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Weaving interviews of policy experts and startling facts with the lives and careers of four teachers, American Teacher tells the collective story by and about those closest to the issues in our educational system -- the 3.2 million teachers who spend every day in classrooms across our country.
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00:00:00Transcrição e Legendas por QTSS
00:00:30Transcrição e Legendas por QTSS
00:01:01The debate about public education has never been louder.
00:01:04There are dozens of theories out there about what works and what doesn't.
00:01:08We've experimented with charter schools, test standards, class size, curricula, and technology.
00:01:14The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent tens of millions of dollars on education,
00:01:19and after all that research about what works and what's most important, this is what Gates said.
00:01:24How do you make education better?
00:01:26The more we looked at it, the more we realized that having great teachers was the very key thing.
00:01:33And it turns out that most people agree that a teacher is the most important in-school factor to a
00:01:39child's success.
00:01:40Without effective teachers, we don't have a democracy. It's that simple.
00:01:43Our students simply cannot be successful unless they have great teachers in front of them.
00:01:48Everybody who looks at this says the single most important ingredient inside the classroom is the quality of the teacher.
00:01:55And yet the teaching profession has never been less respected and less understood.
00:02:00They are our public servants, but why do I get the feeling that a lot of them are more in
00:02:04it for serving themselves?
00:02:05The average teacher's salary is much greater than the average private sector's salary.
00:02:10Boy, it sounds pretty darn good to the 14 million people out of work.
00:02:13If they're here to serve our kids, why does it seem they're only serving us a big old bill?
00:02:19Teachers in the United States are routinely undervalued as the problem in the American public education system,
00:02:27rather than as a tremendous resource that we really haven't earned.
00:02:32There are currently 3.2 million public school teachers in the United States.
00:02:37In the next 10 years, 1.8 million of them will be eligible for retirement.
00:02:42Who will replace them?
00:02:44Oh, it's the best job I ever had.
00:02:46We should reward those people.
00:02:48I love teaching children.
00:02:50We should retain those people.
00:02:52If you talk to my wife, she'll tell you that that was the happiest she's ever seen me.
00:02:56But I can tell you that absolutely is not happening today.
00:03:00If we all agree that teaching is a vitally important occupation,
00:03:04then what conditions are driving so many teachers out of the classroom?
00:03:08And why are so few of the best college graduates considering teaching as a profession?
00:03:13For us to really maximize the potential of education in our country,
00:03:17we have to come to the realization that there are two sets of adults,
00:03:23classroom teachers who ensure the future of their children and everyone else.
00:03:57We'll see you next time.
00:04:07We'll see you next time.
00:04:46I leave the house at 7 o'clock in the morning, and I get here at 7.45.
00:04:51My first student arrives at 8 o'clock from 8 to 8.30,
00:04:55and I assess him or her with a one-on-one assessment.
00:04:58And then this whole class comes at 8.30.
00:05:01School ends at 2.50, and I tutor from 3.30 to 5.30, and I get home at 6
00:05:07.30.
00:05:09Good morning, Alina.
00:05:11Good morning, Imani.
00:05:13Good morning, David.
00:05:15Did you get a good night's sleep last night?
00:05:17First grade is a really intense year.
00:05:19Some of the kids are, you know, you teach them how to read,
00:05:22and it's such a pivotal point in their academic life and their school experience.
00:05:28Good morning, first grade.
00:05:30Good morning, Miss Jamie.
00:05:34Jamie walks in the room, and the homeroom lights up,
00:05:37and I can see her in the classroom like that.
00:05:39She's just that type of personality.
00:05:43Somehow the teaching bug is in the Fidler family.
00:05:45My sister's a teacher.
00:05:47My brother went into teaching.
00:05:48I had teaching, so I think it was almost natural for Jamie to go into teaching.
00:05:53My first year of teaching, I was not in this school.
00:05:57So I walked in, and, you know, there really weren't any books,
00:06:00and I had no idea how much money I was going to have to spend out of my own pocket
00:06:05because I didn't get anything, really.
00:06:10There weren't pencils.
00:06:11There weren't crayons.
00:06:12There weren't anything.
00:06:13So I came in and basically had to set up my whole classroom by myself
00:06:19and didn't expect to have to be cleaning for two days.
00:06:22And it was an eye-opener.
00:06:24It was very hard.
00:06:26And she came home off the bus because I met her at the bus stop
00:06:29in Manhattan, where we are, and she was in tears.
00:06:33I really thought about not teaching anymore,
00:06:35which was really hard for me because I obviously was committed to it.
00:06:40I had taught preschool for three years.
00:06:42I got my master's in this.
00:06:44Like, this was something I had wanted to do.
00:06:46And then all of a sudden, I'm in this situation where it was so bad
00:06:52that I couldn't really imagine continuing.
00:06:54I did the best Mike could have, you know, to reassure her and to get,
00:06:58and to tell her, you know, you'll be okay, you'll be okay, you'll be okay,
00:07:02and some of the tricks of the trade to hopefully get through it.
00:07:06And she did.
00:07:08All right, my class, get your backpacks.
00:07:11Let's go.
00:07:12Like Jamie, over 90% of public school teachers spend their own money
00:07:16on supplies for their classrooms.
00:07:18The lack of support for a new teacher can make the job seem overwhelming,
00:07:22especially because schools often give the largest
00:07:24and toughest classes to beginning teachers.
00:07:27There's an unfortunate situation in the way we manage our schools.
00:07:33Specifically, we always put new teachers in the most difficult
00:07:38to teach situations.
00:07:50Hi.
00:07:51My name is Amanda Lewick, and I am 27 years old.
00:07:55This is my second year teaching middle school English.
00:08:02This is my sort of video diary.
00:08:05If you can see, I think I've got about 40 desks in this small classroom,
00:08:10just to sort of accommodate everyone.
00:08:12I have students sitting on the counter.
00:08:14All of these are my personal books,
00:08:16which I brought in to share with the students.
00:08:20How about these is my own money, too,
00:08:22because really you can't expect a school to spend money on, like, you know,
00:08:26literature holders,
00:08:28or maybe I can't expect a school to spend money on that.
00:08:31I feel like everything I do, I'm just making do.
00:08:38I feel like I give everything I have,
00:08:41but it's never enough.
00:08:42And there's always more to do.
00:08:45And if I had, like, three of me, I might be able to get it done.
00:08:51One thing about teaching is that even though I have a department planning hour,
00:08:56a planning hour, and a lunch hour,
00:08:59I don't feel I get any of it to myself.
00:09:01It's all work.
00:09:02I spent all my lunch hour today with two students
00:09:04that I had to keep for lunch's attention,
00:09:06talking to them, trying to figure out what's going on,
00:09:08cleaning up my room.
00:09:09I spent the first planning period talking with my department
00:09:12about things we had to do.
00:09:14And I spent my final planning period just cleaning up the room
00:09:17and getting ready, doing seating charts.
00:09:19So it's work straight through.
00:09:21And I'm so tired, and I want to go home.
00:09:23But I should organize my library.
00:09:25I should clean my desk.
00:09:26I should get ready for tomorrow, no less.
00:09:32What can you do?
00:09:34What can you do?
00:09:37Everyone's heard that old axiom that those who can do
00:09:41and those who can't teach.
00:09:45Unfortunately, the proponents of that axiom have never stood
00:09:48in front of a classroom and had 24 to 30 sets of eyes looking at them
00:09:55in recognition of the fact that many of their futures
00:09:59are almost wholly dependent on how well or how poorly you do your job.
00:10:06Once we have oil and we have gas and we have cars, things like that,
00:10:10we're going to go from being a farming kind of state
00:10:12to being more of what kind of state?
00:10:14Industrial, okay, where we start manufacturing stuff.
00:10:17Now, in World War I, it's when we first start manufacturing things like,
00:10:21what, anybody?
00:10:21I'll be honest, I love to teach in that Texas history.
00:10:25I tell them I'm giving them lessons, no matter what history class they take,
00:10:29they can be successful if they, you know, learn these tools in seventh grade.
00:10:32That will help them, you know, wherever they go.
