What is the Biggest Challenge for Today’s Teachers?

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   Jacqueline4390posted 10 years ago

   
   There was a time when being a teacher was a secure as well as safe occupation. Now with some states laying off or retiring teachers, things have changed. If you are a teacher—or contemplating being one in the near future—what do you think will be your biggest challenge?

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      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Not a teacher or ever would be, but seems to me the biggest challenge is parents that don't care about education but DO care that their child is special, and a bloated bureaucracy with politicians somewhere knowing better than teachers how to teach kids.

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         God shetposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         +

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      2. 81

         Jacqueline4390posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I definitely can't argue with that logic ... anyone else? Even non-teachers.

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            Jacqueline4390posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            What I meant was that I can argue NOT that I can't. Sorry about that!!!!!

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      Jacqueline4390posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I see a lot of comments are made regarding the administration. Please clarify for those who may not understand the direction you are taking. Are you referring to the school principles, the superintendents or the school board? Or can we take this to another level?
      
      I was never an advocate of the "No Child Left Behind" policy. If there are some students who the teacher feel are not meeting the required standards, should they still be advanced to the next level? Are we no longer attempting to train students to become effective adults?

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         Hailey Burdenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Administration starts with the principal and goes up to the superintendent and the school board. The lowest on that totem pole would be the Principal and those that are in the school, though. And even their hands are tied by the school board and those higher. The highest that you can take anything would probably be a state superintendent for whatever state you're in. It's gotten so that it's really difficult to create change, though.
         
         NCLB is a joke, though. Rather than making sure every student gets what they need it's just created more of an assembly line sort of schooling. Everyone just gets pushed forward whether they're meeting standards and reaching goals or not. The goal is to just get students right on through school. The most a teacher can do is fail a student, which just means they have to re-take the class, anymore. They still get to move forward. Plus, ultimately there are waivers for kids who are failing and have a history of failing, so that ultimately they still graduate and leave the school lacking the tools they need to be an effective adult. And that's not including those students who get frustrated or give up and drop out of school.

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            Jacqueline4390posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Very well written and I agree 200%. Why is it that those who really know what should be done are never those who can initiate that change?

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               Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Because everyone wants to keep their jobs and make the $s required for survival ( i.e. teachers,) or the (usually higher) standard of living for administrators and superintendents… follow the money.. it would be nice to know where it leads…

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2. 59

   Hailey Burdenposted 10 years ago

   I studied to be a teacher, I was going to teach theater, and ultimately I decided not to pursue that as my career.
   
   There are quite a few challenges that teachers have, some of which I ran into during the time that I was student teaching. The ones that I felt like were the biggest hurdles were: politics within the school, parents, communication with the administration/getting support, accountability, classroom management, and testing.
   
   Some of the biggest problems come from the fact that the administration doesn't always support you. Classroom sizes, kids who are behavioral issues getting sent back, and then if there are issues with parents the administration won't always have your back. Most of the problems, though, go back to administration and things that are out of your control. So, not only do you have to worry about planning and implementing your lessons, but you have to think about administration and be concerned about their support, changing laws and standards, etc.
   
   I had issues with parents and administration the most while I was student teaching. Some parents were great allies, others were really difficult.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The truth is, every student needs to have a t-shirt with a dollar sign $ on it because that is what every student represents to the district.
      Therefore there are no real consequences that mean anything. Must keep the funding which every student represents. Many students are partying their way through school. They could care less about grades. I guess they will graduate no matter what these days.

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         Hailey Burdenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         And that's really unfortunate because there are teachers out there that care, but when they're up against an uncaring administration and they don't have the support it's really hard for teachers to make much of a difference. I went to school with people who went right into teaching and are already experiencing burnout because of issues like this. I've seen both students who were motivated and the ones who were just coasting from school; I've even seen some who were in high school and nowhere near the reading level that they should have been. I think that students can tell when people don't care about them, and that motivates how they look at school and if they're going to try and learn. A lot of kids are failed by the educational system now because it's about getting them through it and getting them shoved out into the real world where they aren't really prepared for it.

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            Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I agree.

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3. 81

   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   "Significantly, said those who have been briefed, the White House wants to change federal financing formulas so that a portion of the money is awarded based on academic progress, rather than by formulas that apportion money to districts according to their numbers of students, especially poor students. The well-worn formulas for distributing tens of billions of dollars in federal aid have, for decades, been a mainstay of the annual budgeting process in the nation’s 14,000 school districts."
   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/educa … ;_r=2&

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