A Day of The Life...

Teachers are …

ktstephens — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:32:07 +0000

My official job is to teach students new things according to the state standards, right? I came up with a list of occupations I was not trained for in college but have quickly learned because teachers have many more responsibilities than one would think. Teachers are also:

Doctors/Nurses when there is a stomach ache, sprained ankle, bloody nose, or paper cut
Police Officers when children decide to swing fists at one another
Counselors when friends are fighting or talking about each other
Meteorologists when students don’t watch the news
Nutritionists when students decide that breakfast should be cookies, doritos, and Mountain Dew
Janitors when the room is left a hot mess at the end of the day (which happens frequently)
Technicians when the computer won’t turn on or the projector doesn’t work
Zoologists when the class pet gets forgotten
Personal Trainers since the Physical Education Laws were passed
Photographers when we do exciting activities
Celebrities when we go anywhere … seriously! Children I don’t know get so excited to see me in public
Volunteers when any event happens at the school … it is not a choice
Entertainers 24/7 … teachers have to compete with the world around us to catch the attention of students. If we aren’t more exciting than video games, cartoons, and computer games, forget trying to get students to listen!!
“Experts”all the time … DUH! Teachers are supposed to know everything!

Hourly Pay for Teachers

ktstephens — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:15:25 +0000

After my extremely loooooong day today, I got to thinking about my salary vs. the number of hours I work. Granted, I work many more hours than I should because I am a first year teacher and a perfectionist but the numbers are ridiculous! I make approximately $6/hour to “inspire children” and “change lives.” That has got to be worth more than $6/hour… I made $11/hour to smile and say “Welcome to Verizon” and I didn’t have to do lesson plans, call parents, grade papers, etc. etc. etc.

Today I put in 14 hours … that would have been worth $154 on my Verizon salary but only worth $84 on my teacher salary. I started at school at 6:30 am, left school at 3:40 pm to attend professional development, then headed back to the school to sell concessions for our *Spring Fling* until 8:30 pm. When I finish this, I will sit down in front of the TV and do report cards.

Teaching is not a 7:30 – 2:30 job and it makes me so mad when people say “Well, you only have to work until 2:30″ and “you don’t even work that hard … all you have to do is babysit.” At least babysitters make more than $6 an hour …

Top 10 Reasons Why “Mrs. Stephens” Should Blog

ktstephens — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:43:19 +0000

Children do unexpected and unexplainable things
*MY* students are particularly interesting
The dreaded “first year of teaching” lends itself to many hilarious and embarrassing moments
Blogging will be a healthy outlet to “vent” and I am 99% positive that my daily drama would be entertaining for my family/friends
We have a class hamster, Hazelnut, who is quite the escape artist … you never know if she’ll be in the cage, trashcan, in the reading corner, etc.
I can let you know everything that annoys teachers so that you will not make the same mistakes many parents do
I find out a lot in the teacher work room
Gray Court, SC is a very interesting town
For those undergraduate Elementary Education majors, I can tell you everything they didn’t teach you in College
I also have a husband and a dog … they provide for interesting material as well