Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
I want to agree with you, but having kids in elementary school is making me jaded perhaps. School runs from 8:25 to 3:15. So that's 6:40 a day. I realise there is a some prep involved, but lets be honest here. None of these teachers has to re-learn much that they're teaching, and the marking is incredibly basic. I say that in direct contrast to say a high school teacher where the marking is both complex and time-consuming, and they have to teach topics that are much more complex than say basic reading or math.
I also recognize that this is a bit of a tangent, but why are we only having instruction for that 6 hours a day and 3 1/2 on Fridays? To me that is a ridiculously short workday. It's really no wonder that teachers were always complaining how far behind the curriculum we were in school.
|
Firstly I'm going to go ahead and sarcastically thank you for opening the Sliver floodgates, allowing us all to bathe in the unique wisdom that can only be attained by getting a high school diploma.
In my opinion your error is that you're only looking at the part that involves your kids during the day, while dealing with kids is becoming a smaller and smaller part of the job. Meetings (at least at my wife's school) are often being held before school and during the afternoons of those short Fridays.
Edit: I see from your other post that you were talking more about elementary school, which is something I'm unfamiliar with. I've already written all this out though, so let's continue...
The comment was also made by somebody that the parking lots are empty in the afternoon. My wife's would be absent as well, because she takes her work home to see our kids. Once they go down for the evening she puts in a few more hours per night. This time is often spent marking, prepping for the next day, or answering emails or even text messages from students or parents.
While it would seem that teaching the same thing over and over should get faster, there are several issues. The good teachers are often manipulating their lesson plans and improving upon them year-to-year, or new information/resources are being released that should be implemented. Then there's the problem of teachers not actually teaching the same things. My wife has been in the job for about 7 years and has only taught the same subject to the same grade a handful of times. Every year budget issues end up causing many teachers to teach something they've never had experience with. Even when she does end up teaching something familiar, the curriculum can change which throws a bit of a wrench into the whole thing.
Then some decide to take on a sports team. Every year my wife promises me she won't coach a basketball team and every year the principal says "well, I guess we'll just cancel the team then", so she caves. And it's not just coaching... you have to babysit the kids after practice when the jackass parents decide to take an extra 30 minutes to come get them.
It's important to point out that I don't think teachers get a raw deal in Alberta. They get paid very fairly for the work they do in my opinion.
While I feel the idea of teacher reviews is fine in theory I don't see how it can be implemented given all the other responsibilities teachers are given. The CBE is INCREDIBLY good at wasting money, and this would just be one more thing for them to screw up.