Let’s talk teacher pay. It’s no secret that teachers are some of the most underappreciated and underpaid professions around the world. So we think it’s time for a change, and if you’re going to dream of change… why not dream for a LOT of change? We’re talking about backing up the Brinks truck and making it rain cash all over the place. Yup, we’re talking about paying teachers a million dollars a year. Think it’s too much? Well here are 10 points that prove we are worth every penny.

1. Teaching is like 20 jobs rolled into one, so teacher salary should be like 20 salaries rolled into one.

Let’s face it, teachers aren’t just teachers. We’re counselors, surrogate parents, mentors, therapists, emotional support providers and so much more. So since we’re doing all these extra jobs why aren’t we getting paid for them? On most days we have to wear so many hats that the only thing we DON’T get to do is actually teach our students. So I say we just add up all those extra jobs, see what they would all get paid individually and add it to our total. (Hint: You’re going to need a calculator to do that much addition.)

2. We pretty much have the most important job in the world.

It’s not just teachers who say this. A lot of people agree that teachers play a vital role in the development and progression of society. We are literally teaching the future movers and shakers of our world and the better job we do, the better our future will become. Yeah, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t get more important than that, so let’s start recognizing our importance in a way that matters… with a buttload more money.

3. It takes a lot of coffee and candy to power a teacher for an entire year.

Waking up isn’t easy to do in general. Waking up early in the morning, dragging your body into school, and getting bombarded with a classroom full of endless energy machines is bordering on cruel and unusual punishment. As such, teachers require copious amounts of coffee and candy so that we can at least attempt to match the sugar rush our students seem to be on, on a daily basis. We need teacher pay that supports our caffeine and sugar needs.

4. If we’re going to make more decisions than a brain surgeon, we should at least get paid like a brain surgeon.

There was a study done not so long ago that concluded that teachers make more minute-by-minute decisions than a brain surgeon. That is both amazingly cool and terrifying all at the same time. To think a brain surgeon with years of medical experience and training could walk into a classroom and honestly say, “Nope, there’s no way I can handle this,” says a lot about teaching. What it should also say about teaching is we’re worth at least as much as brain surgeons and should be compensated as such. Yup, teacher pay should be greater than brain surgeon pay.

5. We need the extra cash to prepare for everything the school day throws at us.

If a zombie apocalypse broke out tomorrow (it is 2020 after all, there’s still time), you know teachers would be the most likely to survive. We know how to prepare for every possible curveball that could ever be thrown at us, and after a year like 2020, I think it’s time to make sure teachers have every resource available when the world goes all wonky again. A million-dollar teacher salary ought to just about cover it, you think?

6. Some of us have very serious classroom supply addictions.

Teachers aren’t perfect creatures. Some of us may wander into Target and get lost for hours at a time filling our carts with every manner of supply we can find. But can you blame us? You never know when you’ll need Sharpies in 50 different colors. There will totally be a time when that’ll come in handy, we promise. And just think of how visually rich our classrooms would be with that kind of supply budget? Increasing teacher pay could single-handedly save the economy!

7. If you think we’re just a bunch of babysitters, then you should totally pay us like babysitters.

Teachers get called a lot of things, including “babysitters.” So you know what, let’s just lean into that metaphor, shall we?

Let’s assume that as babysitters we would get paid $25 per hour per child. A little high perhaps, but we are filling their heads with important knowledge so that should move us ahead of the average teenager you hire on a Friday night.

Now a lot of teachers have 25 students in their classrooms for 7-8 hours per day, and most school years are 180 days long. Ready to see the math?

$25 per hour per kid x 25 students 8 hours per day x 180 days = $900,000

Hmm… that million dollars doesn’t seem so crazy now, does it?

8. Our Pinterest minds can only create so much on a teacher’s salary.

Teachers are a creative bunch. We spend hours on Pinterest scouring the page for crafts and decorations and organizational ideas that would be the perfect fit for our classrooms. Sadly our current teacher pay can’t come close to matching what we envision in our minds. I figure a million dollars should just about cover even our most ambitious projects.

9. Just consider it back pay for all the times we were underappreciated.

Yes there’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and yes another coffee mug with “#1 Teacher” on it always puts a smile on our face, but c’mon now. You know teachers aren’t getting the love we deserve. Remember earlier this year when we all went into quarantine and parents suddenly realized how hard teachers work and instantly started telling us how valuable we were and how we deserved all the pay raises in the world? Yeah let’s go back to that, I liked that.

