Should you visit a student's home?

How about "no?" [short answer--long answer below...]
***

Texas Teacher stabbed and killed

"A special-education teacher who had a passion for music was fatally stabbed Wednesday morning in a Texas high school classroom, and police took a 16-year-old student into custody.

***
I don't want to sensationalize.  It is sad when anyone dies, when anyone is killed.

For some reason I am particularly affected when a teacher is killed.  It seems that the student was not in control of his own behaviors--I don't mean in the way a lot of our students are "out of control."  I mean in the sense that he may have been psychiatric, so I'm sure his life is now ruined, in some ways.

For some reason, I'm not in a mood to lay blame, to scold, to pout, to rant, perhaps because it feels disrespectful.

Talk Amongst Yourselves*

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets. - Edward Abbey" [yea, I got it off of the Toshiba start page--I'm TIRED!!]
***
Sometimes you get so depressed that you can't "blog" your way out of it. But I'm pulling out. ("Shake it off! Shake it off!" said crazy-like-a-fox Bela Karolyi....)

Ouch! My ankle really hurts....but I have an Olympic Gold Medal, so, s'all good!
***
Also making it hard to blog is the super slowness of my computer.
***
Today I'm just going to try to chop wood,* make bread, haul sticks. Also blog. A little.
In the meantime, two favors:
1) Keep commenting--your comments are about 15 times more articulate than the posts, but I can't seem to respond to them [except in other posts] (thanks for that, Google!).
Basically, we regard commenters as guest bloggers.
2) Please refer a friend to this site. Do NOT e-mail about it on your work computer. You know, the Big Brother thing. But we need to see that more people are reading this, or we may have to regard this project as defunct.
***
BOY do I hate it when bloggers make extended comments meant only for a few people. That being said: LMG--you know you are in the Pantheon of friends, perhaps the Queen of the Pantheon...nay, you are the wife of Chronos, the progenetrix, the elder stateswoman. However "Cal" has a special place in the palace because he will e-mail me 17 times a day about bathroom fixtures. You two are tied, almost like some weird Greek god that is, like, conjoined, or twinned (Artemis/Apollo)... (okay, enough with the awkward mythological analogies).
***
*Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift a stone, and you will find me there. - Gospel of Thomas, v. 77, apocryphal/Gnostic?

*"Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water." — Zen Buddhist Proverb

*My house is dirty; therefore I will clean it. - Me

Reader: mentally insert here a video clip of "Maggie Jacobs" from "Extras" (portrayed by the same girl who plays the English girl on "Ugly Betty") cleaning her house up after being berated by the Ricky Gervais character....








*If you don't know from whence this quotation, then you are way too young or way too cool--probably both-- to read this blog!

Time = Money

Insurers Fight Speech-Impairment Remedy
By ASHLEE VANCE
Published: September 15, 2009
Devices like iPhones and netbook PCs that can help the speech-impaired are not covered by Medicare or insurers.
***
This story has a lot of meat. Wherever you fall on the insurance/health care debate, there are interesting issues here.

But because of my current interest-some-would-say-obsession with one thing and one thing only, here's what popped out at me:


"Doctors must still bring a patient into their offices instead of, say, inspecting an e-mailed photo of a rash if they want most insurers to pay for the consultation. Digitizing medical records is such a vast undertaking that the government is now spending billions of dollars to jump-start it."

Hmm? What? What...are you referring to? Why...why did this jump out at you. This has nothing to do with teaching, aside from the fact that everything has to do with everything in our interconnected universe Om Shanti....
***
Doctors would charge for e-mail consults if they could, and perhaps they already do, except insurers won't reimburse; so, patients are free to request e-mail consults from those doctors interested in providing that service, as long as they (the patients) know they won't be reimbursed.

Now to be fair, my newest specialist actually answered an e-mail from me [for free], and I almost fell on the floor. Actually, I almost fell on the floor when he provided an e-mail address.

