Teacher pay and triumphant semester!
"Teachers are paid too much! I'm fed up with teachers and their hefty salaries for only 9 months work! What we need here is a little perspective.
If I had my way, I'd pay teachers babysitting wages. That's right. Instead of paying these outrageous taxes, I'd give them $3.00 an hour. And, I'm only going to pay them for 5 hours, not planning time. That
would be $15.00 a day. Each parent should pay $15.00 a day for these teachers to babysit their children. Even if they have more than one child, it's still cheaper than private daycare. Now how many children do they teach a day - maybe 20? That's $15.00 x 20 = $300.00 a day. But remember, they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for all the vacations: $300.00 x 180 = $54,000.
(Just a minute my calculator must need batteries.)
What will teachers say about those who have 10 years of experience and a master's degree? Well, maybe (just to be fair) they could get the minimum wage. We can round that off to about $6.00 an hour times 5 hours, times 20 children. $6.00 x 5 x 20. That's $600 a day times 180 days. That's only $108,000.
Wait a minute! There is something wrong here.....
P.S. Imagine how much those of us who have 150 kids would make!!"
My specific situation, as if I was teaching at Madison County High this year: I would be teaching 3 classes of between 20 and 24 students, for 90 minutes each day. This system doesn't pay me for my planning time or lunch breaks. Giving me, what I would call a LOW per-kid babysitting wage of $3 an hour, for 180 days of work comes to a yearly wage of $53,460. I ususally got about $5 an hour per kid when I used to babysit. $89,180. If I were teaching at, say, CHHS, I would teach 5 classes, each with
around 22 students. Each class period lasts 50 mintues. $3: $49,500. $5: $82, 500.
So, my question: Babysitting doesn't include health care or other benefeits. How much would a typical teacher benefeit package be worth? Is it good enough to make up the difference? Babysitting is definitely part of my job, but certainly not the main part. I want to see how valid this comparison really is. Does anyone know of any resources I can go to to estimate money values of benefeit packasges? I am not real savvy on this sort of thing.
In other news: DONE WITH ALL MY CLASSES! I had an 8-10 page paper due that counted as the final 30% in two of my classes (Young Adult Lit and Teaching Writing) and an 8-10 pager due that counted as the final 40% in another class (Reading Education). I turned the same paper in to both teachers. The 40% class assignment was to write about my 3 principle beleifs about teaching reading. My #1 beleif is that reading and writing must be taught together. That introduced writing as a major part of my other beleifs. The assigment for the other two classes was to put together what I learned about YA lit, teaching reading to students, and teaching writing, and synthesize it in some way. I decided to synthesize it into a paper that outlines my 3 key beleifs in teaching reading and writing. I got an A in my Reading Education class, so I had to have done well with the paper. I also had due a 5-8 page paper about professionalism in teaching for my "Transition from Student to Teacher, becoming a Professional in English Education" class. I think I rocked that paper. Hard. In addition, I had to turn in a rough draft of a 4-6 week unit (rationale, lesson plans, hand-outs) for my "Teaching as Planning in Context" class "final." I got an A in that class too. Finally, today I just finished my 1 page reflection of my final project for "Arts Based Approach to English Education." My project? I cut a CD of Beatles parodies that were all about the topics covered in class.
So, I have grades for 2 of my 6 classes, and they are both As. Go me.
And I am done.
If I had my way, I'd pay teachers babysitting wages. That's right. Instead of paying these outrageous taxes, I'd give them $3.00 an hour. And, I'm only going to pay them for 5 hours, not planning time. That
would be $15.00 a day. Each parent should pay $15.00 a day for these teachers to babysit their children. Even if they have more than one child, it's still cheaper than private daycare. Now how many children do they teach a day - maybe 20? That's $15.00 x 20 = $300.00 a day. But remember, they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for all the vacations: $300.00 x 180 = $54,000.
(Just a minute my calculator must need batteries.)
What will teachers say about those who have 10 years of experience and a master's degree? Well, maybe (just to be fair) they could get the minimum wage. We can round that off to about $6.00 an hour times 5 hours, times 20 children. $6.00 x 5 x 20. That's $600 a day times 180 days. That's only $108,000.
Wait a minute! There is something wrong here.....
P.S. Imagine how much those of us who have 150 kids would make!!"
My specific situation, as if I was teaching at Madison County High this year: I would be teaching 3 classes of between 20 and 24 students, for 90 minutes each day. This system doesn't pay me for my planning time or lunch breaks. Giving me, what I would call a LOW per-kid babysitting wage of $3 an hour, for 180 days of work comes to a yearly wage of $53,460. I ususally got about $5 an hour per kid when I used to babysit. $89,180. If I were teaching at, say, CHHS, I would teach 5 classes, each with
around 22 students. Each class period lasts 50 mintues. $3: $49,500. $5: $82, 500.
So, my question: Babysitting doesn't include health care or other benefeits. How much would a typical teacher benefeit package be worth? Is it good enough to make up the difference? Babysitting is definitely part of my job, but certainly not the main part. I want to see how valid this comparison really is. Does anyone know of any resources I can go to to estimate money values of benefeit packasges? I am not real savvy on this sort of thing.
In other news: DONE WITH ALL MY CLASSES! I had an 8-10 page paper due that counted as the final 30% in two of my classes (Young Adult Lit and Teaching Writing) and an 8-10 pager due that counted as the final 40% in another class (Reading Education). I turned the same paper in to both teachers. The 40% class assignment was to write about my 3 principle beleifs about teaching reading. My #1 beleif is that reading and writing must be taught together. That introduced writing as a major part of my other beleifs. The assigment for the other two classes was to put together what I learned about YA lit, teaching reading to students, and teaching writing, and synthesize it in some way. I decided to synthesize it into a paper that outlines my 3 key beleifs in teaching reading and writing. I got an A in my Reading Education class, so I had to have done well with the paper. I also had due a 5-8 page paper about professionalism in teaching for my "Transition from Student to Teacher, becoming a Professional in English Education" class. I think I rocked that paper. Hard. In addition, I had to turn in a rough draft of a 4-6 week unit (rationale, lesson plans, hand-outs) for my "Teaching as Planning in Context" class "final." I got an A in that class too. Finally, today I just finished my 1 page reflection of my final project for "Arts Based Approach to English Education." My project? I cut a CD of Beatles parodies that were all about the topics covered in class.
So, I have grades for 2 of my 6 classes, and they are both As. Go me.
And I am done.