Please Ignore

[Tazicket]

My third grade teacher was fabulous except for two minor details: she hated children and she hated teaching. Other than that, she rocked.

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

we have had some great ones that got into teaching because they love it, unfortunatly our school has many that seem to be there for the substantial paycheck, vacation and benefits that only exist there. I hear teachers complain all the time about what they are required to do vs what they are paid and truthfully they don't realize what it is like to work in the real world where sick days don't exist, paid holidays are down to 2 a year and vacation is minimal.

 

[Cap.Steamboat Willie]

"Teachers are horrible, delusional, money hungry, and lazy people who hate kids and love to torture them for sport."

I was a part of "the real world" and must tell you that teaching is a much harder life and career path. But that is just my opinion.

Don't believe me?

Pick up a piece of chalk and have at it.

Hey according to some teaching is easy-street, isn't it?

Well, then jump on in, the water is fine.

I have just the eighth grade class I wish to introduce you to who are dying to show you their eager faces and parents that share your point of view.

 

[EKW]

I find it sad that, as a future teacher, you would encourage the general public to use this forum to list the failures of the the teachers they deem "bad"...perhaps even name these people publicly...for your entertainment.

Let me offer a little perspective from the experienced...if you want to count 27 years in teaching as valid experience...EVERY teacher is a good teacher and EVERY teacher is a bad teacher. Once you have a few years under your belt you'll find that as much as we would like for every teacher to be a perfect match for every child, it just isn't going to happen. The qualities that one student adores are the very qualities that another detests.

Point-in-case: one of the most popular teachers I've ever known is a teacher I avoided. Why? He was loud; he was all about the humor, even when it was beyond juvenile; he was a toucher...as in, he gave wet willies. To me, being in a room with him for an hour was torture. The vast majority of his students loved him.

You're living in a culture that celebrates teacher-bashing. The biggest crisis in education is the manufactured lack of respect and trust...all the "cool kids" (politicians....political parties) revel in any bit of bad educational news that comes along. And, if they can't find any, the media, which gave up pretending to be fair and unbiased long ago, will manufacture some for them.

You need to show a little respect for the profession. I know the ivory tower folks...the professors who can't prepare anyone to be an effective teacher, but who can make sure you all know the "facts" about how horrible current educators are...have told you that you and your peers will save the world. Guess what? When you get that license and sign your first contract, they will then be talking about YOU.

Have a little pride...encourage others to see the good that teachers are doing every day. You will have a long, miserable career if you are negative about teachers and teaching.

 

[darrengs]

Strict teachers who have established expectations for student behavior, work quality, and respect are often regarded as "bullies", or "bad" often by parents who want to be their child's friend instead of their child's parent.

I can't talk about other parents, but in my case I consider a teacher that makes fun of a childs athletic ability a bully. Or a teacher that tells a student they didn't deserve to win the school wide spelling bee, because the word they won with was too easy, then after seeing the student was upset telling them to go back to your seat and cry like always, I consider them a bully. The damage these two teachers have done to my son has been extremely hard to overcome.

I teach in a Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth Grade school. I have seen too many parents who think that teachers are their enemy.

Instead of working with them and working as a team, they allow their child to pit one against the other.

Unfortunately it seems to me that the priority is not children first but is money, or else I would not have had to hire a Child Advocate and "play hardball" to get my daughter what she is required to have by law, despite her disability.



With that said teaching is an extremely hard job that requires a special person. There is no way I could have been a teacher and my hat goes off to those that choose this profession and are good at it.

 

[kaligal]

I find it sad that, as a future teacher, you would encourage the general public to use this forum to list the failures of the the teachers they deem "bad"...perhaps even name these people publicly...for your entertainment.

Let me offer a little perspective from the experienced...if you want to count 27 years in teaching as valid experience...EVERY teacher is a good teacher and EVERY teacher is a bad teacher. Once you have a few years under your belt you'll find that as much as we would like for every teacher to be a perfect match for every child, it just isn't going to happen. The qualities that one student adores are the very qualities that another detests.

Point-in-case: one of the most popular teachers I've ever known is a teacher I avoided. Why? He was loud; he was all about the humor, even when it was beyond juvenile; he was a toucher...as in, he gave wet willies. To me, being in a room with him for an hour was torture. The vast majority of his students loved him.

