<p>why oh why do most of the threads about teaching turn into political discussions about unions and teacher salaries?</p>
<p>I am going back to school right now to be certified to teach hs chemistry, so maybe I’m biased. Yes, it’s a tough job market and teachers don’t get a lot of respect, but I think it’s a great job. As juillet says, if it gets you up in the morning - go for it!</p>
<p>Boy do you exaggerate salary. My mom is a elementary school teacher in an upstate NY school district. She has her master’s degree and has been teaching for 23 years and makes $54,000 a year with 10 sick days. She’s always sick because parents send their kids to school with all sorts of contagious diseases. A parent of one of her student’s stole her purse last fall. She routinely spends a big chunk of her salary providing materials for her students that her district doesn’t. She gets 100 dollars a year for classroom supplies for 24 childdren. She works so hard and is exhausted all the time.</p>
<p>In some of the blogs there has been talk for a couple of years about the bursting of the higher education bubble, meaning that education will go the way of housing sooner or later…probably sooner.</p>
<p>Now since the Wisconsin problems started to surface, there is talk about a LOWER education bubble, suggesting that teachers’ salaries and benefits are also about to pop.</p>
<p>I think the administrators are not too happy when we link to blogs, so I’ll suggest going to
i n s t a p u n d i t . c o m and doing a search for the term “bubble”</p>
<p>cama, yes I am a teacher.</p>
<p>Do you love your subject matter AND kids (you really need to love both). Then yes, teach. My mother was a 4th grade teacher. She told me not to pursue the profession. I did anyway (post-secondary, Catholic school - so I make way less than the local public school teachers). I have loved it for the past 20 years. </p>
<p>Yes, it is currently hard to land a position. Can you go where a job is or are you place bound? There are lots of jobs in other fields, right now, that a new grad would have trouble landing. You need to think of this in terms of your whole life, not just the immediate future. Going overseas is a heck of an idea. You could gain valuable experience and the market for teachers to teach English is still great in many places.</p>
<p>It all depends on your passion. That’s as true today as it ever was.</p>
<p>In the past, being a school teacher has been a very well-paid career. Although there’s no spectacular financial upside, there’s no downside, either - and the overall compensation package is well above that for professions with similar levels of education, many more demanding in terms of time commitment.</p>
<p>But xiggi’s post points out the downside (and the upside) - times are changing. You really need to ask yourself if you have the passion to teach. If teaching becomes more like other fields, excellence will be rewarded, but mediocrity could lead to shaky prospects. That could prove to be rewarding for you - or not.</p>
<p>A lot of it comes down to “job stability.” That means completely different things in different sectors. If you’re in a union, it means you’re totally protected, generation after generation, until the big bang hits - devastating if it happens to hit while you’re there. Downside: you’re locked in financially, and that can wear at you as you lose your passion. In non-union sectors, it means maintaining your skills, continuing to deliver value, and riding out the inevitable interruptions. Downside: it can be hard to do that over an entire career, and you’ll need to remake yourself many times - even if you don’t want to.</p>
<p>This is my 14th year as a special ed teacher in a public high school. As in every other profession, change is happening rapidly and relentlessly. More work for less pay, more responsibility and less security, more rules and less individuality. Working conditions vary wildly by school district, so averages will not tell you what your job will be like. There’s no substitute for doing your homework, OP. If you know where you want to teach, talk to teachers, check the local paper for school stories to see how teachers are perceived, and remember salaries and contracts are public records in most districts. All the horror stories and the heart-warming stories are true, and working with kids is an amazing way to spend the day. I believe standardization and privatization are the future, so your career may be very different from mine. There will be days when you will be cursed at and days you will be hugged, but there will not be days, despite some opinions, when you will not earn your pay.</p>
<p>“I did the tax return last week of someone, retired at age 55, drawing $35,000/yr retirement. She paid $200 of that in. Don’t the rest of us wish…”</p>
<p>Yes, I am a teacher and wish that I didn’t have to pay 10% (soon to be raised) of my salary into the retirement system. </p>
<p>“In my school district, of the 185 days/year contracted, teachers are also allowed 20 personal/sick days per year. Don’t we wish…”</p>
<p>Yes, I am allowed 1.5 sick days per month. I wish I wouldn’t have to spend two hours making sub plans when I wake up with a bad sinus headache and I could just stay home for a day. It’s easier to just go in when I don’t feel well. I’ve taken one sick day this year, the first in many years.</p>
<p>“Single premium health ins. paid.”
Yes, I wish we had that benefit, but we don’t. I pay 20% of the cost of my health care insurance and am grateful for it, but it’s not free.</p>
<p>“Tenure for life at 3 years…they are also very well paid for my rural midwestern county.”
I do have a continuing contract, but our district is making cuts right now and those teachers with continuing contracts are also at risk of losing their jobs because of funding. I think my pay is adequate, but I would have made more money if I had stayed in the business world.</p>
<p>“Although these things are finally coming under scrutiny, I believe teachers (and other gov’t workers) will continue to enjoy more benefits than those of us in the private sector.”
