Monday, November 27, 2006

The Joy of

sorry, work rant

between now and next December
I'll be spending nearly $6000
to drive 40 minutes
and sit through coursework
but really it's alright because
the legislature DOES know my job best
and after all I didn't really need
that brick patio
with the sidewalk
or the front steps repaired
or that walkout from the diningroom
where the window is now
onto the brick patio that I don't have
and those appliances really still work fine
after 20 years
and the half dozen vacations would have been
well
terribly
excitingboring

anyway


- the PO'dOB

10 comments:

marscat said...

you have to pay?

what courses?

Ptelea said...

I like it when someone else rants about work - I usually just start crying!!

The Donut Guy said...

My sister-in-law is a teacher at an inner city junior high.

You folks deserve every penny you make.

Unknown said...

When I moved back to Iowa from Colorado I took a janitor job in the West Des Moines School district. Never really thought much about teachers and their pay for their time until then. I worked 3pm to midnight and most of the time one or 5 teachers were in the building past 11pm on many, many, many ocasions (K-6th grade). Bag you folks don't make the jack that you deserve at all....and WTF is up with this pay rate increase with how good your kids are doing....??? Then this parent conference crap.....some witchy biatch is reaming the teacher for her childs lack of learning....my god you can only do so much...why don't you spend some time at home with your fucking kid and stay out of the damn pub....I could go on and on... bottom line is your under paid to do your job:(

Peace...now go ride your bike damn it:)!!

The Old Bag said...

Squirrel -- that's the best advice I've heard all day. Thanks for the love.

George -- thanks a ton...too many people think we walk in, open a book and start. Little do they know we develop most of our own curriculum. When I ask someone in the business arena what they'd do to prepare for an 8-hour day leading training, they say: two hours prep for every hour teaching, and at least an hour for follow-up.

Our kids deserve as much.

Ptelea -- that works too! :-]

Marscat -- we always have to pay even though it's required.

I'm adding another licensure in Information Media (old library science, now rolled up with computers, instructional design, etc.), and I agree I don't know everything. I agree there is coursework I need. I disagree however that real world experience doesn't count. I've been doing this job for a year and a half, getting training, going to seminars. However the state dept. requires course numbers. I'm getting credit for some prior coursework, but one of my classes will involve how to work with classroom teachers and tie to their curriculum...BEEN DOING THAT for the past 7 years as a technology teacher...and for the prior 16 as a classroom teacher myself. I know literature. I know instructional tech. I know learning theory.

I've been told a prior course would cover half of one currently required course...well then, give me half credit and have me start in April for the half I need. THAT'S what's wrong with education from kindergarten on up: we end up sitting through something we already know. The system forces kids to bide their time.

And yes, I know I'll gain a nugget here and there as I'm jumping through hoops, but that's not the point. I'll be paying through the nose for that one nugget.

I want credit for being an old lady who still innovates! instead of having to bear the assumption that I'm either new to teaching or I'm an old dolt who has no capacity to learn skills on my own.

getting off
muh soapbox
now :-]

How do i get to my old stuff said...

sounds like we're in the same line o work. My degree is instructional tech, and I do inst. design for online grad classes here at UNL.

The Old Bag said...

Very cool! Right now I work with kids and staff using technology, do some development in my off-hours, starting a project here at work...fascinated with usability and CHI and how it all ties into design; and how educational concepts/theories survive in that environment.

Anonymous said...

Let’s face it, we just don’t value what needs the most value. Our kids’ educations are our future but just writing that down makes me sound like a •$%&% politician spitting clichés to and fro. Plenty of lip service but little else. In Spain things have improved significantly for teachers -- at least pay-wise. In the old days they had a saying than says it all when referring to poor people: “He’s hungrier than a school teacher.” And they meant it literally; now it remains in that national drawer of metaphor.

Roberta S said...

When I saw you were taking a course I thought I would encourage you but I see that won't be necessary. :)

The Old Bag said...

Alberto -- salaries have come a long way (esp. here in MN and here in the Cities), but the fact that we're still tied into the legislature is a drag.

I've got a soap box about that as well!

Roberta -- thanks for the good thoughts!