10. Because we all know we’d spend most of it on our students.

At the end of the day, you know just how true this sentiment is. Teachers love their students and we want to give them everything they need to be successful (and maybe a few extra things here and there because we like seeing them smile). If teachers really got paid a million dollars a year, we’d be pouring it right back into our students in as many ways as possible. Our students would never need another backpack, pencil, laptop, book or pair of shoes ever again.

And if that isn’t reason enough to pay us a million dollars, I don’t know what is.

Reference: https://www.boredteachers.com/post/10-reasons-why-teachers-deserve-to-be-paid-1-million-a-year?fbclid=IwAR3uD-RcXL87M1X0M_XTQr0_s3usw87EGbiQ0qc9fRye6zOR_UYNFSfNf0g

Anybody that has a child, pays taxes, or attended any kind of school, feels qualified to impart nuggets of sometimes unsolicited, and often bad, advice when they hear teachers are struggling.

Why does it bother us so much when people are trying to help? The simple answer is that the suggestions are so far off the mark that it doesn’t even come remotely close to what we are experiencing in the classroom.

Here are some of the more irritating gems of wisdom we receive regularly.

1. “Change to X, Y, Z curriculum. It will solve all your problems.”

When schools do not achieve the results they want, they look for the next silver bullet in the form of the latest fad curriculum. But the best curriculum is one that we, the teachers, feel comfortable with and can make our own.

2. “Get another job if you are unhappy.”

Not sure that this is the advice that should be handed out to teachers so freely right now in the midst of a massive teacher shortage. How about we take a proactive approach and eliminate the causes of job dissatisfaction instead of telling us to quit?

3. “Be stricter to improve student behavior.”

Pretty certain I’m not scaring anyone, no matter how loud I yell. Students know our hands are tied with discipline. They just go home, tell their parents that we are picking on them, the parents complain to administrators, and it is all our fault once again.

4. “Build relationships to improve student behavior.”

We completely agree with this one, but can you make it a little easier on us? Hugging students is not allowed anymore. And cramming forty students in a classroom doesn’t really set the stage for heart-to-heart conversations.

5. “Stick to teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic.”

If only we could, if only we could. Sigh. The public sometimes has the view that students are coming to us, sitting at their desks quietly, eyes glued on the teacher, eagerly learning everything we have to teach.

No, they are coming to us with out-of-control behaviors brought on by early trauma and lack of structure. We are teaching emotional regulation, self-control, and manners. Somebody has to do it.

6. “Remember to take care of yourself.”

Would this occur before or after the mountains of unnecessary paperwork, intricate lesson planning, meetings, subbing for other classes, and grading? Our insomnia due to excessive anxiety and stress interferes a bit with self-care.

7. “Don’t spend your own money on stuff for your class.”

But we really need stuff for our class. Schools can’t even afford to supply us with enough copy paper. If we want our students to have what they need, we must provide it, unfortunately.

8. “Schools need to use their dollars wisely.”

What are these elusive dollars in which you speak? Education is drastically underfunded. Some believe that we are given plenty of money and are just squandering it away on pizza parties and staff shirts. No, teachers buy those things from their own pockets.

9. “Just finish your work at school.”—impossible!!!

Friends and significant others don’t quite understand the magnitude of our workload. It can’t be just left behind in the classroom. If we did leave it for the morning, we would be up all night worrying about being grossly underprepared for the day.

10. “Do it for the kids.”

Politicians and school leaders routinely use the tagline that education is a calling, and we should lay down our very lives for our students.

This is emotional manipulation.

If they really understood what putting kids first meant, they would make sure that the people who were truly putting the kids first are respected, valued, and fairly compensated.

11. “Take a day off to regroup.”

We would love to but… We must plan for hours to prepare for a non-existent sub.

That day we take for our mental health would cause us more stress, guilt, and worry than just showing up, so we show up.

12. “Just take student phones away to get them to pay attention.”

This is like taking a slab of meat away from a hungry lion cub and its mother. Even the most angelic students will become defiant, and their parents will be up at the school in five seconds flat, wondering why their children didn’t immediately respond to a text.

13. “Sell Rodan + Fields, Scentsy, or some other MLM to supplement your income.”

