Category Archives: educational trends

10 Reasons Why Teachers Deserve to Be Paid $1 Million a Year

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

15 Most Common “Pieces of Advice” That Teachers Hate to Hear

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

6 Ways to Guide Students to More Authentic Work in PBL

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

While many educators would agree that authenticity is a core feature of project-based learning (PBL), many of us have different visions for what it looks like in practice. Ultimately, something is authentic (or not) in relation to some other reference. For PBL, we can look at references along several different project aspects, such as role, problem, product, audience, impact, and our students themselves.

1. SUPPORT STUDENTS TO TAKE ON AUTHENTIC ROLES

Rather than maintaining the traditional student role, PBL has the potential to position students in other real and meaningful roles. Students could take on the role of a mathematician and create mathematical models to make predictions, or an investigative journalist to identify and vet sources as they piece together a puzzle and communicate a story. However, merely telling students that they’re taking on an authentic role doesn’t make it true for them. To make it real, students need support in doing the authentic work of those roles.

For example, it’s important for students to learn how to make predictions and observations like a scientist, or how to critically analyze a primary source like a historian. Teachers can model these practices, help students break them down to make them more accessible, create plenty of opportunities to practice, and provide ongoing feedback to students as they practice doing authentic work within their role. In your next class project, what roles are you supporting students to take on?

2. PROMOTE STUDENT EXPLORATION OF PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS

A complex problem, driving question, interesting puzzle, or perplexing dilemma drives PBL. When considering the authentic work of a historian, students may explore the question of what really happened in the past. For instance, students can examine primary sources to understand what happened in Tulsa in 1921 during the Tulsa Race Massacre.

When portraying the authentic role of an engineer, students can explore the problem of how to design a product that satisfies a need, such as how to create a compost bin to help their school deal with its organic-matter waste. If we want students to engage in real work, then we need to support them in exploring real problems and questions.

3. ENSURE THAT STUDENTS CREATE AUTHENTIC PRODUCTS

While many forms of education ask students to consume information and then share it back with the teacher, PBL empowers students to design, create, and produce—which develops their knowledge and skills along the way. A typical PBL project may culminate in a presentation as a final product; however, a traditional presentation may not be the most authentic product choice. Teachers can think more expansively about alternative products that are more authentic to the role and the problem that students are exploring.

When students take on the authentic practices of a scientist, they can produce an authentic scientific investigation with real scientific findings. As photojournalists, students can produce a photo essay that captures striking images that convey complex messages. As political activists, students can produce a real policy proposal for their student government.

4. ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO MAKE PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

Far from being disconnected from students’ lived experiences, project-based learning has the potential to allow them to bring their full selves to their work. Projects can create explicit opportunities for students to draw on their experiences, perspectives, and values. Even when students are exploring the same essential question and driving toward a common set of broad learning goals, PBL can create space and opportunities for them to explore how they are personally connected to the project.

To do this, students may choose a specific topic to explore or product to create, or use their project experience to examine their own beliefs and values on a particular issue or question. For example, in an English language arts project focused on the creative use of figurative language, students may produce written works that are inspired by their own experiences and interests.

5. PROMOTE IMPACTS ON AUTHENTIC AUDIENCES

In many classes, the only audience for students’ work is their teacher, and the only impact is a grade or teacher feedback. In a PBL-driven class, students can create products that have real impacts on real communities.

In exploring the authentic role of statisticians, students might perform statistical analysis using real data and construct a mathematical argument that they present to their school board to advocate for a later school start time. Or, acting as literary critics, students can publish a literary magazine and distribute it for the enjoyment and enrichment of members of their local community, or even the broader global community of writers and critics.

6. CLARIFY THE ELEMENTS OF YOUR PROJECT

In our work at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, we encourage educators to piece the previously mentioned aspects together to articulate the essence of a project, using a straightforward template:

“Students will explore {Question/Problem}. To do this, they will take on the role of {Role}, make personal connections by {Personal Connections}, and work to produce {Product} in service of {Audience and Impact}. In doing so, they will learn {Project Learning Goals}.”

Tying these various project aspects together can help us assess how well connected they are. How aligned are project goals with the question that students are exploring, the role that they are taking on, and the product that they are producing? For example, if students are taking on a scientist’s role, are they engaging with a question that a scientist would authentically explore and ultimately producing something that a scientist would actually produce? Are they building knowledge and developing skills that are worthwhile and meaningful within the field of science, in the context of their lives and their communities?

For your next project, consider how you would complete the template above. What’s the essence of your project? What changes could you make to the various aspects of the project so that it is more authentic to students, the subject area, and the world?

Reference: https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-ways-guide-students-more-authentic-work-pbl?fbclid=IwAR3xFka2_aDbNQ0YfVR-VsUt7Vb_DM1LqlFBYbsmsRott1XR4T_WYbsEvbo

29 Positivity Quotes Which Will Help You Get Through Life’s Hardships

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