America's teachers are struggling

I know there are some teachers on this board-- as a parent, how can I help? We are in California, so some of the issues in this video have been a little less here but we had 8 teachers leave our relatively small school last year so obviously all is not peachy. There is nothing public about any issues going on, the teachers SEEM happy but obviously I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. I talk about our great school and teachers as much as I can, back up my kids teachers and do my best to raise respectful kids, donate, volunteer, etc. but it doesn't seem like enough for all they are doing.

No offense, but *yawn*

There are thousands, if not millions of videos, articles, websites, meetings, out there decrying how teachers are being shit on. Nothing changes.

I quit teaching after 31 years in middle school ELA. If you were to scroll through my Facebook, you'd see a constant stream of posts about what happened in my class, how much I adore my students, and how much I love my job. I was exhausted, and putting my physical health in danger, but I was happy because I knew the work was important. Every four years we'd laugh about how politicians would drag out education to beat the dead horse for their campaigns. Just as soon as the election was over, education disappeared for another four years. Why change it? Teachers willingly work more hours than what they are paid for and they single-handedly fund the interior of classrooms (decorations, books, supplies, tissues, cleaner, food and clothes for kids). From a government standpoint, I'm sure it was, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Worse than anything? Nobody listened. From building admin to the president of the country, teachers are completely disregarded. They are infantized with lesson plan turn-ins that no one reads, having to pay money to wear jeans on Friday, having to sit through the worst, most ridiculous, professional development in all the land. In some places they were given scripts for their instructions, thereby "teacher-proofing" learning. A mini candy bar with a cutesy message as a holiday gift from admin. Little pats on the head with reminders that you are simply not doing enough.

All those districts that told you their teachers got unbelievable support for materials, training, and equipment during Covid...they were lying. We figured it out on our own and in about a week. We used our own computers for online learning because the ones schools managed to scrape up for us were cheap pieces of crap that didn't work. Lighting, microphones, on-line resources to make learning organized and enjoyable? All paid for by teachers. There was no training on how to structure, how to teach virtually. Hell, my district didn't even figure out how to guard against Zoom bombers until countless children were exposed to all kinds of hate and ugliness.

I didn't leave because it had been 31 years. In fact, just a year earlier, I was joking around, asking, "Can someone teach until they are 80?" because I could.not.see.myself.doing.anything.else. I did not stop teaching because of Covid. Even though it was less than ideal, I still formed relationships with my classes, I still connected and kids still learned. I loved my job until I didn't. I loved it until I realized that no matter what I said or did, it was not going to get any better. Once I quit, I had the overwhelming sense of relief, like one might after leaving an abusive relationship. It's been just over a year and I'm finally starting to feel okay. I work in education, but not in schools. The first few months, I felt guilty because I didn't think I was working enough, fast enough, hard enough. DH, who is also a former educator now working outside of education told me, "No, this is just how the rest of the world works."

So, yeah, make videos with the intent of spreading the word. But realize teachers have seen and heard it all before. Sadly, I think the system is beyond repair. I think if I ever have grandkids who live near me, I'll volunteer to homeschool them. As much as i ADORE the teachers who still show up, day after day, and finish their shift by crying in their cars, I can't claim that schools are a healthy place for people anymore and I don't see a way out.

Honestly, we should have just called off during an entire year of Covid and we should have taken education down to the studs. However, in looking back, I'm not even sure that is possible anymore.

Thanks for the thread aj2hall, and thanks for wanting to help creativegirl.

I am with Merge. The whole idea of how we educate needs to start from the ground up. I started teaching in 1987 so I have been around a long time.

I teach in a suburban middle class school. I teach computer science, used to be computer applications, to 6th, 7th and 8th graders. My classes are not required and they last for 6 weeks. I can't imagine how huge the problems are in large urban schools. We have lost so many teachers the last couple of years. Some moved districts. Some changed careers.

Big changes I have seen in students is lack of persistence. They want quick answers immediately. So many have no sense of curiosity. I teach middle school. By 8th grade it is pulling teeth to get students to challenge themselves. They rush through work in hopes that they can play games on their computers.

We keep getting told that these kids are digital natives. They grew up with phones and the internet. However, while they can use a phone to text, play games, take pictures and videos, and use social networking apps, they don't actually have an understanding of computers. Our district has been 1:1 with technology for about 5 years now. Our elementary students use iPads. They come to middle school barely having used a computer. Teaching them to use a mouse is crazy They don't know how to make folders, save and name files. They don't understand extensions. They don't understand how to navigate around a computer.

What I get through in my curriculum with my 8th graders in my 6 week class now vs 8-10 years ago is probably about 2/3 of the material. I have some extremely smart kids who advance quickly. Most of them are lagging behind.

We have so many students on IEPs.

We need smaller class sizes and more bodies in the classroom. Paras are gold. We don't have enough. Get kids off of computers and phones. I think going back to paper is a great idea. We have a lot of teachers who have done that. I watch these kids do Dream Box on their computers. It is a math program. I couldn't do math problems on a computer. I need paper. I think teaching handwriting is still essential even cursive. It builds up pathways between your hands and your brain. Rote memorization of multiplication tables. I think rote memorization is good for some things. It builds up memory in your brain and makes pathways.

High school needs vocational education paths for students. I know many are doing this. Not everyone is going to a 4 year college. Throw away standardized testing.

I can't quit. I am too old to find another job. Ageism! I have 5 1/2 years left. Every year is getting harder.