I find it interesting that, while the economy was good, no one commented on the fact that many workers in the private sector were enjoying 6, 8, 10 percent raises(yes, not everyone, but some) and bonuses. My raises were 2.5-3.5 percent and my bonuses . . .?
Haha.</p>
<p>I love my job, but am tired of all of us being painted with the same brush. To the OP, I think you should do your research and explore all options. I think I have the best job in the world and would not change my decision to become a teacher, but it’s tough to work so hard and be given so little respect. I’m really tired right now.</p>
<p>Mika08, I just re-read my post and didn’t mean for it to be so negative. It’s simply a tough time to be a teacher now, but . . . it’s the BEST job in the world, even with all of the negatives. </p>
<p>Honestly, it is more rewarding than I could ever express in words. A number of years ago, my second grade students were doing a presentation about what they wanted to be when they grew up. At the point in the presentation where the students told why they were choosing this career, one of my quietest, shyest students said,“A lot of people think being a doctor is the most important job you can have. Well, no one could be a doctor if they didn’t have teachers who taught them what they needed to know, so being a teacher is the most important job there is. That’s why I want to be a teacher.” </p>
<p>Teaching is hard, but amazingly rewarding. Go for it if you can handle the negatives, because every day can bring you great joy.</p>
<p>OP, ESL jobs will be much easier to find in cities for obvious reasons however they tend to pay less than suburban schools. Also consider the classroom management issue in cities versus suburbs. IMO, you should also get certified in special ed. which will make you very marketable. Of course, only do it if you have the passion for it.</p>
<p>You mentioned teaching abroad which I think is a great idea. Eslcafe is a forum which has a huge section of ESL teachers that are overseas. </p>
<p>As far as teaching being worth it- I really love the actual teaching part of the job but everything else is really not that great. The main things that bugs me are grade inflation, school politics, and how parents sometimes feel teachers are beneath them.</p>
<p>If teaching is truly your passion, then go for it. However, be smart about it. Become licensed in more than one area to make yourself more marketable. (For example, math and special ed. or math and ESL)</p>
<p>I would also recommend doing research before you graduate to find out which areas of the country are hiring teachers. The school system we live in is planning to close 3 schools, eliminate transportation and cut 81 teaching positions next year because of budget cuts. Every other school system in our area is in the same boat. We know 2 young women graduating in May with teaching degrees and both of them are job-hunting out of state because the school systems locally are in such dire circumstances.</p>
<p>RedDinosaur…I love working with my students and families. I HATE the paperwork and meetings. Yes, I realize they are necessary but they have grown exponentially during my teaching career. I do most of it on my own time at night and on weekends because while the paperwork obligations (I work in special education) have increased, the time in which to do them during the school day has not.</p>
<p>thumper1, do you mean to say that in your 7 and a half hour contract day you are unable to teach your students, plan your lessons, grade students’ papers, complete all paper work, return phone calls/e-mails from parents and attend staff, committee, and IEP meetings? ;)</p>
<p>Let me put it this way. I am an ordained minister which is one of the lowest paid professions requiring an advanced degree. Before ordination a mentor asked me, “Can you envision doing anything else with your life? If so, then do it. If not, go ahead into the ministry.” I would give this same advice to a teacher. Teaching is a calling, just like the ministry. You should not go into it if job security or high earnings are a priority for you.</p>
<p>You might break it down as to why you think you want to teach ESL to children. </p>
<p>If you love being in the company of children, you will get that to an extreme degree. Children are people, so there’s the entire range of fascinating and difficult personalities, each and every day, surrounding you. You are responsible to teach them, whether you like them (as people) or not. It’s a profession and you have to teach everyone assigned to you, period. Can you imagine that? If so, read on… </p>
<p>In ESL, if elementary, you will have each student for fewer hours than you wish, sometimes in 45-minute rotations of small groups all day long. You’ll be expected to move down the halls quickly with them to keep to schedules of the regular classroom teacher from whom you pulled them out. Your day will be ruled by the clock, to the minute, so that just when you think you are making a breakthrough, the bell will ring and you’ll have to dismiss that child. You might have groups of 6-10, all day on 45 minute rotations, but that’s not 25-30 at once. Small group has its charm. You don’t know them inside-out the way the regular classroom teacher does, but usually they like to come to you for the change from regular classroom. If you’re dedicated you start teaching them as you walk down the halls, not wait until you get in the room; the hallwalk might be 15% of your time with them.</p>
<p>ETA: Don’t imagine yourself in an airy, sunlit classroom. In every school I taught, the ESL teacher got the worst room, generally without windows, because the children each spent only 45 minutes there. SHE, however, was in that room all day. One was a remodeled laundry closet with the old sink still dripping in it…really bottom-of-the-barrel in terms of assigned workspaces; crowded, windowless could be your room, if you do ESL pullout. </p>
<p>You can, however, make a lifetime difference to all the responsive children assigned to you (not all will respond, even if you are a very good teacher). You can help them gain a foothold in a new country. That’s deeply rewarding. </p>
