[7kiddosmom]

get a treat for making it through the first week of school?

This morning I was standing in line at the grocery store and there was a lady from one of the Elem. schools in front of me. In her basket was all the fixings for bananan splits. When she got up to the register she mentioned "Yeah this is for the teachers for making it through the first week of school."

The entire time I was in line I figured she was a teacher and her class was getting a treat. After hearing her, I looked at her and said "WOW how nice, I wonder what the KIDS get for making it that first week."

I took her off gaurd and she probably thought I was a freak, but how come the teachers are so much more important than the kids. Did the kids get up every morning, make it to school, sit in a classroom for 8 hours a day, etc. They deserve a treat too.

Kasey

 

[saphire]

Great attitude

:

 

[USAmma]

Not to be sarcastic or snarky but if I was stuck with 30 kids who had just been on summer break, and I had to teach those 30 kids all week long without knowing them very well yet, I might get myself a banana split too!

I am so glad I only have to teach one child right now.

 

[shelbean91]

the first week of school, teachers are frequently working 10+ hr days, then going home to families. Kids are in school for 6-7 of those hours.

I agree, the kids should get a treat for making it, but many states have enacted legislation that no junk food is allowed in school- so banana splits for kiddos would have been out of the question, anyway.

 

[alegna]

When I was teaching I often gave my kids treats.....

I often let them have more recess than they were supposed to also..... shame on me.

-Angela

 

[Irish_Blue]

I have a lot of respect for most teachers, their job is hard. I don't think I could work in a ps as a teacher due to all of the politics it'd make me crazy lol I deff. think they deserve a treat. Although that's not saying the kids don't deserve one either

 

[Tori Gollihugh]

Sure, give the kids a treat, but the school doesn't need to. However, if they want to keep the teachers they DO have, they should try to make the job as nice as possible... HARD to do in many cases.

As a PPer mentioned... the difficulty of dealing with the 30+ kids after the majority of them have had little or NO structure for the entire summer AND the unreasonably LONG days in the first few weeks of school is worth AT LEAST a banana split... too bad most schools don't provide such niceties.

Can you tell I was a PS teacher. I would NEVER go back!!!

 

[shelbean91]

Honestly, with my knowledge of ps, the person buying wasn't buying from school funds, but from personal $$.

 

[HappyToBe]

Wait until you've survived the first week of school as a teacher.

: It is such an incredibly stressful, draining & exhilirating experience. I'd certainly chip in to buy sundaes for the staff or at least give ds' teacher a hug. Yeah, I'm sure it was private funds, too.

 

[MidwifeErika]

I don't think this is a case where the teachers felt they were more important than the students at all, but just a case where they were doing something nice together. Who knows, maybe they were going to eat their banana splits while sitting through some boring, draining meeting with school administrators. Why shouldn't teachers spend their own money to buy ice cream for one another? Almost any other place of employment I know of has these sorts of treats at different time. Going back to school isn't easy for the teachers either..... my parents say it gets harder every year (my mom is planning to retire this year and my dad has just a few years left) as summer gives them a taste of retirement and then they have to snap back to reality of still working. So, the first week is always very draining and if they want a banana split, good for them!

 

[Charles Baudelaire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7kiddosmom I took her off gaurd and she probably thought I was a freak, but how come the teachers are so much more important than the kids. Did the kids get up every morning, make it to school, sit in a classroom for 8 hours a day, etc. They deserve a treat too. Kasey

Well, let's see.
I'm a teacher. Here's how I spent my summer. Unless otherwise specified, all of these activities were unpaid:

Researching and developing curriculum for my upcoming AP class, which involved reading dozens of articles on the College Board website regarding AP pedagogy, taking practice AP exams, reading nonfiction pieces for my students, and assembling materials,

Preparing an entire curriculum and corresponding website with dozens of hyperlinked texts for my upcoming AP class, including a syllabus spelling out in detail about a year's worth of work (including homework assignments and specific chapter exercises),

Working 5-6 hours/day for most of the summer (and paid only a token wage of two hundred bucks or so total) as a dramaturge for the upcoming school Shakespeare play,

Revising and editing materials for my World Lit class,

Preparing my classroom, putting up posters, bulletin boards, information, school propaganda that they make me put there, student contributions that actually mean a great deal (unlike the school propaganda), and

Dealing with the fact that my school's copy guy retired or quit and won't be back until four business days prior to the students, which means I had to copy a week's worth of materials on my own nickel at Office Max because there's not a snowball's chance in hell my stuff will be copied in time and I don't want to look unprofessional (saving the taxpayers close to $70.00).

