Pay the Teacher
The late Harlan Ellison always stood up for what he believed in, and quite frequently what he believed in was getting paid for his work.
Watch this. The video contains profanity and rightfully so. This post does too, something I don't ever use in my public writing, but in this case, it's warranted.
Teachers should take a lesson from Ellison. I keep reading on Twitter about how teachers shouldn't have to pay teachers for lesson plans and everyone should share freely what they have created and I feel like I am now expected to go around singing, "Kumbaya."
BULLSHIT.
This is absolutely, positively the wrong approach to take. I studied hard, paid for a good education, taught for 32 years, and my expertise is not free. I have been asked 1,000 times to write lesson plans for this school activity or assessments for that one, and every last time I say the same thing: I will absolutely do that for you. How much does it pay? Every last time, I'd hear a sputter. "Why, we'll give you release time." Um, thanks, but no thanks. Making me write lesson plans for a substitute is not compensation. It's more work for no pay, and my students suffer. In my school system, and I'm sure in many others, there is a negotiated pay rate for curriculum writing. It's there for a reason. Work done outside your normal job description should be compensated at the agreed upon rate. The end.
So, why is it, then, that teachers do it anyway? "It's for the children," they say. More bullshit. It's a mandate by administration, and if you stick together and refuse to do it for free, they'd pay you. The median age of teachers is shrinking rapidly, and we old guard-types aren't hanging around to show them the ropes. We get dismissed out of hand because we actually want to be paid for our work. "Teaching is a calling," "It's just who I am." "You're just burned out." You know what? You go all out in your classroom and I respect the hell out of that. But if you do free work for someone who is going to use that fact to get promoted onward and upward within administration, and you are simply a chump.
Enjoy being a sucker for the next 30 years because once they find out they can get it out of you without paying you, you'll never stand a chance of regaining what so many of us fought for before you were even born.
It's not noble. It's not heroic. It's stupid.
The same goes for Teachers Pay Teachers. I keep reading about how teachers shouldn't profit from other teachers.
BULLSHIT.
My TpT Solution Squad Primer Full Package includes a 113-screen digital comic that I wrote and lettered and PAID an artist $4,800 to draw. Am I supposed to give it away for free? How are we supposed to create more original materials that are creative and attention-grabbing like my comic? Play the lottery? If you are creating something on your own time that is better than what someone else can come up with on their own because you have the skill, talent, knowledge, and drive to do so, you deserve to be paid for that. Teachers do not take a vow of poverty, and we are not required to sell our services to Pearson for pennies on the dollar for our efforts. The work of teacher entrepreneurs are like what charter schools were supposed to be: Something outside the everyday that makes students stand up and notice. It's your chance to experiment, try new things, and get paid for it. Stop dismissing the idea out of hand because you are already woefully underpaid.
Because if you are underpaid, maybe you should have demanded curriculum rate for those free lesson plans and tests you wrote.
Watch this. The video contains profanity and rightfully so. This post does too, something I don't ever use in my public writing, but in this case, it's warranted.
Teachers should take a lesson from Ellison. I keep reading on Twitter about how teachers shouldn't have to pay teachers for lesson plans and everyone should share freely what they have created and I feel like I am now expected to go around singing, "Kumbaya."
BULLSHIT.
This is absolutely, positively the wrong approach to take. I studied hard, paid for a good education, taught for 32 years, and my expertise is not free. I have been asked 1,000 times to write lesson plans for this school activity or assessments for that one, and every last time I say the same thing: I will absolutely do that for you. How much does it pay? Every last time, I'd hear a sputter. "Why, we'll give you release time." Um, thanks, but no thanks. Making me write lesson plans for a substitute is not compensation. It's more work for no pay, and my students suffer. In my school system, and I'm sure in many others, there is a negotiated pay rate for curriculum writing. It's there for a reason. Work done outside your normal job description should be compensated at the agreed upon rate. The end.
So, why is it, then, that teachers do it anyway? "It's for the children," they say. More bullshit. It's a mandate by administration, and if you stick together and refuse to do it for free, they'd pay you. The median age of teachers is shrinking rapidly, and we old guard-types aren't hanging around to show them the ropes. We get dismissed out of hand because we actually want to be paid for our work. "Teaching is a calling," "It's just who I am." "You're just burned out." You know what? You go all out in your classroom and I respect the hell out of that. But if you do free work for someone who is going to use that fact to get promoted onward and upward within administration, and you are simply a chump.
Enjoy being a sucker for the next 30 years because once they find out they can get it out of you without paying you, you'll never stand a chance of regaining what so many of us fought for before you were even born.
It's not noble. It's not heroic. It's stupid.
The same goes for Teachers Pay Teachers. I keep reading about how teachers shouldn't profit from other teachers.
BULLSHIT.
My TpT Solution Squad Primer Full Package includes a 113-screen digital comic that I wrote and lettered and PAID an artist $4,800 to draw. Am I supposed to give it away for free? How are we supposed to create more original materials that are creative and attention-grabbing like my comic? Play the lottery? If you are creating something on your own time that is better than what someone else can come up with on their own because you have the skill, talent, knowledge, and drive to do so, you deserve to be paid for that. Teachers do not take a vow of poverty, and we are not required to sell our services to Pearson for pennies on the dollar for our efforts. The work of teacher entrepreneurs are like what charter schools were supposed to be: Something outside the everyday that makes students stand up and notice. It's your chance to experiment, try new things, and get paid for it. Stop dismissing the idea out of hand because you are already woefully underpaid.
Because if you are underpaid, maybe you should have demanded curriculum rate for those free lesson plans and tests you wrote.
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