its been a while, but now I'm back...Benefits, pension, evaluations...what a mess!

Teacher pension, health care benefits and evaluations are pushing teachers away.  When I began teaching the profession wasn't offering much in the way of salaries, so teachers were attracted to the benefits.  The pensions weren't big, but they were enough to keep you interested.  The benefits meant that you could take care of the health of your children.  The evaluations were about as fair as anything can be when human beings are involved.  We teach because we love education, sharing knowledge, watching children in the age of discovery, and most of all we love students.  They are awesome whether they are small, large, young, or adult.  That's what keeps us there.  We love the children and the creative license we were given to make learning fun.
     Somewhere along the way, the profession of teaching lost it's charm and instead of being able to draw the cream of the crop, we started getting relatives of administrators who weren't very talented teachers, people who were burnt out on the business field and who thought teaching was a piece of cake, people who had struggled in school as students in special education classes, and just a wide variety of people who were wonderful human beings, but who weren't cut out to be teachers.  The complaining would start at about the second month.  Some would leave before the year was out, some would at least wait until the end of the school year, but then would run far away.  There were also some exceptional people who came into the profession.  They were so good that we would wonder why they didn't just come on in when they began their professional journey instead of taking a detour to do something else.  The answer would always be that there wasn't enough money to take care of their family in the teaching profession.  Some people came into the profession thinking it was a cake walk.  They believed the hype about a perfect classroom where the students stood up when the teacher walked into the room and would greet you with a chorus of "Good morning Mr. or Mrs. Teacher".  It was so funny to see their faces when reality hit them head on.  The kids don't stop talking or texting when you walk in unless you have developed your own technique of getting their attention.
     Now we stand together, teachers from all walks of life with the determination to accomplish all the things on the state test.  Where did the fun go? How can you create a joy for learning when everything is so regimented with little time for questions and discovery.  We feel as though we're in a race to complete our test schedule and we're  practically standing on our heads to keep the children interested, focused, participating and moving forward.  Up until  few years ago we had a 20 minute lunch.  During that time you have to actually get to the cafeteria, warm or unwrap your food, and decide whether you're going to eat your lunch or go to the restroom.  On top of those everyday things we have to add the concern over our pension, healthcare, and evaluations.  Our governor all but told the voters that we don't pay for those things.  HMMMM...I'd better check my pay stub again because I believe I do see a deduction for those things.  Soooo, the portion that we pay has now increased making our pay check smaller.  I know that people think we're so silly for continuously mentioning that, but I don't know one male teacher who has more than one job.  You can usually tell a teacher parking lot because of the cars that are parked there.  Depending on the age number of working years of the teaching staff, you will see small to mid-sized economic cars.  I'm not complaining, I'm just stating facts.  Teaching was what I was meant to do, I just wish our governor would pay the state's share of the pension.  The quality of our benefits wasn't supposed to be lowered, but things don't always work out the way they should.  More of my pay going towards other things is the way of the world.  So now, I have joined so many of my friends in getting not one part-time job, but two.

     The teacher evaluations that are currently being used are supposed to be based in part on the test scores of the children.  The other part is so complicated that many of us had to take several seminars in order to understand what was being asked of us.  After two years, (just in the nick of time) most of us have finally figured out the paperwork, terminology and requirements.  We have heard stories of administrators who put all the lower scoring students in the classes of teachers with whom they had a personality conflict.  In this way, after two years, they could begin to remove the teacher.  The teacher's ability didn't matter, it was the personality, or the look of the person that would spur the principal to move children who struggled with behavior and/or academics into that teacher's classroom in unmanageable numbers.    To us it seemed to be very easy for an administrator to set a teacher up, so the union had to really get organized and step up the pace and we did.
     So many people began to retire or change profession.  Our leaders should think about what they're doing because teachers have to live, too, and students need good teachers.  They are, after all, our future.  

A target on the back of innocent children armed with skittles and a can of iced tea

I was shocked, and I noticed that even TV news anchors were shocked.  Several that I both heard and observed were almost in tears last night as a jury of 6 white women acquitted George Zimmerman of murder.  It was a travesty.  The lies told by Zimmerman were clearly lies.  Trayvon wasn't here to tell his side of the story.  The prosecutors obviously fell short.  The laws in Florida allow murder of teenagers armed with skittles and a can of iced tea.  Why not take guns off the street?  Make them illegal to own.  If people want to shoot or hunt, they can pick up the guns at the hunting area the way bowlers pick up bowling shoes at the bowling alley.  (a practice which I find appalling).  When people go to certain venues to play a sport or exercise they use the equipment that is provided by the organization that is offering classes or use of their facility for that particular activity.  Guns can be provided at venues for practice or hunting (something else I disagree with, but I digress).  It will create more jobs and enable frightened politicians to pass laws that will take guns off the street.
     Back to the topic at hand.  As a teacher and as a mother I just can't believe that people would listen to a man say things like Trayvon sat up and said, "You got me" after being shot at point blank range and lay there dying.  That is what happens in cartoons, not in real life.  Why would he further torture the dying teen by sitting on him and holding his arms down.  Why did Zimmerman follow him in the first place?  The fact that he followed Trayvon AFTER the 911 operator told him not to was a sign of intent to do harm.  The fact that he had a gun as he followed the teen was a sign of intent to do harm not a sign of fear.  Why didn't he go home after he had called the police?  Did he think that the police were incompetent?  Did he lack faith in their ability to do their job correctly or at all?  If the child had been a girl would she still be dead?  We cannot allow our country to go in the direction that it is headed.  How long will we hire politicians and allow them to pass laws that kill our children or not act at all while things in our country get worse?  I for one, will not go to Florida until the "Stand your ground law and laws like it are removed.  There has to be another way to prevent crime.  Parents must parent.  Schools must teach acceptable social behavior, the law must do its job without prejudice.  I say BOYCOTT FLORIDA UNTIL 'STAND ALONE IS GONE'.  JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON.  JUSTICE FOR ALL OUR CHILDREN.  

