Comments on: Why half of the nation’s new teachers can’t leave the profession fast enough. http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/ Fri, 18 Dec 2015 06:15:11 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.2 By: Anon http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1615 Fri, 18 Dec 2015 06:15:11 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1615 Yes. This. There are many factors in promotion/retention.

Regarding the main issue My synopsis of needs from my vantage point (SPED teacher, inclusion model):
1. Increase teacher/student ratio in gen ed as well as special ed.
2. Provide additional planning times where no meetings are scheduled, especially for gen ed.
3. Support via administration as detailed in previous posts.
Salaries are adequate but demands on time are insane and unhealthy and preclude achievement of social and academic wellness for both students and teachers.

]]> By: JCAT http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1614 Wed, 25 Nov 2015 04:33:03 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1614 I’m currently a first-year teacher. I started a week and a half after the actual school year started. I have a BA in Anthropology and couldn’t find work as an archaeologist. Before I decided to teach, I worked in an office within my hometown’s school district which funnels federal and state funds to all the rest of our county’s school districts mostly to the SPED program. Anyway, I gave my all to this first “school” job and got rewarded with a cut in hours and in pay. I’m a single mom (Hispanic) so this was devastating. Meanwhile the white, older woman who received a stipend to clean our office (and didn’t do a good job btw), who was rude and obnoxious as well as humiliatingly judgmental of all of her coworkers (she loved insulting me especially), got to keep her stipend and hours as well as got to move into a small office. Somehow all of this was justified (I don’t know how, but it was).

Needless to say, the only opportunity in our mono-economic societal town (oil and gas) was a teaching job. I was hired enthusiastically. After the first week I realized this was simply the stupidest decision I have ever made. I got stuck with every single ADHD/Bad attitude kid in the school (it’s more like an 95/5% for me; I would have liked an 80/20%), I have at least 5 SPED kids in each of my 6 classes as well as 7 ELL students all in one class; two Pre-AP classes. I was told by one teacher to grow a back bone; funny, before this I thought I had one. I love my kids, even the challenging ones, but the one thing I hate about this job is that my own principal has a clique in this school. I had completed a teacher observation on a teacher from another school who is considered a good teacher. I was asked by administration why I picked this specific teacher (he has a grudge against him). Really? I thought that as adults we had left the high school popularity crap behind? I guess not.

I’m in debt right now. Student loans and stupid credit card debt for moving expenses that I haven’t been able to pay off just yet. I have at least three and at one time had 4 jobs which is hard considering that I have a now 6 year old daughter. I’m going to stick it out until the rest of this year, but I am not going back. The hardest thing for me are the stupid parents and this administration that picks favorites and a superintendent who is as big an idiot as they come. His only concern is how good he looks politically; meanwhile, the scores are bad and he wants to know why.

]]> By: Elaine http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1613 Sun, 15 Nov 2015 18:07:04 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1613 I am 55. I was in the military, have a B.S. in dental hygiene have a physician assistant degree. I also have a music degree. i taught music for 5 years in a private school (having no previous teaching experience in a classroom )and it was the best 5 years of my life. The kids thrived, I was fulfilled and parents were happy with the kids’ performances. I had to resign to take care of aging parents. My parents passed, and this year I heard of a music teaching job available at a public middle school. On an impulse I applied and got the job a week before school started. My husband makes a great living so money wasn’t involved, I just wanted to share my passion and give back. It has been 3 months and I gave my notice. I have had 3 meltdowns in school. I cant get out of bed in the morning and I sleep the minute I get home. I have a knot in my stomach all the time, and got diagnosed with an ulcer. I have frequent headaches. My blood pressure is up. As part of my provisional license I had to pass a basic competency exam. Naively, i assumed it was basic competency. I failed the math part, largely because there was complex geometry on it and I was unprepared. I couldn’t re- test for a month. In the mean time, a few meltdown laters and having a parent tell me I killed her child’s spirit of music, I resigned. I told the principal I would stay until the end of the semester; 4 weeks beyond the 30 day notice required. The assistant superintendent called and said that I would get cut to sub pay from the end of the 30 day notice until the end of the semester. But first I would have to get a sub license. I asked, If I don’t, what will happen to the kids’ scheduled Christmas concert? ” He said, “They’ll have some kind of concert.” Sure they will…
My biggest complaint is I was hired to teach guitar choir and theater. I don’t play the guitar, I’ve never directed a middle school choir and I have been in a few plays, but have no knowledge of the technical aspects of theater. I was up for the challenge. I am learning, the kids are learning and we’re progressing. But, not ONCE did anyone ask me to prove my competency in the subjects I am teaching. I am 2 lessons ahead of the students in guitar! I was grossly naive to the workings of a public school system and it is awful. Mostly, because they want you to check your brain at the door and follow a rubric. My hats off to teachers who have been teaching for years despite this broken system. I hate that I am disappointing the 30 percent of kids who want to learn, have supportive parents and who are decent kids. The other 70 percent of them, who are depressed, addicted, abused, neglected, entitled, indifferent, or suffering from a multitude of psycho- social pathologic issues, I hope they get the help they need at some point in their lives. I decided not to finish out the semester. I feel sad and broken.

