Literacy News » Teaching Literacy

Why do teachers complain so much?

brian — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:42:19 +0000

Comparative to other professions, they do very little work and results would seem to indicate that many do it badly. Some fail to teach basic numeracy and literacy and then complain they don’t get paid enough and demand a pay rise.
They work the shortest hours of any profession. and get approximately 13 weeks unofficial holiday a year and then complain about being overworked.

There are some good teachers out there, but some of them need to get a job in the real world to find out what hard work truly is.
I agree Nina, there are some great teachers out there who do not feel the need to slur students or parents in order to cover up their own incompetence.
Unfortunately, many of you did not read my question correctly. I never said that all teachers complain or did their jobs badly. There are some wonderful teachers, they educate, inspire and positively contribute to the development of their students. They don’t complain and enjoy their work. However they are vastly outnumbered by bad teachers who do not have the emotional or intellectual capabilities to do the job, and therefore complain and blame everyone else for their lack of success.

Some of the answers here have been great, but some of the answers have betrayed frightening ignorance. I hope those people really weren’t teachers.
To the homeschoolers who have defended teachers so vehemently, please have a thought about the parents and students who have come to home schooling because of the appalling actions of some teachers.

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Give me feedback.. What does it mean to be a high school writer?

brian — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:42:09 +0000

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What Does It Mean To Be A High School Writer?
Different theories effect how literacy influences adolescents today. In 1980, many scholars believed memorization was the way to literacy in England (Rigby pg. 459). In Rome, learning phonics was the path to a literate life (Bertonneau spara. 4), Now, Riesland argues over whether writing is even necessary to be considered literate (Riesland para 9). Knowing these alternative teaching methods we are urged to conform to each teacher’s classification. High school writing is a game, we start playing it at a very young age. The purpose is to write according to what you think the teacher find acceptable. We write with caution since the finished result will be picked apart and inspected.
When in class, everything that we do is based on the grade. We take notes, not on what we believe is interesting, but on what we think the teacher believes is important, our own ideas are pushed aside to make room for the instructor’s thoughts. The whole concept of high school is to obtain an ‘A’, even at elementary level, when students are given a task they reluctantly grab a pen and halfheartedly jot down something, anything apt enough to obtain the grade that they want. Will they write to their fullest potential if they already wrote what will get them a satisfactory grade? No, they will simply leave their paper as is, total “bull” (Perry.); lacking the “umph” it needed to be an honorable piece of literature.
We lack motivation and are too lazy to think. “Thinking, as Voltaire avowed, is a very tedious process which men or women will do anything to avoid.” (Hunt) We need a society that does not just look at grades. William Perry, a scholar who studied the relation between education and the development of personality, concluded that universities are looking for a black and white answer. Perry contrasts two epistemologies, one he calls “bull”, and the other known as “cow”. Essentially, bull is more analytical, and does not involve data or facts. Conversely, cow is pure textbook fact. According to Perry, “the grades which we assign on examinations communicate to students what [the professors beliefs] may be” Who is to judge if your paper is literate or not? According to Gee, literacy is based on your social context. If you can “[use] language and [make] sense in [your] speech and writing” you are considered literate. (Gee.) Is the paper fully cow or is it pure bull, and how does one decide which acquires a better grade if they are both deserving of E’s?
High school writer is being locked into a specific definition for the word ‘literacy’. Different areas have different expectations, Street argues that there is no definition for the word literacy; it “is not a measure… of skills, but [of] social practices that vary from one context to another.”(Street.) Riesland says that the “definition of literacy is outdated and that the new definition must account for the technologically evolving landscape.”( Riesland para. 2-3) A variety of people will judge what they think literacy is differently. A wealthy Maine Line teacher’s idea of it is going to be extremely dissimilar to an elderly teacher in Uganda. Literacy has to do with relativity of people and the context they use it in.
After delving into the many different pieces talking about literature I feel that I am more lost now than I was when I started writing this paper. Gee, Hunt, Street, and Perry are all intellectuals with totally different perspectives on the topic of literacy. I learned that there is no correct way of measuring if someone is literate or not. A high school writer is just conforming to their teacher’s theory. I hope after you read this you will learn to think outside of the box, no one thinks in black and white, so do not be afraid to write in color. Students should stop cheating themselves of insightful work. It is better to argue something and find challenging questions, than to accept something as is. Even if you never get hold of an answer, it is more rewarding to know you strived for it. That sense of accomplishment is the best feeling you will ever have.

