This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2018/sep/05/guardian-teacher-takeover-share-stories-challenges-live
The article has changed 21 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Voices from the classroom: US teachers discuss their biggest challenges – live | Voices from the classroom: US teachers discuss their biggest challenges – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| From Buffalo, NY, Jake Sanders said low pay is the issue for new teachers – | |
| “There’s very little institutional support and the state of higher education in general is not great. I am a graduate student and my university has a notoriously low TA stipend. | |
| “I also have to design coursework and lead technical writing classes that I have no training for. It’s hard to know what kind of writing assignments science students need to improve their writing, and my department doesn’t give any help with syllabus design or lesson plans. Since we changed our composition program to suit STEM students, we basically eliminated literature teaching for graduate students. Basically I feel like i’m totally on my own, and that in a few years there may not be any academic jobs at all. So I’ll have been doing graduate work for six years for basically no reason at all. And no administrators or department chairs seem to want to do anything about this.” | |
| Sanders and his colleagues tried to petition for higher TA stipends and “marched through the campus to the provost’s office but they sent armed police officers to meet us”. | |
| If you’ve not already seen it, take a look at our article on why some schools in Arizona are employing Filipinos to fill teacher shortages. | If you’ve not already seen it, take a look at our article on why some schools in Arizona are employing Filipinos to fill teacher shortages. |
| Terry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block write that some American public schools are turning to foreign teachers because Americans with college educations are increasingly uninterested in low-paid, demanding teaching jobs. | Terry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block write that some American public schools are turning to foreign teachers because Americans with college educations are increasingly uninterested in low-paid, demanding teaching jobs. |
| Many teachers, struggling for a toehold in the shrinking middle class, have switched careers. And fewer college students are choosing to become teachers. The need for mathematics, science, and special education teachers is especially dire in poor and rural schools throughout the country. | Many teachers, struggling for a toehold in the shrinking middle class, have switched careers. And fewer college students are choosing to become teachers. The need for mathematics, science, and special education teachers is especially dire in poor and rural schools throughout the country. |
| Melvin Inojosa, 29, from the Philippines is one of 12,000 foreign teachers who have come to the United States in the last five years on temporary J-1 cultural exchange visas. (The three-year visas offer no path to permanent residence in the United States). | Melvin Inojosa, 29, from the Philippines is one of 12,000 foreign teachers who have come to the United States in the last five years on temporary J-1 cultural exchange visas. (The three-year visas offer no path to permanent residence in the United States). |
| Inojosa wishes he could stay but will teach in Arizona as long as he can. If authorities want him to leave, he’ll leave. No hard feelings. He respects American laws. He’ll find a job teaching someplace else in the world, and “make my own happiness”. | Inojosa wishes he could stay but will teach in Arizona as long as he can. If authorities want him to leave, he’ll leave. No hard feelings. He respects American laws. He’ll find a job teaching someplace else in the world, and “make my own happiness”. |
| Shannon Ergun, is a single mother and teaches ESL at a public school in Tacoma, WA with previous experience in Turkey and Poland. | Shannon Ergun, is a single mother and teaches ESL at a public school in Tacoma, WA with previous experience in Turkey and Poland. |
| For her, teaching her students of different abilities in one classroom can be a challenge. | For her, teaching her students of different abilities in one classroom can be a challenge. |
| “I currently have 178 ESL students on my caseload. State law says I must provide each of these students services. However, I would have to have 35-36 students in each class to do that. I have a range of students from those who have no proficiency in English to those fluent in English who simply haven’t passed the state ESL exam. I have students who arrived in the US in the last few days to those who were born and raised here. To meet their needs I cannot simply put 35+ kids in a classroom. I need to be able to target my instruction so I have to be able to assign students to classes based on their proficiency and their age in some cases. No one is served if students are simply dropped in whatever class fits the rest of their schedule and then I’m expected to work miracles. | “I currently have 178 ESL students on my caseload. State law says I must provide each of these students services. However, I would have to have 35-36 students in each class to do that. I have a range of students from those who have no proficiency in English to those fluent in English who simply haven’t passed the state ESL exam. I have students who arrived in the US in the last few days to those who were born and raised here. To meet their needs I cannot simply put 35+ kids in a classroom. I need to be able to target my instruction so I have to be able to assign students to classes based on their proficiency and their age in some cases. No one is served if students are simply dropped in whatever class fits the rest of their schedule and then I’m expected to work miracles. |
| “Because of the challenges above I am active in my union. I have helped to organize rallies and protests related to high-stakes standardized testing, educator salaries, and lack of professional respect. I work directly with legislators and other local officials to improve the working conditions of our educators because that in turn improves the learning conditions of our students. My activism has often made me a target of district administrators and I have been reassigned to a new school, not told my teaching assignment until two weeks into the school year, and even told I would be assigned in multiple schools and multiple levels where I have no experience”. | “Because of the challenges above I am active in my union. I have helped to organize rallies and protests related to high-stakes standardized testing, educator salaries, and lack of professional respect. I work directly with legislators and other local officials to improve the working conditions of our educators because that in turn improves the learning conditions of our students. My activism has often made me a target of district administrators and I have been reassigned to a new school, not told my teaching assignment until two weeks into the school year, and even told I would be assigned in multiple schools and multiple levels where I have no experience”. |
