teacher myths

[Blueeyes101817]

Another myth I hear all the time: It cant be hard to be a kindergarten teacher--all you do is babysit!

I am going into my 3rd year teaching Kindergarten--i love it, but it is not babysitting...When i tell them that the kids are now reading and writing a bit in Kindergarten, they are amazed!

 

[Scurvy]

A myth that has popped up on another thread: A good teacher should be able to teach despite any distraction and shouldn't need to ban distracting items from the classroom. Reality: A good teacher knows when to pick his or her battles. There will always be distractions. Some we can never eliminate, others we can. When something serves no purpose in the classroom and acts as a big distraction, and it is something that we can actually eliminate, it makes perfect sense for the teacher to remove it from the environment so the students can focus on actual learning. We can teach the kids to ignore the more common distractions, and hopefully by the time they are older they can learn to tune out the larger ones as well.

 

[IDoDis]

Really? I've never had a full time salaried position that didn't give you a lunch break.

Many schools don't allow teachers to leave during their 30 min duty free lunch because if there were an emergency lock down, the teacher would not be there to watch her students. We can leave at my school for lunch if we check out in the office first. But, by the time I check out and walk to my car, I have 20 min. left before I have to be back in my classroom.

Myth: Teachers pay next to nothing for family medical care.

With this years rate hike, we are up to $7,000 a year in premiums. And that is picking the lowest cost/highest deductible plan.

Yes, it's cheaper than the $12,000/year through my DH's work, but it's still not what I call affordable.

Ditto! Our health insurance is quadruple what state employees here pay. We don't get any breaks in cost. I know some school districts pay for the coverage, but many do not.

Here's my myth (kid myth): Teachers don't shop at the grocery store! Ever see a student in the grocery store? They point and whisper and act like it's some strange phenomenon that you are out in society and not living at school and eating school cafeteria food! They peek in your cart to see what you are buying. Then when you see them the next day they say, "I saw you at the store!!!"

 

[allison443]

I work in a very small office and we are never allowed to leave during the day. We do get a lunch break but eat lunch at our desks so we can continue to answer the phone.

Also if you make $42,000 for 187 days, it would $58,000 if you worked a regular job. As a working mom, I would take the paycut to have the summer off.

I am not saying this to slam teachers but there are other jobs with similar circumstances.

That is an interesting point about the salary. I often see teachers stressing that they are only getting paid for 9-10 months, but the salary is always given as an annual salary in comparison with jobs that work 12 months.

 

[CMHusband]

The Myth - "Teachers don't make any money"

I know a 3rd grade teacher who makes almost $80 grand a year. She has a masters, but Puleeez - why are we hiring people with Masters degrees to teach 3rd grade for $80 grand. Sounds like a living wage to me! Plus the time off all summer, tenure, plus the pensions and retirement package...I wish I had become a teacher. Is this the exception?

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Sounds like torture to me.

 

[MoniqueU]

MIL is a retired teacher. I know what she nade and what she retired on with guarunteed income for the remainder of her life. She travels extensivly to multiple coninents, owns her own car and house outright and has a great standard of living. Her story is not unique to the other teachers I know. Every job has perks and for teachers or any other profession to pretend they don't is ludicrous.

 

[bunny]

The Myth - "Teachers don't make any money"

I know a 3rd grade teacher who makes almost $80 grand a year. She has a masters, but Puleeez - why are we hiring people with Masters degrees to teach 3rd grade for $80 grand. Sounds like a living wage to me! Plus the time off all summer, tenure, plus the pensions and retirement package...I wish I had become a teacher. Is this the exception?

That is about $50 an hour plus benefits. Sounds like a living wage even in CA.

 

[scootch]

$42,000 is the starting salary here too.

Here in Ohio, they start at $28,000. After 22 years, my husband with a master's only makes $45,000.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Really? I've never had a full time salaried position that didn't give you a lunch break.

You are required by law to have a meal break. If you work 8 hours you need to have 2 fifteen minute breaks and one 30 min break. You might have had a "working" lunch but you are supposed to have a meal break.

 

[golfgal]

MIL is a retired teacher. I know what she nade and what she retired on with guarunteed income for the remainder of her life. She travels extensivly to multiple coninents, owns her own car and house outright and has a great standard of living. Her story is not unique to the other teachers I know. Every job has perks and for teachers or any other profession to pretend they don't is ludicrous.

Keeping in mind of course that she paid into that pension out of every single paycheck she had, lived within her means so she WAS able to enjoy her retirement. Sounds like she was financially responsible through her life, so what??

