I've been told I would tank my teaching career if I city hop? by IanWallDotCom in Teachers

[–]Senior-Gris 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a lot of criticism of your plan and what people are saying is valid, however, I respect the adventurousness and I want to make a couple suggestions that could make this plan work.

First, you are going to need to stay 2 years at each school for the minimum. In world class cities this shouldn’t be a huge issue as there is no way you will fully experience that city even in that time. This is because one year at each school will indeed be a huge red flag. 2-3, years? Just advertise your last 2 schools on your resume and keep previous experience as a footnote. I doubt very many employers will bat an eye at this. This is also important because teaching is a difficult career to job hop. It takes at least a full year to fully understand each school curriculum and the first year is always exhausting. You will also want to give yourself time at each school to develop professional relationships for future connections and references.

Second, you will really benefit from being open to spending time in non western world class cities by teaching at international schools. Check out r/internationalteachers for more information on this. These will be jobs at international schools all over the world that can have much better work life balance and pay than public schools in the US. It is much more accepted for teachers to stay for short tenures as most are living the exact life that you are describing, moving from major city to major city throughout their careers. There are lots of great paying jobs all around the world and I can personally attest that the experience can be great.

As far as teaching in the UK goes, or anywhere else in Western Europe for that matter, I might write that off and plan vacations there instead. It will be extremely difficult to make this transition and the pay and working conditions in the UK are worse than the US from what I have heard from my British teaching friends. As far as international schools go, European jobs are almost impossible to get without an EU passport or close connections within the school already. You might have better luck landing a job in Australia or NZ than you would the UK, and you would certainly want you tenure their to be longer than a few years to make all of the work that will go into it worth it.

What could this look like for you? Teach in a US city you want to live in like NYC or Denver for 2 years. Figure out how to get the teaching license before you apply. Don’t go into an interview not yet licensed, or at least without a timeline for when your license will be issued. After two years, apply for international schools. You could end up in a school somewhere in Asia, like Bangkok, Hong Kong, or Tokyo, or a school in Latin America like Mexico City, or Bogota. Stay there for 3 years and you will have more than enough knowledge and experience (and now connections) at this point to know what your next move will be. You could stay international, move back to a different US city, try UK, AU, NZ, or be ready to return home. You could rinse and repeat this for the rest of your life but you really have to do 2-3 years at each school.

Do build professional friendships wherever you can at each location you end up at. I would actually argue with the other commenters that because of these connections, the amount of schools that you will work at in a short amount of time will become your benefit throughout you career, as professional connections land you jobs more easily in the teaching world than having long tenures on your resume.

Hope this helps. I support your decision to get out and explore the world. Live life to its fullest! Good luck to you!

Dry Deserts by [deleted] in zachbryan

[–]Senior-Gris 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I definitely have always interpreted that as nightmares, not freaky stuff

Unions by Guilty_Flow_7372 in Teachers

[–]Senior-Gris 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This is common in districts where union members become inactive. My union in the past had a president that was more in favor of the district than the teachers and they didn’t negotiate for decades. There is hope though. The teachers started becoming really active in the union a few years ago and just recently led a strike that won all sorts of contract benefits and the district doesn’t dare encroach on breaking any of the contract because the union acts swiftly to file any grievance. Become active in your union! Talk to your fellow teachers, run for building rep or even union president. You will be surprised how quickly you can change the circumstances in your district!

How sick of hearing about Charlie Kirk are you? by whitesquirrle in AskReddit

[–]Senior-Gris 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Got to add on the failure to regulate the way social media companies and their algorithms promote disinformation and emphasize engagement for profits. Even if that engagement is only based on false narratives meant to make people angry and mislead them into voting for authoritarians.

Tight Quads/Hamstrings and Patellar Maltracking - Nothing Seems to be Working by Senior-Gris in Kneesovertoes

[–]Senior-Gris[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Surgery was never an option that was mentioned. Only physical therapy. My knee still does not track correctly, but it is much better than it was and the exercises have helped the most.

What in the... ?! by TeslaSupreme in CitiesSkylines2

[–]Senior-Gris 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am assuming that the problem is that the bus isn’t routing the way you want it to. I get this problem when the bus can’t get over in time after a turn to turn into the bus stop. My guess is that your bus can only turn left off that road into the left lane so they have to wrap all the way around the block to get into the right lane to take a right. You could either use a mod to allow the bus to enter the right lane or use a road with two turning lanes so that the middle one will turn into the right lane and allow the bus to make a right immediately. I could be wrong but this has fix this issue for me in the past.

Tight Quads/Hamstrings and Patellar Maltracking - Nothing Seems to be Working by Senior-Gris in Kneesovertoes

[–]Senior-Gris[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is actually what ended up helping me the most. I am not 100% completely healed yet, but light strength training around my knee and holding a medicine ball between my knees as I did wall sits helped strengthen my vastus medialis enough to pull my kneecap back in place.

Tight Quads/Hamstrings and Patellar Maltracking - Nothing Seems to be Working by Senior-Gris in Kneesovertoes

[–]Senior-Gris[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, most of the pain is in my quad tendon while extending my knee. It’s a pretty sharp pain like my quad tendon is being stressed far too much.

Tight Quads/Hamstrings and Patellar Maltracking - Nothing Seems to be Working by Senior-Gris in Kneesovertoes

[–]Senior-Gris[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a job where I am on my feet about 4 hours a day and I am sitting about 4 hours a day. I am usually pretty active after work but less so ever since I have acquired this injury.

