Gwinnett.talk

By V for Vendetta

March 5, 2007 11:17 AM | Link to this

Ask them if they mind working at over-crowded schools full of shifting demographics and idiotic teaching methods coming down from on high.

By Me

March 5, 2007 3:04 PM | Link to this

Would you like to be over-worked under paid and treated like crap from students.

By j

March 5, 2007 3:07 PM | Link to this

A very LARGE stick!!

By Old Physics Teacher

March 5, 2007 3:13 PM | Link to this

As per the DOE, Are you willing to accept responsibility for students’ grades? In other words, Would you be willing to accept responsibility for teenagers’ actions with no authority to force them to change. Sheesh! What a bunch of morons at the DOE.

By qwertyuiop

March 5, 2007 3:37 PM | Link to this

HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By fer

March 5, 2007 4:00 PM | Link to this

Infinite energy and patience!

By RVC

March 5, 2007 4:22 PM | Link to this

My teacher is Mr. Day. He thinks he’s funny, but he isn’t.

By Lola

March 5, 2007 4:38 PM | Link to this

No tolerance for misbehavior and no fear when confronted by thugs and gangstas.

By Museq

March 5, 2007 4:42 PM | Link to this

Our school system lost the battle of education the very moment lawmakers empowered students over teachers AND parents. A teacher that cannot instill discipline over a disruptive student has no power. These ‘laws’ now allow the inmates to run the asylum because most of these out of control kids simply need a butt whipping!! Only in the East, do they seem to understand the true value of their educators and it shows in their results.

By C.R.H.

March 5, 2007 6:42 PM | Link to this

Qualities in a teacher? If I were an administrator I would want the dumbest humans on the face of the Earth! Their only job is to follow the completely useless, unproven directives I would give just to pad my resume so I could be 1st in line for an opening at the central office. I also wouldn’t want them to be able to figure out that they are CONTRACT employees NOT SALARIED employees so I could require them to do little “extra duties”; like tutoring after school with no compensation, supervising athletic events without compensation, working security at the graduation ceremonies without compensation, sitting in meetings after school hours and open houses without compensation. OH I know…IT’S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS! Right, just keep telling yourself that while you try to figure out why there aren’t any candidates lining up for these open positions!!!!

By Brian Jay Corrigan

March 5, 2007 6:43 PM | Link to this

Gentle reader,

As Georgia Professor of the Year - 2004, I am uniquely qualified to answer this question. A teacher should have superior intelligence and display it. This is needed as most of the students and their parents are the intellectual inferiors of teachers and so need to be treated.

By OldSchool

March 5, 2007 6:47 PM | Link to this

I’d ask potential teachers: Do you have another income that brings in enough to support your family?

Are you willing to sit through endless mind-numbing staff development sessions that will be of little actual value to your teaching?

Are you willing to differentiate your instruction to meet the individual needs of students even though we admins will insist that your personal teaching style be abandoned in favor of the style du jour that WE decide upon?

Are you willing to put in countless extra unpaid hours grading papers in purple ink, making gentle comments that will not wound the students’ fragile self-esteems?

If a student is going to fail anyway, will you insure he has the possibility of succeeding by giving him a grade of 69 instead of the 22 he actually earned?

Have you practiced wolfing down your meal in 20 minutes or fewer while overseeing a herd of yawping younguns?

Do you actually think anyone actually gives a rip if you know the subject matter and have had great success in imparting that to your students? It’s all about GPSs you know.

Can you be kind to that smelly, bedraggled youngster who looks to you like a savior and for whom you may be the only caring, non-hitting, non-yelling adult she has ever known?

Are you willing to be content with your position while the community around you glorifies football coaches and thinks a state championship brings far more glory than a 100% graduation rate? While multimillions of dollars are spent improving and building sports facilities and not one dime on vocational facilities? While students are “enrolled” in your classes because there are no other teachers who want them?

Yes? Great. Welcome to Education in Georgia. “Learning has little to do with it.”