| As part of our teacher takeover, we’re inviting all teachers and educators to add personal stories and ideas to this manifesto for change. Submit ideas, anecdotes and thoughts via our form here. | As part of our teacher takeover, we’re inviting all teachers and educators to add personal stories and ideas to this manifesto for change. Submit ideas, anecdotes and thoughts via our form here. |
| We’ll compile your comments into a final manifesto next week – and the Guardian will hand-deliver it to Betsy DeVos, the education secretary. | We’ll compile your comments into a final manifesto next week – and the Guardian will hand-deliver it to Betsy DeVos, the education secretary. |
| Anna Burr, in Phoenix, AZ, said she struggles with debt – | Anna Burr, in Phoenix, AZ, said she struggles with debt – |
| “As a teacher, I was told I would love my job so the salary wouldn’t matter. That was true until this year. I’m $100k in student loan debt (the promise of more pay after obtaining a masters enticed me). I make $2,400 a month and half of that goes to rent alone. I’m drowning. I have 40 students in my class and some don’t even have their own desk. I used to be the cool teacher now I’m the mean teacher. They made me hate my dream, I thought I’d love this career forever now I just want to make enough where I don’t stress at night. My students come to school hungry and leave worried on the weekends. I have been apart of the Red for Ed movement here in Arizona but I feel like I can never do enough.” | “As a teacher, I was told I would love my job so the salary wouldn’t matter. That was true until this year. I’m $100k in student loan debt (the promise of more pay after obtaining a masters enticed me). I make $2,400 a month and half of that goes to rent alone. I’m drowning. I have 40 students in my class and some don’t even have their own desk. I used to be the cool teacher now I’m the mean teacher. They made me hate my dream, I thought I’d love this career forever now I just want to make enough where I don’t stress at night. My students come to school hungry and leave worried on the weekends. I have been apart of the Red for Ed movement here in Arizona but I feel like I can never do enough.” |
| One reader who responded to our callout is pre-K teacher Andrew Berg, from Boston. | One reader who responded to our callout is pre-K teacher Andrew Berg, from Boston. |
| Though his school is well-resourced, teachers are increasingly finding themselves doing things that are not typically expected of them: | Though his school is well-resourced, teachers are increasingly finding themselves doing things that are not typically expected of them: |
| “Nationally, there are serious problems around school funding because so much of this is derived from local (municipal) taxes. There is often an inverse correlation between a district’s needs and its ability to raise revenue. | “Nationally, there are serious problems around school funding because so much of this is derived from local (municipal) taxes. There is often an inverse correlation between a district’s needs and its ability to raise revenue. |
| “Feeding children, for example, is not the same as teaching, but since hungry children do not learn well, we have to do this. | “Feeding children, for example, is not the same as teaching, but since hungry children do not learn well, we have to do this. |
| “Providing clothing, helping families find housing or navigate child protection services, assessing and dealing with the effects of trauma are not, properly speaking, teaching, but we do these things because they are necessary precursors. These things have to be done before learning can happen. All this makes education much more expensive, and less efficient as instructional time is redirected. This is a societal problem. As a nation, we have decided not to deal with the problems caused by social inequality, and much of this has come down on schools.” | “Providing clothing, helping families find housing or navigate child protection services, assessing and dealing with the effects of trauma are not, properly speaking, teaching, but we do these things because they are necessary precursors. These things have to be done before learning can happen. All this makes education much more expensive, and less efficient as instructional time is redirected. This is a societal problem. As a nation, we have decided not to deal with the problems caused by social inequality, and much of this has come down on schools.” |
| September marks the start of the new school year for many US public schools. It’s a difficult time for teachers who are returning to overcrowded classrooms, decrepit buildings, precious few supplies and out-of-date textbooks. | September marks the start of the new school year for many US public schools. It’s a difficult time for teachers who are returning to overcrowded classrooms, decrepit buildings, precious few supplies and out-of-date textbooks. |
| This week we’ll tell teachers’ stories in a special series called the Guardian US teacher takeover. We’ve been working closely with a team of teachers from across the country who are serving as our guest editors Sept. 5-7 to highlight falling teacher pay, underfunded schools, and a new wave of activism. | This week we’ll tell teachers’ stories in a special series called the Guardian US teacher takeover. We’ve been working closely with a team of teachers from across the country who are serving as our guest editors Sept. 5-7 to highlight falling teacher pay, underfunded schools, and a new wave of activism. |
| In this live blog we’ll share the stories from teachers reading the project, and those who responded to our callout last week. If you’d like to share your experiences and join the conversation you can do so via the secure form below, and we’ll post it here, with your permission. | In this live blog we’ll share the stories from teachers reading the project, and those who responded to our callout last week. If you’d like to share your experiences and join the conversation you can do so via the secure form below, and we’ll post it here, with your permission. |
| Let us know if you’d like to add your submission to our Teachers’ wishlist – a manifesto outlining the basic conditions that teachers need in order to address the crisis in schools. We’ll update the document with your contributions – and the Guardian will deliver the final version to US secretary of education Betsy DeVos. | Let us know if you’d like to add your submission to our Teachers’ wishlist – a manifesto outlining the basic conditions that teachers need in order to address the crisis in schools. We’ll update the document with your contributions – and the Guardian will deliver the final version to US secretary of education Betsy DeVos. |