00:10:34Not just memorizing facts, but now that you've got the facts,
00:10:38tell me why is that important or how does that affect us?
00:10:53Growing up, we were pretty poor.
00:10:56Lived in a trailer home.
00:10:59When it was snow or freeze, we'd actually, you know,
00:11:01have to go outside and scoop up snow and boil it on the stove
00:11:06just to, like, flush the toilet or take a bath.
00:11:10Out of all my brothers and sisters,
00:11:11I am the only one to have gone and graduated from college.
00:11:16I got a call, hey, we want to interview you at Grapefunk Colleyville.
00:11:20I went in there and there were two principals
00:11:22from two of the middle schools and then the athletic director.
00:11:25And we had to interview and they shook my hand
00:11:28and they said they'd be in contact and I got my truck
00:11:30and I got maybe five miles down the road
00:11:33and they called me on my cell phone and said,
00:11:35we'd like to offer you the job.
00:11:36And I was like, wow.
00:11:42They always say the first couple years are the hardest for a teacher,
00:11:45you know, but coming from $5 an hour
00:11:47to I think that first year I made like $27,000
00:11:51and that's with my coaching stipend, you know.
00:11:54I was in heaven.
00:11:56Brazil, good.
00:11:56You're back.
00:11:59There you go.
00:12:00Good job.
00:12:03If I can reach one of those kids
00:12:04who is hating life right now because he's growing up in a trailer,
00:12:08if they can see there is hope, I mean,
00:12:11that's probably one of the biggest driving, you know.
00:12:14Intrinsic things inside there that, you know,
00:12:16I might want to see happen.
00:12:18He's gone on to what topic then are we talking about?
00:12:21Spanish West.
00:12:21The kids that come out of his classes score well
00:12:24on all the, you know, the standardized tests,
00:12:26but just as importantly, they like going to class, you know,
00:12:30and history, I don't know for all these kids,
00:12:32but for me it wasn't the most fun thing in the entire world.
00:12:35When they come out of a history class saying they had a good time,
00:12:37that's an accomplishment as far as I'm concerned.
00:12:41I've always been able to build rapport with the kids,
00:12:44and I think it's because sometimes I take a different angle
00:12:46than your average teacher does.
00:12:48I try to treat the kids like young adults.
00:12:51I try to teach them and give them respect,
00:12:54and a lot of times that respect that they get
00:12:56is something they're not used to, and it gets reciprocated.
00:12:59Julian.
00:13:00She was like an American kid, and then the Indians kidnapped her,
00:13:04and then she looked at the Indians.
00:13:05I don't even know how to describe Coach Benner.
00:13:08He's the most exciting teacher I've ever had.
00:13:10He pushes you hard, but then he's also like your friend too.
00:13:13The only time whenever he's not really nice is when we have to do a test,
00:13:20or he makes the test really hard.
00:13:23Before in elementary school, it was like social studies.
00:13:25It was just really, really boring, because everybody died,
00:13:29and why do we have to learn about them, you know?
00:13:31But Coach Benner makes it so like history is really important,
00:13:34and it can be fun.
00:13:35Eric is one of a declining percentage
00:13:37of men in the teaching profession.
00:13:40In 1970, 34% of teachers were men.
00:13:44In 2002, it was 22%.
00:13:47Now, it's only 16%.
00:13:50In many cities, it's impossible for a man
00:13:52to support his family on a teacher's salary.
00:13:55My father had been a teacher for 34 years.
00:13:59He tells me stories.
00:14:00He's like, when I first started teaching,
00:14:02he said he went down to the, you know, head office,
00:14:04office, and they told him where he was going to go.
00:14:07You're going to go to PS 32, and they gave him the, you know,
00:14:10this is your assignment paper, and off he went.
00:14:12In 1967, I started with $4,800.
00:14:16We went out on strike.
00:14:18I got a raise to $5,400.
00:14:21In 68, Bonnie and I got married.
00:14:24So in a combined income of about $10,000 a year,
00:14:27we rented an expensive apartment for $150 a month.
00:14:31We saved enough to buy a car.
00:14:34We saved enough to buy our first house.
00:14:36We saved enough to take a trip to England.
00:14:39I was grading a math test, a third-grade math test,
00:14:44and I sat next to a woman who also went to 32,
00:14:46and I said, oh, my father taught there.
00:14:48She asked me her last name, Fiddler.
00:14:50She said, are you related to Mr. Fiddler?
00:14:53And she said, oh, he was, he was that teacher.
00:14:57Your father, he was so tough.
00:14:59He used to give me such a hard time,
00:15:01but my mother loved him
00:15:02because he always used to make me work, work, work.
00:15:06And I felt really good about that.
00:15:08Good morning, dear teacher.
00:15:13Good morning.
00:15:15So the history of teaching in the United States
00:15:16is very interesting because at one time,
00:15:19most teachers were men.
00:15:21There was a conscious move to recruit women into teaching,
00:15:25women's true occupation,
00:15:27in the early 20th century,
00:15:29in part to reduce salary levels.
00:15:32Women became the primary workforce for teaching.
00:15:35And over many decades,
00:15:37what happened was we got a workforce
00:15:39that was much more talented and able
00:15:42than we were actually paying for
00:15:44because women were denied access
00:15:46to so many other jobs.
00:15:48So people who now go into law and medicine
00:15:51and architecture and accounting were mostly restricted
00:15:55to teaching, nursing,
00:15:56and a few other occupations like secretary.
00:15:59So we had very smart, very capable women,
00:16:02the primary professional job being K-12 public education teaching.
00:16:08What's happened, of course,
00:16:10is that we've had a change in the workforce.
00:16:12We've had an opening up of the labor market.
00:16:14And throughout the 1980s,
00:16:16we had a sharp decline in the talent pool for teaching.
00:16:21It became a much less attractive profession.
00:16:24We still struggle to provide the status,
00:16:31the salaries, the respect, and the training
00:16:34that teaching as a full profession requires and deserves.
00:16:39As teacher conditions and pay have declined,
00:16:42so has student achievement.
00:16:44Among industrialized nations,
00:16:46we now rank, at best, in the middle of the pack.
00:16:49To raise test scores and prepare our students
00:16:51for global competition that's tougher than ever before,
00:16:54we need great young minds
00:16:56to consider teaching as a profession.
00:16:58But very few top college graduates do.
00:17:04Our family comes from around the world.
00:17:06Our hair is straight, our hair is curled.
00:17:08Our eyes are brown, our eyes are blue,
00:17:10our skins are different.
00:17:11Colors do.
00:17:12Tra-la, tra-la, tra-la, tra-lee.
00:17:15We're one big happy family.
00:17:17All of my classmates were going on for MDs, PhDs, JDs, MBAs.
00:17:25I knew I didn't want to do any of those things.
00:17:27I want you to follow what it says on the do now.
00:17:30Think about a time when you had to decide whether or not to blend in,
00:17:35to assimilate, or to adapt to another culture.
00:17:38When I started telling my friends that I wanted to go into education,
00:17:43everyone immediately said, oh, like Teach for America?
00:17:46And I said, no, I want to do education as my career.
00:17:50And people really didn't understand that.
00:17:55They said, but you could do anything.
00:17:57Why would you be a teacher?
00:18:00Anybody can teach.
00:18:02You went to Harvard.
00:18:03You should be a doctor or a lawyer.
00:18:05You should make money.
00:18:10I mentioned it to my mother, and she was thrilled with the idea.
00:18:13She was on the Board of Education at the time
00:18:15and had always wanted to be a teacher.
00:18:17Some of my parents' friends were still a little confused,
00:18:21like, that's great, but why would you do that?
00:18:27And I would just say, well, who would you rather have teaching your kids?
00:18:30You know, you don't want your kids being taught by someone who went to Harvard.
00:18:34You, too, I want you to work on that one.
00:18:35Don't let anybody peer pressure you, okay?
00:18:42When I met Miss Jaycee, like, the first impression was very good
00:18:46because she was a very happy person,
00:18:48and she was very excited about being with the kids and meeting them.
00:18:52But, again, I was looking at her like she was really young,
00:18:55but at the same time she showed a lot of professionalism
00:18:58and experience in what she did, which I thought was very impressive.