You're living in a culture that celebrates teacher-bashing. The biggest crisis in education is the manufactured lack of respect and trust...all the "cool kids" (politicians....political parties) revel in any bit of bad educational news that comes along. And, if they can't find any, the media, which gave up pretending to be fair and unbiased long ago, will manufacture some for them.

You need to show a little respect for the profession. I know the ivory tower folks...the professors who can't prepare anyone to be an effective teacher, but who can make sure you all know the "facts" about how horrible current educators are...have told you that you and your peers will save the world. Guess what? When you get that license and sign your first contract, they will then be talking about YOU.

Have a little pride...encourage others to see the good that teachers are doing every day. You will have a long, miserable career if you are negative about teachers and teaching.

I think that when people start a job - any job, really - it's a good idea to look around at others and take note of things they'd like to emulate as well as things they never want to do.

It's also not a bad idea to ask the people they'll be serving what they like and don't like.

 

[pdarrah]

I'm probably going to get jumped on for this, but no, not EVERY teacher is a good teacher. There are teachers who are bullies as darrengs described, there are teachers who do a great deal of harm to students - in this day and age it isn't physical harm, but the emotional harm can take years to deal with. I recounted a little bit of my son's 1st grade experience earlier - he started middle school today and was deeply concerned he could get another teacher like her - it has been 6 years and he still clearly remembers how miserable he was.

Yes, there are some amazing teachers out there. My son's 6th grade teacher was fantastic. My MIL just retired from teaching and knowing her and all the extra things she did, I am sure she was fantastic for her students. I don't think most of us are talking about teaching style with the good/bad discussion - 2 of the teachers my son was most comfortable with were considered "mean" and "too strict" by many of the other students. The majority of parents I have met have no problem with a strict teacher as long as the rules are applied fairly and to everyone. Yes, there are also bad parents who refuse to believe their little darling could ever do anything wrong - I wouldn't be surprised if they consider the teacher the enemy, but the majority of parents I know at our school just want the kids to be reasonably happy and learn something.

Those of you who think all teachers are getting a "bad rap" must be in very special school districts (or maybe private schools?) I have spent the last 6 years as a parent with a child at a K-6 grade school. I have made a point of talking to other parents all over the country to see if they have the same type of concerns or if our district is a problem. Parents throughout the country (California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana and my state of Illinois are among the folks with whom I've discussed this.) are telling me it is not just my school.

We have a PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization) which I have been involved with for 6 years. In that time, no teacher has ever attended a meeting. They are always invited. Trying to be understanding, that after a day at school they may not want to come back for a meeting, we have several times tried sending letters and surveys to the teachers asking for their input/feedback/ideas on what we can do improve our school. Do you know how many of those letters or surveys have ever received a response? ONE time a single teachers returned a survey.

Our grade school had a few special events during the year - a Welcome Back picnic at the beginning of the year, a Family Reading Night, a fun-fair type of thing to raise money to pay for buses for field trips, and a book fair in the spring. Very occasionally, one or two teachers will show up or even participate in one of these events. The vast majority have never once bothered. A few parents have asked teachers directly why they don't do this - mostly the response is "I was busy that day and couldn't make it" but sometimes they have been told "we don't get paid extra to come to these things, so we don't do it" (I'm pretty sure I was never paid extra to attend the corporate family picnic, but I still went.)

One of the most frustrating things for me as a parent has been homework. I make darn sure my son gets it done on time and turned in. Then we wait and wait and wait to get it back graded. Much of it is never seen again. Often, it is returned weeks or even months after it was turned in. By the time we see it again, it is almost useless in terms of feedback. A couple years ago one of the parents in our class was so concerned about this, she went in to discuss it with the teacher. She was told that they only get a little time during the school day for grading and she certainly wasn't going to bring it home to grade! She doesn't get paid to grade at home.

Yes, there are wonderful teachers out there. I'm sure that many DO take work home and DO care enough about their school and students to be active members of the community. However; there are too many who see it as nothing more than a paycheck and are putting in the minimum effort needed to receive that paycheck. Sorry, those teachers do not have my respect.