But that is extremely rare. In 40+ years of living, this is the first doctor to respond to an e-mail question, and it was about a matter of some importance--not life-threatening, but very important.
***
How can I articulate my thoughts without exploding into a rant?

When anyone e-mails you and requires more than a terse, one sentence reply; when parents e-mail you repeatedly, badgering, hounding, even though your answer will not change; or, even in the best of circumstances when people e-mail you requesting specialized knowledge possessed only by a chemistry teacher, early childhood specialist, Spanish teacher, choral director, professional writer and editor (English teachers, that's what you are)....

Your response should be:

"I am so happy to assist you in this matter. My fee for after hours consultations is $50.00 per hour."
This may seem outrageous to you? Silly? Another doctor I have charges for certain paperwork. And, to be quite honest, I didn't blink. That didn't peeve me off. It never occurred to me that this person should not be paid for the time it takes to provide me a service. Just because they are friendly, provide a nurturing, important, vital service to society, does not mean that the secretaries, copyists, plebotomists, doctors, nurses, clerks, and technicians should not be paid. Why? They are workers, not volunteers. Their offices are not a chapter of the Red Cross.
***
Phone time: A friend of mine paid a service provider for an hour long discussion on the phone.
Let that marinate.
How many hours have you spent on the phone with parents? After work hours....
Would you say, perhaps an hour a week? That might be high--let's say an hour a month, which is probably a tad low. Some teachers never call, some teachers call every parent once a month or more. Let's say you've been teaching 10 years:
10 years x 10 months x 1hour per month= 100 hours

At $50 dollars an hour.
That's 5,000 dollars. Could you use 5,000 dollars? I know I could. I could use that a lot.*

So, it's ridiculous to think that parents or the school system would pay for your time after work hours. Fine. Then withdraw your labor, and use that time after work to get a second job, play with your children, walk your dog, keep house, and enjoy your hobbies. Or volunteer--elsewhere. Make yourself unavailable. As one self-help guru observed in a flash of non-stupidity,
You teach people how to treat you.

You are good teachers. Get to teaching.




*A script you can use:

OVERWORKED TEACHER: I am so happy to assist you in this matter. My fee for after hours consultations is $50.00 per hour."
PARENT: Are you kidding me?
OT: No--I know that sounds strange, and I do not mean to be rude. But I have a second job [carpentry, installing drywall, teaching violin lessons, coaching soccer, after school child-care], and if I spend time after school hours on the phone, I will lose money that I so desperately need to pay my bills. I do not mean to be offensive, but these are the facts on the ground."

P.S. You shouldn't have to explain why you are requesting, nay, requiring, money for your labor...but such are the times--we are still operating under a Victorian model of teacher compensation.
***
It cracks us up so much when Parents Who Are Doctors or Lawyers demand the most time for conferences, phone consults, etc. Also "humorous": the insistence that they take your planning time, or that you meet them before or after school--or that you get another teacher to cover your class so that you can meet with them--you know this happens. "How about I come to court and interrupt your trial? But why not? Oh...is it because you are working?'

Perhaps place a placard on your wall--"I cannot be held accountable for student test scores because I am pulled out of class to meet with parents and other stakeholders. If performance pay is in effect, I have documented the hours I am pulled off task."

Why we need "Teach to the Contract Day"

Exchange between me and my dearest friend (edited to preserve privacy)

***
Me: “….the tutoring gig pays almost $50 dollars an hour. When I proofread and edit, I make $40 an hour. I took out a calculator....$50 an hour is 100K a year [at 40 hours a week working a full year, which I see now makes no sense]

That should be my goal. 40-50 dollars an hour. Right now (or up until now) I was making less than $20 per hour.

I know in my heart of hearts that 1) I am worth more that than that, and 2) I can do better. I am so sure I can...



Cal: Really? 20 an hour for usual teacher's schedule would be 32K…that's harsh....

{{32,000 divided by $20/hour = 1600 hours.}}


Me: OMG.

