neveronfriday Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 I know this probably belongs into the politics section ( ), but I wouldn't mind hearing from some other teachers on this board, of which there are some, if I remember correctly. How about a little chat here and there about working conditions, government interference, pay, curricula, daily ups and downs, successes and failures, what makes this job great, etc. I'm game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Christmas Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Government interference is an oxymoron in my field, considering I work for the government. Can't relate on the other issues because of that. Most of the teaching I have done has been within extended (6+ month) curricula. Teaching each topic only once in each 6 month period hardly keeps me on top of the material, but it does allow time for researching trends and new developments. What makes the job great is those occasions where you see the light bulb illuminate over a student's head, washing out the frustration of his/her "not getting it". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neveronfriday Posted February 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Government interference is an oxymoron in my field, considering I work for the government. Hm. I do too. But, with changing local governments (or secretaries) what we are faced with are short-term and very often short-sighted decisions that directly influence our work. Mind you, I'm not a disloyal civil servant (compared to others in our country who have to fear for their security due to vast unemployment and [often necessary] severe cuts in government support, I have quite a cushy job), but what bugs me is that politicians here often tend to overreact in a sensitive area which should, in my opinion, be excluded from campaigning hoopla. Because of recent findings which placed Germany below average in educational matters when compared to other European countries, we've seen a massive influx of "hotfixes"which have tended to loose sight of the issue at hand - teaching our kids to be able to cope in an ever-more complex world. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Christmas Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Deus, I'm curious about some of these "hotfixes". Does your government do any subsidizing for private education? I work for the Navy, where we are experiencing our 6th major reorganization of training philosophies in 30 years (!). You can learn about some of it her, if you're interested: http://www.npdc.navy.mil/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neveronfriday Posted February 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Deus, I'm curious about some of these "hotfixes". Does your government do any subsidizing for private education? I work for the Navy, where we are experiencing our 6th major reorganization of training philosophies in 30 years (!). You can learn about some of it her, if you're interested: http://www.npdc.navy.mil/ Hi Joe, I started this thread at the wrong time. I'm going away for a couple of days and will not have time to write an extensive reply until next week. I'll push this one up when I'm back. Thanks for the link. Interesting reading for me. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 I'm getting my master's in secondary ed right now. I'll start student teaching next spring. I don't know if you would want to hear from me or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted December 16, 2008 Report Share Posted December 16, 2008 Moron teacher confiscates pupil's Linux discs: http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/linu...-kids-back.html Aaaah, how I love authorities like this one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted December 16, 2008 Report Share Posted December 16, 2008 Funny how when I last posted in this (brief) thread, I was a student. Now here I am, four years later, with my degree and certifications and everything and I don't have a fershlugginer job! Not that I haven't taught. I have. My first job was teaching English to tenth graders. I made a LOT of mistakes at that first job (as most teachers do at their first teaching jobs). Three out of my four sections were great and things went well (I still made mistakes, but they weren't disasterous). The fourth was hell. I totally screwed up the first day of class and that was IT for the rest of the semester. I lost them then and there and I never got them back. It got so bad in that one class that I was "asked to resign" at the end of the first semenster which I gladly did (for my own sanity and because conditions in that class were such that these kids just weren't learning). I spent quite a bit of time subbing after that and generally working on my skills. One skill you can hone during subbing is making those important "first day" connections with students. I was very successful as a sub and it has really helped me in subsequent jobs. My area, btw, is very competitive when it comes to jobs (there are at least five teaching colleges around here which keep pooping out more new teachers each year). It was so hard to find a job that I had to work as a TA for a few months. It was a good experience, though. I worked in a Special Ed classroom as a one-to-one with a kid with severe behavior issues. Having me around seemed to be good for this kid. He really turned around while I was there. When I arrived, his tantrums (he was in Middle School) were so violent that he had put his previous one-to-one on disability. And here I was not even trained in restraint (which means I couldn't even legally touch him to defend myself). So I had to learn how to talk him down. I learned a lot about teaching students with disabilities while in that classroom. I also learned a lot about myself (for example, I learned that I can sit calmly in the middle of a room while a student literally tears that room apart). The classroom teacher I TA'ed with really enjoyed having a second certified teacher in the room. I could take over for her if she had to leave with a difficult student and I often subbed for her when she was absent. I also taught my one-to-one charge English and Social Studies (he was on a different academic track from the rest of the class in those two subjects) since those are my areas of certification. After that I wound up teaching GED prep in Schenectady, NY. In the morning, I taught 16 to 18 year olds. The classes were very small (most days I had about five kids, if I was lucky) and I taught all subjects. We had literally no materials to work from. In the afternoon, I went to the Schenectady County Correctional Facilty and taught the female inmates there. I had a great experience and actually met some really interesting people. Sadly, it was a grant funded program and they didn't get their grant for this year, I was downsized. I'm still looking (I'm on unemployment for the time being). Just had an interview for a long-term sub position yesterday. I sent out seven resumes just today (I'm starting to look outside my area. It would kill me if I had to leave my daughter for any length of time, but I've got to work!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted December 16, 2008 Report Share Posted December 16, 2008 Good luck with your job search, Alexander! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted December 16, 2008 Report Share Posted December 16, 2008 I was a teacher a long time ago in Newark, NJ. I was brought in as a math teacher to teach to the NJ Basic Skills test for high schoolers. I'm not being facetious. Our job description was to teach enough basic skills that the high schoolers could pass the math portion (yes, the high school had the whole range of math classes including advanced math, but I wasn't involved with any of that). I was not a particularly good teacher, but my first set of students wasn't so bad. Then they decided to play by the rules and pull me out and observe another class, so it became apparent I was an apprentice teacher. That undermined my authority when I finally came back to the classroom, but ultimately I had run ins with another teacher, who would put up one set of problems on the board (for the entire day!) and insist I use the blackboard at the back of the room if I wanted to write anything. After a month more of this, I threatened to quit, and was re-assigned to the no-hopers (9th graders who had failed reading, writing, math and had behavioral problems in middle school). I somehow stuck it out, though the children frequently ran over me. I came back for one more year (while applying for grad school). I had a more normal range of students. 3 classes were actually not too bad. One was always different, sometimes ok, sometimes bad (this one was filled with several students I had previously, who knew I was a pushover). Then I had one bad class, where I had a senior, who was completely disruptive, and also happened to be the son of the chief security guard. Not much to do about that class but wait it out. There were a handful of decent moments, but I don't miss it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted December 16, 2008 Report Share Posted December 16, 2008 Good luck with your job search, Alexander! I'll second that ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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