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So, I’m a little nervous.


MoseySusan

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15 hours ago, Kirby said:

If they're meeting someone who is there to help them, they shouldn't be so quick to leave (or not show up).

You’d think. But I had just such happen earlier this year with a first year teacher who had asked for help learning how to use an online database of periodicals. Then she sent me an email that since I wasn’t there, she left. Except I was there, only I arrived after she had arrived instead of before her. She didn’t wait. 

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48 minutes ago, roadsue said:

You’d think. But I had just such happen earlier this year with a first year teacher who had asked for help learning how to use an online database of periodicals. Then she sent me an email that since I wasn’t there, she left. Except I was there, only I arrived after she had arrived instead of before her. She didn’t wait. 

...what do you expect ? They're teachers for god's sake.  Those who can, learn; those who can't, teach.  ( I kill me sometimes. :) )

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3 minutes ago, roadsue said:

It’s gratifying work, preparing the next generation of teachers. A noble calling...

...better you than me.  As you might already have deduced, I often fail in the nobility department. Neither noble nor ignoble, I continue to struggle in the search for meaning. :(

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10 hours ago, No One said:

...what do you expect ? They're teachers for god's sake.  Those who can, learn; those who can't, teach.  ( I kill me sometimes. :) )

That's true sometimes, but the requirement of teachers today that they actually major in a subject - not major just in education - has raised the bar.

Additionally, you get people like me who completed grad. school in chemistry at IIT, the took 3 years to rise to Chief Chemist of Process Development Research for a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, created commercially successful processes for specialty chemicals ranging from pharmaceutical intermediates to non-carcinogenic additives to fibers to make children's clothes flame-retardant to a component of the fuel for the Tomahawk Cruise Missile.

But, I'd go for a run on Saturday mornings and taste the chemicals I'd been working with the previous week.  I was around 1980 and the extent to which carcinogenic chemicals were around us was just beginning to become known.  The shortest lifespan of college graduates was among industrial bench chemists - like me.

That's when I decided to take a cut in pay and go into teaching.  I met a lot of people who "can" - in fact, for aspiring writers, artists, and musicians, a teaching position is a hard-to-get job and is what keeps them thriving as they make themselves known.  That includes Steve Wozniak, who "could" program and whose Apple II programming began the modern computer boom, Lyndon Johnson who "could" move the political cogs to bring electrification to rural America, J.K. Rowling who "could" write the Harry Potter books as well as other writers like Stephen King and George Orwell. Sheryl Crow and Andy Griffith were both music teachers.  Some of these people who moved on to high paying jobs returned to teaching late in their careers like the Bionic Woman, Lindsay Wagner.

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21 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

That's true sometimes, but the requirement of teachers today that they actually major in a subject - not major just in education - has raised the bar.

Additionally, you get people like me who completed grad. school in chemistry at IIT, the took 3 years to rise to Chief Chemist of Process Development Research for a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, created commercially successful processes for specialty chemicals ranging from pharmaceutical intermediates to non-carcinogenic additives to fibers to make children's clothes flame-retardant to a component of the fuel for the Tomahawk Cruise Missile.

But, I'd go for a run on Saturday mornings and taste the chemicals I'd been working with the previous week.  I was around 1980 and the extent to which carcinogenic chemicals were around us was just beginning to become known.  The shortest lifespan of college graduates was among industrial bench chemists - like me.

That's when I decided to take a cut in pay and go into teaching.  I met a lot of people who "can" - in fact, for aspiring writers, artists, and musicians, a teaching position is a hard-to-get job and is what keeps them thriving as they make themselves known.  That includes Steve Wozniak, who "could" program and whose Apple II programming began the modern computer boom, Lyndon Johnson who "could" move the political cogs to bring electrification to rural America, J.K. Rowling who "could" write the Harry Potter books as well as other writers like Stephen King and George Orwell. Sheryl Crow and Andy Griffith were both music teachers.  Some of these people who moved on to high paying jobs returned to teaching late in their careers like the Bionic Woman, Lindsay Wagner.

As an athletic booster I spent 8 years working with teachers, coaches and administrators. I'd have to agree with this in that some teachers were entitled brats who would never make it in corporate America. Others were folks who had been there and done it and decided to step away & teach.  

I had a real hard time with the Administrators though. Or maybe they had a hard time with me.  They liked to tell me what I could and couldn't do as a booster,  Where I had to spend the money & etc.  Yeah right watch me....  

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..like many people, I had some trouble deciding what I wanted to do for a day job.  So in about my third year of college I took enough secondary ed classes to qualify as a substitute in the state of Maryland.  (I don't recall the standards for certification, but they were pretty minimal in 1972 or 1973 whenever it was).

And while I had a gig driving cab in D.C., which more or less paid the rent and food along with the GI bill money, I thought it would be good for me to get some real classroom experience before I spent a lot more time getting a credential.  Thank god I did that.  I spent one semester on the Mt Ranier junior high sub list, and by the time that semester had passed, I knew one more thing besides driving for a living I didn't want to do for the rest of my life. :)

 

I can still remember the one kid in the back of the room with the red eyed look of a congenital stoner, and the look of absolute astonishment he gave me when I suggested that, as a substitute teacher, we might cover some of the material.  It kind of woke me up to the situation on the ground, in the public schools of that time in Prince George county.  This was nothing like the schools I had attended in parochial education in D.C.  And it was very much where the jobs were.

One of the things that decided me to leave an MFA program later on was that it appeared I would again be stuck looking for work as a teacher.  My hat's off to you guys, because if someone is not inclined to learn what I have to offer, my first impulse is to say, "Fuck it.  If you're not interested, go do something else."  I'm not real big on inspiring the recalcitrant.   Let 'em eat cake.

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43 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

But, I'd go for a run on Saturday mornings and taste the chemicals I'd been working with the previous week.  I was around 1980 and the extent to which carcinogenic chemicals were around us was just beginning to become known.  The shortest lifespan of college graduates was among industrial bench chemists - like me.

My dad worked for Rohm and Haas in the 70s.  I'd pretty much chalk the cancer he had in his 40's to his decade or so working there (plus college time).  I don't think they practiced much laboratory safety back then.  Smart move on your part getting out.

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On 11/17/2018 at 10:46 PM, Razors Edge said:

My dad worked for Rohm and Haas in the 70s.  I'd pretty much chalk the cancer he had in his 40's to his decade or so working there (plus college time).  I don't think they practiced much laboratory safety back then.  Smart move on your part getting out.

Which plant? Bristol?

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