Works Cited
Bertonneau, Thomas. “Phonics, “Whole Language,” and Literacy: the Alphabet and American Education.” Michigan Education Report 10 Feb. 2000. 29 Feb. 2008 .
Gee, J. “11 Orality and Literacy: From the Savage Mind to Ways with Words” (2004): 169-169.
Hunt, D, “Misunderstanding the Assignment.” (2002): 62-65.
Perry, William G. “Examsmanship and the Liberal Arts.” 51-54.
Riesland, Erin. “Visual Literacy and the Classroom.” New Horizons for Learning. Mar. 2005. 29 Feb. 2008 .
Rigby, Stephen H. A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages. Blackwell, 2002. Google Book Search. 29 Feb. 2008 .
Street, B. “Literacies Across Cultural Contexts.” Encyclopedia of Language and Literacy 2 (2008): 2-3.
I want people to disagree and argue with my idea
this is for school so please, I need feedback and I want you to dispute my idea

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Do you think it would be a good idea if men read the Bible to their wives atleast on a weekly basis?

brian — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:42:28 +0000

I think it would be a great idea. Its nice that we have the modern invention of the printing press that makes Bible’s available to many and a higher literacy rate now than ever before. I think it is a man’s responsibility to atleast teach his family all of the 613 commandments in the Bible and the history of the ancients so they can learn how to be good women.

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please help guys! any ideas?

brian — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:42:10 +0000

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Im currently doing a teaching assistant level 2 course and and stuck on my 2nd assignment! Im currently working with a group of Year 5 students who are aged 9-10 year olds. I need to know what acticvity will be suitable to do with this group age?!!! i havent got a clue! i would like it to cover literacy, numeracy and ict. anyone have any ideas?

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year 5, 9-10 years old???

brian — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:42:18 +0000

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Teachers Please Read?

brian — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:42:17 +0000

Does anyone know of any good employment websites for areas in education…ex: literacy coach, reading specialist, student support, etc (ANYTHNG except of teaching in classroom…been there done that)

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Quitting a job while in college?

brian — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:42:18 +0000

Okay, here’s my situation:

Lately, I’ve been really considering leaving my current job (Albertsons grocery store) so I can just focus all of my attention on college instead of focusing my attention on both. I’ve been working at the store for 2 years now (started off as a bagger, got promoted to bakery) but I’ve been really unhappy with it. I don’t get paid good wages, management is a joke (especcially our store director), and it’s not getting me anywhere in terms of future career. I’m pretty much stuck in a dead end job that I’m unhappy with.

Recently, we got the paperwork done by the VA (veterans administration) that would really help pay for the school (because my dad was a vietnam vet) and those benefits would really help me. I still live with my mom (who is really supportive of me) and I don’t really have any bills to pay. She stated that with these benefits paying for school, I don’t have to work at all if I didn’t wanted to. I do want to work but I’ve come to the realization that my job is getting me nowhere and that I was wasting my time. And to make matters worse, I’m going to become a literacy tudor next month so I can get some teaching experience for my future career (ESL teaching), which is something my job will interfere in.

I realize that quitting my job now will not only take away my source of secondary income but also make it harder for me to get another job in the future. Is what I’m doing crazy? Would quitting my job hurt me in the future?

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Thinking of quitting. What should I do?

I need help with grammar?

brian — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:42:15 +0000

How would i combine these sentences w.out comma splices or fused sent.
1. Several recent studies indicate that many American high school students have a poor sense of history. This is affecting out future as a democratic nation and as indivduals
2. Surveys show that nearly one-thrd of American 17 year olds cannot identify the countries the U.S. fought against in WW2. One third think Columbus reached the New World after 1750
3. Several reasons have been given for this decline in historical literacy. The main reason is the way hisory is taught.
4. This problem is bad news. The good news is that there is increasing agreement among educators about what is wrong with current methods of teaching history.
5. History can be exciting and engaging. Too often it is presented in a boring manner.
6. Students are typically expected to memorize dates, facts, and names. History as asventure-as a “good story”- is freqently neglected.
Plzz help. thank u

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Thinking of quitting. What should I do?

brian — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:42:26 +0000

I’ve been sick lately (had to take the past week off) and work in a public school, teaching third grade. Everyone says I got all the “bad kids” and somedays it has really felt like it. Anyway, today i returned to work even though I wasn’t feeling well. I threw up at school and was told to take some TUMS or Pepto and go back to my class, even with a fever (doctor had told me that if my fever came back, I was supposed to go back home). Later the principal came and yelled at me for not having something that the literacy coach told me that she would help me with last week. After all of the scrutiny and nobody willing to help me, I’m thinking maybe I should just talk to the superintendent about resigning for “health reasons.” The stress of this job has made it hard for me to get over anything this school year. Should I quit? What should I do?
The principal mentioned today when she was yelling at me that she doesn’t think I’ve been doing a good job so far (even though all of my evaluations have been great). I feel like by being sick and depressed, I’m not helping the kids at all by being there.

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Quitting a job while in college?

I AM LOOKING FOR A RICH / WEALTHY PERSON WHO WOULD MENTOR AND or TEACH ME!!?

brian — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:42:16 +0000

I am twenty three years of age and i am teachable. Wanting to learn how to become wealthy. I might as will state that at this point i have no real money to start with. I am a fast learning apprentice,I am already fairly will equipped with some of the basics of financial literacy. I am especially interested in someone who could teach me about at least one of the following, Discount Note Brokering, Stock Investing with a system called Invest tools,Real Estate,Network Marketing / ( M L M ). P.S. If you are not wanting to teach me yourself then please fund my education!!

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