Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog had a range of reactions to Cherokee County teacher Allison Webb’s advice today to the Legislature on how to improve education and the lives of teachers. Here is a sampling:
SpTcher: As a high school special education teacher, the amount of paperwork I must do is beyond comprehension. I need extra time with my students to establish a relationship with them that will allow me to mentor them through to successfully completing high school. How? I never see the students on my caseload, and I am pulled out of class to administer "high stakes" tests to students who cannot read. Would I encourage anyone to go into education? Never.
Bernie: This is the kind of teacher every school in Georgia should have in abundance. Governor Deal and his crew should stop the shenanigans and get serious about rewarding the thousands of great teachers.
Gact: It is interesting how beliefs about teacher salaries changed from pre- and-post recession periods. While private industry jobs flowed with milk and honey prior to the recession, many attitudes were teaches were lowly paid public servants working hard for students. Fast forward, and post-recession private industry has rolled back its wages and taken jobs to distant shores, and conservatives have propagated the idea teachers are lazy professionals and schools are ineffective. Suddenly, the teaching profession is under attack. Research shows schools are doing their jobs. They are doing their best with the products parents send to school.
Finn: I am one of these "crazies," and so are many of my colleagues. You have summed up perfectly the impact, scholastically and personally, this job has on our lives. We are professionals; allow us to do our jobs, and you will see amazing things!
HeyTeacher: The only thing I'd like to add is that over the years, many of our support systems have been eliminated. Student interns, parent volunteers, office assistants and para-professionals are virtually nonexistent at our school, so we're no longer staffing the attendance office, after-school study halls and the copy room. I remember the days when you could ask the parent volunteer in the copy room to run your handouts or make a simple phone call to a parent about an absence.
HsSped: I am in my 22nd year of teaching and can't wait to retire and get a "real" job. I have already figured that I will have to work until I die. And by the way, I cut my own hair, paint my own nails, live in a modest home that is almost paid for, and drive a 15-year-old vehicle. I've been working part-time jobs for the past six years to take the edge off. I have an undergraduate and two post-grad degrees. I knew I'd never be rich, but I really thought I'd be doing better than what I am. I tell every young person I meet to not consider teaching unless they are planning on marrying rich.
Teaching: I, too, average 60 to 70 hours per week working just to keep up with the flow of paperwork and requirements. And every year, less of that time is spent on instruction and lesson development while at the same time being asked to produce higher achievements.