00:19:02And my daughter was kind of quiet at the time,
00:19:05and so she kind of paid attention to that
00:19:08and took a little more time, spent a lot more time with her, and they did.
00:19:14Like, sometimes I would, during recess, I would, like, go to her room
00:19:21and we would just have, like, lunch together.
00:19:23You know, Rena is very self-assured and very confident
00:19:27and exhibits that to the kids,
00:19:30and I think that that's exactly what Sydney needed,
00:19:33was someone that was going to be a rock for her.
00:19:37My son had her in third grade, Isaiah,
00:19:41and what she tends to do is push leadership, and he's quiet.
00:19:46He's a quiet leader, as I refer to him.
00:19:49He's not going to step out there, although he has a lot of potential,
00:19:53but he won't take the risk.
00:19:54And what she did was kind of recognize the treasures
00:19:59and attributes of each child in the classroom.
00:20:02Rena brings in so many of the things
00:20:04that I think we should be having in classrooms.
00:20:09She's bright.
00:20:11She's excited about learning,
00:20:13so she shares that excitement with her students.
00:20:16She has an understanding of families
00:20:18and the need to work with families,
00:20:20and has an understanding of that.
00:20:22She sees herself as a learner who's always learning.
00:20:25That's one of the things that makes her, you know, who she is.
00:20:29Fight. Fight for what you think is right,
00:20:31for who you truly, for what you truly feel.
00:20:34Who you are deep down inside, for who you are is real.
00:20:37Fight for you, fight for, fight for me, fight for everyone.
00:20:41Now go on. Now go.
00:20:43Go on to sixth grade.
00:20:44Go on and have some fun.
00:20:46Love it. Love it.
00:20:48I think the most important thing is relating to the kids.
00:20:51If you can't relate to them, if you don't get them,
00:20:55if you can't communicate with them.
00:20:57Like one of the kids yesterday said,
00:20:58you're a good explainer, you know.
00:21:00And I thought, yeah, that's what I want to hear, you know.
00:21:03I think teachers need to know how to explain things to kids who don't get it.
00:21:08Anybody can teach a kid who gets it like this right away.
00:21:12I mean, that's not really difficult.
00:21:15But the kid who gives you the blank look the first time around,
00:21:19and you say, okay, let me think about a different way.
00:21:21Let me figure out another way.
00:21:22Let me come from a different angle.
00:21:24I think lots of people think that teachers go into the job
00:21:28because of the vacations or the short hours
00:21:31or because they like kids.
00:21:34and I don't think they understand the intellectual rigor
00:21:37that's involved in presenting information in such a way
00:21:44that a child can understand it.
00:21:47There's almost nothing harder,
00:21:49in part because teachers are constant, active decision makers.
00:21:55They make thousands of decisions a day,
00:21:57and they don't do it about an abstract idea.
00:22:02They do it about the life of a child in that moment.
00:22:06The thousands of decisions made about the lives of the children
00:22:09and the moment in which they're teaching are difficult
00:22:12because the children aren't the same.
00:22:13One child could be learning English for the first time.
00:22:16Another child could be from a really poor and distressed home.
00:22:18And a third child could be from a great family that's hanging together.
00:22:22And having all of that complexity
00:22:26in the world in which you're working every day
00:22:29and then having to make critical decisions about it,
00:22:31you can't imagine anything harder.
00:22:34A Hoover Institution study discovered that an effective teacher
00:22:37can impart a year and a half's worth of learning to a student in one year.
00:22:42We spend a lot of time talking about achievement test scores
00:22:46and gains that one could get in proficiency levels and so forth.
00:22:52People vaguely know that these are important,
00:22:54but they don't understand how important.
00:22:57If we look at the economic implications for a student in a class,
00:23:03a teacher who's in the top 15% of the school compared to an average teacher
00:23:09can provide an extra $20,000 in lifetime earnings
00:23:15to that individual child in the classroom.
00:23:20Now, if you think about that, $20,000 is not the advantage of a good teacher.
00:23:24It's actually $400,000 because there are 20 kids in the class,
00:23:29each of whom is getting this added $20,000.
00:23:34It's really important for us to think about not only the quality of the teaching workforce,
00:23:39but also the diversity of the teaching workforce.
00:23:42And that's partly because kids need role models to look up to and to work with.
00:23:50They need to see themselves in a professional context
00:23:55and see that as an option for themselves,
00:23:58as well as having people who may understand them
00:24:00on a very intuitive and personal level.
00:24:05I don't know how it is in all the schools in this country,
00:24:08but I know, having worked in a variety of urban settings now,
00:24:13we don't need to fight anymore, and we don't need to explore,
00:24:17and we don't need to research who we're losing.
00:24:20And we are absolutely, without a doubt, losing our students of color.
00:24:26We're losing our poor kids, we're losing our black kids,
00:24:28we're losing our brown kids, we're losing our immigrant kids.
00:24:35I was a novelty, particularly for the African-American kids
00:24:38who never had an African-American teacher,
00:24:40and immediately there was this attraction.
00:24:46Mr. Derman was one of three black teachers that we had at our school,
00:24:53and our school at that time, I believe, was predominantly black.
00:24:58My father was a lawyer, but he was always a defense attorney
00:25:01when very few lawyers worked for African-American families.
00:25:05I had a strong sense of public service and politics,
00:25:08trying to better the community that way.
00:25:11I think it's my job to take responsibility for the communities I live in.
00:25:15I think about African-American young people to bring back the hope,
00:25:19to infuse that and stoke that and encourage that.
00:25:24I feel my role is to be the wall.
00:25:27You can't go through the wall, you can't go around the wall,
00:25:29you can't go over the wall, but you can lean up against the wall.
00:25:32The wall is there to protect you and everyone else in the classroom.
00:25:35Thirty-five percent of American high school students are either African-American or Latino,
00:25:41but only 15 percent of our teachers are African-American or Latino.
00:25:45I was demanding of everybody.
00:25:47I just said, we can achieve brilliance, and we will achieve brilliance,
00:25:50and it's going to be a lot of work,
00:25:52but it's completely doable for everybody in this classroom.
00:25:56For a lot of kids coming into high school,
00:25:58it was the first time anyone had said,
00:26:00oh, no, no, no, no, this is what you have to do.
00:26:04And you can't tell me, oh, I tried really hard.
00:26:08This is what you have to do.
00:26:09He started by being clear about what his expectations were for students.
00:26:13So his expectations didn't waver based on who the student was.
00:26:18He walked in first saying, here's the expectations.
00:26:21By the end of this year, I don't care who you are.
00:26:24This is what you need to know.
00:26:26This is what you need to do.
00:26:27He also said by the end of the year, this is who I want you to be.
00:26:30I'm a law student, and so I see how lawyers interact.
00:26:35And oftentimes, a prosecutor and a defense attorney outside of court
00:26:40are like buddy-buddy, real good friends.
00:26:43But when they get into the courtroom, it's all business.
00:26:46And that's what I appreciated about Mr. Jeremy,
00:26:48because maybe at lunchtime or during break time,
00:26:50we were able to relate to him and to talk with him
00:26:53and not be about academics.
00:26:55But once we were in the classroom, it was business time.
00:26:59Get kids in the classroom, when they show up,
00:27:01you know they don't want to do anything or they've given up.
00:27:05They're hopeless.
00:27:06They're not.
00:27:07First day of school, you look at it.
00:27:08They're never going to write that essay
00:27:10or they're never going to read that book
00:27:11or they're never going to get up and do that presentation.
00:27:14And then they, through all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears, they do.
00:27:23So little of what I do is actually teaching in terms of what you would think of as teaching,
00:27:29you know, instructing in the front of the classroom.
00:27:31So much of what I do is beyond the role of a teacher.
00:27:38So much of it is the role of a counselor or a social worker or a parent when they need
00:27:43one
00:27:43or a friend when they need that.
00:27:46Dealing with all of those other social and emotional and personal issues
00:27:50so we can just get down to the work of learning is a huge part of what I do.
