Last year my teaching partner taught a unit to our kids called There's a Volcano in my Tummy. It was about anger management and recognizing the signs that you're going to explode and then finding socially appropriate ways to deal with your frustrations. I'm glad I was there for that unit.Right now there are some things going on politically with teaching here in Ontario. I'm not going to pretend I know anything more than the average person about politics or legislation, however I think I'm safe in making the judgement call that what is happening is not democratic.
I've been reading the newspapers and the emails from our union. Today there was a protest at Queen's Park against the Education Minister's proposed bill that will:
"... freeze teachers’ pay — except for seniority grid movement — impose three unpaid days off, halve the number of annual sick days to 10, stop unused sick days from being banked and cashed out at retirement, and ban strikes and lockouts for two years."
There are always colourful comments after these articles, most of which bash teachers. We're lazy. We're in it for the summers off. We go in at 9:00 and are done at 3:30. That greedy pension.
The lava builds.
And then I realize that people are so focused on putting us down that they are not even noticing what is happening to unions and to democratic practice. What a clever group of people to really start with. Well played McGuinty.
Rumble.
I don't know how all of the school boards work and I will admit that I don't know my own Collective Agreement as well as I should. I cannot speak for every teacher. I don't know what it's like to teach high school or Catholic school or Kindergarten. I've taught in the junior division and I've taught Special Education, which receives a lot of slack let me tell you. "You only have 8 kids," was quite commonly thrown in my face in the past 5 years.
I'm not going to pretend I don't have rants about the frustrations of teaching as much as the next guy: there's not enough money, not enough resources, special education classes being cut, reduced support, class sizes are too big, kids are disrespectful. "Well when I was a kid..." You know the drill; but at the heart of it, I love what I do. I take those students and make them my kids. Before having Brennan I would talk about them and people would ask just how many kids I had?! "30, 32, 8, 6..."
This is my teaching:
- I take workshops and courses and I read teacher books throughout the year and on my 'summers off'. I spend a great deal of my 'summers off' planning and going into the school to set my room up and to create... I don't want to forget that I have the 'summer off' because I DON'T GET PAID. We are 10 month contract workers whose wages are garnished so that we cannot collect unemployment. I don't get paid for the next part either.
- I coach sports and clubs before, during, and after school, you know when I "go in at 9 and leave at 3:30." I bring marking home. And plan at home. And do report cards at home, which take a minimum of an hour each student. 3 times a year. And individual education plans for students with exceptionalities. 3 times a year. And I go to staff meetings and school fundraisers. Still unpaid.
- I've spent incredible amounts of my own money on teaching supplies and items my students wouldn't have if I didn't buy it myself.
- I get up at 4am to write more detailed lesson plans and email them to work in between puking when I have the flu and have to take one of my "ridiculous number of sick days". I almost forgot though, I don't deal with lice or runny noses, coughs, colds, fevers, puke, or chicken pocks. It's a good thing I'm immune to them 194 days of the year anyway.
- I am paid well but some days I'm not paid enough. I've had my life threatened. I've had things as large as desks thrown at me. I've been attacked, bit, hit, kicked, scratched, and spit on. I've had to wear protective gear for my own safety. I've been told to F-off and been called every name in the book. I know this just doesn't exist in Special Ed. I know it happens in 'regular classes' all over. I guess I'm lucky I don't work at an elementary school that has metal detectors. At school. To prevent shootings and stabbings. Where I work. Teaching isn't like it was when the bashers were growing up. It's teaching physical health and emotional health and social skills training. What to eat, self-regulation, how to zip up your coat. Sometimes it's even buying a student that winter coat and teaching her how to brush her teeth. Ya, us teachers, we've got it easy.
We do the extra that we do because we wanted to be teachers and that's what teachers who make a difference do. Because we love kids and we want to help them learn. It's not about the money, for we could have made a hell of a lot more in business. It's not for the pension because the same money they take off of our cheques toward our pension, and the College of Teachers fee, and Union dues, and benefits portions could easily go into RRSPs anyway. It's not for the summers off because we don't really take the summers off. And we don't get paid. I am not denying the great perks to our job but let's consider for a minute the fact that we went to school for a minimum of 4 years in university. Oh yes, and we are educating and caring "in loco parentis" for everyone's children 6 1/2 hours a day, 194 days a year.
Recent posts in social media compare teachers' wages and benefits to police officers and doctors and politicians. It's not really a fair comparison. We're alike in that our salaries are paid by taxes and we protect children and care for them and run their daily community. But I guess that's all I can say because I've never been a police officer or a doctor or a politician. Should everyone's wages be frozen to help wipe out the deficit? I'm not qualified to answer that. Should teachers alone be the scapegoats for the billions of dollars spent by the government? I sure don't think that's right. Should we be publicly slandered by the public and Minister of Education who should be supporting and fighting for education? I shouldn't answer that because my tummy is like a volcano and Jillian said when that happens, its time to take a break.
Before I do though, I would like to put it out there to all the teacher bashers that you could have become a teacher if you wanted "summers off, a great pension, and a 9-3:30 job". You're also welcome to walk a day in my shoes and try to teach algebra to 34 students with different intellectual capabilities, home environments, socio-economic status, attention spans, sensory needs, emotional stability, and hormones. After that please go walk in the mile of another teacher's shoes at an elementary school in downtown Toronto, you know the one with the metal detectors. Add another 192 days of that and then come tell me how it is again that I am lazy?
