A thread for and about Teachers

[The Straight Story]

Based on my stats at my employer in August I won employee of the month, and this week I was hired on full time with the company.

I handled over 1000 cases - most all of them I was talking to (on the phone) or emailing teachers (some were with school tech support).

Since then I have handled many more. I spend my days on the phone or in email with teachers all over the US, Canada, South America, and those on Military bases.

I talk to teachers at Public schools, Private schools, Academies, religious, home school, small districts and large. I deal with principals, tech support people, administration in general - but mostly I deal with teachers.

Their focus is always on their students and doing their best for them. Sure, as a tech I could complain about how some of them are not up to speed - could ridicule their skills with computers. I could even give you examples of teachers who have written me about an English course and totally mangled their emails to the point it took me a lot of time to just to figure out what they were talking about.

But to a 'T' they were focused on one thing. The kids. They care about them, and want to do their best for them. Day in and out the calls and emails I get are centered around teachers wanting to do more for their kids and asking me for help. And those teachers are relentless - if i don't get back with them on something they are all over it. They have kids that need them.

From Nuns with some Diocese or another to a small school out in the hinterlands of Montana - I deal everyday with teachers who are willing to do anything to help 'their' kids.

I hear time and again how they wish they had more funding and that their license for some product had not expired, but funding was cut. They were hoping to log on to some product we offered and use it but the district/etc did not pay for it this year - and the kids loved it and it helped them so much last year.

The Teachers have one main goal - help their kids. The only things which hold them back are funding and people at an admin level who care more about money than they do the kids. Add to that the folks in IT who restrict the teachers to the point that they cannot even install a simple program without having an IT person in the classroom.

The cost of education has soared because of technology - and teachers have been slid down the scale of importance. We now rely more on computers and tech people than we do those who are sitting in the class with our kids.

I don't blame the teachers, I blame those who keep putting themselves between the teachers and their kids.

Before we spend a lot of time and effort on "holding teachers accountable" lets hold those in the district and IT accountable first - because they are the ones who keep holding back teachers. The teachers are already there and working with the students, they are the ones day in and out who are with the kids and trying to help them learn. Lets start at the top - the ones making the most money - and hold them accountable first, and get rid of the dead weight there.

teachers don't need computers or district admins or principals, etc, to help them teach the kids. They were doing fine before them. Those people will do anything to justify their jobs.