if you watch only one thing today-

[stoney321]

-make it this. I <3 teachers like this man.

Comments

I've been holding this in for a while

[rocketlaunching.livejournal.com]

This is amazing. Kind of unrelated, the local paper published all the salaries of all the city workers (I only looked because I wanted to see where I was on the list because I was a crossing guard at the time) from highest to lowest.. Of course the superintendent [who makes more than the mayor which is BS and I think explains everything] and everyone who worked at city hall was the highest, and all the janitorial staff and miscellaneous workers like myself were at the bottom, of course. But not high above us were the teachers, and I was floored at how many of the teachers I had loved and actually learned from got paid such shit. I'm out of high school four years and I thought to myself "gee, if this is what they make now, what did they make when I was there?" My favorite English teacher only makes 41k. My father doesn't make much more than that and we still live paycheck to paycheck. Some other teachers I had got promoted to department heads and such which I'm happy for, but it's still barely 20k. Teachers make a difference, and I wish they had something to show for it.

Re: I've been holding this in for a while

[tinkerbell86ca.livejournal.com]

YES! I am guessing you are form the US, no?

Seeing as I am from Canada, the situation is much different here . . . but I still agree with you. Teachers are some sort of awesome sauce and some make peanuts! My husband works with the Catholic schools in our area and doesn't make much either.

[moonlite-n-rose.livejournal.com]

I wish there had been teachers like this when I was in middle school and high school. I may have acutally finished because they would have given a damn to try to find out what was wrong with me, instead of asking me what illness I was going to fabricate this week or letting the kids bully me because I wasn't 'normal'.

Jokes on them, I scored higher on the GED tests than the seniors in HS they gave the test to, to have a baseline socre, and I was only 16 at the time. I'm in college now on the Dean's List, so f' em. :D

Mad props to this guy :D

[maybe1ce.livejournal.com]

I love this...I'd never seen the live version before, I'd seen this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuBmSbiVXo0

Every word is perfect. Thanks for circulating it again.

[lynnenne]

That's pretty damn awesome. Thanks for sharing it.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Taylor Mali does AWESOME slam poetry about teaching. Here are some more performances of his:

Miracle Workers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vMHSGmGtuo&NR=1)

I'll Fight You for the Library (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qXgPfMGG8E&feature=related)

The The Impotence of Proofreading (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonDPGwAyfQ) (Yes, that's the title!)

Like Lilly Like Wilson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tshNfYWPlDg&feature=related) (This is about one of his students.)

Like, Y'Know? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4&feature=related)

Tony Steinberg: Brave Seventh_Grade Viking Warrior (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hFW7Ls3v6k&feature=related) (This one may make you cry. I did.)

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I've seen this before, but it's still awesome.

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

That is so brilliant!

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

Awesome!!!!!

[anelith.livejournal.com]

That is fantastic! So much furor these days over standardized testing, and in my opinion we'd all be much better off if we ditched the NCLB testing and instead aimed at getting/keeping stellar teachers (which means PAYING them what they're WORTH).