Cal is my dearest friend, my most cherished friend…and I am about to fly through the computer and start screaming.
….And I would never scream at Cal, because he is my favorite person of all right now. number 1 in the rankings. Also, I just went to yoga, and screaming is not in me. Five days ago I would have fallen on the floor and started sobbing.

Cal—no need to read this rant, and…I love you, man….
***
A Teacher’s Day (not in great detail) – high school; and times required for all tasks are underestimated:

7 am – required arrival time
Allowed to leave: 2:30 pm
Most teachers must stay at least an hour past this to do the most minimal of necessary tasks:
· copying or requesting copying [which in itself can take TOO FREAKING LONG!!]
· collating, stapling
· filing
· phone calls
· answering e-mail
· paperwork (fill out this overly complicated chart so that the administrator currently getting her Ph.d. can compile all your data and present it as her own)
· tutoring students
· decorating the room—not froo-froo—children need visual stimulus to learn
· book inventory
· attending required after school meetings:
o school-wide, departmental
o county-wide
o required orientations for new teachers
o technology seminars….
So, 3:30 pm [don’t laugh, we know you don’t leave ‘til 4 or 5 pm]
Minimum length of day at school:
8 ½ hours
I will not deduct lunch time, because if a teacher can grab lunch, it is a noisy affair with phones ringing, students buzzing in and out, asking for tutoring, recommendations, so essentially, you are still working. Lunches are working lunches.
Add: minimum one hour, give or take, of work at home—this fluctuates wildly based on whether you teach math, science, elementary, music, phys ed, worl languages, social studies, etc.

Without a doubt, the English teachers and history teachers take home the most work if they are even doing a half-a$$ed job. Elementary teachers come a close second. All teachers, if they are very good, on top of their game, have prep work to do. No…there is not adequate time during the day. Not even close.

English teachers can have non-stop grading sessions that take all night:
120 students x 10 minutes a paper = 1200 minutes = 20 hours….per week. That’s assigning one paper per week, with a really low number of students (24 per class?) giving it the most cursory read-through, edit, and perhaps comments, with little time for reflection. Many, if not most high school English departments want kids writing one paper a week.
So, we won’t include English teachers because they are such a special case that they merit their own post, if not their own website of despair.

So, 8/12 hours [at school] plus one hour [at home—all the teachers are laughing right now—ONE HOUR!?!] = 9 ½ hours – minimum
X 5 days = 47.5 hours per week
Add:
4 (minimum) hours of grading, lesson planning, answering e-mails, entering grades, phone calls on weekend. Yes, occasionally, you may have a weekend with much less work. Perhaps you forced yourself not to work, but the gnawing sense that a tsunami of work is about to explode on your horizon comes true the next weekend when you are chained to your desk for 8-10 hours each “day.” The days bleed into night. Up is down, black is white. You seem to understand all languages, and know that if you wanted to fly, you could. A giant panther leaps out of the moon and devours your heart.
So,
51.5 hours per week – this is a bare minimum
51.5 hours per week x 37 weeks(typical school year – 9 week marking periods x4 plus 1 required teacher work week):

1572.5 hours

Okay, here we go—let’s see if my hysteria was justified:

50,000 [a random appr. salary] divided by 1572.5 = 32 dollars an hour. So, I was off the mark. By a lot.

HOWEVER….that figure represents the bare minimum.
I cannot do the math right now to account for:
· Most teachers get to school much earlier—or even a little earlier-- than required.
· Those who make less than 50 K
· Those who take students on field trips that last until 1 in the morning—field trips are unpaid—no one seems to get this.
· Coaches who effectively lower their average hourly wage by working countless hours for what-- 500 bucks a year?
· …and newspaper advisors, after school homework helpers, afterschool hall monitors all working if not for free, for 3, 4, 5 dollars and hour, or a pat on the back.
· Marching band directors who take students on week- long field trips over Spring Break—no, this is not “fun” for the band teacher
· Prom
How many teachers come in a week, two weeks before the mandatory teacher work week? 50 percent? 75 percent? I would love someone to do a study and demonstrate how this effectively lowers everyone’s hourly wage. If no one came in until required,…that’s another blog post…
It is all too complex. I wish I had gone into Stats and gotten a Phd in Teacher Compensation and the Economics of Public School Wage Scales.
***
But (out comes the calculator) even factoring in one of those factors—teachers usually come to school early, let’s say a half an hour early--lowers the hourly wage to 25 dollars an hour.
AND….I have not factored in keeping up to date with the latest research in methodology, child psychology, course materials for your discipline, journals pertaining to your field. Granted, lawyers and doctors do this on their own time, but in other professions is “part” of the job and done during the “work day”--arts administration, journalism, research positions. Teachers are also researchers in their fields….some take it more seriously than others, of course.