00:27:55and I think of what many teachers do that I don't think people always realize.
00:28:03It is currently 5.10 p.m. and I'm still at school.
00:28:07I got here this morning at 6 and I've been working the whole time.
00:28:12Currently it is about 5 o'clock.
00:28:14I've been here since 6 as always.
00:28:17I'm actually leaving fairly early today.
00:28:19It's only 5.15.
00:28:21It's about 5.30 p.m. and I'm almost ready to go home.
00:28:26It has been a busy day.
00:28:28The average teacher's day is often misunderstood.
00:28:32Teachers typically arrive at school at least 45 minutes before classes start.
00:28:36So if school starts at 8.15 a.m., they're there at 7.30.
00:28:40They spend that time planning, grading, meeting with peers, administrators, and students.
00:28:45Then there's three periods of teaching, 50 minutes each, back to back to back,
00:28:49with three-minute breaks between each class when students are always coming early or staying late.
00:28:53At around noon, a teacher will get 30 minutes for lunch, but these periods are usually used for meetings, planning,
00:28:59or grading.
00:29:01After that, there are two more full class periods of 50 minutes each.
00:29:05For the last period of the day, a teacher might have a grading period or a planning hour.
00:29:10Immediately after school, most teachers either coach, advise a club, or do after-school tutoring.
00:29:15That takes us to 5.30 p.m.
00:29:18They head home around 6, which means that by then they've been at school for 10 or 11 hours.
00:29:22That's 50 hours a week in school.
00:29:25But then there are papers to grade.
00:29:26If a teacher assigns an essay to, say, 30 students, and the teacher wants to spend even 6 minutes on
00:29:32each essay, that'll take 3 hours.
00:29:3510 minutes on each essay means almost 5 hours grading one assignment.
00:29:39The average teacher's hours per week, then, would be 50 hours spent at school,
00:29:43and an additional 15 hours, minimum, spent grading papers and preparing lesson plans.
00:29:50That's 65 hours.
00:29:52Of course, many teachers work far more.
00:29:55I don't know any teacher who I respect as a teacher, who is a quality teacher,
00:30:04who doesn't work until 5, 6, 7 o'clock at night, every night, who doesn't take work home on the
00:30:10weekend.
00:30:11Everybody, all the teachers I know, work at least one day of the weekend, if not both days of the
00:30:18weekend.
00:30:18They miss their own kids' Halloween parades, that they can go to the students' parades here in this school,
00:30:24because they feel that kind of responsibility.
00:30:27We're finally doing the heart. Come on in.
00:30:31You are going to make a map of your heart.
00:30:35Everyone's heart's going to look different, right? Because we all love different things, and different things are important to each
00:30:41of us.
00:30:41So, things that would be in my heart, so I would say my students, and I think about you guys
00:30:49and my former students all the time.
00:30:51And I think through my father and through my mother, I've developed a pretty strong work ethic, and I'm a
00:30:57hard worker.
00:30:57So, you know, I definitely don't just teach.
00:31:01So, what would be something else you could put in your heart?
00:31:03Oh, this is a little...
00:31:04See how this is relaxed?
00:31:07If I'm like this, I'm like putting so much pressure.
00:31:10So, I want to be more like this.
00:31:13Okay?
00:31:14Like this.
00:31:16Like this, that's all.
00:31:19Sort of.
00:31:20Like this?
00:31:23That's it.
00:31:24So, you only have about 15 minutes to do this, so if I were you, I'd stop talking and do
00:31:32your work.
00:31:33Let's see if you can stay this quiet, Matthew, through the hallway.
00:31:38Let's see if a child can face forward.
00:31:41With the joy of me having a child, there's also the, you know, anticipation of having to figure out the
00:31:46logistics of my life with school.
00:32:03Thank you for calling the Department of Education's HR Connect.
00:32:07If you are a current or former DOE employee, press 1.
00:32:11Please enter your seven-digit employee ID number, which is labeled as reference number, on your pay stub.
00:32:16Hi.
00:32:17I have some questions about maternity leave, and last time I had called, I had spoken to a woman named
00:32:21Maggie,
00:32:22and she said I could call back and talk to her again.
00:32:24Can I do that?
00:32:26Maggie, what department was she in?
00:32:27I don't know.
00:32:28She just said to call this number and to talk to her.
00:32:32And she was very informed about maternity leave, so I wanted to talk with her again.
00:32:36Hold on one moment for me, please.
00:32:38Thank you.
00:32:38The call is very important to us, and we look forward to speaking with you.
00:32:45Thank you.
00:32:46I'm maternity leave, and you're calling here today to speak to Maggie Kirkland, who is in the leaves department.
00:32:50She's not in HR Connect.
00:32:52Hold on one moment.
00:32:53Let me get my clothes set up so that I can get you transferred.
00:32:55Okay.
00:32:55Thank you so much.
00:33:01We know your time is valuable.
00:33:04Thank you for holding.
00:33:05Assistance is just a moment away.
00:33:09This call will be recorded and retained by the Department of Education for quality assurance and security purposes.
00:33:19HR Connect leaves.
00:33:21Hi.
00:33:21I was wondering if I could speak to Maggie Kirkland.
00:33:25She's on the phone right now.
00:33:26I could take a message for her.
00:33:28I'll get back to you.
00:33:29Is there any way that I could just wait for her because I'm on my prep right now, and I
00:33:32had spoken to her over the summer about...
00:33:33I don't know how long she's going to be on this phone, ma'am.
00:33:35It seems like usually they'd be on there for a while when they're dealing with other clients.
00:33:39You may experience a brief delay.
00:33:42Please remain on the line.
00:33:44Good morning, leave you on it.
00:33:46Maggie's on the other line.
00:33:47Maybe I can help you.
00:33:47Okay, thank you.
00:33:49My name is Jamie Fidler, and I'm having a baby, and I'm due in October, October 24th.
00:33:54Hello, hello, hello.
00:33:55Hello, hello, hello.
00:33:57Ty Reed, why are you running?
00:33:59So you get six weeks from the day you give birth, which means if you give birth the day before
00:34:04Christmas,
00:34:04even though we're not in school for a week and a half, you still have six weeks from the day
00:34:09you give birth.
00:34:10You'd have to be back in school without, you know, that would be the end of your getting paid point.
00:34:18Feeling strong. Should we grab this out of here first?
00:34:21There wasn't really much of a choice for us to do it any other way.
00:34:24It's the bottom of it.
00:34:24We have a fixer-upper house, and so, you know, we're trying to do construction on the house,
00:34:28and there's just a lot of expenses right now.
00:34:31And then someone goes in.
00:34:33We're going to slide it into place.
00:34:35How was it?
00:34:37Oh, it's perfect. It totally fits.
00:34:41I'm so excited.
00:34:42There's this assumption that women are still the secondary income.
00:34:47You know, like, you only need six weeks because, you know, most of you are probably just going to stay
00:34:51home anyway.
00:34:51And it's just really frustrating.
00:34:54It's also assumed, I think, that most people are going to put their kids in daycare.
00:34:58Right.
00:34:58And that you're going to have these two incomes or one bigger income to pay for it, and it's not
00:35:02always the case.
00:35:04All right, it's deconstructed on it. There we go.
00:35:07I mean, we'll see what happens.
00:35:08I think it really just depends on when the baby comes, and then we'll have to kind of figure it
00:35:12out.
00:35:12Which is partly why I feel like I can't really go into work and say,
00:35:15I'm coming back on this day because I don't really know.
00:35:18It depends on when the baby comes.
00:35:22For many years, the teacher in the family was the wife whose husband had a job.
00:35:30I mean, it was a view of the salary demands of teachers that essentially assumed it was a second income
00:35:38and not a very needed one at that.
00:35:40We're in a different place now.
00:35:42You're not going into this to be a missionary.
00:35:44You're not going into this to live a life of poverty.
00:35:47You're going into this because you feel like you really can do something to make the world a better place
00:35:53by giving kids the chance that they need and deserve in order to succeed.
00:35:59But combined with that, you've got to be able to feed your own children.
00:36:03You've got to be able to live someplace where it's safe for your children.
