[Sliver]

Originally Posted by conroy22

You wrote a lot about the perks, but you are also missing a lot. Teaching is a great career, don't get me wrong, but it's not all butterflies and rainbows. Your school parking lot may be empty at 4pm, but all of those teachers go home and plan all night, mark tests, grade assignments, etc. School may end before 4, but your job isn't done until you have lesson plans for every class done for the next day. Once you become experienced and are lucky enough to get a contract and teach the same grade at the same school for a year or two, the lesson planning isn't as stressful.

I graduated last May and am currently subbing. I haven't gone for an interview yet for a full time position with the CBE yet because I'm thinking about teaching abroad in the fall, but if I took on a full time position now (and I have friends who have been hired and then have started a day or two later) I would have to completely start from scratch. No materials, no classroom supplies, no lesson plans, no nothing. If the contract was only until the end of June and I got offered a different grade for September, I would have to start my job from scratch again by learning an entirely new curriculum and develop everything from nothing. It takes an incredible amount of time to do that.

Every time a professional takes on a new job there is extracurricular planning and work beyond the regular day. I wouldn't expect teaching to be any different. There is also homework, as I'd expect with any professional job.

My wife and I both have today off. We will have our work cell phones with us and we both have our laptops at home as you're kind of always on call if you're important at your job. For a teacher, though, when they have a day off (or a series of months off) they are completely free from their professional responsibilities - it's very unusual (and awesome!) in today's world.

No teacher I have ever heard of makes a six-figure salary. The Alberta pay grid maxes out at just over $90,000...and that is if you have been teaching for 10+ years with a full 6 years of University behind you!

You're totally wrong. A teacher in Calgary working 10+ years with six years of education makes $99,300, plus $7,500 in benefits. http://education.alberta.ca/admin/wo...rsalaries.aspx