Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

It is so wonderful to feel appreciated and respected by DUers who recognize how hard teaching can be.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1140564

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1136868

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1138102

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1143706

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1147069

how many folks harbor deep resentment from their own school days. Or perhaps even deeper resentment when their darling little child turns out to be less, shall we say, academically successful than they had anticipated. And of course we know who is to blame! Anyone but themselves or the child.

And boy, does it show. This is the real reason for tenure. When you constantly give out grades, assessments and evaluations it is very easy to get on the wrong end of parental angst.

Are there lousy teachers? Sure. I've met maybe three in 34 years who shouldn't be around kids. I've met about 15 who do no harm, but do little good. All the other ones have given their life and their youth and energy to bringing up other people's kids.

that yesterday, the actual Teacher Appreciation Day, came and went with no mention of it here or in the media. ::sigh:: We at least did have a teacher bashing story. It wouldn't seem right if more than a few days went by without one of those.

Oh and my friend sent me an email reminding me that yesterday was also National Mental Illness Day. Isn't that nice that we get to share our day with the mentally ill?

Now if you will excuse me, my lunchtime is almost over and I must check the news to see how many teachers slept with their students yesterday and how many kids were unfairly suspended.

Have a great afternoon, Grannie!!

:hi:

and I need to do a closet sweep to find the injured kids from the lunatic teachers in my building. Such a mess they make!

I do hope you weren't too damaged by having to share your special day with those horrid mentally ill people. :sarcasm:

vilified. Everyone always knows all there is to know about teaching children. And ask any of our "fans," I'm sure they can tell you all about processing disorders and how to modify and accommodate, or about mental disorders among students in the classroom and how to integrate the suffering student, or all about the various multiple intelligences and how to properly hit all the forms while teaching to the standardized tests. Not to mention how to teach a child who is still in the process of developing a second language.

Not to mention our additional duties as police officer, social worker, therapist, marriage counselor, nurse, doctor... and the home visits we get to do and the Child protective Services calls we have to document and make. I bet no one has any idea how much time we spend sitting at the police station reporting child abuse, crossing our fingers and hoping and enraged parents does come to school the next day with a gun and blow our heads off in front of the kids.

And somehow, all these experts seem under the impression that we actually take vacations. On my time off from school, I'm sitting through college classes or conferences to make myself a better, more effective teacher. I also teach summer school. Can you imagine anyone going through 5 years of college, starting out about 20K less that most college grads, and then made to feel guilty for not always taking 6 hours of work home a night? I am usually in my classroom 2-3 hours after school. If I'm not, I usually take papers home.

But, I'm just a lazy, know-nothing teacher. I need to just shut up and take it because everyone else knows what is right and I'm always wrong.

We know our pay is going to be shitty. We know the job will be hard. We usually don't ask for much, just a touch of respect and human decency. At least as much as you'd expend to the pizza delivery guy who shows up at your door with your extra-large and your side order of wings. (No offense to pizza delivery guys, but you actually get tips and a thank you every now and then.)

Everyone thinks I have an easy job because I only have 8 kids. LOL I wish it really was easy.

I have a 5th grader whose dad is in prison and mom took off a long time ago. So he is being raised by grandparents who are desperately poor. The repuke governor cut off foster grandparent funding in August, leaving them only Grandpa's disability check to support 4 kids. Then Grandpa died at Christmas, leaving Grandma with ZERO income. Since then, we have worked every month to find a different charitable agency to pay their utility bills. Our staff has bought groceries for the family. Grandma has applied for SS survivor benefits, but will only get income for herself, since she never formally adopted the kids.

The kid hasn't seen his dad in 5 years, and is anxious because Dad gets out of prison next month and wants his kids back. The state is saying no he can't have them but he is fighting them AND his mother for custody.

So in the last 6 months, this kid's life has crumbled. He is the oldest of 4 kids and the only one who remembers his dad. He is 12 years old and has seen more dysfunction in his short life than most of us experience in a lifetime.

Today he came in my room crying. Right after his grandpa died, he found a stray puppy. It took awhile to convince Grandma to let him keep the puppy. But she finally said okay and this puppy has literally been the only joy in his life since January. Well this morning the puppy bit his brother. Somehow the cops got involved (I am still not clear on the details but I think it happened at the bus stop and a neighbor called the cops) and they took the puppy to the pound for 10 days observation. Well no way can Grandma pay that pound fee so he won't be getting his puppy back.

