Teacher teach me

I found that my husband, O'Tim had defended teachers on some blog (he did not mention whose blog it was, I can only assume for fear of 'trouble'). Let me tell you a little bit about teaching:

Yes we are under contract ( in the state of Georgia) for 190 days only. Let me tell you a little bit about the 180 days that students are present.

1. Open House (twice a year). This happens at night, long after the school day has ended.
2. Hall, cafeteria, parking lot, or gym duty. This is morning and afternoon, saying things like, "Where are you going? Do you have a pass? Please keep your hands to yourself. TOO LOUD! Please don't curse in the hallway. Please go to the office for dress code check (I, being a woman have not even seen my own boobs near as much as I see teen boobage at school). Why are you crying? Please put that in the garbage can instead of the floor. No kissing in the gym. Please slow down.
3. Prom. This ruins a perfeclty fine spring Saturday night. I could poke out an eyeball just thinking about prom duty. You have to keep an eye on the punchbowl, make sure no one is in the bathroom(yes, the bathroom!) getting pregnant, seperate students grinding on the dancefloor...you get the picture...all to blaringly loud bad music...
4. Academic reception. This also happens at night. This lasts hours and hours and involves endless clapping and ooohhhing and ahhhing of parents.
5. Graduation. Again at night. This is the most torturous of them all. Thousands and thousands of people who feel like it is okay to blow their air horn when their kid walks across the stage. *****sigh*******This lasts from about 6 to after midnight.
6. Have you ever been in a play? You know that feeling you get from being on stage? You have to be careful and diligent and 'on' every minute? You have to be that way the entire day as a teacher.
7. Has there been a time in your life when you REALLY REALLY had to go to the bathroom REALLY REALLY bad. That is a teacher's entire day. We cannot leave the classroom. We just have to wait until between classes or lunch.
8. Lunch. I have 25 minutes for lunch. Often times it is spent with a crying child, or a child that needs clarification on a particular lesson, or on the phone with a parent about some crisis or another that their child is enduring at my hand.
9. Parents...they are the worst thing about teaching. Their child can do no wrong and would certainly never lie, cheat, steal, talk back, not understand, or pull out their cell phone during class. In the 10 years I have been teaching, only once did a parent take my side over their child....once.
10. Not so bright kids ( I really want to say stupid). Imagine the least intelligent person you know....intellect wise, socially, and common sense wise. I have about 25 of those people every day that I must guide and cajole into some sort of productice citizen.
11. Character Education. I am supposed to teach students to share, love, care, have high self-steem, be a good citizen, and recycle. All day every day.
12. If I had two years to teach one class, I still could not get everything done that I am (by law) supposed to teach my students in 90 days.
13. On the average I work about 1 1/2 hours of overtime per day. This does not count the time put in at home which also averages about 1 1/2 hours per day.
14. I spend at least 3 to 4 hours most Sundays grading papers, writing lesson plans, and creating materials.
15. I go to endless meetings...day and night...
16. I don't only teach, but keep up with mounds and mounds and mounds of paperwork.
17. The air-conditioning and/or the heat shuts off every day at 3:30. ( I stay until around 5:00)
18. The air-conditioning and/or heat does not come on until 8:30 every day ( I get here at 7:00).
19. Education is filled with a lot of trends. Some are good educational practices and others are just ridiculous (a high school with no classroom walls???). Twice a year at least we implement some sort of new educational plan that requires teachers to rearrange the way everything is done. I mean everything: Classroom layout, lesson plans, teaching methods....
20. Every year teachers are required to complete equivalent of a college course ( three semester hours). We do not get paid for this, and we have to make an 'A' in the class and yes there is homework.
21. So I make $40,000 for 9 months of work and about 2500 hours on the job. So after the federal government takes their share, and the state government takes their share (it's not enough that I WORK for them?) I bring home about $30,000, which means that for all my effort I make $12 an hour.

Just an afterthought: If you know a teacher that does not need a two hour nap when they get home every day, they are not a good teacher.