As someone else said, the waste of time on useless professional development needs to be thrown out. Either make it useful or give teachers work time. Our district also has a distinction between sick days and personal days. We get 2 personal days a school year. So we have to lie if we need to get off work for something. I just have a doctor's appointment. You trust us with children, but you don't trust us with days off.

The extreme far right conservatives getting on school boards and making noise are a scary bunch. also want to see what happens when tax money starts going to religious schools. I I don't know else to add. I am rambling.

I'm a former teacher and teacher assistant, and I read most of the teacher/education threads on here, but rarely weigh in. Sometimes I feel a little guilty to add my input, even though I'm still passionate about education, because I feel like I've kind of opted out of the whole thing. I left teaching, and I homeschool my 3rd grader, and have since she was in Kindergarten. (I also have a son, who was in public school the whole way, and in college now.)

Teachers were the BEST thing about the schools I've had experiences with. I found most of them to be more than competent, and a great number to be excellent, really. I came across some fantastic admin as well.

But so much of the education system feels broken, and even the best of teachers are stuck working in that system. Living in the south, people hear that I homeschool and think we do it for religious reasons, or because schools are "too woke", which had nothing at all to do with it. I wanted my daughter to learn REAL history, not the watered down, or sometimes completely inaccurate, version I grew up with. I wanted her to do hands on learning and less seatwork and, frankly, busy work. I wanted more art, more play, more creative projects. I wanted her to be able to follow her own interests as much as possible, and speed up when she was ready to, and take more time on things where she needed it. I wanted field trips to be the norm, not a two-a-year-if-we're-lucky kind of thing. And I definitely wanted less focus on testing.

I don't know what the solution is for public schools. I never thought I'd be here, honestly. I agree with those of you who think the whole things needs revamping from the ground up. Ask a teacher, and they will have dozens of ideas on how to improve things...but the powers that be never seem to listen, and things just get worse.

Retired teacher who went back to work with low readers for the morning. I love what I do now. I don't deal with parents, grading, or take a thing home. I walk in, teach 7-8 groups, and I walk out. I do see stressed teachers. I also see teachers who have a better work life balance than others. For me, I had a job I loved when I worked full time. I was very good at it and administration at the school and district level left me alone. I bought 4 years, so I could retire with 32 years of service and collect my retirement at age 50. It was worth it. I am not sure I could do 32 years in the current climate.

Been in the trenches a very long time. I am highly skilled at my job. Not sure how much more I can do. Too tired to even elaborate.

Looking ahead: District has to cut our school budget by 1/3 each year for the next 3 years. (How is this even possible.) They are going to close some of our district schools and cut even more teachers. We are told no more student computers and no more interactive whiteboards within a couple of years. (Back to teaching in the dark ages.) Our copier works maybe 1/4 of the time. We are being physically abused daily by students and our students are experiencing daily trauma by the out of control behaviors. And don't even get me started on the parents.

Not sure what I am supposed to do. I physically and emotionally cannot do this much longer.

I have said this before, but underfunding our schools is being done on purpose so we fail and they can further privatize education.

It’s not any better in the UK 😞
Our government have just thrown some more money at education which may take funding per student back to a level it was at 12 years ago but with energy costs and everything else going on schools are down to cutting staff as the only way to try and stay afloat.

It’s not just politicians who don’t care.

I worked in a very high net worth income district. Residents wanted their tax rates low and weren’t interested in paying teachers a fair wage, so we had one of the lowest pay scales in my state. Parents and principals expected the children to have high test scores, no homework (they needed time for extracurriculars, after all!) and straight As. The principal would imply - without stating - that we should do anything necessary to get a kid to score well on a test. Interpret that as you will, but we had teachers pre teaching answers once they saw the standardized test, walking around the classroom during exams and pointing to incorrect answers so students would rework the problem or question. The stress on teachers was palpable.

We received $50 each September and were expected to buy copy paper and other supplies from that amount. I regularly spent many thousands of dollars out of pocket on supplies and teaching materials.

After 8 years in that district, I left and began tutoring independently and eventually started my own business. The only good thing about teaching in my state is if you can hold on long enough to retire, the state pension is good: 5,000/month. Much as I loved teaching I wouldn’t recommend it to any young person today.

I am a lunch lady in a semi-rural District, this is my 23rd year. I work at Primary School. I do the cashier job 3x a week. I cannot imagine how teachers do this all day long, day in, day out. I encounter children every day who have obviously never had any form of discipline at home.
The level of entitlement in even the very youngest is mind-boggling. I am so thankful for the teachers who continue teaching in spite of the obstacles, especially now with the right wing agenda looming ahead.

This is real.

And none of this would have been an issue if teachers were allowed the professional leeway to make decisions that best benefit their students. Who cares if a group of 4th graders needs an extra 15 minutes of recess? Mercy me, we've arrived in a barren place.

So I'm going to be the voice of dissension here, but this doesn't sound like disrespect to me.
It sounds a lot like an inexperienced human being expressing their needs poorly, and asking for an explanation. And I realize that isn't always something that can be offered to children, but it's been my experience as a child that I was happier when I knew the reasons for why something had to change.

The better question here is why are teachers not being allowed to give their students exercise / free time as needed to improve their overall outcomes.

Just to be clear - most of our kids, including this one, were out of school for only half of March, April, and May 2020, and then August and September of the same year. We went back in person October 9, 2020 and taught both in person and online for the rest of the year. There is no one in my district who was out for two years. But we have the same behavior issues as the rest of the country, and the same "learning loss." It's a head-scratcher for sure.