And the federal govt expects this child to show adequate yearly progress? ? ?

I have another kid who is a kindergartener and he and his two sisters were removed from their home last summer because Mom's bf molested the younger sister (she was 4). They went to a foster home and the foster mom took this little boy to a clinic where he was diagnosed with a bunch of disorders for which they put him on a ton of heavy duty meds. (And my favorite part was when this clinic NEVER contacted our school to get a report on his behavior or even ask us our opinion) So he comes to school zombied out every morning and then goes crazy every afternoon after the meds wear off.

Foster mom beat him for wetting the bed about 6 weeks ago and so he and his sisters were removed from her home and are now in a homeless shelter for children. (I bet you didn't know we even had those, eh?)

And the federal govt expects this child to also learn to read and write at the same pace as a kid who comes from a 2 parent home and has no disabilities that interfere with his learning. (Yes he is also mentally disabled)

Some days I just have to make time to love kids.

FUCK NCLB. Society leaves these kids behind, yet now schools are blamed. And DUers wonder why we teachers get so defensive when these 'bad school/evil teacher' stories are posted here????

I used to tell the naysayers they need to come and do my job for just a day. Now I say come and do what I do for just a day and DON'T CRY on your way home.

:eyes: How dare you complain. Our tax dollars are paying you. You knew better when you signed up to be a teacher. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah... :eyes:


Hey. I know. One years, I had TEN drug babies in my third grade class. I was attacked in my classroom by a gang-banger parent... in front of all my students. They were terrified that this parent (who had a history) might kill their teacher. They were crying and scared. What do you think happened to this parent? You guessed it. Nothing. His kid was put in a classroom of a first year teacher who was scared shitless (and this first year teacher was very physically strong and towering man.)

account of his wife's caught-in-the-middle plight as a teacher, by her husband:

http://faultline.org/index.php/site/comments/last_night1/

Please put that in your journal here at DU. That is so great. I am crying right now. And yes, all you doubters, WE HAVE TO BUY PENCILS for our kids. That fact alone should send chills up the spine of every DUer reading this.

One minor correction - it isn't JUST the conservatives who villify teachers. Click on a few of the links I posted in my OP.

Thanks for the great words!
:yourock:

And yes, all you doubters, WE HAVE TO BUY PENCILS for our kids.

We know we're appreciated when they grow up thought, right? ;-)

In case you thought I wrote that, I didn't. It just really struck me when I stumbled on it a while ago.

Sadly yes, I know it's not just the right who use teachers as political whipping boys. And perhaps as bad, teachers are increasingly left without advocates who recognize the importance of education to the nation's health, seeing them as just another "interest group" to be mollified or stymied.

I was tooling around the web on the night of the 2002 elections, visiting candidates webpages, when I noticed Erskine Bowles didn't list the backing of NC teacher's unions. So I looked into it and found that he couldn't secure their endorsement. That a Democrat couldn't get a teacher's union vote just for the asking is perhaps a sad commentary on the state of the party.

Hats off to y'all. And thank you Mrs Kusumoto, for making my 4th grade year one of my sunniest in an otherwise bleak childhood.

It really is a beautiful piece.

We've had a couple of duds (and they really did make my kid's life hell for the years he had them), but the rest have been absolutely outstanding.

Being a teacher is like being a parent in so many ways, one of which is that the things that make the kids happy and are easy to do (e.g., parents letting them eat all the candy they want and teachers not cracking down on them for slacking off) are so often not the things that are best for the kids. It always amazes me that teachers, who are NOT compensated in a manner commensurate with their skills and effort, will almost always do things the hard and best-for-the-kids way instead of taking the easy and popular way out.

It's what good parents do, too, of course, but the difference is that we'll eventually be thanked, and teachers usually aren't. I have very fond memories of many of my teachers who, I only now realize, busted their asses for me and my classmates, and I deeply appreciate everything they did for us and think of them with love, but have I thanked them? Just one of the many. There are others I tried to find but couldn't.

I hope good teachers realize that their students do remember them with love and gratitude... but it's still a shame that their hard work usually isn't appreciated until many years later, and even then they might not hear about it personally.

for taking the time to write that. It means a lot to know we have pleased some of the families we work so hard for.

to my teacher friends here on DU.