AND, I think I way underestimated the length and frequency of after school meetings….
***

One might say, but you don’t HAVE to work those extra hours.
Teachers—PLEASE let rip in your comments. I know this blog is entreating you to work only the required hours, but we all know that schools would grind to a halt, an absolute halt, tremendous pressure would be brought to bear on you…bad stuff would happen.

Imagine you stopped grading papers after “work” hours. Now envision sitting in front of the superintendent with your union representative, a lawyer, three irate parents, your principal, and a box of tissues.

For amazingly painful and detailed descriptions of teachers’ days as contrasted with other similarly educated people, please read Teachers Have It Easy.
***
his blog is suggesting we do an action, a Teach to the Contract Day – once a year. It is very important that we educate the public on the real hours NO IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT TEACHERS TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY STOP REGARDING THEMSELVES AS GOVERNESSES….DO NURSES STAY THREE, FOUR, FIVE EXTRA HOURS??? I know they do extra work—I’ve seen my own nurses staying to do paperwork. BUT HOURS? No. Correct me if I am wrong.

Washington Teachers on Strike

1) We like unions. "Union" is not a dirty word.
2) However, we are formulating an intelligent response to what we perceive as the lack of aggressive advocacy by our organizations on teachers' behalf.

3) There are many thorny issues this blog will explore:

• Do unions effectually collude to suppress teacher pay?
• Why do we not take lessons on professional treatment from college level teachers? Why do we align ourselves with the low end of the professional spectrum? Our work is highly intellectual. When will WE regard it as such?
• Have we traded away wages for security, a truly professional wage for good health care, a truly HIGH wage for societal approval, kind gestures, and tender feelings--everyone likes to be liked--it is so lovely to hear people say nice things about teachers--have we been "tamed?"
• Is teaching social work? And if so, why is social work less valuable than other sorts of work? Do teachers create value? Perhaps science and math teachers should band together and demonstrate to corporations who MUST have a stream of scientists that without high school math-sci teachers, their billions will dry up in a matter of years--just by way of example. [Of course, pharmaceutical giants could hire low wage intellectual labor from other countries....we could refuse to buy those products. Et cetera.]
• Should we explore performance pay? (Is there ANY fair way to implement this--our inclination is "no.")
• Should we all become independent contractors and individually negotiate our salaries?
• Should teachers remove their labor--what used to be called a strike--in a more radical way, setting up tutoring companies, coaching groups, unschooling chapters, homeschooling services--i.e. Starve the Beast.

Some of these notions might seem cuckoo, but as any good English teacher knows, we need to put all ideas out on the table before censoring them.
***
And we still find a weird lack of concern about DAY CARE. We find it entirely ironic that people who care for, teach, and are in loco parentis for other people's children do not demand the ability to have their own children on site, and demand that any child they have may attend the school system in which they teach--that should be Requirement One. More on this very soon.

***
In the meantime, thank goodness some teachers have the guts to stand up for themselves:


A judge is expected to weigh in Thursday on a teacher strike that has shut down the fourth-largest school district in Washington during the first week of classes.

Bonfire of the Vanities

You will get a lot of freebies this year.
Pens
stationery
coupons
candy
potholders
lightbulbs
tea bags (usually one at a time, not an entire box)
discounts
dusty boxes of file folders
letter openers
Lifesavers
chocolate
mugs
cupcakes


These are meant to make you feel better about your salary. Don't drink the Koolaide. Instead, make a box, and start collecting this stuff. Leave it in your teacher workroom. Maybe label it: "Will trade for cash."