00:36:08You've got to be able to make sure that you have something that you can put away for the day
00:36:14that you do retire.
00:36:22We had actually met talking online.
00:36:25I proposed to her right down for the spot that we first met.
00:36:31When we got this house, I mean, it was like a blessing.
00:36:37The realtor, which was one of my students' moms, was able to broker some kind of deal,
00:36:42pulling some favors, I think, is what she ended up doing.
00:36:46We actually got this house for, like, $1.32.
00:36:50It's the nicest house I've ever lived in, in, you know, my 38 years.
00:36:56It doesn't, you know, look like much, but it's a castle to me, you know, so this is home.
00:37:04Touch your chest.
00:37:06There you go.
00:37:07Good job.
00:37:09I thought I was going to be able to just teach, and I'd have enough money.
00:37:18Factor in, you know, a $350 car payment, having to pay more in taxes, and insurance, you know,
00:37:24those things you just, you know, that 27 gets cut, sliced pretty thin, pretty quick.
00:37:29It was pretty much paycheck to paycheck.
00:37:42I had to start paying my student loans back right away.
00:37:44I had to buy a new car because mine was falling apart, so those bills started adding up,
00:37:49and Circuit City liked me so much, they, you know, worked around my school and football schedule
00:37:56and allowed me to work, you know, when I could.
00:38:12Coaching takes a lot of your time, and then working also at Circuit City adds more stress to that,
00:38:19but sometimes you have to, to make things meet where you need it to be, you know, financially.
00:38:25And sometimes you just don't have a choice, you know, and that's kind of where he was.
00:38:30He had to be there, like, at 6 in the morning, and then school would end, like, I don't know,
00:38:353 or 4.
00:38:37And then he would go to work, like, at 5 or 6 to Circuit City and then not get off
00:38:42until, like, 9 or 10.
00:38:45So I wouldn't see him until, like, maybe after that or on the weekends.
00:38:51Every once in a while, you know, run into somebody you know out on the sales floor,
00:38:55and I thought you were a teacher, you know, one of those things, like, what happened?
00:38:58Did you get fired? Is that why you're at Circuit City, you know?
00:39:00And then, you know, you kind of have to try to explain yourself and, you know,
00:39:04and say, well, I'm doing this for extra money, you know, and that type of thing.
00:39:06And sometimes it could be a little embarrassing if it was somebody you knew,
00:39:10and, you know, and they're looking kind of down on you, and, you know, it felt like you had to
00:39:13justify yourself.
00:39:17Ashley and I, we had Addie on Valentine's Day.
00:39:24It definitely became a lot more stressful.
00:39:28That's when I really wanted to start spending more time at home.
00:39:31But unfortunately, that wasn't possible. It wasn't feasible.
00:39:35My dad works a lot just because he has to support me and my sister, and he has so much
00:39:41to pay for.
00:39:42As the man, you're supposed to be the provider, you know, and when you can't provide for your family, you
00:39:48feel like a loser.
00:39:49He worked all the time, and I never really got to see him a lot.
00:39:58I'd been there so long, I was making more than what they said I should be making.
00:40:02So, in their mind, they could get two workers for what they paid me, so they let me go.
00:40:12I'd been saving up and saving up and saving up, so we blew that through the savings in, you know,
00:40:18not even a year.
00:40:19In my retirement, not even a year, it was all gone.
00:40:23I got to be home a lot because I didn't have a second job, but at the same time, we
00:40:27went through the savings pretty quick.
00:40:30It's stressful. It's a lot of, you know, sleepless nights.
00:40:34It's a lot of arguing over, you know, did you pay this bill, did you pay that one, or it's
00:40:40just constant turmoil during those bad times.
00:40:44Like, there's no happy times, really, because you can't get past the stress of every day.
00:40:51And so, it got to be a point where I knew I was going to have to go back to
00:40:54work at that second job,
00:40:55because there was just no way to afford our lifestyle on just teaching.
00:41:06Today, we have lots of professionals who are doing the same thing.
00:41:10When we would like them to be getting to know their students and their parents and working with tomorrow's lesson,
00:41:16making sure that they're going to provide the great instruction that we've been talking about.
00:41:20Instead, they're off to 7-Eleven.
00:41:23Thirty-one percent of America's teachers have second jobs outside of the classroom.
00:41:27When you count coaching, advising, and tutoring, 62 percent of teachers have jobs outside the regular school day.
00:41:34Almost every teacher I know has a second job, whether it's, like me, you know, finishing concrete or hanging drywall
00:41:43or running some kind of an after-school program.
00:41:48In many ways, teachers who are coaches, their coaching is a second job.
00:41:53I think I taught GED at night. I taught aerobics in my small little community.
00:41:58I worked at, there was a little local clothing store.
00:42:00This is a community of about 2,000 people.
00:42:02They had a clothing store. I worked there on weekends.
00:42:05And then my summers, I went back to live with my parents and was a waitress during the summer.
00:42:09My first year as a teacher, I said, what can I coach? I'll coach anything.
00:42:12I haven't any experience as a wrestling coach, but if you want me to, for $200, I'll do it.
00:42:17I was the Spanish club advisor because it was 75 bucks.
00:42:23I've generally felt frustration with the teaching profession for the last couple of years.
00:42:31People often feel that if you're being paid a lot of money,
00:42:34it should be for something that requires a certain amount of skill and expertise.
00:42:43You know, nobody would question a doctor being paid or a lawyer being paid
00:42:47or, you know, somebody working in consulting being paid.
00:42:51And I think the skill set required to be a teacher is at least as complex, if not more complex.
00:43:01I think teachers are really quick to be defensive about that because we feel like we are professionals.
00:43:10If we actually paid effective teachers more, I think we could attract a different group of people into the profession,
00:43:18people that have gone off to be lawyers and doctors now who would like to be in the classroom.
00:43:25We could keep our effective teachers in the classroom.
00:43:31We could move to a rationalized system that rewarded teaching as a profession.
00:43:38Given the low pay and long hours, teachers burn out at a rate unparalleled in almost any other field.
00:43:4420% of teachers in urban districts quit every year.
00:43:50With teaching and the work and the hours, I wasn't around my family, not just my immediate family,
00:43:56but my sisters and my father and my mother.
00:44:01Teaching out of school, particularly how and where I taught,
00:44:06it was not just the hours of the school, it was hours beyond that,
00:44:10and then it was getting home and grading papers,
00:44:12and it just became a real vicious cycle and circle of burnout.
00:44:26When I got into teaching, I thought I had enough money saved from real estate
00:44:32that we were going to be fine and that I could use that to sort of subsidize my teaching habit.
00:44:38When my youngest child was born, we were feeling like there was no way we were going to be able
00:44:43to survive on just my salary.
00:44:49My sisters were asking me to join the family business and run the real estate sales part of that.
00:44:59After working in the classroom for five years, Jonathan quit teaching and went into real estate full-time.
00:45:08We didn't pay a lot, and so we expected a lot of work.
00:45:13We did not give a lot of money, and as a result, how could we expect that just because we
00:45:18want to have a diverse staff,
00:45:19they should come and work under those conditions.
00:45:28So there are upgrades for different lighting, window coverings.
00:45:39Mr. German was leadership.
00:45:43He was like a pillar of Leadership High School.
00:45:46You always think of your pillars as those who are always going to be there,
00:45:50so then when they say they're going to leave or retire or something,
00:45:54it kind of makes you think, like, wow, it's shocking.
00:46:00It was devastating when he left.
00:46:02I always took, like, when people come in and out of my life,
00:46:06I always take that pretty hard,
00:46:07because I build connections with people,
00:46:09and, like, when someone that you're going to spend time with at lunchtime,
00:46:14and you're going in there and spend time with them after school every single day,
00:46:18someone you consult before you make big decisions about anything,
00:46:23when they leave your life, that's kind of traumatic.
00:46:30I think one thing that particularly students of color are struggling with
00:46:36is this feeling of isolation and hopelessness.
00:46:42Oh, yeah, Wisconsin.
00:46:43For me, it's not about Jonathan, it's about the students,
00:46:47and as much as I love Jonathan, it's about what he did for students
00:46:51that is desperately missed.