I was really hoping that moving to the middle school this year might be different. Last week, there was a "walk-through day" for the kids to come and walk from class to class so they are more familiar with the school the first day. Basically, the school was open for about 2 hours and all the administration folks were there (principle, asst. principles, staff, etc.). We had asked at registration if teachers would be there so the kids would have a chance to meet them and were told that they are always invited but it is not part of their contract so they are not required to attend. I rather naively hoped that at least a couple of my son's teachers would be there just so the first school day wouldn't be as scary. Not a single teacher was there that day. We walked the entire building several times (his classes are all over!) and not a single classroom had a teacher. I'm still hoping that this isn't how these next 2 years are going to be - maybe the district didn't remind them about the walk-through day or something, but I admit I'm concerned.

 

[DisneyKevin]

I find it sad that, as a future teacher, you would encourage the general public to use this forum to list the failures of the the teachers they deem "bad"...perhaps even name these people publicly...for your entertainment.

I think this is just a bit harsh.

This seems to be a civil conversation and after reading through it, I think there are some good learning moments from the points of view of both teachers and "pupils".

As a kid, I was chubby and not at all athletically gifted. I had a gym teacher who made sure that I was humiliated every time I was in his presence. I can still hear him saying to my classmates "if you want to score a point...throw the ball to Klose. He'll either drop it or wont know what to do with it."

As a middle aged man, I can see (hopefully) that his goal was to try and embarrass me to do better. I can tell you that it had the EXACT opposite effect on me. I have avoided sports my entire life, knowing that I wouldnt be good at it.

This happened almost 40 years ago.

My telling you this is not an attempt to bash teachers. I taught for 10 years and have NEVER had a more exhausting, but rewarding job.

I share this story as a testament that a teacher's words can have a lasting impression and shape a child's life in both a very positive and a very negative way.

 

[wendydarling826]

I find the various points of view on this thread very interesting. I have been a teacher for 20 years, and I love what I do and hope to be able to continue to teach for many more years. I know that there are many parents who think I am a very good teacher. There are also some who probably enjoy bashing me on the soccer field and every other chance they get. I agree that a lot of teacher bashing goes on, but there are also many parents who appreciate our efforts on behalf of their children. I would like to specifically address a couple of points made by a previous poster that highlight a difference in expectations that can lead to some parents' criticism of teachers. The first is the issue of teachers attending events outside the school day. It's hard for me to believe that there is a school where no teacher ever attended a PTO meeting. I attend most of the Home and School evening meetings at the school where I teach, but I sometimes miss one. I have a family and a life outside of school too. I do not feel I have to attend Family Bingos, Book Fairs, Breakfasts with Santa and the like. They are functions planned for families to enjoy and I do not see why it is necessary for me to be there. I can assure you that I grade papers, plan lessons, attend workshops and engage in professional activities every night and weekend of the school year. I think it's unreasonable to expect that teachers attend your kids' outside of the school day events too.
The second point I take issue with is the issue of grading homework, and it goes to the point of homework. Homework can have different purposes, but usually it is not assigned for purposes of assessment. When the purpose of a homework assignment is to practice a skill, the point of it is to practice. I go over these assignments with my students in class, address any problem areas and move on. There is no need to mark every paper and send it back home. Theoretically, a parent has already seen the child's homework, so there's no need for a grade to inform the parents about how their kid did. When the purpose of a homework assignment is to prepare for the next day's lesson, the assessment is built in - either the student is prepared or not prepared. If the purpose of the assignment is to assess, then of course I mark the papers and return them with a grade, but that's the least common scenario.
Parents have different ideas about what makes a good teacher. Some want a teacher who is knowledgeable and can impart that knowledge to their child and help them excel. Some want a teacher who makes every day fun and games. Some want a teacher who gives no homework and doesn't ask the parents to do annoying things like taking their kid to the library. But what most parents want most of all is a teacher who cares about their kid. I know I'm not the perfect teacher, but I am a teacher who genuinely cares for every kid I teach.

 

[Cap.Steamboat Willie]

...This happened almost 40 years ago.

My telling you this is not an attempt to bash teachers. I taught for 10 years and have NEVER had a more exhausting, but rewarding job.

I share this story as a testament that a teacher's words can have a lasting impression and shape a child's life in both a very positive and a very negative way.

I think what occured to you was horrible. I understand that anything negative that is said to a child that damages their self-esteem can and does have long term devastating effects. I think that this is common sense, but as Julie has often quoted "common-sense is not so common anymore" - Dr. Phil

My question, however, is why just teachers?