<p>If it’s ESL you love, the language processes and grammar issues, more the subject matter than children, then you might compare what a public school ESL teacher makes compared to, for example, someone working in business/industry working with adults, here or overseas. Adults don’t bring the behavior management challenges of young children, but they also aren’t as moving to teach (some feel). You can devite more to the pure ESL linguistic matters with a class of adults, however. </p>
<p>I have elementary certification with Advanced Qualifications in ESL. I taught 8th grade students who had come directly from war-torn Somalia to Canadian classrooms. Sometimes we taught them to eat lunch without taking from their classmates, a reflexive response after living 2 years in a refugee camp, rather than going to school. I had to keep alert for indications that girls might be subjected to operations illegal in their new adopted country. It is very intense, and usually not cute, to work with preteens in ESL settings. I never taught High School; only Elementary and Middle School grades.</p>
<p>I agree that you have to have a real sense of mission, as if a nun or Peace Corps worker, to enjoy a teaching career. It is very challenging (physically and financially) but deeply memorable/rewarding emotionally and spiritually. Just be realistic about your stamina and ability to take a lot of guff to do what you deem valuable. PS, I never looked for any affirmation from parents, my principal or other teachers. The drive came from within me. YOu have to be very strong.</p>
<p>(Crossposted with Megpmom and agree 100 %)</p>
<p>OP–my husband switched careers to become a hs bio teacher several year ago. Before that, he was a pediatrician, so this was a significant cut in pay (though since he worked for a salary in an inner city clinic, not as much as you might think.)</p>
<p>He’s making a lot less now, but he’s extremely happy with it. He works ridiculous hours (usually working on school work for an hour befor he leaves for school, then at school till 6/7, then more at home work, and hours and hours each weekend.) But he’ll be the first to tell you how great having a break in the summer is. Benefits are good, (he pays toward them but not as much as i did at a private employer) but heading toward not so good with the way the state of NJ is going. He had no idea he’d become public enemy no. 1 when he switched careers.</p>
<p>Despite all that, he loves it. He loves science, loves imparting a sense of the wonder of it to students, loves to get them to really see and experience the world with less preconceptions, loves to help them learn how to think. So, do it if you love it.</p>
<p>On a side note, he’s killed two professions now. Left medicine because of the nightmare of managed care plus the lack of resources available to his patients, and the general stress of it. Now the same kind of stuff is having in education. People, anyone here who likes what they do for a living, don’t tell my H–if he switches to that, it will go straight down the tubes. :D</p>
<p>Hi, Garland, I was thinking of your DH when I read this.</p>
<p>The positive about teaching: the kids and watching them grow and gain confidence as they accomplish things they never thought they could do.
The negatives about teaching:
1.The myth the we only work our paid time during the day. If teachers only worked the hours they were paid the whole system would fall apart beyond anything we see now.
2. Being blamed for children who are regularly absent, living in highly dysfunctional homes so that they struggle to keep their minds on academics, moved from school to school or even state to state throughout the school year or have other problems that the teacher cannot fix for not “making gains.”
3. Constant “band-aide” fixes that are never fully implemented and only implemented for a short time while some politician or administrator uses the “great idea” for their career goal gains that won’t work unless they are implemented fully and long enough to be perfected.</p>
<p>I wonder what would happen if all teachers only worked the hours they got paid, since that is what the public thinks we do, and refused to do any extra duties like club sponsorship without proper financial compensation. Maybe after a year of this the public would realize how much more most teachers do to help their children.</p>
<p>As for me, I am torn. Part of me wants to leave teaching because I am tired of feeling like the enemy. On the other hand, I would miss the kids and the parents who do understand the system well enough to appreciate teachers.</p>
<p>When it comes to the paid benefits, I feel I earn them. Something about working 10-11 hours days and being paid for 7 1/2 hours per day and still bringing work home for the weekends. Summers are nice because I don’t have to get up early, but I still work without pay during this time also. I teach a 2 year class and I have work to grade and lessons to create during the summer, in addition to training, when I can get it.</p>
<p>Probably the biggest downside is that all teachers are compensated based on seniority instead of subject taught and hours worked. (P.E. teachers that don’t give homework are paid the same as math, science and computer teachers who may be taking home a lot of extra work)</p>
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<p>I’m with you there proud_mom!</p>
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<p>That’s the truth! You must have thick skin if you want to be a teacher. EVERYONE will feel entitled to tell you how to do your job and will be an expert on the type of compensation you get.You will have to fight for raises (even when the government gives the district a COLA), fight to have disruptive students removed from your class, and fight for the good kids to get what they deserve.</p>
<p>Yes, summers are GREAT! But hardly make up for the other negatives.</p>
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<p>This is some of the best advice I’ve seen.</p>
<p>Having said all this, I know it is a calling for me and that I find it extremely stimulating. I have absolutely never been bored (except at an occasional staff meeting) but am often overwhelmed. If you have ANY doubts about the negatives, DON’T DO IT, you’ll be miserable (like the 50% of new teachers that quit in the first 5 years).</p>