School's out for Summer!-AMA

[displacedinMN]

I said I would.

But a few classroom rules.
1. The answer to the obligatory question. No
2. There are no stupid questions-just stupid people that ask questions.
3. Teacher has the right to suspend you.
4. Teacher can take regular quarter and holiday breaks.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

I may go to Iowa for a few weeks. My uncle (dad's brother) decided to call it quits and is having a farm equipment sale in March. He helped me when dad died. I need to help him. He had a daughter die in Nov (43) and it has been hard for them. For the first time since the late 1800's there will not be a family member tilling the soil in the spring. Tough to think about.

On to relaxing for the day. Always on CP.

Definitely get out of town for a few days.

He’ll buy your uncles shit and rent his ground. I got your back!

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

There is no discipline. All systems we have in the building are broken. Disrespect is putting it nicely.

I am basically abused every day.

If people don't believe this, we have a friend that teaches here that deals with the trouble children. One in particular is 18 and he hits her almost daily. Nothing is done. It can't with how much things have changed over the years. The kids have more rights than the school staff. It's all a sham.

Go get yourself better displaced. It ain't wroth it.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by ptlyon

If people don't believe this, we have a friend that teaches here that deals with the trouble children. One in particular is 18 and he hits her almost daily. Nothing is done. It can't with how much things have changed over the years. The kids have more rights than the school staff. It's all a sham.

Go get yourself better displaced. It ain't wroth it.

I completely dismissed being a teacher when I was in college because people in my school were horrible to teachers. And we were in a small town. And I know it’s way worse now. Parents are worse. Administrators are worse. Society is way worse. Technology is better though. Yay.

[Chiefspants]

4th year as a middle school teacher. Both my parents taught for 13 years so I knew going in this wasn’t a career gig. I gave myself 10 years and now I look at that 10 years as my finish line.

The parents run schools these days. Funding has been eviscerated to the bone so now schools go to every measure to secure whatever scraps they have left.

I love my job. I do. Working with students gives my life meaning. My students have spearheaded community entrepreneurship projects and I often have 20 kids in my room over lunch designing real-life projects in Minecraft. I often have parents come up and tell me how valued I am and how important I am in their children’s lives - but these are the same parents spearheading the “vote no” campaigns to deny me a basic raise (I made about 10K more as a bartender).

As valued as my admin assures me I am, at the end of the day, the parents run the show.

One day during crossing guard duty, I was talking to my students about a school wide door decorating competition we were doing for the holidays. It was light stuff “we’re gonna win.” “No you’re not”, etc.

Out of nowhere, a middle school parent (I didn’t know her) gets up in my face (in front of all the students) and asked “are you a teacher here?”

I say yes, and ask if I can help her. She responds by asking if they let people teach “after graduating high school now” and yells that “it’s really creepy when non-teaching men are around middle schoolers.”

I’m sort of baffled at this point. A lot of my students are vouching for me, saying “he’s a teacher, etc” she replies by going “well, I’m an officer!” One of my middle schoolers replies by saying “well I’m an officer too!” And that really sets her off. She points a finger in my chest and says “if you’re a teacher, be less of a creep.”

Now, for context. The tag “creep” is about the worst tag to have on you as a male teacher. That is a tag that can follow/haunt your career even if there’s no truth to it. It’s one of those labels that does not need any reality attached to it. It’s akin to female teachers being given the “flirty with students” tag. This job is predicated on the trust you build with students, parents and the community - and if parents think a teacher is creepy/flirty, that tag will make it’s way into the work you do with students, colleagues, and superiors.

I waited until she walked away and got a colleague to cover me (my co-worker was LIVID) and I asked if i could speak to the parent privately. I showed her my teacher ID and said “let’s try this again, I’m Chiefspants” and she just kept saying “I’m an officer.” Her cheeks were bright red at this point, and I could tell my students embarrassed her — and she kept going on about how she was “just trying to do her job”.

The whole incident really rattled me. I was never a good student in school but got into teaching because of the impact incredible teachers had on my life. I’ve dedicated myself to the profession - and to have someone throw all of that dedication away with a split second judgement guided by ageism and sexism leveled me - and gave me a major appreciation for the type of sexism my female colleagues (I’m the only male teacher in my entire grade level) deal with on a regular basis.

The baffling thing is that no one knew who this person was. We were doing a drug sweep inside that day and the four officers inside had no idea who she was based off of her description. Not a single administrator recognized her on the camera either. My co-workers were furious - they all reached out to admin for a firm response.

But when they found out who the parent was? (A volunteer officer, btw) Well, she is active on the FB group and has 12 family members attending our district. So? “Believe us, it’s better to let this one lie.” This is despite the fact that this gal impersonated an actual officer and could have damaged my career for literally no reason (other than sexism/ageism I guess) - especially if she posted on the community page right after the exchange (which is a total cesspit). All I was asking was for my bosses to show solidarity or support, but that ended up being too much to ask.

At the end of the day it’s difficult to see myself (no matter what I bring to the classroom) as anything more but a cog to ensure students are in seats and that the school gets the funding it needs.

Displaced, I am genuinely sorry for the position you are in. Your time in the classroom mattered and made an impact. Thank you for all you did for students and I wish you the best in your new horizons.

