What Teachers Do
November 30, 2015 7:36 AM Subscribe
National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García on what teachers do
That was great. I have met so many of That Guy.
Over Thanksgiving dinner, my husband and I (both of us former middle and high school teachers) had to ex[;aom to my mom why teachers might get irritated if you are taking your kid out of school constantly for family trips during the school year. She was like, what's the big deal! Trips are educational! Kids can just make up the work! Why are schools and teachers always whining about attendance?! Husband and I were like, let's break this down: A middle or high school teacher can have 150+ students. When you take your kid out of school a lot, think about the other 149 families who might also feel the same way. So on any given day, you could have one or several of your 150 students absent, for various reasons. And for each of those absent students, you need to come up with some sort of make-up work to give them. But of course, you're a skilled educator who builds their lessons cumulatively and through authentic hands-on classroom experiences, discussions, group projects and lectures, all sequenced to get students to where they need to be by the time the tests roll around--tests that your quality as an educator will be judged on. So the kid being taken out for a week will be missing 5 days of these experiences and you now have to come up with some other way for the kid to get the same information without being in the classroom. And you do it because it is your job, but it's not a quick or easy process. And then you have to get the work to the student and then you have to chase down the student to actually turn in the work, and then grade it and provide feedback. Which, again, is your job, but you also have to do the same for the other 149 of your students who have all been doing work in class and in sequence. And if they miss an assessment, well you have to schedule a time for them to come to your room and do that, which means you give up your time to go make copies or (heaven forbid) eat lunch or pee.
And teachers do it because absences are inevitable (and I won't even get into the class-based assumptions my mom was making about absences among the middle class being fine because they're inevitably educational but absences among poor students being a whole other different, separate thing) and all kids are going to have to miss school sometimes, but there is, in fact, an actual reason why schools and teachers try to discourage unexcused absences during the school year. We don't just make shit up to make parents' lives difficult for funsies.
Teachers get gaslit like crazy every time they talk about something that is difficult or a problem for them in their jobs. I don't know why (well, I do) everyone is so incredibly invested in denying the validity of the lived experiences of teachers when they say, "Hey, this is what my life is like."
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:01 AM on November 30, 2015 [21 favorites]
Over Thanksgiving dinner, my husband and I (both of us former middle and high school teachers) had to ex[;aom to my mom why teachers might get irritated if you are taking your kid out of school constantly for family trips during the school year. She was like, what's the big deal! Trips are educational! Kids can just make up the work! Why are schools and teachers always whining about attendance?! Husband and I were like, let's break this down: A middle or high school teacher can have 150+ students. When you take your kid out of school a lot, think about the other 149 families who might also feel the same way. So on any given day, you could have one or several of your 150 students absent, for various reasons. And for each of those absent students, you need to come up with some sort of make-up work to give them. But of course, you're a skilled educator who builds their lessons cumulatively and through authentic hands-on classroom experiences, discussions, group projects and lectures, all sequenced to get students to where they need to be by the time the tests roll around--tests that your quality as an educator will be judged on. So the kid being taken out for a week will be missing 5 days of these experiences and you now have to come up with some other way for the kid to get the same information without being in the classroom. And you do it because it is your job, but it's not a quick or easy process. And then you have to get the work to the student and then you have to chase down the student to actually turn in the work, and then grade it and provide feedback. Which, again, is your job, but you also have to do the same for the other 149 of your students who have all been doing work in class and in sequence. And if they miss an assessment, well you have to schedule a time for them to come to your room and do that, which means you give up your time to go make copies or (heaven forbid) eat lunch or pee.
And teachers do it because absences are inevitable (and I won't even get into the class-based assumptions my mom was making about absences among the middle class being fine because they're inevitably educational but absences among poor students being a whole other different, separate thing) and all kids are going to have to miss school sometimes, but there is, in fact, an actual reason why schools and teachers try to discourage unexcused absences during the school year. We don't just make shit up to make parents' lives difficult for funsies.