Why should we have to? Many teachers participate in multi-level marketing sales. These take a lot of time; and often, educators lose money instead of making money. Educators who have completed years of advanced schooling should not have to hit up their peers to make a sale to supplement their inadequate incomes.

14. “Go back to teaching ‘The Old Way.’”

We get this a lot from parents about Common Core and curriculum methods. The problem is teachers do not control the curriculum. Please refer this advice to your local state government or school district.

15. “Make school more fun for kids.”

What does this even mean? Sorry, we can’t compete with video games, and we shouldn’t be required to do so. We do our best to make the curriculum relevant and motivating, but to expect fun and games every day is unrealistic.

We know everyone is trying to help, but the only advice teachers truly benefit from is given to us by our colleagues. Other educators completely understand the issues that we face, and their experiences are invaluable.

So, if you are a friend, spouse, or administrator to an educator, please give us a listening ear and leave the expert advice to those that have been there.

Reference: https://www.boredteachers.com/post/most-common-pieces-of-advice

Authenticity is a key element of project-based learning, and teachers can use these tips to create more meaningful learning experiences.

Sometimes life sucks. It can drag us down, make us feel worthless, and force us to quick activities which we love. Nonetheless, every hardship we experience will pass, and we must always remember that.

Life has a way of working out assuming you maintain a sense of positivity and gratitude. Keep fighting, and know you can accomplish anything you desire with your career, family, or friends.

Check out these 29 positivity quotes which will help you push forward in life:

1. “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” – Lyndon B. Johnson

2. “You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable.” – Deepak Chopra

3. “Positive thinking is more than just a tagline. It changes the way we behave. And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better.” – Harvet Mackay

4. “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” – Winston Churchill

5. “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so let us all be thankful.” – Buddha

6. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” – Marcus Aurelius

7. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough” – Oprah Winfrey

8. “When things go wrong, don’t go with them.” – Elvis Presley

9. “Yes We Can!” – Barack Obama

10. “The true measure of success is how many times you can bounce back from failure.” – Stephen Richards

11. “When you are joyful, when you say yes to life and have fun and project positivity all around you, you become a sun in the center of every constellation, and people want to be near you.” – Shannon L. Alder

12. “It makes a big difference in your life when you stay positive.” – Ellen DeGeneres

13. “When you fail, that is when you get closer to success.” – Stephen Richards

14. “I Think Anything Is Possible If You Have The Mindset And The Will And Desire To Do It And Put The Time In.” – Roger Clemens

15. “Positive Anything Is Better Than Negative Nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard

16. “Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” –William James

17. “Hope is a waking dream.”- Aristotle

18. “I like to encourage people to realize that any action is a good action if it’s proactive and there is positive intent behind it.” – Michael J. Fox

19. “Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.” – Tony Robbins

20. “When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems.” – Stephen Covey

21. “When the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.” –Rumi

22. “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl

23. “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain

24. “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.” – William James

25. “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”- Winston Churchill

26. “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.” – Muhammad Ali

27. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

28. “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” – Helen Keller

29. “There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.”- W. Clement Stone

Reference: https://addicted2success.com/quotes/29-positivity-quotes-which-will-help-you-get-through-lifes-hardships/?fbclid=IwAR3qQdLxEOYbCZ-0LV5i7EtFiMcxW06nXHWndJ8762O1qMXYQUC8NWqo9ng

Most people have been through the public school system and so have a general idea of what teachers do – they plan lessons, teach content, grade assignments. What makes teaching such a challenging – and rewarding – job, though, is that the basic job description doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the hats a teacher wears on a given day. Teachers teach, of course, but we also act as counselors, social workers, nurses, event planners, and mediators. Lots of our extra duties are tons of fun (staff volleyball tournament, I’m talking to you), but some are serious and sobering, such as when we comfort a crying child or report signs of abuse to the authorities. Most of all, teachers do what we can to make sure every child in our care feels important. This list of 50 extra things teachers do is a look behind the scenes of teacher life.

