Teacher's Institute Days, Really?!
“It was like when you’re a little kid and you run into your teacher or librarian at the grocery store or Wal-mart and it’s just so startling, because it never occurred to you they existed outside of school.” — Sarah Dessen
What are teacher’s institute days, really? I ask because there are a lot of them. I ask because they frequently seem to coincide with holidays. I ask because when I drive past the school on these days, there aren’t any cars in the parking lot. I’m even going to go out on an unpopular limb here and suggest that teachers actually seem to spend more time away from school than they do in it. I don’t think there is ever a month during the school year in which school is actually in session every weekday. There is Christmas break, spring break, every single random holiday, snow days (seriously?!) and the big one, summer break. Then there are these mysterious institute days. On top of that, they do get some sort of personal time/vacation time/sick time, because my kids’ teachers have subs fairly often.
I’d love to know what really goes on during teacher institute days. We have one coming up this Friday. How ridiculous. Not even two full weeks after Christmas break, they have a four day weekend, because, SURPRISE, Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I highly doubt that this is a coincidence. What do they do? Is it just another paid day off?
There’s more! A teacher’s workday is 6 & 1/2 hours. I just looked it up and the average salary in my average community (which is also a fairly young community so none of the teachers have been here for more than 10-15 years, most are new, right out of college) is $53,000/year! They don’t have to pay into the useless and almost bankrupt social security system, and can retire comfortably after 20 years, without contributing one penny of their own to the pension plan funded by our tax dollars.
What a racket! I may have to re-think my entire career path. For that kind of money with those perks, even I may be able to put up with 20+ children (or teen-agers, God forbid) for a few weeks a month, nine months a year.
Come to think about it, I can remember only one teacher in my entire public school experience that made an actual impact on my life. One. So far, I have only been really impressed with one of my sons’ teachers. One. This would seem to indicate, as is true in any field, that only a few are actually exceptional. Yet, the average salary is well above the national average overall salary, which includes mostly people who actually work full time!
Maybe I’m missing something. Fill me in if I am. And PLEASE tell me what goes on during institute days.
Thanks for stopping by!
Uh oh…lol. I’ll be sure not to share this post with my cousin who’s a teacher…HA HA! Actually, she does have to go in on teacher’s institute days…usually it’s all day meetings that are either held at the school or off campus somewhere. She usually prefers teaching over having to go to these institute days, as I guess they’re very boring…lol.
She works a LOT longer than 6 1/2 hours a day – she starts at 7am, gets out of class around 3:30pm, then goes home and grades papers all night and plans for the next day. So really, she works a LOT longer, as it’s around the clock work that needs to get done.
As for breaks, during the summer she usually works too – as she often teaches summer school classes. She never calls in sick unless she’s absolutely dying…as it’s not easy to get a substitute, I guess. Plus, she’s stubborn.
I do not know how much she makes, however I do know she’s had to go to college and that she’s constantly continuing her education. She went to school to get her graduate’s degree, now that she has that, she makes a little more money, however not all teachers do that.
I do know that the amount of money she makes doesn’t really make up for all the hard work she does, but she loves her kids and loves teaching so she’s happy doing what she does.
Most teachers do not make a lot of money…some do, but not all. I think you actually make WAY more money if you teach high school or if you’re a professor at a college – my cousin teaches 5th grade.
Anyhow, that’s just a little sneak peak into a teacher’s life, if you have any other questions I’d be happy to ask! Soon she’ll be taking a break from teaching as she’s having TWINS in April!!! Craziness. lol
Have a lovely day!
-Jaim
She does get paid extra for working the summer, but only because otherwise she wouldn’t get paid during the summer…lol. Actually, they have the option, to stretch their checks throughout the entire year (making each check smaller) or taking home a full paycheck only 9 months out of the year. I forget which way she usually chooses. Don’t worry, I didn’t think you were trying to bash teachers…ha ha! I was just teasing you.
I seriously don’t think teachers have it so bad, either. They’re not paid HUGE salaries, but considering the time they have off and other perks, it’s not too bad. Of course, when most teachers were women, this was not the case. They were SERIOUSLY underpaid. You know things are much better now because there are so many men in the field–and of course, it seems only men are entitled to make good money in most societies.
I can’t believe nobody commented on this one!
I can’t say that I agree with you on this one, but I love how you put it out there!
Hey Jaime, thanks for the info. I had considered the possibility that teachers do more work outside of the classroom grading papers, etc. I also know that many teachers work during the summer, but they get paid extra for that, in addition to their annual salary. I’m not trying to bash the teaching profession. Obviously we need them, and I’m happy that your aunt loves what she does, that’s most important for anyone’s career choice. And thank you for clarifying he mysterious institute days too!
I know, I fully expected to be bombarded with angry comments.