Teachers get gaslit like crazy every time they talk about something that is difficult or a problem for them in their jobs. I don't know why (well, I do) everyone is so incredibly invested in denying the validity of the lived experiences of teachers when they say, "Hey, this is what my life is like."
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:01 AM on November 30, 2015 [21 favorites]
Chronically what and medically annoying?
posted by ernielundquist at 8:12 AM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ernielundquist at 8:12 AM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think she was referring to the Man in the Middle Seat with that remark.
posted by aniola at 8:13 AM on November 30, 2015
posted by aniola at 8:13 AM on November 30, 2015
Education is something everyone vaguely remembers, so naturally, they're all experts at it.
posted by bonehead at 8:18 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by bonehead at 8:18 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Chronically what and medically annoying?
Benefit of the doubt, it was probably "tardy" or maybe "tired."
"Medically annoying" is more troubling. What could she mean by that?
posted by officer_fred at 8:24 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Benefit of the doubt, it was probably "tardy" or maybe "tired."
"Medically annoying" is more troubling. What could she mean by that?
posted by officer_fred at 8:24 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
On a similar theme, Taylor Mali's slam poem, What Teachers Make. I'm at work so I can't find a YouTube video of him reading the poem, but I highly recommend reading the poem that way.
posted by possibilityleft at 8:29 AM on November 30, 2015
posted by possibilityleft at 8:29 AM on November 30, 2015
Taylor Mali: What Teachers Make (YouTube).
posted by amf at 8:51 AM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by amf at 8:51 AM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
taking your kid out of school constantly for family trips during the school year
Wow, who the hell has the money/time off to be taking "constant" family trips?
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 9:14 AM on November 30, 2015
Wow, who the hell has the money/time off to be taking "constant" family trips?
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 9:14 AM on November 30, 2015
Wow, who the hell has the money/time off to be taking "constant" family trips?
A lot of families take trips during the school year because "off season" is all they can afford.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:20 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
A lot of families take trips during the school year because "off season" is all they can afford.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:20 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
A kid with whom I went to middle and elementary school kept missing classes to go sailing but now he's the skipper for a major international race and apparently making a ton of money and there are posters of his face all over Newport so I guess skipping seventh grade Spanish worked out okay for him.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:25 AM on November 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:25 AM on November 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
American Association of People with Disabilities statement
She is claiming she meant to say "tardy," but "medically annoying" is still pretty wtf.
posted by naoko at 9:28 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
She is claiming she meant to say "tardy," but "medically annoying" is still pretty wtf.
posted by naoko at 9:28 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
with some other way for the kid to get the same information without being in the classroom. And you do it because it is your job, but it's not a quick or easy process.
I'd think an email to the parents with a cut&paste of the section of the syllabus missed and a reminder that they are responsible for the child's mastery the material.
posted by sammyo at 9:31 AM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'd think an email to the parents with a cut&paste of the section of the syllabus missed and a reminder that they are responsible for the child's mastery the material.
posted by sammyo at 9:31 AM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
For what it's worth, youtube closed captioning thinks she said "chronically tardy" which is what I hear as well.
But then it thinks "gifted and talented" is "to get into town to".
It's disappointing to see people trying to make a twitter outrage-storm out of something that was clearly a tongue twister.
It overshadows the theme of that portion which is, I think, that we have outsourced so much stuff onto our local schools, it's a wonder they get anything done, let alone produce educated children.
posted by madajb at 9:39 AM on November 30, 2015 [6 favorites]
But then it thinks "gifted and talented" is "to get into town to".
It's disappointing to see people trying to make a twitter outrage-storm out of something that was clearly a tongue twister.
It overshadows the theme of that portion which is, I think, that we have outsourced so much stuff onto our local schools, it's a wonder they get anything done, let alone produce educated children.
posted by madajb at 9:39 AM on November 30, 2015 [6 favorites]
I'd think an email to the parents with a cut&paste of the section of the syllabus missed and a reminder that they are responsible for the child's mastery the material.
