Setting the Record Straight

According to many pundits in the land of television, I work part-time, have an abundant pension plan, and only work nine months out of the year. The profession of teaching has been all over the news due to recent events in Wisconsin. I have no desire to get into what is right or wrong for that state. Honestly, I have mixed feelings on unions that support tenure rather than quality teachers. What this post is, instead, is an attempt to enlighten those who are not closely related to a good teacher.

First, let’s take a look at a typical day’s schedule for me. According to a newsman I heard, I only work part-time. After all, my day is done at 2:45. If only…. Here it is. My schedule:

     7:00am – at school to prepare for the day

     7:30am – students arrive for extra tutoring

     8:00am – 3:45pm – I teach and do all that goes along with it. Some counseling, planning, and lots of meetings.

     3:45 – 6:00 – tutoring students after school or soccer practice

     6:00 – 7:30 – home for supper before doing a bit more prep for the next day’s lessons.

That was just Monday through Friday. We need to add at least seven hours on the weekend for lesson planning. I must be doing something wrong. I average a 10-12 hour day on a daily basis. It has only been recently that I have decided, school is not going to be my only life throughout the week. Unfortunately when all is said and done, I have been having some difficulty getting down to a 50 hour work week.

If I wanted to shave time off, I could just follow along in the text book and do just what it says. In the meantime, my students would be sleeping, throwing paper airplanes, or skipping class. Instead, I plan for each class individually based on the students I have. As most good teachers do.

And then there is my abundant pension plan and insurance benefits. I am not like most in this category as I have taught in three different states. When I was in Maine, teachers couldn’t collect both Maine State Retirement and Social Security – even if they paid into both. In Colorado, I did not have insurance because I could not afford it. It would have cost me $1000 to insure my family. $12,000 a year. More than a third of my salary. We don’t spend that in medical costs a year.  North Carolina pays for my insurance. I have no complaints. It is good to have insurance again. Unfortunately, the rest of the family has none as they were on Tony’s policy and he is no longer working. I haven’t looked too closely into the pension plan for the state. I contemplated doing a 401K, but figured I better be able to pay my monthly bills. It’s all good. I plan on teaching until I drop dead. Therefore, no need of retirement benefits.

Working nine months a year sounds like a spectacular job! If only it were so. I begin working long before the students come back into the classroom. All of the time put in during the summer is unpaid. The classroom is being prepared, units are being created, meetings are happening, never-ending paperwork filled out, and a variety of other activities to get the year off to a successful start. In the past, I have taken classes as well. The last few years, I have taken the month of July. Four weeks vacation. Pretty similar to most professions after working them for 17 years.

I have heard that teachers should make the same average salary as the average American. Does that average American have a college education? A graduate degree? For the majority of my teaching career, I made under $30,000. I have lived frugally. Sean paid for his own college education. I scrimped and saved for family vacations. I worked second jobs.

I have a very public profession. Teachers are easy to blame for the state education is in today. Teachers are judged on test scores along with misconceived notions about high salaries, the hours we work, and summers off. (By the way, many schools are going year-round.) To get a teaching license, we had to get a degree (in many instances, a Masters degree is now required), take a test, and prove ourselves worthy.

I love my job and can’t imagine doing anything else. It is time for ALL Americans to know that we are professionals the same way that doctors, lawyers, congressmen, and dare I say, reporters are. Time for us to be treated as such.