By Blueja

March 5, 2007 6:47 PM | Link to this

Teachers should have as little self- respect as possible going in. In addition to that they should have the ability to follow orders blindly with no regard for what is in the best interest of educating students. It is helpful if their backbone is one of overcooked spaghetti and there noses accustomed to looking brown. Extra credit will be given if they have given up on anything meaningful ever occuring in their classroom again. Any belief that things will improve or vision of what could be will only serve to drive them mad if not get them fired before hand. A vocabualary of meaningless bulls— buzzwords is also highly recommended.

By catlady

March 5, 2007 7:05 PM | Link to this

great job, old school. Succinct, and on target!

By catlady

March 5, 2007 7:09 PM | Link to this

I’d add: do you have a backup plan for a way to make a living if we administrators, superintendents, school board members, state legislators, federal bureaucrats, and policymakers decide to come up with additional duties, stupid policies, or “miracle” cures for education and make your professional life so miserable, and your health and family life so negatively impacted, that you have to leave the job you have wanted for years, in pain, in tears, and in debt?

By mrs teacher

March 5, 2007 7:10 PM | Link to this

What administrators should be looking for is people that have the talents and knowledge to give our students tools for a decent life. Unfortunatly, they are actually looking for people brain dead enough not to notice what idiots the administrators really are. Sadly, this is not a joke.

By catlady

March 5, 2007 7:11 PM | Link to this

If you do have such a plan, we won’t hire you, as you won’t stick through the b.s. for more than 2 years.

By Dave

March 5, 2007 7:14 PM | Link to this

Do you wanna be a slave? Do you wanna struggle to make it financially? If so, boy have we got the job for you ! ! ! !

By G

March 5, 2007 7:18 PM | Link to this

Every teacher should have a BS-O-Meter built in. Detection of BS from students, parents, administrators, and our ingoramus legislature is a vital self-defense skill.

By Rebecca

March 5, 2007 8:49 PM | Link to this

From one brand new teacher to new fresh faces coming in….GOOD LUCK ….prepare to stay late, work hard, deal with parents, and document everything …

By CJ

March 5, 2007 9:12 PM | Link to this

Dr. Corrigan! You were my World Lit prof at NGCSU. You were awesome! I am a new teacher in Fulton County at a charter school…like everyone else is saying…be prepared for some tough work ahead. Veteran teachers…you rock.

By AP

March 5, 2007 9:56 PM | Link to this

As an assistant principal in Atlanta, I would have to agree with OldSchool’s comments.

By XYZ

March 5, 2007 10:45 PM | Link to this

The only thing OLD SCHOOL forgot was…oh, by the way, let’s give a kid 4-5 chances on a major assessment. This will really prepares our youth for the real world, don’t you think? It’s happening out there……..you rock old school………Right on!

By XYZ

March 5, 2007 10:48 PM | Link to this

The only thing OLD SCHOOL left out was oh, by the way, let’s give every student 4-5 chances to pass a major assessment. This will certainly prepare our youth for the real world, don’t you think? It’s happening out there….. You rock, OLD SCHOOL!

By Sped Teacher

March 5, 2007 10:56 PM | Link to this

A teacher needs to have patience. I am currently teaching a small group of Sp Ed HS students. I asked the Counselor how she chose these students to be in my class. She said there was no class being taught that they needed. What about the needs of the students?

There are a lot of sad but true comments already posted on this Blog. This is my 25th year and the last 2-3 years when someone has asked if they should be a teacher, I’ve said, probably not.

Charter schools are exempt from Title XX; teacher rights. Whole systems will be like that starting next year. They’ll start with 5 systems and add more each year.

After all we have worked for such as Fair Dismissal, contracts with every line filled out (instead of being given a blank one) pay scale and pay increases—Charter Schools take all that away. You become an “At Will” employee with no contract, pay scale, or Rights.

By Dennis

March 5, 2007 11:08 PM | Link to this

The first question I would ask is, “Do you favor joining and being active in a teacher union?”

If the answer is “No”, the interview would be over and I would move to the next candidate.

