on years worked.

 

[ariel & eric]

As a teacher I do it occassionally, but I usually have one that pertains to the curriculum. No cartoons for my high schoolers. Somedays I just don't have what it takes to deal with them.