Okay, but the thing is that, professionally at least, you are responsible for this. At the end of the year, if you don't do well enough on your evaluations (many of which include student mastery of material as demonstrated through standardized tests) you can lose your job and "the kid's parents should have been responsible for this" isn't really going to cut it.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:40 AM on November 30, 2015 [7 favorites]
Okay, but the thing is that, professionally at least, you are responsible for this. At the end of the year, if you don't do well enough on your evaluations (many of which include student mastery of material as demonstrated through standardized tests) you can lose your job and "the kid's parents should have been responsible for this" isn't really going to cut it.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:40 AM on November 30, 2015 [7 favorites]
I totally get what she was trying to say about medically annoying, but that's a pretty obvious and big political mistake from someone is in a political position. Spending seven hours a day five days a week with a hypochondriac second grader can become very frustrating. There are certainly ways to address it that can't be twisted into insensitivity towards actual medical conditions.
posted by lownote at 9:40 AM on November 30, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by lownote at 9:40 AM on November 30, 2015 [5 favorites]
I'd think an email to the parents with a cut&paste of the section of the syllabus missed and a reminder that they are responsible for the child's mastery the material.
When I was in elementary, the teacher would give us handouts and worksheets, which we promptly forgot about and the teacher never asked for.
So a bureaucratic checkbox was checked and everyone was happy, I assume.
posted by madajb at 9:48 AM on November 30, 2015
When I was in elementary, the teacher would give us handouts and worksheets, which we promptly forgot about and the teacher never asked for.
So a bureaucratic checkbox was checked and everyone was happy, I assume.
posted by madajb at 9:48 AM on November 30, 2015
What teachers mostly do today, is avoid the profession or quit it permanently: In the U.S., over half of all teachers exit the field within 5 years (and it's not the bottom half). In California, enrollment in teacher education programs at colleges & universities has declined by almost 60% just in the past four years, and we've certainly seen that on my campus. It's catastrophic and many school districts this fall found themselves unexpectedly scrambling because of teacher shortages. All but two of my students currently in the credential program (post-degree, pre-job training) have been hired out into full time jobs on provisional certificates because of these shortages, but there are fewer and fewer students in those programs behind them. The message is clear: being a teacher is a shitty job and young adults who otherwise would love to pursue teaching as a career, are avoiding it, or leaving it not long after starting work.
I realized about 10 years ago that meaningful, effective public education reform--including most importantly improving the professional experience of being a teacher--simply is not going to happen, as long as education is treated as a political issue. We have long been and continue to be on a trajectory that will cause failure and collapse of our current system(s), and we will have to rebuild anew when it all finally crumbles. (Which, while traumatic, may lead us to much more effective models of mass, public, and secular schooling.) But because education and schooling remain political issues, the actual problems that need to be solved are ignored or given obviously ineffective solutions (e.g., NCLB), other problems are manufactured, and all poor outcomes are blamed on teachers.
It is clearly unsustainable, and unsustainable systems and practices always end in collapse. For me, it is only a question of when.
posted by LooseFilter at 10:54 AM on November 30, 2015 [8 favorites]
I realized about 10 years ago that meaningful, effective public education reform--including most importantly improving the professional experience of being a teacher--simply is not going to happen, as long as education is treated as a political issue. We have long been and continue to be on a trajectory that will cause failure and collapse of our current system(s), and we will have to rebuild anew when it all finally crumbles. (Which, while traumatic, may lead us to much more effective models of mass, public, and secular schooling.) But because education and schooling remain political issues, the actual problems that need to be solved are ignored or given obviously ineffective solutions (e.g., NCLB), other problems are manufactured, and all poor outcomes are blamed on teachers.