A teacher who is not willing to look after him/herself or his or her family’s financial well being is not someone I would trust to look after my kids.

Those who control the purse strings are the ones responsible for todays shoddy educational systems.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By C.R.H.

March 5, 2007 11:12 PM | Link to this

I don’t see being an “at will” employee as necessarily a bad thing. After all no contract = p** me off and you get to replace me. And good luck doing that if the person p** off is a math, science or sped teacher!

By OldSchool

March 6, 2007 6:02 AM | Link to this

For many, many years, we teachers have been slapped in the face with the old quote: “Those who can…do. Those who can’t…teach.” It was insulting and untrue.

With a heavy grieving heart, I predict that, given the unholy alliance of isolated legislators and clueless top level education professionals making the decisions and painting ill-conceived reform with a statewide/nationwide brush, “those who can’t” will be the teachers of the future.

The rest of us will be out making a living and turning our backs on the dream of making a difference.

But, hey! It’s all about the APPEARANCE of changes that really work…

…and football.

By V for Vendetta

March 6, 2007 7:56 AM | Link to this

Dennis, sounds to me like a union would be a good idea. Who’s in favor of starting one up? Right here, right now, we can start one up and take the power back. That’s all it would take folks. Despite what some may say, they [the people in power] CAN’T replace you. We may not act like it, but we are holding more of the cards than we give ourselves credit for.

So what do you say? Should we decide right here and now to form a union and turn the tables on GA’s pathetic education system and remind the “progressive” counties what education is really all about?

I leave the choice to you.

By OldSchool

March 6, 2007 8:09 AM | Link to this

Sorry, V, I am a 33 year veteran teacher who never has been in favor of a teachers’ union. I went into this career with my eyes wide open because for me it was truly a calling (Industrial Arts and now Engineering Drawing). There is so much wrong going on but nothing…absolutely NOTHING will make me walk out of my classroom and into a picket line. I am here because, in spite of the crap, I love it. I am good at what I do. And I reach some of the students and help them launch themselves into a productive, happy adult life.

That’s good enough for me.

By V for Vendetta

March 6, 2007 10:00 AM | Link to this

OldSchool,

Your commitment is admirable and you should be applauded for your dedication to your profession and students. I admire your ability to look past all the BS.

My only questions is this: If we are truly there for the benefit of the kids, don’t they deserve better than the current system? I understand that the idea of a union often seems self-serving, but I think it would also benefit the masses and impact the greater good of the students. Up North, new teachers are hard-pressed to find a job. No one wants to give up their position, they enjoy where they are. Down here in the South, we can’t seem to keep teachers around for more than five minutes and we are running out of people to fill the vacancies. I’m not so sure a little organization and resistance to unpopular ideas would hurt.

What do you think?

By OldSchool

March 6, 2007 11:49 AM | Link to this

I still don’t think unions are the answer. There is (at least in my school) an underground movement that has teachers quietly TEACHING their students in the best way they know how. They connect with the students, the students are challenged by the material and do the work and ultimately, both are successful. Of course one must trot out the admin approved bells & whistles when the evaluator is around but then it’s back to the business of real learning. We play the game but unfortunately, when our students do well on the required standardized tests, the poobahs think it’s the “research based strategies” that did it and inflict yet another method-du-jour on us.

So we prepare (briefly) for Act II and go about our business.

By Janice

March 6, 2007 3:02 PM | Link to this

Hopefully, they will be better than the Community A 8th grade teachers at Creekland Middle.

By GOP Teacher

March 8, 2007 11:13 PM | Link to this

We have a Teacher’s Union—part of NEA; 3.2 million strong. I’ve been a member since the 70s. We have accomplished a lot. One of the first was to make sure pregnant teachers were not fired, but could continue in their job and have a job waiting when they returned. Anyone remember those days?

Duty free lunch for K-5 teachers is another one that too many take for granted. Sad to say some don’t get what we worked hard for—their school is breaking the law.

Fair Dismissal was done away with by King Roy. SONNY brought it back, with the help of teachers.