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No your students have a great capacity for learning, they can
learn from many sources and don't need you to facilitate their
learning. A well motivated student with access to a library can
learn far more than you could teach them.

No if you leave you just get replaced. I know you'd like to think
your that important but your not. Your expertise is valuable,
though I don't know if its a lot if value or not.

No you can't get a job anywhere, there aren't vacancies
everywhere.

On 7/16/14, retort wrote:
> The children can't learn without ME. But they can learn without
a
> principal. A teacher has a great deal of power. Teachers just
> don't understand their power. Most try to play the game, and
they
> think if they are "good" they will come out on top. This is how
> PsyGuy would have you play. Don't listen--it doesn't work. If I
> walk out in the middle of the year, my kids are up a creek
without
> a paddle, scores tank, and the school looks bad. I don't buy the
> factory worker thing. I bring my expertise to the table and that's
> worth a lot. Sorry, PsyGuy, you can tuck your tail, but I can get
> a job teaching anywhere. Life is a two way street.
>
>
>
> On 7/16/14, PsyGuy wrote:
>> No schools are very much a business. No your not a
subcontractor,
>> you get a W-2 at the end of the year not a 1099, and "you" are
> not
>> a separately incorporated entity contracting your services to
the
>> district, as a temp service might. You are as much hired on a
>> contract by the organization (the district) and are directly
>> employed by them. I know youd like to think of yourself as an
>> independent contractor, because then the natural flow of the
>> argument would easily support the idea that the school/district
>> doesnt direct your work, but your not an independent or sub
>> contractor, your a direct employee, and your employer very
much
>> has the power to direct and dictate your work. You dont have
to
>> work on a factory line to be an employee (as opposed to sub
>> contractor) and you cant legally be required to do anything
> illegal,
>> this is true in any job or position or career, you do have to
> make
>> sure you can prove your case and that you were asked to do
>> something illegal or criminal. Changing a grade or being
asked to
>> change a grade is not illegal, a teachers grade is final, unless
> it
>> meets certain criteria, and most principals simply say that
> criteria
>> is met.
>>
>> You are as much a free agent as your free to accept or
decline
> the
>> districts offer of employment, but accepting it very much
makes
>> you a direct hire employee.
>>
>> On 7/16/14, re: psy Guy's comment wrote:
>>> PsyGuy favors comparing education to business, which is a
>>> fallacy of argument. Schools aren't a business. It is true
>>> that we have a boss, called a principal, and generally
>>> speaking, if your boss tells you to do something you do it or
>>> you risk insubordination which can get you fired--that part
>>> holds true. We are more like an architect, you don't hire one
>>> and then try to have an incompetent tell him how to design a
>>> house. The part that does not hold water is that teachers
>>> (when compared to the other world) are more like
>>> subcontractors. We are put on a contract to deliver a
>>> service, and when a principal asks a teacher to do
something
>>> as unethical as changing a grade, the case can be made
that
>>> the teacher's reputation and career could be affected by
going
>>> along with something depending on the circumstances.
There
>>> was, in fact, a case where a principal directed a clan of
>>> teachers to cheat on state testing by changing answers. The
>>> teachers went along with it, and ended up facing criminal
>>> charges. We don't work on a factory line, as PsyGuy would
>>> describe. We are essentially free agents that contract with
>>> the schools. For me, I maintain high ethics at all times. We
>>> have to defend our teaching to the community at large and in
>>> the end my job is on the line if my scores aren't strong.
>>> Most of the principals I have worked with don't know how to
>>> lead in the area of instructional design and many don't seem
>>> to know much about classroom management either.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 7/16/14, PsyGuy wrote:
>>>> No business owners are the only ones unsupervised.
>>>> Principals are very much supervised by both the board and
>>>> the sup.
>>>>
>>>> Sure teachers careers can be ruined from evil principals,
>>>> but thats no more or less true than in any profession or
>>>> business. You can have an evil VP that ruins your banking
>>>> career just as easily.
>>>>
>>>> Well if your supervisor tells you to change the grade, Id
>>>> change the grade. Why anyone would think you could tell
>>>> your supervisor no, and keep your job baffles me. Theres a
>>>> reason its called a supervisor subordinate relationship.
>>>> If im going to lose my job its going to be over money or
>>>> seex, not one students grade.
>>>>
>>>> On 7/16/14, anon wrote:
>>>>> Thank you for a great post. It is the truth. PsyGuy
>>>>> should just shut up on threads having to do with the
>>>>> abuse of teachers
>>>> because
>>>>> it is clear he knows nothing of what he is talking about.
>>>>>
>>>>> Principals are the worst supervisors in the economy for
>>>>> the simple reason they aren't supervised. It's rare these
>>>>> days to find one who is any good at all. Teachers can and
>>>>> do get their lives destroyed just on a principal's whim,
