The Best Time To Be A Teacher? General by Joel Wagner - July 1, 2007July 5, 20105 Check out the video at the end of this post! It'll make you feel better. I was reading some over at TeacherLingo.com and came across a post by Howard. In it, he writes: Here's what I've learned in the last 16 years... Teaching is only as enjoyable as the principal you work for. Good principals are the exception, not the norm. The best time to be a teacher is June through August. Whereas I only have five years of experience, when I read this, I am sad. Perhaps these comments will be helpful. If you agree or even if you disagree, then leave some comments and let's start a dialogue about these issues. I don't think that Howard is the only
Redeeming The Cesspools Of Public Education General by Joel Wagner - June 29, 2007July 5, 20101 This is the first time I've heard about this and thought it interesting to pass along. According to Mike in Texas, there was a school in Denmark (isn't it always in Denmark?) where the students have an end of the year tradition of stripping for the faculty. This fact is not the concern or the issue at question. The problem is that some of the girls evidently got carried away and, in the words of the principal, "I think they forgot what they were doing and where they were. But my concern now is not to punish anyone, but protect the girls who are now all over the internet." Read the entire post on Mike's blog. In his blog, he
The Source Of Motivation Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 28, 2007July 5, 20101 We've all seen them. People who are able to motivate large numbers of people to do things as a team. Great coaches, teachers, politicians, and even dictators. All of them are great motivators. Until recently, I would have agreed with that statement. I sat down this week and began reading through Bandmasters Review, the official publication of the Texas Bandmasters Association. The first article is entitled "The Real Key to True Leadership" by Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser. In the article, Dr. Lautzenheiser argues that motivation can only come intrinsically. He refers to any attempts at extrinsic motivation as merely manipulation. Powerful stuff there. So what is the source of motivation? Etymologically, the word "motivation" comes from the Latin word motere. This
Creating Additional Income While Teaching Personal by Joel Wagner - June 27, 2007July 5, 20101 I know that some school districts pay their teachers for 10 months and then don't pay them throughout the summer. As far as I know, every district in Texas pays throughout the year. The district where I presently teach pays me twice a month, so I get 24 paychecks a year. To my knowledge, most other districts pay monthly. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of the various pay structures. The largest disadvantage I see to being paid on a 12-month contract is that it becomes WAY too easy for me to sit around and do nothing in the summer. On the other hand, I have free time to be able to plan, reorganize, and set up the classroom
3 Keys To Line Up A Killer Job While Still In School General by Joel Wagner - June 26, 2007May 30, 20163 I was reading through messages on TeacherLingo.com and came across this post by Erin. I’m not yet a teacher but am researching the possibilities. I’m thinking about teaching history at a private school … What i would like to know is, what are the pitfalls? Is there a great deal of red tape? Do incoming teachers have to kowtow to the upper echelons or is it more egalitarian? How does the hiring process work and what are they looking for? What can i do now, as I’m still in school, to make myself a more attractive candidate? MY RESPONSE: I believe that the answers to these questions all depend on the specific school you end up teaching in. The last question you asked
Is Education Really That Important? (Part 2) Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 25, 2007July 5, 20103 After my first post this morning, I realized that I actually met a few high school dropouts yesterday. One was mentioned in the previous post. On the flip side were two other young ladies I had lunch with. These women were 22 and 29 years old. One finished 11th grade and the other was kicked out of school after assaulting a teacher and principal in 8th grade. Both of them met while living in a rehabilitation type home run by people from a local church. Admittedly, they grew up in the inner city, while the other young lady grew up in a South Texas Border Town. Environment was different from that standpoint. But demographically, they would all be listed the
Is Education Really That Important? (Part 1) Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 25, 2007July 5, 20102 I met a high school dropout yesterday. We talked for something like an hour and a half or two hours. It was very revealing and confirms a lot of my thoughts about education. Beware as you read this. If you're comfortable thinking that everyone needs to go to school, get a degree, and get a safe secure job, then this article will challenge you. She is 17 years old. She came to my door to talk with me about switching my electricity provider. I have been thinking of doing the same thing anyway, and the rates are lower than my current provider. The reason I haven't is because my landlord's name is on the bill and I didn't want to