It is clearly unsustainable, and unsustainable systems and practices always end in collapse. For me, it is only a question of when.
posted by LooseFilter at 10:54 AM on November 30, 2015 [8 favorites]
1. You get what you pay for. Compare Finland for teachers' prep and salaries.
2. Quick fix: dump Schools of Ed at all colleges. They are boondogles and get the bottom of the barrel students in most cases.
3. Stop letting the parents have so big a say in education. Your kid takes a bath but if the plumbing needs fixing, you don't tell the plumber what he should do and not do.
posted by Postroad at 11:20 AM on November 30, 2015 [4 favorites]
2. Quick fix: dump Schools of Ed at all colleges. They are boondogles and get the bottom of the barrel students in most cases.
3. Stop letting the parents have so big a say in education. Your kid takes a bath but if the plumbing needs fixing, you don't tell the plumber what he should do and not do.
posted by Postroad at 11:20 AM on November 30, 2015 [4 favorites]
1. You get what you pay for. Compare Finland for teachers' prep and salaries.
This is huge. Apart from NCLB, it's probably the biggest single problem with US public schools right now.
The relatively low pay that teachers make leads to a big, big gap in teacher skills. You've got the really good teachers who are doing it because it's legitimately their calling and they're willing to make personal sacrifices to do it; and on the other hand, you've got the incompetent teachers who are doing it because it's their best option. The only teachers who really benefit under this system are the bad ones.
posted by ernielundquist at 11:38 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is huge. Apart from NCLB, it's probably the biggest single problem with US public schools right now.
The relatively low pay that teachers make leads to a big, big gap in teacher skills. You've got the really good teachers who are doing it because it's legitimately their calling and they're willing to make personal sacrifices to do it; and on the other hand, you've got the incompetent teachers who are doing it because it's their best option. The only teachers who really benefit under this system are the bad ones.
posted by ernielundquist at 11:38 AM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Teacher pay disparities between districts make it difficult to generalize across the board about whether or not teachers are paid enough. In some districts, it's not a bad living--you won't get rich, but you won't be destitute. In others, it's genuinely criminal. My husband interviewed with a district in North Carolina and it was legitimately frightening how little they offered. Where he wound up, I had a hard time finding a job of my own at first and trying to live on the salary of one first-year teacher is the brokest we have ever been, graduate school years included.
And every time you try to talk about teacher pay, someone comes in like, "Well I know one teacher and they have a flat screen TV and I don't know anything about how long they've been teaching or what the demographics of their district are or what their spouse makes, but clearly my anecdata trumps any actual data you might have on this topic."
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:01 PM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
And every time you try to talk about teacher pay, someone comes in like, "Well I know one teacher and they have a flat screen TV and I don't know anything about how long they've been teaching or what the demographics of their district are or what their spouse makes, but clearly my anecdata trumps any actual data you might have on this topic."
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:01 PM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wow, who the hell has the money/time off to be taking "constant" family trips?
A lot of families take trips during the school year because "off season" is all they can afford.
The families at my (affluent) school so commonly took all of the week around president's day off to go skiing in Aspen or wherever that our district just made that week a holiday. It's called Ski Week.
And I have a problem with 'medically annoying', too. We do have parents who demand services that their child maybe doesn't really need, that could be what she's talking about. She's an idiot for putting that phrase in a speech, though.
posted by Huck500 at 12:45 PM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
A lot of families take trips during the school year because "off season" is all they can afford.
The families at my (affluent) school so commonly took all of the week around president's day off to go skiing in Aspen or wherever that our district just made that week a holiday. It's called Ski Week.
And I have a problem with 'medically annoying', too. We do have parents who demand services that their child maybe doesn't really need, that could be what she's talking about. She's an idiot for putting that phrase in a speech, though.
posted by Huck500 at 12:45 PM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
they're willing to make personal sacrifices to do it
Not only is this the case, but the people in the profession generally look down on you if you're unwilling to do so. I know someone who attempted a teacher's certificate, but bailed as soon as she realized that (a) the job payed badly for the amount of work required, and (b) somehow wanting to be paid a reasonable amount and not wanting to work 16hrs a day for shit pay was a supposed to be a character fault.
