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Warm fuzzies - It is one hell of a job. It has more ups and downs than a rollercoaster, and is a complete mess of interconnected contradictions, but the warm fuzzies, pride and satisfaction far outweigh the downs. To see a student 'get' something really makes my day, this is the "a-ha", or "aaaaaaaaa" moment. School Uniforms. School uniforms - the bane of both young students growing up and trying to make a personal statement, and teachers trying to enforce the uniform rules. The biggest obstacle I see is the way teachers themselves dress. In the eyes of the student it is obviously unfair for "scruffy" teachers to demand smart students. To be fair to teachers, in my experience (in New Zealand), they dress "smart casual", rarely "scruffy". Personally, I wear shirt and trousers, I don't see the point of being casual when we want students to be smart and in uniform. At least I can wear different coloured shirts and still be smart. What I think of the 2010 action. Check out my humerous take on this sad state of affairs!. Beginning Teacher I am really surprised that beginning teachers don't leave teacher training college with a ginormous big book (actually it should be a small CD these days) containing heaps of lesson plans. Why?, because I have spent the first couple of years "re-inventing the wheel". Spending my time getting resources and lessons together instead of concentrating on adding that special something that makes a difference to a student's life. Hence this website - whilst it is purely for me, I hope other teachers will find it and find use for my lesson plans (when I eventually get around to putting them online). Teacher's I have known You don't switch careers without doing some research. I asked various teachers what was the worse part of teaching - without any hesitation and in unison, they said "the paperwork", they weren't kidding!! Teacher's Pay It is a profession, which makes you wonder why it is not well suppoprted. I spent the first TWO terms on the lowest salary level, having to wait for my MSc in Geophysics and Planetary Physics, and my relevant work experience to be recognised. This considering I had already paid several hundred dollars to get my degrees verified in order to enter the Diploma of Teaching. The reason I turned to teaching was that I would not be starting on the bottom rung. I have a huge mortgage to service, try that on $25,000 a year. Coming from a professional background, I thought ahead and tried to get my salary assessed during my training. I was a little disappointed to be told to wait until I got a job, and then the Principal will sort it out. Even then, I thought the whole thing would be a matter of weeks. I started on step 1, the lowest pay scale (less than $25,000) - if it wasn't for the intervention of the Principal, I may still be on it!!!. It took a while for me to fill in the paperwork, going back nearly 20 years to get confirmation of my work then. Then it was sent to PayServe. My qualifications (BSc and MSc) had already been assessed by NZQA (about $400, I think it cost me), and I had to pay for it because it was a Teacher Training course requirement. I was advised by PPTA that my qualifications would be reflected in my salary whilst the work experience was assessed. But, PayServe insist on waiting until both my qualifications and relevant work experience are assessed, before dishing out backpay, even though NZQA have already assessed my qualifications. I was not even allowed to talk to PayServe directly, I had to go through my school. What other company pays you minimum rate whilst it gets it's act into gear? Check out my humerous take on this sad state of affairs! Literacy - life is all about language be it English, Te Reo, or Scientific notation. It really pained me to train alongside other future teachers who could not write correctly. When I read text that has spelling and gramatical mistakes, I have to pause and consider if the writer actually meant what he/she actually wrote. What a waste of my time! The whole thrust of education these days (I feel) is in communication. So students that leave school can communicate. I recently read a Kerre Woodhams artical in the Sunday Herald where she quoted someone from a discussion website. The gist of the argument was that the person doing the communicating should spend the time to ensure their communication is error free so that the audience can understand the message without too much effort. It makes little sense to converse sloppily and expect each individual in that audience to expend time and energy trying to work out what was meant. Rumour has it that txt speak will be acceptable in answers. Can you imagine parents reading a txt student report, or an employer struggling to do the same - I wouldn't last 5 seconds in my previous jobs - writing reports for clients in another country where English is a second language. What about the teacher giving lessons in txt! If you think about it my txt speak can be quite different from your txt speak. According to a much touted research effort - you can still read text as long as the first and last letters are the same. So, should I give my lessons this way? - The wlhoe trshut aubot eoitacudn tehse dyas (I tghuoht) was in cocatmmuniion. |
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© 2006, Daryl Crosby
Last Update Mar 2008 |