Happy Teacher Appreciation to you too!!

When do you get out of school? We have 16 more days.

:hi:

We do our big tests (called Virginia SOLs-Standards of Learning) next week. I'm stressed but trying not to let the kids know.

Most of the districts around here are out by Memorial Day. We always go a week or more later.

Oh I will be thinking of you next week. We took our MAP tests in late March. (Missouri Assessment Program) I also just found out I get to help score 4th grade Math. That will be interesting.

edit - too late at night for good spelling LOL

I gave my kids' teachers book store gift certificates LAST week!

Anyway... THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that was very nice of you. Thank you.

more treasured than good educators. One of the problems in underserved areas in Texas is that people who are "phased out", laid off, or simply lose their jobs in other fields and have an education, can become teachers. These aren't people that wanted to be teachers, it's just where they landed when they needed a job. Teaching is a calling. It's not for everyone.
I believe this is why so many of these nutso stories come out of Texas.
Thank you for all that you do and thank you for making a difference.

It is hard to believe just how ingrained teacher hatred has become even in liberal circles. Anti intellectualism has become an American value it seems. BTW after reading about your class I know longer will think so harshly of my first period class.

change the "sorta" to "really." Thankfully, for every anti-teacher thread, post, LTE, or article, I've got students to counter it with their warmth, enthusiasm, and honesty.

And you know the ones who are hardest to reach are the ones who need the most. They are also the ones who give you the most joy.

:applause: You do so much for our kids!

You inspire them.
You guide them and feed their minds.
You love them.

I have a few friends who are teachers. They are all underpaid and overworked. One of them spent $3000 of her own money on school supplies for her classroom last year. She is one of the most patient, brilliant people I have ever met. I am a firm believer that teachers need more time off from their jobs because it is such a stressful environment. Many of the teachers I've talked to are suffering extreme burnout...

On a happier note, tonight my kids are making goody bags and cards for their teachers to say thank you. I'd like to send you all virtual goody bags via DU! Since I don't have a smiley for that, how about a virtual beer :beer: , coffee and donut :donut: or popcorn? :popcorn:

Thank you!!

I got a pot of pansies from a student this week, and numerous smiles, comments, and thanks from students. I hope our students know that a kind word, some appreciation, some recognition for doing something right, is just as welcome to the teacher as it is the student!

I like goody bags!

We, the administrators of the school, have given presents and thoughts of appreciation to our teachers. Our PTA catered bagels and about 20 different cream cheeses for the staff. Unfortunately all of this is overshadowed by the realities of working in an inner-city school. Of course I shouldn't complain because my job is easy just as teaching really isn't profession.

The most major of the incidents ocurred yesterday when two mothers got into a fight somewhere near our parking lot. Then they brought the fight to our office. Someone had called the police probably because of what they saw outside. Police came and took control of the situation.

Today, the daughter of one of the mothers in our cafeteria mocked and made fun of another student because she didn't like what he was wearing. She made of spectacle out of the whole thing pointing and laughing loudly inciting others to join in. Taunting and the mocking of others is expressly forbidden in our code of conduct. She was sent to me. This girl is completely oppositional defiant. She blew in my office throwing things, throwing herself into the wall, yelling, screaming about the injustices in the world that oppress her. She ran out of my office and had to restrained. I called mom who came and got her. I suspended her for the rest of the week. She has had a long history of behavioral problems. Mom is unstable mentally and physically and I believe the daughter to be too, at least mentally.

Three boys sexually harrassed another girl on Wednesday. One boy called her a "ho" as two others slapped her on her butt. All three boys have a rap sheet the size of *'s. Moms and dads were called, but I didn't send them home because that is what they want. There are now in isolation with another staff member who takes care of our in school suspension. All were referred to counselors once again.

I have to walk with a set of boys after school because they harrass the senior citizens who live near our school as they walk home or they find younger kids to bully.

I have a constant problem at our school with the SouthSide 13 gang or Los Sureños 13.

There is so much more that goes on at a school that the community never realizes. Spend a day in my shoes. I dare anyone.

MS 13 and ESL 13. East side Latinos. And they like the letter M - it's the 13th letter of the alphabet.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Maestro! :hi: :hug:

I've been chasing down truants today. :)

Y'all forgot my birthday, so it's great to be remembered this week! lol

:hi:

:thumbsup:

:toast: to you.