00:46:54I just remember seeing people in the hallway just crying,
00:46:57and we're all, like, hugging each other,
00:46:58and everyone was sad.
00:47:00Mr. Chairman is leaving.
00:47:01We'll never see him again.
00:47:02No, you shouldn't go work for real estate.
00:47:05You're going to miss us.
00:47:09When you have high teacher turnover,
00:47:10it creates a chaotic situation
00:47:13where kids don't have continuity,
00:47:16where the knowledge base of the school
00:47:18is continually flowing out like a leaky bucket,
00:47:21where the school is continually peddling just to stay in place
00:47:27because it can't build the system of education
00:47:32that it needs to have
00:47:33to really ensure that kids are learning from year to year.
00:47:37In America, 46% of teachers quit before their fifth year.
00:47:42They're driven from the job by the long hours,
00:47:45the low salaries, the lack of support,
00:47:47and the lack of prestige given the profession.
00:47:50This attrition robs the profession of some of its best teachers,
00:47:53who realize they can earn more
00:47:55and have more freedom and respect in other occupations.
00:47:58and this turnover is expensive.
00:48:04I helped found an Academy of Information Technology
00:48:07at Balboa in my time there,
00:48:09and we were awarded the first
00:48:11Aldo Pappone Leadership Award on the West Coast.
00:48:15I helped to create a class
00:48:17for all of the ninth graders at my school
00:48:18who were struggling with the academic demands
00:48:20of the reading that we were signing.
00:48:22They realized how much in control they were
00:48:24of their achievement
00:48:26and how they can, you know, through their work,
00:48:30how they can get there if they, you know, keep pushing.
00:48:33I was one of five recipients
00:48:35of the Kananietta Goodman
00:48:37in Defense of Good Teaching Award,
00:48:40which was given to teachers
00:48:42who stand up for their beliefs
00:48:44in support of their students.
00:48:47And I left teaching
00:48:49because I could no longer
00:48:50provide the kind of education
00:48:53to the kids that I most cared about.
00:48:56I had to leave teaching
00:48:58because in order to be what I felt was a good teacher,
00:49:01I had to work insane hours.
00:49:03I just, I burned out after four years.
00:49:06It just, it took its toll.
00:49:07The lack of respect
00:49:08and the lack of regarding me as a professional
00:49:13definitely also contributed to me leaving.
00:49:17I left teaching because of the financial realities of the situation.
00:49:23It was like a $20,000 raise for me to go to administration,
00:49:26having 25 years in the classroom.
00:49:28The choice to leave the classroom is a really tough choice.
00:49:32And if you talk to those people
00:49:35and really try to get to the bottom
00:49:37of what they would have liked to have done long term,
00:49:41if there were avenues to progress through the teaching profession
00:49:44and remain a teacher working with children,
00:49:47that is a choice they would have made.
00:49:49And quite honestly, in retrospect,
00:49:51I think it was a choice that I would have made.
00:49:55I think about going back every single day.
00:49:59It was one of the most difficult decisions I ever made.
00:50:01I miss it every single day.
00:50:04I miss it.
00:50:05I still have boxes and boxes and boxes in my basement
00:50:08of all of my things just in case.
00:50:11And we've moved them now from three different homes
00:50:13because I won't let go of one single library book.
00:50:17I had a classroom library of over 2,000 novels that I cart with me
00:50:21to school after school and to home after home.
00:50:24And I won't give that up just in case I go back.
00:50:31Determined to stay in the classroom
00:50:32but needing a second job to pay the bills,
00:50:35Eric Benner took a job at Floor and Decor,
00:50:38working from 5 to 10 or 11 p.m. every night.
00:50:42My job is very similar to what it was at Circuit City
00:50:44and which is kind of, you know,
00:50:45it was easy for me to make the transition.
00:50:48Instead of pulling a big screen,
00:50:50I'm pulling tile or I'm pulling wood.
00:50:53When you buy it, I pull it, I get it ready,
00:50:55you show up to get it,
00:50:56I'm going to load it in your vehicle, that type of thing.
00:51:00I might actually be able to go into a museum someday.
00:51:02I wish I could show it because it's my hero here, Sam Houston,
00:51:06but I don't have a player.
00:51:07At that point, I had the floor store,
00:51:09I had my coaching, and I had my teaching.
00:51:12And even though the money was really good,
00:51:15the strain on my marriage, it wasn't so good.
00:51:18Well, he's just never home.
00:51:19You know, I felt like a single mom.
00:51:24And there was no time for family stuff,
00:51:27and my family gets together a lot for family functions
00:51:32and birthdays and holidays, and he could never come.
00:51:35And if he did come, he was always just exhausted
00:51:39because, you know, he finally got to be still.
00:51:42And it was just, it was straining, you know.
00:51:45I didn't feel like I had a husband.
00:51:57When she moved out, the house was in foreclosure.
00:52:01I tried to make a payment, and that's when I found out
00:52:03that they were starting foreclosure procedures on the house
00:52:06that I had killed myself to get us in,
00:52:09and, you know, it was like watching everything just falling apart.
00:52:20Now, it's not such a big deal to me, but for my little sister,
00:52:26I just hope she doesn't miss out.
00:52:43They're not asking to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.
00:52:45They're asking to be able to buy a house, to have a decent car,
00:52:48to live in a nice neighborhood, to have some comforts,
00:52:51to maybe take a vacation every once in a while.
00:52:53And when you have teachers that have to have second jobs,
00:52:56when you have teachers that are living at the poverty level,
00:52:58then I think there's something wrong with that.
00:53:00And as a society, we need to really change that culture.
00:53:02We need to flip it around to say that being a teacher
00:53:05is the most important job in our society.
00:53:14I left work a week before I was due,
00:53:18so I was due on the 24th, and I left work on the 17th.
00:53:23I went into labor at 1.30 in the morning.
00:53:40My whole life, I've just spent, not my whole life,
00:53:43but the past, like, nine years,
00:53:44I've spent so much time thinking about money
00:53:46and how to make things work.
00:53:48And I feel like this is a time that I can't get back.
00:53:51This is the first time in my life where I feel like
00:53:54there's other things that need to take priority.
00:53:58I have no idea what I'm doing.
00:54:00You have no idea what you're doing.
00:54:01We have no idea what we're doing.
00:54:02No, who cares, though?
00:54:04I mean, does it really...
00:54:04I mean, who really does know?
00:54:06It'll be very interesting to see as she gets older
00:54:09the difference in how I am as a parent
00:54:12as opposed to how I am as a teacher.
00:54:14I'm so used to my role as a teacher,
00:54:16and I don't...
00:54:16This is all so new, you know?
00:54:39Now that I'm going to be a parent,
00:54:40I realize how much you really have to trust me.
00:54:45Like, I have your kids all day, you know,
00:54:47and I've never really thought about it that much.
00:54:58And I remember parents have said that to me over the years,
00:55:01the fact that I can leave my child with you
00:55:03and know that my child's going to be okay.
00:55:06Every day is more than you ever know.
00:55:09That is a gift that you can't even imagine.
00:55:11Now it will be Wednesday.
00:55:13It will be Wednesday.
00:55:13Awesome.
00:55:14Zoe, hurry up.
00:55:15Let's go.
00:55:16Get your blue folder ready.
00:55:17Hi.
00:55:19Oh, I'm so glad you're here.
00:55:20I felt bad asking Sarah this morning to cover my class.
00:55:23You know, like, I felt bad about it.
00:55:30Now I have to find a place.
00:55:43Hi, Eileen.
00:55:44Can I just use this office to pump?
00:55:49There's such a lack of understanding about what kind of maternity leave we get.
00:55:59When someone says, like, I can't believe you're back yet.
00:56:02Oh, my God, are you crazy?
00:56:03You know, or, you know, even just whatever.
00:56:06I don't know how you came back so quickly.
00:56:08Well, what am I supposed to do?
00:56:09You know, it's not like we have rich parents or, you know, it's not.
00:56:18What are you supposed to do?
00:56:20So, you know, I'm not taking care of myself right now.
