As the days get warmer, and students get more antsy... schools turn to planning for next year. As mention previously, that means examining the SIP (school improvement plan) for the coming year. We're reporting on progress and revamping. Last week we actually got paid time to do this! No "adding one more thing" or wasting valuable department meeting time. Unfortunely, my group had two attendees out of 10. I'm including myself in that "two." At least there was little discussion and we completed the rough draft rather quickly.
With nearly hour to just sit and talk, we had an interesting conversation about teaching, working and what the job really is about. My committee companion stands firmly in the camp of "teaching is fantastic, and really, the pay isn't that bad." She has around 500 years experience, so I usually bow to her experience. However, in this case I have to somewhat disagree. Teaching is a good job. There's lots of variety, tons of funny stories*, and as long as parents continue to view schools as a cheap child care alternative, I'll pretty much always have a job. However, that pay isn't great for most teachers. One of the reasons I choose to live where I do is because I can actually live on a single teacher's salary. If I lived in NYC, I'd definately have either 4 roommates sharing my studio or working in a bar.
And I do realize that every day, my salary is under attack. Non-teachers complain that "teachers are home by 4pm", without taking into account that our workday generally starts before 7 am. There is also the prennial summers off complaint, without realizing how most teachers need the summer time off to be able to work those lucrative sales jobs at the mall. The idea that teachers would get paid during the summer is practically asking for a snort of disgust, because no-one seems to grasp the concept of accepting less pay during the school year to save some for summer months. Of course, there are all training courses WA state requires teachers to take and pay for them, higher insurance rates, rising housing costs, etc. and teachers realize pretty quick that the only way to live the high life is via credit card debt.
Continued later...
With nearly hour to just sit and talk, we had an interesting conversation about teaching, working and what the job really is about. My committee companion stands firmly in the camp of "teaching is fantastic, and really, the pay isn't that bad." She has around 500 years experience, so I usually bow to her experience. However, in this case I have to somewhat disagree. Teaching is a good job. There's lots of variety, tons of funny stories*, and as long as parents continue to view schools as a cheap child care alternative, I'll pretty much always have a job. However, that pay isn't great for most teachers. One of the reasons I choose to live where I do is because I can actually live on a single teacher's salary. If I lived in NYC, I'd definately have either 4 roommates sharing my studio or working in a bar.
And I do realize that every day, my salary is under attack. Non-teachers complain that "teachers are home by 4pm", without taking into account that our workday generally starts before 7 am. There is also the prennial summers off complaint, without realizing how most teachers need the summer time off to be able to work those lucrative sales jobs at the mall. The idea that teachers would get paid during the summer is practically asking for a snort of disgust, because no-one seems to grasp the concept of accepting less pay during the school year to save some for summer months. Of course, there are all training courses WA state requires teachers to take and pay for them, higher insurance rates, rising housing costs, etc. and teachers realize pretty quick that the only way to live the high life is via credit card debt.
Continued later...
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