Just like any job, be very, very wary of any employment that requires "passion" but doesn't pay accordingly.
posted by smidgen at 12:48 PM on November 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
Not only is this the case, but the people in the profession generally look down on you if you're unwilling to do so. I know someone who attempted a teacher's certificate, but bailed as soon as she realized that (a) the job payed badly for the amount of work required, and (b) somehow wanting to be paid a reasonable amount and not wanting to work 16hrs a day for shit pay was a supposed to be a character fault.
Just like any job, be very, very wary of any employment that requires "passion" but doesn't pay accordingly.
posted by smidgen at 12:48 PM on November 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
For what it's worth, youtube closed captioning thinks she said "chronically tardy" which is what I hear as well.
But then it thinks "gifted and talented" is "to get into town to".
It's disappointing to see people trying to make a twitter outrage-storm out of something that was clearly a tongue twister.
It overshadows the theme of that portion which is, I think, that we have outsourced so much stuff onto our local schools, it's a wonder they get anything done, let alone produce educated children.
"We've put so much of the burden for these disabled kids on our schools, it harms the normal children!" is a refrain I have heard often. Most appallingly, second hand - when my parents showed up for parent teacher conferences at the beginning of first grade (so ... early-mid 90s?) the teacher told them I belonged in an institution and it wasn't fair to the other kids to have me there wasting everyone's time and energy. (This wasn't the only time in my K-12 - or university and graduate - education that this idea was expressed, just the most blatant instance thereof.)
They went to the principal, who told them that this was an unfortunate thing for a teacher to say, but that since said teacher was a year or two from retirement, it would be awful to start any kind of disciplinary proceedings via the school board. And that the other classes were all full, so it wouldn't be possible to transfer me to another teacher.
It's possible she said 'chronically tardy', though I reserve the right to be skeptical. But even if we give her the benefit of the doubt there, following it up with 'medically annoying' is absolutely beyond the pale.
Except that it isn't; we still think of equal rights and education for disabled kids as a nice-to-have, as a thing that you get cookies for instead of being a fucking human right. And we make all kinds of excuses and rationalizations for educators who disagree with that idea.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 1:05 PM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
But then it thinks "gifted and talented" is "to get into town to".
It's disappointing to see people trying to make a twitter outrage-storm out of something that was clearly a tongue twister.
It overshadows the theme of that portion which is, I think, that we have outsourced so much stuff onto our local schools, it's a wonder they get anything done, let alone produce educated children.
"We've put so much of the burden for these disabled kids on our schools, it harms the normal children!" is a refrain I have heard often. Most appallingly, second hand - when my parents showed up for parent teacher conferences at the beginning of first grade (so ... early-mid 90s?) the teacher told them I belonged in an institution and it wasn't fair to the other kids to have me there wasting everyone's time and energy. (This wasn't the only time in my K-12 - or university and graduate - education that this idea was expressed, just the most blatant instance thereof.)
They went to the principal, who told them that this was an unfortunate thing for a teacher to say, but that since said teacher was a year or two from retirement, it would be awful to start any kind of disciplinary proceedings via the school board. And that the other classes were all full, so it wouldn't be possible to transfer me to another teacher.
It's possible she said 'chronically tardy', though I reserve the right to be skeptical. But even if we give her the benefit of the doubt there, following it up with 'medically annoying' is absolutely beyond the pale.