00:56:24I mean, that's what's, you know, that's the really hard part.
00:56:26And I think that that's the case for all new moms.
00:56:28You know, it's really hard to take care of yourself.
00:56:30Now I'm up with her at, you know, 1.30 and 3.30 and then getting up and being with
00:56:35five-year-olds
00:56:36who need your undivided attention all day.
00:56:38It's a lot.
00:56:40And I'm tired.
00:56:42So, yeah.
00:56:45Some of you have told me that you know this book.
00:56:49I love this book.
00:56:51Who knows what this book is called?
00:56:54If you're calling out, I'm definitely not going to call on you.
00:56:57Nia?
00:57:00After the Alamo, Texas becomes its own what?
00:57:03State.
00:57:04State.
00:57:06Becomes its own.
00:57:07Okay, Texas became its own country.
00:57:11Right now, I'm working seven days a week.
00:57:14Monday, Wednesday, Friday, up at six at work, you know, probably by at eight.
00:57:21Four, I'm done with my teaching because there's no sports going on right now.
00:57:25And then I make an hour commute to my other job where I work five to ten or 11 o
00:57:30'clock at night.
00:57:33You know, I've been doing it this way for, what, 15, 16 years.
00:57:38And, you know, I'm used to it.
00:57:39I can do it.
00:57:39But, you know, having the little one, you kind of want to spend more time with her.
00:57:45I'm not going to coach next year.
00:57:47You know, I've already let my principal know that I'm not coaching.
00:57:49Because I can work at the store with less hours than coaching requires and make more money.
00:57:56So, even though I love the coaching part, I think this is the most logical, you know, plan for me
00:58:02right now.
00:58:10I think that there would be a lot of kids that go on to become better young men for having
00:58:17had him as a coach while they were here.
00:58:18And so, you know, I hate to think about future years of kids where that may not be possible for
00:58:24them.
00:58:31If you walk into a freshman classroom of college, of college freshmen, and you say to them,
00:58:37how many of you would like to be a teacher if money were no object?
00:58:40You will find that 60, 70, 80 percent might raise their hand.
00:58:44Then you say to them, that same group, how many of you are planning on going into teaching?
00:58:49And only a few hands are raised.
00:58:51It's one of the things in teaching we don't talk about because, you know, we don't want to talk about
00:58:56money.
00:58:56We don't want to argue for our salaries.
00:58:58It's like the third rail of teaching.
00:59:00We talk about, like, I should be making more money.
00:59:03Okay, so the thing about teaching is, like, your money's set.
00:59:07And, like, you make a certain amount.
00:59:09And you have no control over, like, the level of stress as compared to the amount of money you make.
00:59:15And the level of struggle compared to the amount of money you make.
00:59:19Like, it's always going to be hard and a lot no matter what.
00:59:22Is this a unit down here?
00:59:23Yeah, that's a unit right there.
00:59:25Okay.
00:59:25This is a one-bedroom going.
00:59:27And how much did you rent it out for?
00:59:29I'm having a slow year, and I'm still making more than I made when I was teaching.
00:59:33Probably making twice as much as I made when I was teaching.
00:59:41I mean, if you were to say to me, if I were to make a lot more money, would I
00:59:45stay in the teaching?
00:59:46If that's all that would happen, I would probably say no.
00:59:49But I know that if, like, the salary went up, there would be, things would follow, because there would be
00:59:55more people who were invested.
00:59:57I hear you. I want to relax, too.
00:59:59Look, I'm in real estate.
01:00:00It's a pleasure meeting you, Larry.
01:00:01I know what happens when you, with money, the power of money.
01:00:06And it's a meaningful indicator of what is going to happen to you.
01:00:22I've often said that the problem with teacher compensation isn't starting salaries, it's the ending salary.
01:00:29Policymakers like to focus on the starting salary, because it's, of course, changing the starting salary by percentages is easier.
01:00:36It's a much smaller number.
01:00:37It's a relatively small number.
01:00:40But until we create opportunities for teachers, as they move into the heart of their careers to be good earners,
01:00:49great earners,
01:00:51then we won't have the ability to keep the kinds of stars we want in our profession.
01:00:56If you want somebody to stay in education, and you want them to feel fulfilled in their job,
01:01:01and you want them to feel like they can make a decent living at the same time,
01:01:05we've got to be more creative in the kinds of alternatives we provide for how we pay teachers.
01:01:13Ultimately, I think the issues in education today come down to a human capital problem.
01:01:19I don't think that you're going to be able to solve and reform some of the issues in public education,
01:01:27in failing schools and in failing students, without transforming the nature of teachers and the nature of teaching.
01:01:45So the premise behind the school is, let's bring the best teachers to the students in schools who need them
01:01:52the most.
01:01:53I've seen that when you put teachers who have amazing content knowledge, who are great pedagogues,
01:02:00and who love kids in a room, you can do amazing things.
01:02:06All the teachers of the school will make a base salary starting at $125,000.
01:02:12That's completely funded by the public funds.
01:02:16And that was a deliberate decision so that other schools can say to themselves,
01:02:21legitimately, we can do this too.
01:02:23If we want to reallocate our funds, we can.
01:02:25TEP's idea of paying teachers a competitive salary attracted the attention of Rena Jacy in New Jersey.
01:02:33I decided to apply to TEP because I thought it was really exciting and interesting that Zeke found a way
01:02:43to pay teachers
01:02:44this incredible amount of money and to raise the level of expectations.
01:02:50It's not like, all of a sudden, people who are bad teachers, if you pay them more money, are going
01:02:56to become good teachers.
01:02:57And it's not like people who are good teachers need the money to motivate them.
01:03:02If people think that's the goal of the project, they're deeply mistaken.
01:03:07The point about money is it does have a catalytic effect on a lot of things.
01:03:13So, if you increase teacher salaries, you change the perception of what it means to be a teacher.
01:03:22TEP received 600 applications from all over the country, and they hired eight teachers.
01:03:28Rena Jacy was one of them.
01:03:30I thought it would be exciting, an exciting change,
01:03:33and to be part of sort of the national dialogue around education and around compensation for teachers.
01:03:40TEP isn't the only place committing to better conditions and salaries for teachers.
01:03:45Districts and schools are doing so, with remarkable results.
01:03:50Greensboro, North Carolina, increased teacher compensation
01:03:53and in three years saw its teacher attrition rate drop from 29 percent to 14 percent.
01:03:59At the same time, student graduation rates rose almost 12 percent.
01:04:03In 2005, Denver instituted a new system called Pro Comp, which increases teachers' pay and accountability.
01:04:10Since that time, teacher retention has risen, and student dropout rates have plummeted 42 percent.
01:04:16And in Washington, D.C., administrators have realigned the whole system.
01:04:20The sort of paradigm we're trying to shift to is, yeah, this is really hard work.
01:04:25And some of you are knocking it out of the park.
01:04:29And to treat you like the real professionals you are,
01:04:31we want to make sure that you've got the money you deserve.
01:04:35And that, to me, shifts things.
01:04:37Now it's about being excellent, and it's not just thank you for doing it,
01:04:40but thank you for doing it and doing it well.
01:04:43And by the way, if you're not doing it well, we're going to try to help you out.
01:04:46But if that continues, you're not going to be here too long.
01:04:49And that changes the profession, again, from one of a, hey, thanks for doing it,
01:04:54to a, hey, you've got to be excellent to be doing this.
01:04:57And that is where we're trying to shift.
01:04:59Remember that stat about where the United States stands in terms of test scores internationally?
01:05:05The three top-performing countries are Finland, Singapore, and South Korea.
01:05:09And it turns out there's a correlation between teacher conditions and student achievement.
01:05:14So what do these countries do that we don't?
01:05:18First of all, they make it tough to get into teacher training programs.
01:05:22The government actually recruits top college students.
01:05:25The next thing they do is pay for teachers to get trained.
01:05:29In the U.S., we make teachers pay for their own training,
01:05:32which puts them more in debt just as they're about to take their low-paying teacher salary.
01:05:36Speaking of which, the salaries in these countries give teachers purchasing power
01:05:40of at least two and a half times what teachers have in the U.S.