During the first week of school, I'll be doing the following:

Setting up seating charts and cross-checking them with students' IEPs so that the auditory/vision/attention-impaired get preferential seating,

Giving pretests and fighting with the administrators to get the ones who really aren't prepared into a less demanding class so they won't tank their grades senior year,

Fighting with my administrator to NOT have to inflate my grades AGAIN this year,

Grading the pretests and sending out nicely worded letters to specific parents to the effect that their child isn't prepared and has a really, really good chance of tanking his or her grade, so if they fail, they've been duly warned and my butt is covered with my administrator, who will try to get me to inflate my grades and pass these people anyway,

Inputting 150-180 student names and ID numbers into Easy Grade Pro,

Correlating the attendance the office gives me with the kids who are actually there -- an enormous pain in the butt,

Explaining class procedures, materials, focus, scope, and goals,

Explaining behavioral issues and behavioral consequences and,

Still working on the Shakespeare play after school for (practically) free.

What do the kids have to do?

Sit there in relatively respectful attentiveness,
Put things into their notebooks,
Take a pretest that will have no effect on their grades.

What did most of them do during the summer?
Depends. Most probably went on vacation.

So. Do we earn cheap ice cream paid for by us, or not?

 

[phathui5]

Um, yes you did.

 

[lilyka]

lots of employees get trerats forlots of things. I think it is sweet they were giving the teachers a treat. they don't gt paid a lot and thier job is often thankless. and considering how I feel about classroom education I would say they are fighting a losing battle along with everyone else. Its a parents job to reward thier child. and a bosse job to reward thieremployees as they see fit. things like that not only make employees feel appreciated but the time spent relaxing and enjoying them can improve bonding in the work place.

remember teachers are not the enemy.

 

[mommie2littleones]

Quote:

Originally Posted by USAmma Not to be sarcastic or snarky but if I was stuck with 30 kids who had just been on summer break, and I had to teach those 30 kids all week long without knowing them very well yet, I might get myself a banana split too! I am so glad I only have to teach one child right now.

:

 

[marilynmama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by USAmma Not to be sarcastic or snarky but if I was stuck with 30 kids who had just been on summer break, and I had to teach those 30 kids all week long without knowing them very well yet, I might get myself a banana split too! I am so glad I only have to teach one child right now.

I agree. I have a lot of respect for most teachers, I couldn't do it.

 

[poisonedapple]

I don't think the big issue in the US school system rests with teachers. They are under appreciated, paid inadequately, and have too high of a ratio of students per teacher. Not only does she probably deserve a treat, but its her own money, who can say what she can/can not do with it.

 

[KeanusMomma]

It's not like the teacher said she deserved it any more than the students, or compared herself to them. She didn't sit in front of the students and eat ice cream while making them do multipication tables. It's no different than you or me fixing ourselves a banana split after the kids go to bed.

 

[meisterfrau]

Hey, I'm a teacher, and I don't think I'm particularly underpaid (I think they're pretty good about this in my part of the world). That said, would I appreciate a banana split at the end of the first week? Heck yeah! I'd also be really appreciative of whoever provided it. Now, even in your best public schools, your teacher to student ratio is going to be such that it would cost in excess of 10 times as much to feed the splits to the kids as well as the faculty. Do the kids deserve treats? Sure! But it's ok to throw a little love at the faculty too, I think. In most public schools it's pretty rare.

 

[Stayathomemommy]

the people that i know that are teachers say that the first week before and after a holiday or long brake is horrible. the kids have to relearn how to behave and they all have "ants in their pants". its hard to get work accomplished and their job as a teacher is extra hard. thats probably why they get a treat

speaking of treats i am going to go have one while the kiddos are sleeping. i deserve one too!!

 

[kat85]

All teachers deserve a treat

for putting up with most parents cant and that 30 or more kids for 40+ a week then coming home to who knows what. My high school ate sometimes while we was in class but I didnt care because she did on occasion share with us or buy us food, but also she didn't have a real lunch period because she was on lunch duty or had to grade papers while I ate get a chance to eat in peace.