Except that it isn't; we still think of equal rights and education for disabled kids as a nice-to-have, as a thing that you get cookies for instead of being a fucking human right. And we make all kinds of excuses and rationalizations for educators who disagree with that idea.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 1:05 PM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
My wife is a teacher at one of the top k-12 private schools here in the south. She teaches the children of the hypothetical businessman Garcia mentions at the top of her speech. Tuition for each of her 21 students is about $22k. That does not include the $1k for an iPad and apps each family is required to buy for their student. It also does not include the $200/ month for what essentially are daily catered lunches. Or the thousands spent on uniforms, shoes, backpacks, etc. My wife has a classroom budget of several thousand that she can spend at her convenience. Lower division at the school just dropped $50k on a new math curriculum with a contract to drop at least half that in the next few years to support it. In the 12 years my wife has been teaching at this particular school not one child has arrived hungry or without appropriate clothing. They literally want for nothing.
So, there IS a one-word answer: money. It won't solve every issue parents who can earn a living wage can feed their children and provide a roof over their heads. Properly funded public schools that aren't tied to local property taxes would go a long way towards creating a more ideal learning environment where teachers don't have to worry about spending what little they earn on classroom supplies the district can't afford.
Living in FL and in a county where the public schools are an unmitigated disaster I could go on and on....
posted by photoslob at 1:25 PM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
So, there IS a one-word answer: money. It won't solve every issue parents who can earn a living wage can feed their children and provide a roof over their heads. Properly funded public schools that aren't tied to local property taxes would go a long way towards creating a more ideal learning environment where teachers don't have to worry about spending what little they earn on classroom supplies the district can't afford.
Living in FL and in a county where the public schools are an unmitigated disaster I could go on and on....
posted by photoslob at 1:25 PM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Not only is this the case, but the people in the profession generally look down on you if you're unwilling to do so. I know someone who attempted a teacher's certificate, but bailed as soon as she realized that (a) the job payed badly for the amount of work required, and (b) somehow wanting to be paid a reasonable amount and not wanting to work 16hrs a day for shit pay was a supposed to be a character fault.
That's the thing. I mean, the list she rattles off is kind of overreaching at times, but the fact is that a competent teacher has to have some very wide-ranging skills, combining classroom management and understanding of developmental issues, public speaking skills, organizational skills, AND, especially in upper grades, subject matter expertise. There aren't a lot of people, including those currently teaching, who have all those skills.
And yet, public school teachers make less than just about any other profession that requires similar levels of education. Software developers and accountants pretty consistently make more than teachers, which is pretty ridiculous.
So the profession does attract some very talented, passionate people who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to do that job (or who have the means to do it almost as a volunteer thing), but it also attracts a lot of people who are in way, way over their heads to varying degrees.
posted by ernielundquist at 1:36 PM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
That's the thing. I mean, the list she rattles off is kind of overreaching at times, but the fact is that a competent teacher has to have some very wide-ranging skills, combining classroom management and understanding of developmental issues, public speaking skills, organizational skills, AND, especially in upper grades, subject matter expertise. There aren't a lot of people, including those currently teaching, who have all those skills.
And yet, public school teachers make less than just about any other profession that requires similar levels of education. Software developers and accountants pretty consistently make more than teachers, which is pretty ridiculous.
So the profession does attract some very talented, passionate people who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to do that job (or who have the means to do it almost as a volunteer thing), but it also attracts a lot of people who are in way, way over their heads to varying degrees.
posted by ernielundquist at 1:36 PM on November 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
She posted a message/apology about the speech on her blog.
posted by katie at 5:24 PM on November 30, 2015
posted by katie at 5:24 PM on November 30, 2015
I should add -- her explanation for "medically annoying" rings really false to me. I'm a teacher, and I don't think much of her speech. Yes, teaching is a complex job with a lot of critics chiming in. This has been rehashed over and over again and it's getting us nowhere.
posted by katie at 5:31 PM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by katie at 5:31 PM on November 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm having a hard time understanding her use of "medically;" it's not a usage I'm familiar with....
posted by aniola at 10:15 PM on November 30, 2015
posted by aniola at 10:15 PM on November 30, 2015
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