John Kasich's children don't even attend public schools (you gotta scroll way down to personal life) what does he know about whats its like to be a public school teacher
Lets talk about tuition:
An elementary classroom with 20 kiddos (although many many classes have more)
5500*20=121 000
121 000- average teachers salary of 57 000= 64 000
Lets take out another 50 000 for building expenses/curriculum costs/
a plethory of #2 pencils for test taking and we're left with 14 000
Do you know what I could do with 14 000 to spend each year in my
classroom on my kiddos.
My budget is 600 (for 12 kids) extrapolated to 1200 for 24 kiddos.
BIG DIFFERENCE
Let's talk about testing:
And they want to judge a teacher's performance on how their kiddos perform on tests...the tests don't even paint a clear picture. One group "passes" at 31% while another "passes" at 63% really? really?
Judge me based on my kiddos and how far they've come THIS year. You can't compare one group of kids to another- it does not work. Give them a test at the beginning, then at the end. I'll show you improvement.
And while we're at it, lets talk about these kiddos who are in my room. 22 Kids. 5 with IEPs that means 5 with different needs/plans/strategies that I modify my plans to accommodate their individuality. Oh and lets throw in a couple of ESL kiddos.
I remember in high school dreading, hating, avoiding at all costs 3rd period. 3rd period was my French Class. I do not do foreign languages. I could not understand what my teacher was trying to say. I struggled to translate simple phrases like "I walked to school" Can't even imagine trying to translate "Pick up your #2 pencils and fill in the appropriate bubble" (once I again translate the question) and they are evaluated on the same test as the kiddos who live in suburbia who have personal tutors and have been practicing their bubbling in the answers technique since pre-k (maybe coloring sheets do teach important skills after all)
Oh and the 2 schools they referenced as low performing? Wow, they are in great neighborhoods
Oh and Beatty? yeah that school is for "emotionally disturbed elementary students" they concentrate on making it through each school day, not making it through a test
Let's talk about what a day looks like for me:
I walk in to find last nights snack all over the floor of my classroom (cause apparently the cleaning company didn't feel up for it last night)
In the midst of cleaning up stale cheerios and dirt, a grumpy toddler enters my room. Dad says he didn't sleep well last night and good luck this morning. Great
2 minutes later I notice he is standing in a puddle. His diaper leaked (guess Dad didn't feel like changing him this morning)
While changing and cleaning this newest mess up, kiddo launches into a tantrum b/c he does not want to take off his spiderman shirt. Finally convince him that batman is just as cool. He calms down and promptly slips and falls in the still wet puddle (cause I chose to clean him up first, then worry about the floor) Major tantrum ensues as I am now forced to remove the wet batman shirt.
**I have been at work for 10 minutes**
Later that morning a kiddos pushes another face first into the sandbox. I count my lucky stars that sand is soft and he still has all his teeth. I secretly chuckle a bit at the sand boogers dripping out of his nose.
Later I intercede in what I in vision as a viscious vampire like attack only to be assured by the lil aggressor "gentle hugs" (as opposed to a little nibble)
Later as I take lil johnny's temp for the 5th time in 3 hours I realize that his stable temp of 98.6 is spiking to 99.8. Lil johnny has a history of seizures when his temp spikes too quickly. My team rushes into action: a shot of tylenol and phone call to parents and he is out of my hands. The report comes back that he slept off the fever and never seized- wahoo
5 min after said temp taking I once again don protective gloves as a kiddo slips and bumps his eyebrow on a table edge. A rounded table edge. Get the bleeding under control, call dad. Who asks me if I think he needs stitches. Wait? Did I get a medical degree? No! Go ask a doctor!
Later as I change a kiddos diaper through the well honed technique of changing squirming toddler while they remain standing...I deny a request to sit on the potty. Kiddos stares me in the eye and pees on the floor. When I ask if she did this on purpose she continues repeating "on purpose, on purpose, on purpose"
and that was all before lunch.
So John Kasich and your 144 000 salary... how bout we trade for a day. Or even just a morning
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