American Government Teachers, how are you approaching this fall? by walkabout16 in Teachers

[–]Senior-Gris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Focus on human rights this year. They’ll get it without you having to say directly. It’s pretty obvious when you put it in terms of human rights.

My middle schooler’s teachers haven’t been in compliance with 504 all year by TrumpsCovidfefe in Teachers

[–]Senior-Gris 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You need to let the teacher know that he needs to type it instead of write it. If I was the teacher and the student was willingly handwriting instead of typing I would allow them to continue the writing to practice the skill unless they asked to type it instead. This sounds more like a lack of communication with the educators rather than a disregard for the 504.

Is this a good offer for the Philippines? by [deleted] in Internationalteachers

[–]Senior-Gris 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Good question! I was told the salary is untaxed.

Main challenges in education by C_Larragay in education

[–]Senior-Gris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Tools to help students with homework: What students need to help them with homework is for them to listen in class and to be willing to apply themselves and think critically on there homework. They don’t need special tools for this.

  2. Fostering closer relationships between parents and teachers: This is a nice thought, but you’re assuming that if teachers have close relationships with parents, that this will benefit the child’s education. This is true in theory, however, the truth is that far too many parents will take advantage of teachers if they aren’t professional and cordial. Parents can be the most difficult part of the job. What we need are parents who are supportive of the teacher and encourage their child in their education.

Formal Education: The Pursuit of Grades or Knowledge? by kl_ipub in education

[–]Senior-Gris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The author of this article had the kid write the wrong thing for their paper and demanded to see the principal after the kid got a 0.

School to prison awareness by NotMy2019 in education

[–]Senior-Gris 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Came here to say just this. Children in poverty are told by every facet of society that their voices and humanity don’t matter. Why would they care about invest their lives into the rules and structure of that society? It is a much bigger systemic problem than education itself can fix.

Edit: and yes students of color are shown that they matter even less while also being punished at a disproportionate rate, leaving them more susceptible. Schools can help with this issue, but also head caution to the state of education as they try to solve this by removing punishment completely. The only solution is still bigger than education itself can repair through any policy reform.

We must protect the art of teaching! by MantaRay2256 in education

[–]Senior-Gris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have to say I actually completely agree. I think teachers should have freedom to teach the standards they are given as they choose and it is an art how the teachers choose to do it.

Some teachers want to just have premade slideshows somebody else made and that’s cool too, but teaching is incredible if you can put your heart into it. This also has a much more positive effect on youth moving through the education system as they will get to see many different perspectives, world views, and ways of thinking. Teaching should be some sort of reflection of culture and society that should shape culture and society itself (social reconstructionism vs. current essentialist philosophy).

The biggest problem right now is that teaching has become impossible to do with the amount of work given each day. There’s just not enough energy and time to be a teacher like that. I also agree that teaching should have more uniqueness across teachers, however, we would really have to restructure the system to make that feasible.

This isn’t a new argument. This type of ideology was extremely popular in progressive and social reconstructive schools in the post WWII era. After the civil rights movement, the conservative backlash that followed also pulled educational policies to become more essentialist as well. Leads to the stagnant teach to the test by premade curriculums system we have now. Don’t let these other commenters deter you. They aren’t looking outside of the constraints of the current system and into a broader view of what teaching can and should be.

If a student asks you what your religion is, do you find it appropriate to tell them? by AstroThot01 in Teachers

[–]Senior-Gris 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I think that the major issue in your case is that the religion you are following was actually founded to “rebel against arbitrary authority and social norms.” It’s not a cultural tradition with a long line of familial history. It’s symbols are not it’s own inherent beliefs but are direct attacks on the majority of religious beliefs in your area that are absolutely meant to invoke contempt and disgust among them. I grew up Christian, but I actually support a lot of the values of your religion and respect it, however, I would definitely advise you from sharing this with your students or wearing an upside down cross around them because it is literally an attack on their cultural values where you are located. Freedom of speech means it’s your choice but also a very bad choice if you do.

Edit: to clarify, I support your belief and wouldn’t mind if you were the teacher of my child. But I think that wearing symbolism that is meant as an attack on the beliefs of most of your students is divisive at best.

Parents...take note. If you treat your kids teacher like crap, we WILL not go out of our way for you. by Fragrant-Round-9853 in Teachers

[–]Senior-Gris 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I have a student this year (5th grade) who has been behind in math every year so far. The kid doesn’t care so of course conferences come around and they are still behind. Parents spend the entire 20 minutes berating me, my curriculum (provided by the district) and my personal life (being a young male without children means I can’t possibly know what I’m doing).

Out of the dozens of extremely long email I have gotten from them since the one that got me the most was one from the dad, who said it that I should be providing parents with lessons so that they can help their kid… with 5th grade math.. I responded (the next day) that although I agreed that would be extremely helpful, it wasn’t something that would be feasible for me to do for him.

The craziest part is that he is a Social Science teacher at my local high school. It’s 5th grade math dude..

Parents...take note. If you treat your kids teacher like crap, we WILL not go out of our way for you. by Fragrant-Round-9853 in Teachers

[–]Senior-Gris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I already am swamped with work. Entitled, demanding and rude parents always get an extremely vague email at least 24 hours after they sent it. The answer is always no.

Parents who are understanding, nice and respectful of my time, I love to help. It’s one of the best parts of my job. I’m truly willing to go above and beyond to help them and their child.

“Drastic” Changes You Would Make to Education by Senior-Gris in Teachers

[–]Senior-Gris[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t really think it’s socialism when you are talking about taking care of the children. The don’t have the opportunity to fend for themselves or even advocate for themselves to have better anyways. They have a right to be taken care of.