Arguing Is Normal, Isn’t It? Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - June 21, 2007July 20, 20161 Most students argue. It's a fact of life. So it shouldn't be a concern when our students argue with us. Or should it? Great teachers don't have arguers Have you ever noticed how you can walk into a classroom and hear the teacher talking, and the students being quiet? They are given directions, and nobody challenges the assignment. What is it that makes that happen? One of the keys to keeping students quiet is to present the concept that every action is the result of a choice. Based on some customer service books I read last summer, I began the year with a sign at the entrance and front of the room. The sign said simply "CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE" and also had happy
9 Reasons To Quit Teaching (And 10 Reasons To Stick) Why Teachers Quit by Joel Wagner - June 18, 2007August 9, 201679 Life as a teacher can be awfully challenging. While the challenges change as we gain experience, there are always new ones. It can be an awfully lonely time for many teachers. This article looks at 9 reasons to quit teaching and also raises 10 reasons to stick with teaching. Think of the many reasons you have to quit teaching Bad students Bad administrators Bad curriculum Too much paperwork Too much negativity Too much responsibility Not enough time Not enough credit Not enough PAY Face it, you are not as good of a teacher as you could be. You're not living up to your potential. Nobody is. Where am I? Seth Godin says that you are in The Dip (What's The Dip?). This is that place
Why School Dress Code Is Important [VIDEO] General by Joel Wagner - June 18, 2007July 5, 20101 How many guns do you see? This is an amazing video that demonstrates the violence that can result simply by a school's failure to have an enforce a no-tolerance dress code. I have watched this video numerous times to check and recheck how harmless he looks at the beginning of the video. Truly amazing and frightening at the same time.
Where Have All The Good Teachers Gone? Why Teachers Quit by Joel Wagner - June 17, 2007July 5, 20109 There is a dearth of good teachers throughout the world. And I'm not just talking about those of us who make a living working with kids in schools, either. Teachers are everywhere. Bad teachers are almost everywhere. Great teachers are exceedingly difficult to find. That is why we, as potentially great teachers, need to seek out those teachers who have figured it out. To seek out great educators who truly aspire to inspire. John Carlton writes in his blog: I found ONE teacher who actually taught me something as a young man coming out of the public school system. I could’ve easily lumped her in with all the others who’d wasted my time… but I’m damned lucky I allowed her
Clarity Leads To Organization Stress Reduction by Joel Wagner - June 15, 2007July 5, 20100 In my last post Organization Leads To Sanity, I wrote about how I personally get organized at work. In this post, I am going to give some pointers that I have and that I plan to begin implementing that will allow anyone to get and stay organized much more easily. These tips apply both to the physical workspace as well as the digital workspace. I am going to spend the next few weeks implementing them in my home as well in an effort to bring me a greater sense of purpose in everything I do. Declutter I touched on this one recently, and I seem to touch on it frequently, because it is vital. Eliminating clutter will
Organization Leads To Sanity Stress Reduction by Joel Wagner - June 14, 2007July 5, 20102 After a conversation with another teacher last night, I started looking through the archives. I realized that I have written a few times about having a clean desk and a clean desktop on my computer, but I have never really given a step-by-step guide of how I got there and some of the things I do to maintain that. If you are not yet familiar with David Allen's Getting Things Done philosophy, it is a book that covers many personal productivity issues. I have not yet read it, but have read numerous blog posts about it. The most thorough I've seen so far is here at the GTD FAQ from Zen Habits. If you have never heard anything about the
Questions That Will Save Your Career General by Joel Wagner - June 13, 2007August 6, 20171 This article features links to other articles in a series called "Questions That Will Save Your Career." These are all considerations that I have made as a teacher that helped me stick to it and survive in the business when I was first starting out. As I have mentioned before, my priorities as a first year teacher were a little bit off. It wasn't until the end of my second year before I began to really "get it." I still don't get it, but I have begun to. What I learned in the last two and a half months of that second school year was that I needed to ask questions. But not just any questions. Over time, I have learned that a lot of
How Do I Keep My Sanity? Stress Reduction by Joel Wagner - June 13, 2007May 29, 20160 This article is part 7 of the series Questions That Will Save Your Career. Please read the other articles in the series. How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? How Do I Keep My Students Engaged? How Do I Keep My Students Interested? How Do I Keep My Students Learning? How Do I Keep My Students Away From Me? How Do I Keep My School Administration Happy? How Do I Keep My Sanity? 10 Years of Teaching: How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? 10 Years of Teaching: How Do I Keep My Students Engaged? 10 Years of Teaching: How Do I Keep My Students Interested? 10 Years of Teaching: How Do I Keep My Students Learning? 10 Years of