Or, a non-sarcastic, positive response [so hard for us to generate]:

When the PTA is asking for suggestions on how to help, propose real things they can do:

• copying
• filing
• grading (objective tests: True/False, etc)
• babysitting
• DETENTION duty (wow--that even blew our minds!)

When the PTA chairperson says, "And we'd love to make some cookies for Teacher Appreciation Day," continue (as if that utterance had not fallen from her lips), "...faxing, attendance, record-keeping, collating, bulletin boards, textbook inventory, field trip chaperoning, fee collections, fundraising, e-mail spam deleting. phone calls reporting lack of homework, painting, ticket taking at concerts and games, prom chaperoning, class monitoring--(more needed in high school than in elementary school), in-school detention enforcer, "sweepers"-adults to roam the halls and collar roaming kids.

In short--we need help with everything that has NOTHING to do with teaching.

Look, everyone likes a cupcake. And no one isn't saying we don't appreciate the time it took to make them. We know that when you are very tired, it is quite nice of you to make some cupcakes for anybody. Just take that same time and ask us what we need help with. Your cupcakes is like showing up to the tsunami zone with cotillion corsages--"Gee, thanks, and that is so totally not what we need right now!"

P.S. All you people who voted down the millage which would have raised our salaries--please take those cupcakes and stick 'em where the sun don't shine. We are not your servants--do not condescend to proffer cupcakes in lieu of professional pay.

When was the last time someone brought the engineer who built their road CUPCAKES?

This is not a joke--we are tired of being perceived as Members of the Household Staff (by the affluent); or as the beneficent "angel of mercy" to whom you bring a chicken and some radishes because that is the best you have to give.

Perhaps collect all of those staplers and teddy bears and plastic blinking rings and discounted gym memberships and bikini wax coupons and travel sized soaps and popcorn balls...

....and collect them in a huge box, and after announcing, "We are not a charity," donate them to a real charity.

I was going to suggest burning them, hence the post title, but that is just wasteful and rude. And I'm not suggesting you throw out children's gifts. Just the other nonsense.

Single Payer...Education?

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhnnnnnnnnn [sound of buzzer]

Wrong answer.

And here's why:

Everyone will want to go to the best school, and the best school can't hold everyone, so the kids who are poor, or can't bribe their way in, or can't drive an hour to the best school because they can't afford their own car because they are not in the upper-middle class or higher, or the kids whose parents don't know how to game the system, or the kids who are "bad," or "bored," or god-forbid-acting-like-boys....the kids who need good schools the MOST....

...will be stuck exactly where they are.

So, we're back to the original point--we need to improve all schools. I have no problem with shutting down a bad school, retooling it, and reopening it. But do we let people CHOOSE THEIR FIRE DEPARTMENT?? There is NOTHING more critical to a functioning society than a group, an organization, that keeps crap from burning down.

Therefore, we demand, expect and I hope, pay for every fire department to function at some generally accepted minimum level of competence.

Why can't we ask the same for schools?

Please let's get real.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/so-we-cant-have-single-pa_b_276644.html

http://iwf.org/inkwell/show/21991.html

On Reading

Sorry for sounding whiny all the time, but isn't this old hat among middle, high and even elementary school teachers?

The Future of Reading
A New Assignment: Pick Books You Like

Here is an editorial response:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/opinion/l07reading.html

I am neutral slash flabbergasted.

Do Teachers Have First Amendment Rights?

This is NOT a sarcastic question, nor is it rhetorical.

But, the question does become philosophical. Do you "have" first amendment rights if no one will defend them?

What does it mean to "have" something, if it is valueless and does not protect you from loss?

Do you "have" something IF YOU CANNOT EXERCISE IT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Hmm....

Mind explosion moment.

