Teachers to get MOT'd

[tinfoilhat]

 

 

 

Yes, absolutely.

 

Wow - did you go to hogwarts?

[Anna B]

I agree, a good teacher needs to be a good communicator. But how is good communication to be measured and graded and judged objectively, as OFSTED and Heads would need to do? Also, effective oral communication can take more than one form; some teachers can communicate better with 11 year olds than with 18 year olds.

 

No, lesson planning takes time and energy. Typically, for a new teacher, it takes an hour to plan an hour's lesson and produce any new resources for it (assuming there is a scheme of work in place that they're following) and another hour to mark/assess the outcomes. You get faster as you get more experience and some of the best lessons are the 'Plan B' ones you have up your sleeve if the internet or the interactive whiteboard fails (as it often does in schools) and your Plan A cannot be used. You cannot however simply pull out a plan for a lesson which has worked well in the past and use it on a different ability group without modifying it.

 

That said I'm sure my lazy, complacent teachers in the 70s would have been affronted if they were ever asked to write up a lesson plan - but they wouldn't get away with that today.

 

Too true.

 

To be honest, one of the things that did for me, was never being able to turn off.

After spending all evening marking, writing lesson plans, preparing resources and catching up on paperwork, bedtime would be the only time I had free to muse and think. I'd spend hours unable to sleep because ideas, plans and rehearsals would be going round in my head. A very bad habit to get into.

[poppet2]

So does that mean that neither of you would recommend teaching as a career today?

[Anna B]

So does that mean that neither of you would recommend teaching as a career today?

 

Good question.

 

On a good day it's the best job in the world, there's no better feeling than after a good day in the classroom, perhaps making a breakthrough with a difficult child, and kids can be the funniest little people. It's a real privilege to work with them.

 

But for me the good days became less and less as the pressure was heaped on. Primary teachers don't just teach full time in the classroom (30 kids) with all the planning, marking, preparing etc that that entails, (they have to teach 10 subjects and monitor each one seperately,) they usually also have to co-ordinate a subject throughout the school, (English in my case) writing policy documents, analysing test results and data to see where improvements have to be made throughout the school, providing the right resources to do so, troubleshooting for other teachers, taking courses to keep up with their subject which often included particular exercises and classroom activities to monitor and analize, buying in books and stock, entering data on computer data bases, writing I.E.Ps, monitoring other teacher's lessons and writing teacher assessments, mentoring student teachers and writing reports, entering endless computer data on data bases etc etc etc.

 

I also had two other (very time consuming) jobs within the school which I won't be mentioning simply because they could identify me, and one outside the school, for the education authority (which I was allowed time off for.)

 

Then there was the other stuff, lunchtime and after school activities, (one lunchtime, 2 evenings) school plays (also within the English remit) extra lessons for advanced children and also for kids who are struggling, (also lunchtime and after school) and classroom maintainance (yes really, putting up shelves in the holidays, and cleaning all the painting and craft materials, sorting out drawers and cupboards and generally spring cleaning everything etc.) I didn't mind any of this as it was all good useful stuff, but the list seemed endless and growing all the time.

 

And the job seemed to change every 5 minutes, new diktats from on high until you were running to stand still.

 

After 20 years I was simply exhausted, sick and burnt out. I just couldn't do it any more, so I took early retirement.

 

I wouldn't have missed it for the world, and I still miss it, but I think too much is asked of teachers, and too much energy which should be going into teaching kids in the classroom is spent on stuff that has no value.

 

Would I recommend it? Yes, as long as you know what you're letting yourself in for. Every school is different with the emphasis in slightly different places, so find one that suits you.

It is one of the most rewarding jobs in the world, but also one of the hardest.

[poppet2]

It sounds absolutely exhausting as you seem to spend more time doing everything but teaching. The job consists of so much admin, of which you do far less in an office, and yet your title is a teacher? It's enough to put anyone off, as a result of all the admin etc. I'm sure it was not like this 30 years ago, no wonder there is a shortage of teachers.

[aliceBB]

It sounds absolutely exhausting as you seem to spend more time doing everything but teaching. The job consists of so much admin, of which you do far less in an office, and yet your title is a teacher? It's enough to put anyone off, as a result of all the admin etc. I'm sure it was not like this 30 years ago, no wonder there is a shortage of teachers.

 

Exactly. What Anna has described is true of many teaching jobs and just reading it made me feel very glad that I too took early retirement. In my case it was to pursue my creative yearning to set up my own design and decorating business; I took advantage of the fact that our Head had stuffed the budget up so monumentally that he asked for volunteers for redundancy, and I beat off the rest of the people in the queue...I haven't looked back!

 

I still miss being in the classroom with the kids, I miss teaching A level in particular, I miss my tutor group and my colleagues, who were amazing. But I don't miss all the other nonsense e.g. the arrogance of some parents, or having to fight for the resources you need to teach, and the endless initiatives and directives from On High (mostly unworkable or uneducational or both), forced on us so someone higher up the food chain could try justify their existence/salary. And I don't miss being exhausted much of the time despite doing a very good job very efficiently, or being undervalued by people who know nothing about the demands of the job and who couldn't do it in a million years.

 

The best thing is having Sundays back to spend with my family or being able to go out for a walk without feeling guilty that I should be marking books, planning lessons or assessing coursework!

 

So although it can be the best job in the world, it can also be inhuman and I would advise caution to any young graduate who I thought was considering it through rose-tinted spectacles. I wouldn't say don't do it, just make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for.