1. We buy snacks for hungry kids. Every teacher I know has a desk drawer filled with snacks for hungry kids. From apples to granola bars to PB&J fixins’, hungry kids have to eat, and teachers are here with the emergency snacks.
2. We apply for grants for eyeglasses and shoes. We see students who need things like shoes or eyeglasses, and while we spend an awful lot of our own money on our jobs, luckily, community programs exist to help kids get what they need. If a student needs a pair of glasses, we might not be able to foot the bill, but we’ll search high and low until we find grant funds to cover the cost.
3. We act as a travel agent for field trips. A class trip to the pumpkin patch involves a lot more than meets the eye, and a teacher has to do it all, including coordinating with the pumpkin patch, booking buses, collecting money, and finding chaperones.
4. We worry. We’re up late worrying. We wake up early worrying. We’re worrying on our commute and during lunch. We worry about the student who isn’t understanding our content and about the kids who won’t have gifts under the Christmas tree.
5. We fix the jammed copier. Okay, anyone with an office job does this one, too, but can you unjam the copier within the span of a four-minute passing period? Teachers can. Some of the extra things teachers do prepare us for random reality game show challenges.
6. We laminate everything. And hole-punch it, staple it, make packets, etc. These routine tasks add up when you have 100+ students.
7. We clean up the classroom every day. Yes, we teach kids to clean up after themselves, but at the end of any given day, a classroom needs tidying. The desks need to be straightened, books picked up, the rogue water bottle recycled.
8. We buy consumable supplies for lessons. Science teachers, this one’s for you. We regularly need supplies for a lesson or science lab or special project, and often those supplies have to be purchased the night before the lesson. Eggs for egg drops, baking soda and vinegar, glitter, paper mache paste, you name it, we have the local craft store aisles memorized.
9. We zip coats and tie shoes. Elementary school teachers are adept at buttoning, zipping, tying, and generally making sure students are all squared away for recess or the ride home.
10. We conference with families outside of school. Inevitably, we run into students and their families while pumping gas, getting groceries, or cheering for the football team. And those quick run-ins result in a check on Jonny’s progress in social studies.
11. We provide a shoulder to cry on. Students of all ages turn to their teachers to vent or weep when something goes wrong.  We’re really good listeners.
12. We troubleshoot technology. Especially in the era of distance learning. Thanks to COVID, we are veritable experts at troubleshooting technology. We know how to help students log into their various platforms, change their passwords on the regular, restart Chromebooks, and navigate any technology blip with aplomb.
13. We unstick lockers. Oh yeah, we’re really good at this.
14. We provide mentorship to students who have graduated. Students often check back in with their teachers after graduating requesting another set of eyes for that first college essay or a reference for a job application.
15. We provide referrals to community agencies. Sometimes, students come to us for help for things beyond our control. Their families need food or shelter or help filing their first tax forms. We know the resources that exist in our communities and we know who to refer students to when these things arise.
16. We sharpen pencils. You wouldn’t think sharpening 100 pencils a day would be so time-consuming, but here we are.
17. We show up to extracurricular events just to support our kids. Students pop by my classroom every day asking if I’m coming to tonight’s softball game or the school play. Teachers can’t go to everything, but we spend a lot of our time cheering for our students in their extracurricular pursuits.
18. We grade off the clock. Some of the extra things teachers do are part of the job but extend into their personal time. The big ones are grading and lesson planning. Both are incredibly time-consuming if they are to be done well. It is impossible to find time in a 45-minute prep period to plan for the day and catch up on grading. So, we bring bookbags stuffed full of papers home to grade every night.
19. We work a second job. Teaching isn’t lucrative, especially compared to the wages earned by other people with advanced degrees. Sometimes, we need to make ends meet, so we moonlight as florists, writers, waiters, and sales clerks.
20. We do data analysis and input. Most schools require teachers to collect and analyze data to track of our effectiveness. We are pretty good at crunching numbers to keep track of academic growth, attendance, standardized test scores, and whole lots more.
21. We do so much paperwork. Detention forms. Referral forms. Behavior plan tracking forms. Positive behavior check-ins. Documenting the good and bad from each day. Completely aside from the mountain of grading, teachers have a gigantic amount of recordkeeping that must be done each day.
22. We learn all the acronyms. Most professions have their own jargon, but the teaching profession would win the gold medal for the number of acronyms we invent. IEPs. SEL. TAG. ELL. RTI. IDEA. NCLB. Okay, you get the idea.
23. We buy all the prizes. We love to celebrate success, but that often comes on our own nickel. Those classroom pizza parties and award ceremonies and gift cards and candy rewards? That’s on us.