I know it is now cliché but it truly does "take a village" working together to raise a child. Unfortunately not everyone in the village is great at it. I am sure there are teachers who have marred students and should be made accountable.

My sister is a retired Kindergarten teacher (26 years in the profession).

I cannot tell you how many children came to her already damaged by their parents. Mentally and (I hate to say) physically.

I keep going back to that scene in Parenthood (1989) "You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog, to drive a car - heck, you even need a license to catch a fish. But they'll let any ___ be a father."

There are good and bad people in the world.

Parents and parenting is an extremely difficult calling, but no one raises their children without making mistakes along the way.

I do not think that this thread is providing anything substantive that is not covered by the "Golden Rule". Unfortunately, singling out one profession to criticize is a bit unfair and tends to paint the entire profession with the same brush (as indicated by a previous poster's "real-world" statement).

Just as I do not think that a "Good" and "Bad Parents thread, no matter how well intentioned, would yield an accurate portrait of typical parents or a definitive explanation of what is a "Good" or "Bad" parent.

Teachers are not "holier than tho". And although teachers graduate college, have achieved a Master degree in education, and are under a constant microscope, I can guarantee that in the dynamic interactive classroom environment something will be perceived as improper by fellow teachers, students or parents.

I think that "complacency" is the real enemy of any profession.

I have been blessed in my career and have been paid many a compliment by students, parents and even colleagues (the trifecta). And although I've been referred to as a Master teacher by my principal and been a mentor to many a first year teacher, I never take it to heart. I have over twenty years teaching but still never stop learning how to improve my craft.

But then again I think that everyone should be striving to be better, student, parent and teacher alike.

Have fun teaching and take all the B.S. (Bachelor of Science of course) that will come your way with a grain of salt.

 

[DisneyKevin]

I think teachers stand out because they are the people you spend the most time with, other than your parents, when you are growing up.

I think it's also because we were always taught to respect our teachers and I think kids want to please their teachers. At least I did.

I also think teachers are portrayed as the most authoritative adult in a kids life other than a parent.

 

[Cap.Steamboat Willie]

I agree with you Kevin.

You and I are about the same age and hate to say this but we are dinosaurs.

Unfortunately the overall tone in schools has changed.

I'm teaching in the same school I attended from first grade through sixth grade.

We are now a Pre-K through grade eight school.

When I first started teaching my fifth and sixth grade teachers were still teaching and could never refer to them by their first name even though we were colleagues.

I've had four of my former students come back and are now teachers in our school.

It has been a thrill seeing them flourish and I am very proud of them (they are respectful highly motivated teachers)...however the respect that once was taught to students by parents has diminished greatly.

It is incredible how much I have to fight to make parents realize we are on the same side in wanting the best for their child.

"The times they are a changing" - Dylan (Bob not Thomas)

 

[pdarrah]

I would like to specifically address a couple of points made by a previous poster that highlight a difference in expectations that can lead to some parents' criticism of teachers. The first is the issue of teachers attending events outside the school day. It's hard for me to believe that there is a school where no teacher ever attended a PTO meeting. I attend most of the Home and School evening meetings at the school where I teach, but I sometimes miss one. I have a family and a life outside of school too. I do not feel I have to attend Family Bingos, Book Fairs, Breakfasts with Santa and the like. They are functions planned for families to enjoy and I do not see why it is necessary for me to be there. I can assure you that I grade papers, plan lessons, attend workshops and engage in professional activities every night and weekend of the school year. I think it's unreasonable to expect that teachers attend your kids' outside of the school day events too.

I do not doubt that you are a good teacher. I know that there are many good teachers - however, I cannot agree that ALL teachers are good and all are there "for the children".

Yes, I am absolutely serious that not a single teacher has attended a PTO meeting during the 6 years my son was at our K-6 school (he was there for 1-6 grade). This was of MAJOR concern to the PTO and was discussed at nearly every meeting during those 6 years. We attempted to have some meetings immediately after school in hopes the occasional teacher would attend - all that did was cut down the number of parents who could be there.