[displacedinMN]

[Bowser]

Are private schools an option? Maybe Catholic schools?

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Are private schools an option? Maybe Catholic schools?

In my experience charters are unfortunately far worse when it comes to parents running the show.

At my first school I taught at, we had an eighth grade student who put hand sanitizer into a teacher’s coffee and when he got caught (who knows how long he’d been doing it), we finally had him dead to rights after other students reported harassment, bullying, vandalism, etc.

It was explained to us by admin that his parents donated 15K a year and we just needed to “survive the semester” as his third grade brother would still be in the school for five more years (and the other student would be graduated). Talking to other teachers, this was pretty par for the course for charters/private schools in the area.

So yeah, that’s neat.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Chiefspants

In my experience charters are unfortunately far worse when it comes to parents running the show.

At my first school I taught at, we had an eighth grade student who put hand sanitizer into a teacher’s coffee and when he got caught (who knows how long he’d been doing it), we finally had him dead to rights after other students reported harassment, bullying, vandalism, etc.

It was explained to us by admin that his parents donated 15K a year and we just needed to “survive the semester” as his third grade brother would still be in the school for five more years (and the other student would be graduated). Talking to other teachers, this was pretty par for the course for charters/private schools in the area.

So yeah, that’s neat.

FFS. I shouldn't be shocked to hear that, but still...

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by Bowser

FFS. I shouldn't be shocked to hear that, but still...

Even as a teacher, situations like this are absolutely baffling to me. I felt more protection from my manager at my college dining hall than I do from parents as a teacher.

The reason why I left that school was even worse. We had a 6th grade girl who refused to sit in her seat and would carry a crayon and draw on classroom walls (she was gifted and loved to tell teachers how their classes were beneath her despite failing multiple classes). Similar situation where we were strongly pushed by admin to react to her “gifts” with “compassion”.

Well, one day this student decides to book it from a teacher’s room. This teacher had taught for 25 years in Los Angeles and was one of our most respected teachers in the building. The teacher immediately notifies our principal and asks me (it was my plan) if I could inform the secretary that this student had run off. I do just that, and it should be cut and dry, right?

Well, 2 hours later that secretary calls me during advisory and asks me to send that student to the office (her parents were there). I was like “uh, she’s missing, remember?”

We came to find out that the Principal wasn’t even in the building. Zero idea what they were doing (found out later they were rarely even in the building and they left for a new gig at the end of the year). The student ended up walking across a highway to an Outback Steakhouse and was chilling a mile and a half off our campus. How does the school respond?

By turning on the respected teacher, of course! The parents threaten to sue and the school immediately sides with the parent and informs the teacher of such. The teacher walked out of the job the next morning and they decided to drop the case due to that (the student later would brag she “got the teacher fired”.)

After seeing in such a shocking and irrefutably way that the school had zero loyalty to its staff, I started applying for new jobs the next day.

[displacedinMN]

DJay23---any time I need good thoughts, I go to Target. It is in my school district and employees many former students- not far away from home. Just before the SB, my kid and I made a quick trip there. I saw 6 former students. Each one of them hugged me and wished me luck on the game. That helps.


Scho-I am looking at job boards. Corporate training. I hope to get more hits soon with an updated resume. Had one interview last week with the teacher union. I will not get it, I think they are looking for someone else that has done teacher training. But they liked my ideas. Should know this week.

[DJay23]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

DJay23---any time I need good thoughts, I go to Target. It is in my school district and employees many former students- not far away from home. Just before the SB, my kid and I made a quick trip there. I saw 6 former students. Each one of them hugged me and wished me luck on the game. That helps.


Scho-I am looking at job boards. Corporate training. I hope to get more hits soon with an updated resume. Had one interview last week with the teacher union. I will not get it, I think they are looking for someone else that has done teacher training. But they liked my ideas. Should know this week.

I got a lot of messages on facebook right after the game from former students. Kids who were quiet when they were in my room, but appreciated that I shared the passion I have for my team. They root for other teams but were so sweet to say anything. The current kids were actually really cool about it too. As you know the typical response is hate, hate, hate. It's not their team so they "suck." I was surprised by so many kids wanting to know how I reacted, who I watched it with, what I thought of this play and that. Honestly it gave me hope.

THere's still goodness in there, but it it sounds like your administration have created a very toxic environment. Good luck again.

[Titty Meat]

How big are you?

[Pointer19]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

There is no discipline. All systems we have in the building are broken. Disrespect is putting it nicely.

I am basically abused every day.

Keep the head up, man. I have a relative who teaches middle school in a worse part of town, so they've told me all kinds of ridiculous stories. I thought I was bad as a student, but man... Teachers don't get enough credit anymore.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Bowser

FFS. I shouldn't be shocked to hear that, but still...

Yeah. My wife taught at a catholic school for several years. When she started I was like “SCORE. You get to beat the kids, right!?”

Nope.

Couldn’t even give detention because they didn’t want to screw up the parents schedule for pickup. Ugh.

However the kids were overall better than the public school kids. Especially where she was at.

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by Titty Meat

How big are you?

Me?
6'1" 270. But with bad knees, ankles I can't take over for Fisher on the line.