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Here is a myth: Standardized high stakes state testing is valuable and shows how well a teacher can teach or a student has learned.

This is a myth because in fact much of the high stakes testing flies in the face of what good teaching is supposed to be. It is paper, pencil, black and white no color. It is often unreasonable and one size fits all. It does not instill an intrinsic love of learning or thirst for knowledge but in fact is based on extrinsic motivation. It does more harm than good because some kids can excel in a variety of modalites but this type of testing only explores one.

Our state had a math test that was really a reading test. Even though some students were great in math the authors of the test made the problems so difficult to comprehend that the kids who could have at least excelled from a mathmatical aspect were crushed from a reading comp aspect. Then again some of the authors of the test were not teachers. I guess I forgot everyone knows better than the teacher and everyone else could do a better job. If that is the case WHERE are these wonderful people?

 

[DawnM]

You can still become a teacher! Especially since it is "so easy!"

Why are we hiring people with MAs to teach 3rd grade? Because that is the min. requirement in many areas of the country!

How did I move up the salary scale? I continued to go to school at night for almost 10 years and got two MAs because the only way to move up is to have years of service and credit hours above my BA.

In LAUSD 98 semester credit hours are needed to get to the top of the salary scale. I made them count and got 2 MAs.

I also have 16 years of experience. You can look at that up online and see what my salary was when I left and what it would be should I return.

Dawn

The Myth - "Teachers don't make any money"

I know a 3rd grade teacher who makes almost $80 grand a year. She has a masters, but Puleeez - why are we hiring people with Masters degrees to teach 3rd grade for $80 grand. Sounds like a living wage to me! Plus the time off all summer, tenure, plus the pensions and retirement package...I wish I had become a teacher. Is this the exception?

 

[DawnM]

You should do it!

Dawn

I work in a very small office and we are never allowed to leave during the day. We do get a lunch break but eat lunch at our desks so we can continue to answer the phone.

Also if you make $42,000 for 187 days, it would $58,000 if you worked a regular job. As a working mom, I would take the paycut to have the summer off.

I am not saying this to slam teachers but there are other jobs with similar circumstances.

 

[DawnM]

It doesn't matter what thread you start or what you call it, the teacher bashers will find their way in.

 

[DrCavin]

Here in Ohio, they start at $28,000. After 22 years, my husband with a master's only makes $45,000.

That is ~$250 a day just in salary...

Each district has a different pay scale in ohio in 2008 the average wage ranged from $62,575 to $39,337

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

It doesn't matter what thread you start or what you call it, the teacher bashers will find their way in.

The bashers live for these threads but what they don't realize is that if it were not for a teacher, they would not even be able to read or respond to them.

Thing is why don't they all become teachers; it is as they say "so easy"? Jeeze that is why when they list highest stress professions teacher is right up there in the top three!

The stress must come from trying to decide which bon-bon to pick out of the box while sitting at your desk in designer clothes while perfectly behaved little children sit at their desks begging for knowledge. Yeah, that must be it. It couldn't come from trying to reach and teach all children while being constantly criticized by people who have no idea what they are talking about and furthermore, cannot even teach their own children how to tie a shoe, blow a nose, or even brush their own teeth(have had to teach all these things and more many very gross).

 

[lovesmurfs]

Okay, back to the original topic:

Myth: The school system provides everything that a teacher needs to do his/her job.

Reality: The out of pocket expenses for classroom supplies can be really overwhelming. Two years ago, our teachers were given $180 for classroom supplies. Last year it was $80, and this year will be even less. I can't even imagine.

 

[paintnolish]

Myth: Teachers can make a lot of additional income with extracurricular activities.
Fact: If you factored in the time commitment, the per hour pay would be a few dollars an hour if you are lucky! For example, someone might get $1,000 to coach baseball, but it requires a lot of time to do so, with all of the practices and games.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

The only problem I see with this thread is that some of these are "myths" in one district, but the "truth" in another.

Where I live, the teachers DO have powerful Unions. We call it the contract cycle. In the districts surrounding my house, you can be certain that each year will feature a lengthy contract dispute and/or strike in one of the those districts.

The most recent strike nearby featured the leader of the State Union coming in to run the show. It was obvious the motivation was more political than educational.

In addition the "myth" about salary can vary from place to place. Again, the surrounding districts where I live feature salaries that range from $40,000 all the way to $100,000+. So, why the (seemingly) obligatory work stoppages year-to-year?

Again, I'm only pointing this out, because where I live, I think the taxpayers are more than justified in starting to push for changes. These so-called "myths" are realities in areas where jobs are dwindling and people cannot afford to pay for these salaries and pension funds.