This is the number one reason I started asking people all over about their experiences with their grade schools. I thought at first this was a problem unique to our school. I first started to talking to people in our district with children who attended the other 5 elementary schools. What I found was that 2 of the school had a teacher show up at 1 or 2 meetings per year - it was the same teacher - they never had any others attend. The other 3 schools had the same situation we had - absolutely no teacher involvement in the PTO. I then started asking people outside our district - maybe this was just something wrong in our school district. I talked to personal friends, people from work, DIS friends, friends from another fandom I'm involved it. I found a few people who were very lucky and their teachers were involved in whatever organization their school had (PTO/PTA or whatever). The vast majority were similar to our schools - at best 1 or 2 teachers would come to a couple of meetings each year - many had our situation of none. We have about 7 PTO meetings per year - so over 6 years there have been 42 opportunities for even 1 teacher to attend, but it has never happened.

I certainly do not expect every teacher to attend every evening/weekend event at the school. We only have 4 and none of them are Family bingo or meet Santa type things. Probably the closest we have is a Welcome Picnic within the 1st couple weeks of school starting. Family Reading Night is intended to encourage the children to read more at home. The fun fair's purpose was to raise money to pay for buses for field trips - without the PTO, there would be NO field trips as our district eliminated funding for the buses years ago. The book fair is one of those Scholastic things and the teachers get books for their classrooms from it. Would occasionally attending just 1 of these events be that hard? If a teacher never comes to PTO or 1 of these events, is their only contact with their student's parents at the 1 parent-teacher conference in November?

The second point I take issue with is the issue of grading homework, and it goes to the point of homework. Homework can have different purposes, but usually it is not assigned for purposes of assessment. When the purpose of a homework assignment is to practice a skill, the point of it is to practice. I go over these assignments with my students in class, address any problem areas and move on. There is no need to mark every paper and send it back home. Theoretically, a parent has already seen the child's homework, so there's no need for a grade to inform the parents about how their kid did. When the purpose of a homework assignment is to prepare for the next day's lesson, the assessment is built in - either the student is prepared or not prepared. If the purpose of the assignment is to assess, then of course I mark the papers and return them with a grade, but that's the least common scenario.

I didn't go into detail on the type of homework since I thought my post was already too long. I really don't care about getting worksheets of addition problems back. I DO care about getting back tests, book reports, essays and work of that nature. I have learned that if I want to have a copy of something my son has written for an assignment, I better xerox it before it gets turned in since we may never see it again. Some teachers return these - some even do it within a week or two. Others return them months later (at the end of 4th grade my son came home the last week with 2 inches of paper which included assignments that had been turned in before Christmas break.) Many of his 5th grade writings NEVER came home. There are a couple essays he wrote that I feel badly that I will never have a copy. (He wrote a wonderful paper about how special his grandpa is to him that I didn't know I should copy before letting him turn it in. )

I am surprised how many teachers seem to take the comments many of us have made here personally. I think nearly ALL of us have said that we KNOW there are good teachers and it is likely that those of you responding ARE good teachers. But that doesn't mean there aren't bad ones out there.

Someone commented that people would be up in arms if this was about good vs bad parents - yet that subject DOES come up all the time. There are always comments about the parents who are yelling at their kids to "have fun" because they have spent so much on their vacation and many other similar topics. The difference is, I don't think those of us who are fairly sure we are good parents and know we aren't doing these things, don't think that those comments are somehow aimed at us.

If you are a good teacher who is dedicated to your profession and care about the children you teach - then NONE of the comments about "bad" teachers is about you. We truly appreciate the ones like you. My son had a fantastic 6th grade teacher. He related well to the kids, I'm pretty sure they all learned while in his class, he was strict but very, very fair, he returned tests, essays, reports, etc in a very timely manner. He was also the soccer coach at the High School & he even put together some after school and weekend events for all the 6th graders which I am sure was on his own time. To be honest, a really GREAT teacher makes the mediocre ones look pretty darn sad.

 

[PolynesianLily]

I would like to apologize if this thread has offended anyone. I did not make it to offend others, however it has come to my attention that it has. I do not want others to think that I do not have any respect for teachers as I have the most respect for teachers, as they have one of the hardest jobs in the world. I guess you could say that this thread was one of those think before you create ones. I try to not step on peoples toes, but with this thread I have and I am terribly sorry.

Its just that often times in my education classes we were asked to define the characteristics of what a good and what a bad teacher was and I found that what one person found to be a good characteristic of a teacher was something the others did not necessarily find to be a "good" characteristic.

Please feel free to lock this thread. I again apologize.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

PolynesianLily, I was not offended by your thread, but being that you as the original poster asked for it to be locked, I'm going to do just so.