>>>>> and anybody who denies this reality is either a liar or
>>>>> an idiot.
>>>>>
>>>>> All it takes to get a career ruined is to refuse to
>>>>> change a grade when a principal orders it because of a
>>>>> parent's complaint. All it takes is to get sick and use
>>>>> FMLA to have a career ruined. It's all about covering for
>>>>> a principal's or other administrator's worthless ass no
>>>>> matter what the consequences to others.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 7/16/14, Empathy and Sympathy wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> PsyGuy? Are you a naturally self-superior, didactic,
>>>>>> person, or do you have to work at it? Bottom line is,
>>>>>> are you for real? Or just putting everyone on.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What in the hell makes you think you know a single thing
>>>>>> about what other people are experiencing and the
>>>>>> motivations behind how certain administrators operate
>>>>>> and why they do as they do.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sure, you are right in that the job of a principal is to
>>>>>> manage the school and the teachers. And that it is the
>>>>>> job of the teacher to adapt to a new style of
management
>>>>>> if required.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But if you think you can make a silly blanket statement
>>>>>> that all administrators are propelled by nothing more
>>>>>> than a desire to better their school with nothing
>>>>>> personal involved when it comes to teachers, then you
>>>>>> must live on Planet Altair-4.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Whether it fits your fanciful vision or not, there are
>>>>>> some principals out there who are mean, stupid,
>>>>>> vindictive, tyrannical, and have no conscience at all
>>>>>> when it comes to destroying teaching careers. And if
>>>>>> they have it in for you, then no amount of attempted
>>>>>> adaptation on the part of the teacher is going to change
>>>>>> it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> One bit of proof is that more and more teachers are
>>>>>> finally relating it, and many others are leaving in
>>>>>> droves (as another poster said), because their physical
>>>>>> and mental health, and even sense of personal dignity,
>>>>>> cannot forever withstand the assaults .
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When was the last time *you* (if you ever were at all)
>>>>>> in a classroom? What are *your* credentials to presume
>>>>>> to lecture REAL teachers who know first hand of what
>>>>>> they speak of, as to what they need to know?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Your post is about the most insensitively, boorish, that
>>>>>> I have read it a long time. I don't mean with me...I am
>>>>>> tough enough to handle it, but with Mini. Again, when
>>>>>> was the last time you ever bent over a desk to help a
>>>>>> student or contribute to the teaching realm. Far as that
>>>>>> goes, when was the last time you ever bent over for
work
>>>>>> at all, unless it was to kiss some C-Scope executives
>>>>>> patootie (yeah, I have read you before on this one).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ordinarily, I wouldn't make comments like this to
>>>>>> anyone. But your post was beyond the pale and shows
an
>>>>>> appalling ignorance of the realities of teaching today,
>>>>>> and what more and more educators are forced to
endure.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 7/15/14, PsyGuy wrote:
>>>>>>> Well they arent dictators, they are your supervisor,
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>> their job
>>>>>>> is to manage you and the school. Thats means that
>>>>>>> things dont always go your way, and maybe your no
>>>>>>> longer a good fit for the school and its leadership.
>>>>>>> Its your job to be flexible
>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> adapt to your schools leadership and culture, not the
>>>>>>> other
>>>>>> way
>>>>>>> around. Being a good fit for 15 years doesnt mean you
>>>>>>> can
>>>>>> just
>>>>>>> keep repeating that behavior indefinitely. Professional
>>>>>>> good professional adapt to change. Including changes
in
>>>>>>> management. I really dont know why people can think
not
>>>>>>> getting along with your boss is going to somehow be
>>>>>>> okay.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 7/15/14, mini wrote:
>>>>>>>> Thank you so much everyone for your support. I will
be
>>>>>>>> substitute teaching. Like some of you are. Because
we
>>>>>>>> need to make a living. I can never get past this
>>>>>>>> because employers look at your last job, even if you
>>>>>>>> worked for them before with a great record. I am
>>>>>>>> leaving TX because I can't afford to live here
>>>>>>>> anymore. I will have to go and live with family. That
>>>>>>>> is why I named the good guys and bad guys in my
>>>>>>>> situation. For Psyguy yes this is a job, but in the
>>>>>>>> private sector I at least would have 6 months to prove
>>>>>>>> myself. I didn't get that in a 4 month contract. So, I
>>>>>>>> can only assume it was a hack job. Why,I don't know?
>>>>>>>> Like I said before my direct supervisor and co-
>>>>>>>> workers were very kind, they showed me the ropes,
they
>>>>>>>> answered my questions. I got along with them. Thank
>>>>>>>> you everyone. I know I have lost. I just had to say
>>>>>>>> something to someone. Thank you! Thank you!

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