]]> By: Ross http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1612 Sun, 25 Oct 2015 14:03:19 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1612 I’ve worked as a School Psychologist for 20 years. I am in-between teachers and administration and see both sides. I see more and more work and “accountability” being poured onto teacher via NCLB, teaching evaluations tied to student achievement outcomes… teachers are NOT the problem. After 15 years of service, I started a business of my own (Arborist) and within 3 years was financially independent and I now make more money in one weekend than I do “after topping out the salary schedule” in an entire month. Why do I remain in the School System with ineffective administrators who pile work and additional “accountability” requirements on me and teachers in an effort to draw our attention away from their obvious lack of effectiveness – that is why they do it to us all by the way it’s a diversion technique… give us more and more “busy work” in a effort to keep us diverted from telling them to “fix what’s wrong” with the system and we all know what that is… teachers and administrators alike – as each group demands accountability from the other the administrators’ response will be “let’s pile even more busy work on them to keep them busy” in lieu of looking in the mirror and doing something about the real root of the problem.

]]> By: Tom http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1611 Sun, 25 Oct 2015 13:45:36 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1611 It’s nice to read I’m not the only one.

]]> By: Mike http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1607 Fri, 09 Oct 2015 00:58:17 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1607 I work as an Accountant in a public firm. For the first six years or so the work you are given is horrendous, but we put our time in. We work year round, receive little time to plan, and during busy seasons my hourly wage computes to about 5 dollars an hour. We receive a lot of support from administration but I think the education profession has changed so much and what educators are taught in school may be out of tune with reality… And perhaps maybe the support administration believes they should provide is also out of touch with reality. …I have many, many friends, who teach and hear the horror stories. But the fact is, these struggles are not just in the teaching profession, they are in every profession. The world is changing and we need to adapt.

]]> By: Kayla http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1592 Sat, 01 Aug 2015 17:21:09 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1592 A lot of things going on in politics that have to do with education are not making the field attractive to new teachers at all. That along with the regular things that teachers put up with make the profession not very popular.

]]> By: Duane http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1591 Fri, 31 Jul 2015 15:13:48 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1591 The largest issue is teaching to a test, and then to another test, and another test, — it goes on and on! It is most interesting if you do research that the best countries in the world, education wise, don’t believe in standardized testing and don’t use it. We have continuously gone the wrong direction for so long – it is hard to believe that we are where we are today. It makes me sick!

]]> By: Pam http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1590 Thu, 30 Jul 2015 22:21:05 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1590 I hope you never retire. Fight on!

]]> By: Pam http://conversationed.com/2014/12/29/the-reason-50-of-new-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-isnt-complicated/#comment-1589 Thu, 30 Jul 2015 22:14:14 +0000 http://conversationed.com/?p=4446#comment-1589 The article and these comments have been fascinating to read. I taught for 15 years before becoming a site administrator. I was an assistant principal for 2 years and a elementary and middle school principal for around 15 years. I am now back in teaching ( 3rd year) and loving it! I found that there are the strong and the weak in both positions.
The stress in both teaching and site administration is unbelievable. Site administrators have very little control over what goes on at their sites. They have little say over who teaches at their site. The biggest frustration is that it is close to impossible to let poor teachers go. The district administrators are afraid of taking on the unions and often will not support the documented findings of site administrators. Laws have changed over the years and it has become increasingly difficult to suspend/expel the difficult students in a classroom. Parents and students know this and thus little is done to improve self-control and the development of responsible behavior.
All that being said, what joy I had visiting the vast majority of the classrooms on my sites. Teachers who had obviously planned their lessons, were well-read and knew which strategy was the best to use to get the most from their students throughout the lesson. Teachers who were great about communicating expectations and concerns with both their students and the parents/guardians of their students. I left administration and returned to teaching for a few reasons: I did not feel supported by district administration; I hated the unreasonable demands they expected me to place on my teachers, and I was so inspired by the great teachers, I wanted to return to the classroom and try out their strategies myself. I missed teaching students.
Is teaching hard? YES!! Is it worth it? A double YES!! Teachers who have strong classroom management skills, are well prepared each and every day, who know when to except good administrator support and ignore poor support will not leave the profession. They will get tired; they will get frustrated; they will stand up for what they believe; but they won’t leave the students who need them. I have close to 40 years in this wonderful profession and don’t see retirement anywhere in the near future. I’m having way too much fun.

]]>