Are your class sizes getting larger?

I've been hearing from a large number of my peers, and what they are saying is that their class sizes are increasing dramatically.  The result of the cut back from a year ago, and from two years ago has raised class sizes to 30-34 and classes in physical education in some schools are in the 40's.  Children aren't products, they are people. They can't be educated on an assembly line.  There is no  'point and click'. They are young and even the brightest child needs to be able to receive individual attention at some point during the day.  Every child wants the teacher to look at the work they have taken such care to produce and give them some praise.  When you have 40-45 minutes per class, it's almost impossible to do that, but we are professionals and we do our best.  Our students are the reason we do all the work that we do, and they are worth it.  This year teachers in our district have joined with parents to put up yard and window signs that tell the children that we are united in supporting them toward their future.   I hope the message gets across.   At least we, the teachers, know who is important- our students- and what is important - their education.  KEEP TEACHING!!

50-90 thousand education positions are in danger

Look up the Budget Control Act of 2011.  It was signed in August of 2011 and is law.  The sequester (pulling back of money) by the federal government may mean the loss of 50-90 thousand educational positions across the country.  There will be 2 million pink slips going out on January 3, 2013 barring some miracle.  Many defense positions, many federal positions, and about 800,000 non-defense jobs are predicted to be removed from the work force.  let's get ready to adjust our budgets and our attendance books.  Please look up Sequester of 2013.  There are 2 million pink slips being prepared right now.  Apparently this is something that must happen.  I thought that the education of children was the thing that must happen.  Well, while those of us who truly care about children are fighting for their future, like the teachers in Chicago, there are people who are fighting to keep their dollars in their millionaire, high budget pockets.  While they blame us for test scores, they make class sizes larger and greatly malign our profession.  Like my current principal (who is awesome by the way), I have always liked working with children.  I have loved the process and result of learning, and I have received great joy from seeing a child grasp a concept which they once felt was impossible.  I challenge those who are attacking teachers and teacher unions to work in a classroom for a month.  I don't think they have "the right stuff".  I know we all do.  KEEP TEACHING!!

Don't believe the hype!

Can you believe the ads you are seeing today?  Christie saved my pension?  Christie saved the schools?  The schools have smaller classes and more supplies and more money because of Christie's reform?  I must be in an alternate universe.  I've got to go look out the window...I'll get back to you.

The truth of the matter is....

I was watching some political analysts a few months back and they were commenting on the change in politics in the last few years.  i would hate to think that the politicians we are electing are playing a race game and are so involved in it that they have forgotten "we, the people".  Well, they are attacking unions and public workers.  Yes, by they, I mean the Republican party.  I think it is an unwise thing to do, because our communities need firemen, policemen,contractors, teachers.  It seems that after some of the politicians handlers (Christie's for example) got hold of them, they changed their tune and began charging after the unions.  The teacher's union NJEA is a favorite whipping boy of Governor Christie.  It turns out that the republican party has decided that if they attack public workers and cause the elimination of jobs, the unions will get less money, and therefore be unable to give financial support to the Democratic candidates.  You see then they can run everything.  Then they can have deregulation on a large scale.   Wait....didn't that just happen in 2005-2007?  Oh yes...that's when the whole "too big to fail" situation went critical.  We can't afford more deregulation.  Every entity, every person has to have some rules to follow.  PRESS FORWARD!! BELIEVE!! BE BLESSED

BEWARE The IDES of January 2013

The super committee didn't find a way to balance the federal budget. 
Did you know that a bill was passed in August 2011 that would create massive budget cuts across the federal spending board?  It's called the Budget Control Act of 2011.  Please read it.  It is designed to cut gfederal government spending.  This will greatly affect many services such as Medicare and guess what else?  No kidding...that's right...education.  The NEA says that there could be as many as
55k to 89K jobs in the education field that are eliminated because of the budgetary losses.  That could mean as many as 1,000 per state, it could even mean more.  Be Aware so you can Prepare!  PRESS FORWARD!!
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s365enr/pdf/BILLS-112s365enr.pdf