01:05:44And in these countries, the work environment is highly professional.
01:05:48It would be unheard of for a teacher to be buying supplies out of their own pocket.
01:05:52And because training is selective and rigorous,
01:05:55the prestige afforded the profession in these countries is great.
01:05:59In Finland, for example,
01:06:01teaching is the most admired job among top college students,
01:06:04outpolling even law and medicine.
01:06:07Not surprisingly, those who go into teaching in Singapore, South Korea, and Finland
01:06:12assume it will be their career.
01:06:14And because they're well-paid and well-supported,
01:06:17they rarely leave the profession.
01:06:22I remember the president said in his State of the Union speech that the best
01:06:28anti-poverty program is world-class education.
01:06:33And part of having a world-class education is having teachers like Dierman.
01:06:39Part-time, I work with youth, too, over at my other job.
01:06:45And to have a teacher that's so powerful in your life
01:06:48means the teacher will do anything for you.
01:06:52I guess I'll see you guys after course.
01:06:55Okay.
01:06:56All right.
01:06:58Give me some sugar!
01:07:03Dierman was, like, one of the only people from leadership
01:07:06to call me after my father was killed.
01:07:08It was just, like, the end of the world for me.
01:07:10It was terrible.
01:07:11And Dierman called me just to see if I needed anything.
01:07:14And, like, I hadn't talked to him in years.
01:07:17But, like, he found my cell phone number through somebody else and just called me.
01:07:23Having a teacher that's, that you can trust, you know, that will change lives.
01:07:30Good afternoon.
01:07:32I am Rena Jacy, and I would like to proudly present my fifth grade class for graduation.
01:07:45For my Seth Boyd and friends, we shared special times together.
01:07:50We learned, we laughed, we grew together.
01:07:52We celebrated our family feast and Halloween.
01:07:56We explored the great swamp and the mines.
01:07:58We created inventions and electric circuits.
01:08:02We cooperated during Peel Day and Marvel time.
01:08:06CJ, I am so proud of you.
01:08:08We learned about the world.
01:08:10We learned about each other.
01:08:12And in time, we became a school family that shared in each other's joy.
01:08:16A caring community that supported every girl and boy.
01:08:23Girly girl.
01:08:24I saw your mom.
01:08:26She said you're really happy this year, right?
01:08:29You're happy?
01:08:30I'm so proud of you.
01:08:31You've come a long way, haven't you?
01:08:33Keep it up, okay?
01:08:34I'm glad that she's leaving, like, when I'm leaving too, so it's not like, um, so it's not
01:08:45like she's leaving and I'll still be in this school and I won't have a chance to really be
01:08:51with her that often.
01:08:52But I'm also kind of sad because I know, like, even when I leave and go to middle school,
01:08:58I can still, I can still, like, come back and have a chance to say hi to my little teachers
01:09:05and she, I, Ms. Jacey won't be there for me to say hi to.
01:09:10So, it's kind of sad.
01:09:14Even though it is time for me to go, we will all continue to learn and laugh and grow.
01:09:21And our fond memories will link us forever together.
01:09:26You like it?
01:09:26Yes!
01:09:30What encourages me is the amazing dedication, perseverance, and commitment that we see among
01:09:44educators in our schools, despite all of the challenges and the obstacles that are continually
01:09:51put in their path.
01:09:53So, I'm optimistic.
01:10:01When I stopped pumping, the whole world changed for me.
01:10:05And I think because I had to go back so early, I was just pumping for so long, you know,
01:10:10and
01:10:10it was, it was, it was really hard.
01:10:13And I, I didn't feel like I was living at all.
01:10:16Hello!
01:10:17Who's a happy girl and a daddy with a big stain on his shirt?
01:10:24Hello!
01:10:25Hello!
01:10:25Hello!
01:10:27Hi!
01:10:28Hi!
01:10:28Hi!
01:10:29Yeah, I feel so much better now.
01:10:32It has been a very hard year.
01:10:34And a wonderful, amazing year.
01:10:37But also a really, really, really hard year.
01:10:50The stuff that really matters to teachers, we say, oh, well, research doesn't support that.
01:10:55Or, oh, you know, that's too expensive.
01:10:58If we can't change that, or that's, you know, too complex and we can't, we can't figure out
01:11:03how to solve those out of school problems.
01:11:05Well, that's not true.
01:11:06I mean, this is the most innovative entrepreneurial country in the world.
01:11:10The naysayers, the people who say, well, this is the way it's always been and this is the
01:11:13way it's always going to be, well, get out of the way.
01:11:15It's over.
01:11:17I do love my job.
01:11:18Yesterday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day, which we celebrate here at Horace Mann,
01:11:23thanks to our vice principal.
01:11:25It was pretty fun.
01:11:26Yeah, this is why I love my kids, too, because I think more often than not, they don't get
01:11:31to see how fun it can be, and I adore them, and I adore the opportunity to teach them.
01:11:37And I try my best at all times, and that's really all I can do, but I definitely give
01:11:44everything I've got to them, and I will keep doing that for as long as I'm teaching, and
01:11:48if I can't find I can't do that anymore, I'll probably stop teaching.
01:12:06My son just graduated from college this year, and he's making way more selling cell phones
01:12:10for Verizon than he ever could as a teacher.
01:12:13And while I'm glad he's not in my pocket anymore, I mean, something's wrong when selling
01:12:18cell phones is more important to our society than being a teacher.
01:12:22It doesn't seem fair.
01:12:24You know, I have a college degree, and yet I'm working two jobs to make ends meet, to pay
01:12:29my obligations.
01:12:31It'd be nice if they could come up with a way, you know, where I didn't have to work
01:12:35that much, but I don't want to see myself ever leaving teaching just because it's what
01:12:39I know, it's what I love, I feel like that's where I fit.
01:12:57Democracy depends on an educated citizenry, and today more than ever we depend on an educated
01:13:04workforce, and educated to levels that we have never seen before, even in the elite.
01:13:10So we have a compelling public interest to have better schools than what we've got now.
01:13:16At Seth Boyden, I worked long hours, took work home, but I couldn't afford to pay my rent
01:13:22in the summer because we weren't paid from June, middle of June to middle of September.
01:13:27I have two master's degrees, like, I worked really hard, you know, and I was making $45,000
01:13:32a year, it was like, in New Jersey, which is an expensive place to live.
01:13:39So now I work really hard, but I can afford takeout when I get home and I'm too tired to
01:13:44cook.
01:13:54If we want a nation that is going to be a learning nation, that is going to be able to
01:13:59succeed
01:14:00in the global knowledge-based economy that exists.
01:14:05We need a profession full of experts, dedicated, supported, experienced teachers who are going
01:14:13to raise up the youth of the nation.
01:14:16I mean, and I think that's a lot.
01:14:18We have four leads that we're...
01:14:20Four hot, hard leads, not just names and names.
01:14:23No, no, no, no, people who have expressed interest are buying.
01:14:38Today I must have been asked, like, three or four times, like, do you miss teaching?
01:14:41And yeah, I do.
01:14:42It's nothing better than working with a bunch of young people and being around their discovery.
01:14:48They would say, look at what you made me do, but, you know, they did it, and, like, there
01:14:52was ownership in that, and kids, like, turning stuff in that they're proud of, like, let me
01:14:58tell you what I did, before I give you this, let me tell you what I did, you know, those
01:15:02moments.
01:15:03You don't get that anywhere else, you only get that working in the classroom.
01:15:06It's the best job in the world, no comparison.
01:15:39Call yourself you are a flashback
01:15:43Your ankles up your tooth cause the truth made you bad
01:15:48But oh god damn, if you wanted it you would
01:15:52Or goddamn if you wanted it, you would
01:15:57I would not ask anymore
01:15:59I cannot ask any more
01:16:29Se inscreva no canal
01:16:52Se inscreva no canal
01:17:35Se inscreva no canal
01:18:05Se inscreva no canal
01:18:34Se inscreva no canal
01:19:04Se inscreva no canal
01:19:35Se inscreva no canal
01:19:36Se inscreva no canal
01:19:47Se inscreva no canal