Need to start a new blog moment:


http://www.wesh.com/news/20692249/detail.html

Please vote and/or comment:

Do teachers have First Amendment rights? yes or no?
***
Addendum- I'm sorry, this is just too big--we MUST start another blog devoted ONLY to this topic:

Low-Wage Workers Are Often Cheated, Study Says [NY Times, Sept. 2, 2009]

Oh. 'Cause we didn't know that. Already.

Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Overtime? What is this "o...ver...time" of which you speak? We...we're feel confused right now.

The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, also found that 68 percent of the workers interviewed had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week.
“We were all surprised by the high prevalence rate,” said Ruth Milkman....

You were surprised, Ruth Milkman? Then I guess you've never BEEN IN A SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Listen, in no way are we comparing our wages to that of minimum wage workers, whose lives are so difficult it is heart-breaking. [Yet, we do know teachers, single parents, raising children, multiple children on a teacher's income and THAT is heartbreaking. ]

More to the point, the whole notion of working beyond one's contractual hours infects the entire labor spectrum--almost--from the low wage worker, through our situation, and beyond.

What we are formulating, or attempting to, is a theory of hourly work versus salaried work, versus work for procedure. How are doctors paid? Some are on a staff and take home a salary; some own a practice and take a cut of profits (food for thought); some are paid per procedure....We know too little about how others are paid--and what they are paid for--unless we are married to, or are close friends with, the aforementioned.

I know one thing. You don't get too many doctors to donate their time and procedures without it being a Big Deal, newsworthy, worthy of a 20-20 spot--the doctors DONATED their time to save the conjoined twins!!!!!!!!!!!

Saint Dr. Leo Klepper, pointing to his bejeweled prescription pad--

beatified for writing legible prescriptions

DONATED!!!!! Let us all now bow down before the great ones who have given--GIVEN!--of their irreplaceable, (enormously more important than your) TIME!!!!!!!!!!

Doctor beatified for actually and not just pretending to listen to patient's needs and concerns

***

I don't hate doctors. I rather like them. And we can learn a lot from them. A WHOLE lot. Nurses, too. Learn a whole lot. Your union or teachers association or gaggle of kooks needs to go on a field trip to a hospital and OBSERVE what happens when a SHIFT ENDS.....

This weird thing occurs. People LEAVE!!

Moral: No one, not anyone, should be "giving" one minute of uncompensated labor.

Why? It's dissertation worthy. Here's two why's:

1) The only thing you have to give is your time. It is the only thing you have whilst on earth. Perhaps a close second is your health, tied with your love. Time is your currency. Time is the only thing "They" understand (although we might be able to speak in different terms soon...)

2) Because your time is so precious, so finite, when you want to donate it, please consider very carefully. This moment, this one precious moment [this second, this life] is unique and will never happen again. Do you want to donate this moment to McDonald's (low-wage worker); do you want to donate these moments to an unresponsive, unfeeling bureaucracy that keeps you mired in debt...or do you want to go home and play with your children, walk your dog,

or donate that time here,

or here

or here

or here

or here

We know you can't go build a Habitat house every day after school. But if you are too tired on weekends to volunteer in ways that are deeply meaningful to you, or you have too many chores to do because you couldn't do them during the week due to uncompensated labor at school...

Is this your child...or someone else's?

And if it is someone else's...who is hanging out and sharing a laugh with YOUR child??

...you need to think very carefully about how very precious your time is, and exactly where you want to spend it.

Yes, some students may be "worth" your time. But do you really need to tutor people whose parents could buy and sell you ten times over....after school...FOR FREE ?!?!

Repeat after us:

"I am not a Governess!!"

So enough said.

It's 3:15,

2:10,

1:45,

4:10 pm.

GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello, fond readers!

We've had some very thoughtful, nice comments lately. Please read them. Not that we only want people who agree with us to read this. We're eagerly awaiting the first Hot Rant of Hatred.

But anyway, thanks, because it's hard to know if we are blogging into the Twilight Zone, i.e. 'is anyone reading this?'