24. We soothe broken hearts. Many students experience their first breakup sometime during their school career, and because that breakup often happens at school and involves a fellow student, these heartbroken kids turn to us to comfort them.
25. We attend weddings, funerals, baby showers, graduation parties.Our students keep in touch after they graduate (which we love!). They invite us to their major milestones so we get to see them grow into amazing adults.
26. We break up fights. From elementary school to high school, physical altercations are an unfortunate part of every school year. Teachers are the ones to separate the students and help calm them down.
27. We mediate peer disputes. Students turn to us for all kinds of advice, including help solving disagreements with peers. We listen to each side and try to offer our best advice.
28. We help students process current events. One of the worst days of my teaching career was the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. We talked and cried together for the rest of the day. During election season, students want to know about the electoral college, and after the Super Bowl, students want to talk about the commercials. After every major event in the news cycle, we debrief with our students.
29. We pray for snow, too. So we wear those PJs backward and sleep with spoons under our pillows just like our students, because who doesn’t love a good snow day?
30. We stay current on trends and slang. To stay relevant, we need to understand everything from TikTok to Snapchat, from fashion trends to the slang of the day. At least teaching keeps us young!
31. We make samples of assignments. Students need to see models of the work we assign, whether that’s a college admissions essay, a free throw, or a clay bowl. So, in addition to planning the lesson, we often do our own assignments so students can see the process modeled for them.
32. We chaperone dances. On any given Friday night after a home football game, you can find four or five dedicated teachers staying up until midnight to let the kids burn off some steam.
33. We walk 10,000 steps a day – easily. We’re on our feet all day, walking around the classroom giving individualized help, pushing kids on swings at recess, walking kids to the school library, or waving to kids on buses.
34. We decorate our classrooms with our own money. Those Pinterest-worthy classrooms don’t happen magically – they take a lot of elbow grease and money.
35. We have the hygiene talk. Several times a year, we pull a student aside and help them troubleshoot hygiene issues. Sometimes, students don’t have access to a shower or money for deodorant, and we can help with that.
36. We answer all the questions. And it’s not just content questions all day long, but every other question under the sun.
37. We cover duties. Bus duty, lunch duty, recess duty, all of these are necessary to make a school run smoothly, but they do pull us away from our classrooms.
38. We put on a performance. Whether we are dressing up in disco attire for “Blast from the Past” day or doing a dramatic reading (with voices!) of The Scarlett Letter, teaching is truly performance art, and each day we bring our A-game.
39. We plan formal dances. Students and parents help with this, of course, but planning a formal dance is like planning a mini-wedding. You need DJs, decorations, flowers, a venue, a theme, crowns and sashes for royalty, and teachers help with every single decision.
40. We participate in pep assemblies. Of course, we love this, but every teacher I know has participated in staff dodgeball, a “Thriller” flash mob, or a hula-hooping contest. Yup, sometimes the extra things teachers do involves actually being “extra.” All in a day’s work!
41. We are lifelong learners. Whether we are attending professional development on a weekend, taking a college class over the summer, or pursuing a side gig related to their subject area, we never stop learning.
42. We are constantly learning new technology. This year, we’re talking Zoom, Canvas, Blackboard, and Google Classroom in addition to the annual overhauls of our grading programs. We are fortunate to get new equipment like document cameras or SmartBoards, but they all come with a learning curve.
43. We read. Reading fuels the brain, and we want to model this for our students, so we always have a good book handy.
44. We work through lunch. If we advise clubs or our students need extra help, we often squeeze those things in during our half-hour lunches.
45. We hand out lots of bandaids. Students get scrapes and papercuts, and teachers come to the rescue with our handy first aid kits. This is one of many extra things teachers do that come out of our own pockets.
46. We keep kids calm during drills. Students participate in fire drills, earthquake drills, and scariest of all, active shooter drills. We help students stay calm and process these sometimes scary events.
47. We develop a rapport with each and every student. Teaching is most effective when a student trusts us, so we work hard to get to know each of our students as individuals.
48. We are career counselors. High school teachers especially help students apply to colleges, fill out their FAFSAs, craft resumes, and find their first jobs.
49. We tutor students after school. Sometimes, students need extra help, and we are always there for them.
50. We love students unconditionally. Most of all, we are your child’s biggest fans and we take our role as cheerleaders seriously.

Reference: https://www.boredteachers.com/post/little-things-teachers-do?fbclid=IwAR2BbESMvnZboYr1B7GA61mxTNokRET0TzT8uxkOZ2hPDtMPvMq8rvfZzM0