If you enjoy it, please share with others,

one, so that we have more readers, because we are 'greedy little performers, always wanting to be on stage' (what a parent told Dan once)
&
two, because...well...we hope this blog is fun and informative, and perhaps your colleagues will find it a nice respite from the day.

HOWEVER,

We caution you against reading this at work...unless you live in certain states where Freedom of Speech still reigns (and there are some). Most of us (here at the blog) do not live in such places...we live in the nether regions of the U.S. where administrators grab you by the scruff and roundly chastize you for daring to have "thoughts" and "opinions," especially during "school hours."

....and of course you want to say to them, "but the Real and Actual school hours are from 6 am to....10 pm....so....are you saying I can never have thoughts and opinions?

Administrator: "Well, duh! What about 'Be Like Sheep' did you not understand at the last staff development?"

Below-- What the Bill of Rights looks like:

Ironically, it has grown almost too faint to read.

Teachers--it's a seller's market

Reasons for this post:

1) Alternatives: This might be a strange interpretation of "alternatives" (because this concerns alternatives WITHIN the profession), but we propose that you become endorsed in as many areas as you can stomach.

Why?

• So that you are invaluable.
• So that you can walk at any time. ("Fine, you're going to assign me the worst classes/most students/worst classroom/most grueling schedule [in math, French, whatever]? I've got FIVE job offers to teach special ed in districts that PAY MORE!")

2) So that in your current situation, you can rise above The Servant Class.* Because we truly do want you to have a good school year.

***

JUST BY WAY OF EXAMPLE: (Extra points if you can catch the grammatical error!! Yes, there's a grammatical error on the Virginia EDUCATION DEPARTMENT WEBSITE!! YEY!!! WE LOVE HYPOCRISY!!! YOU MAKE TEACHERS JUMP THROUGH 7 TRILLION HOOPS, & YOU CAN'T EVEN HIRE A PROOFREADER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[Yes, we know this blog is not perfect either. Let's review: It's a B-L-O-G.]

2008-2009 Top 10 Critical Shortage Teaching Endorsement Areas in Virginia
The following represent the top 10 critical shortage teaching endorsement area assignment [sic] for 2008-2009:

1. Special Education:
• speech-language disorders preK-12;
• special education general curriculum K-12 (learning disabilities; emotional
disturbance; mental retardation);
• early childhood special education (birth through age 5);
• special education adapted curriculum K-12 (severe disabilities);
• hearing impairments preK-12;
• visual impairments preK-12
2. Mathematics (Mathematics 6-12; Algebra I)
3. Science (Earth science; middle grades 6-8; biology)
4. Reading Specialist
5. Foreign Languages (Spanish preK-12)
6. Career and Technical Education (family and consumer sciences; technology education)
7. English as a Second Language preK-12
8. English 6-12
9. Library Media preK-12
10. Middle Grades 6-8 (all subjects)
11. Everything

Number 11 is our sarcastic addition to the list. So, let's see where there is no shortage....high school Social Studies (sorry guys, I guess you are consigned to Worker Bee status)...elementary (shocking, actually)...phys ed? I don't see that on the list...actually, I guess all of the arts are also excluded from this list (even though there are demonstrable shortages in music) because God knows we don't need thoughtful, creative, inventive, disciplined, resourceful, and highly imaginative people to populate 21st century America.

And here we get to the number two reason for this post. Just look at this [above]. Almost every subject is short-suited. What does that tell you?

• You are totally undervaluing yourself.
• This is what they don't want you to know, or think about.
• They want you to feel like you could lose your job at any moment.

But,

It's a seller's market.

Let's get to selling...




*The Servant Class = people who are the worker bees, people who have to tow the line and do lots of extra work for the people who are Untouchables.

Examples of real life benefits to being Untouchable in a public school:

• taking sabbaticals even if your school system does not offer them
• access to power
• come late, leave early [not that we endorse doing a piss-poor job, but why should you work harder than someone else getting the same or higher pay?]

More in a later post...