The teaching profession is a bit antiquated in many ways, one of which is that teachers are expected to accept a job with minimal information about it. I think this comes from its history as a woman's profession and because it's unionized, so there's minimal negotiation about salary, benefits, etc. When I was younger, I just kind of accepted this as the norm and didn't really have the confidence or knowledge to push back on it. But nowadays, it seems crazy to me that we accept positions with out really knowing what we're getting into.
I've been on the job hunt these days and I find myself wanting to be 100% real and just ask the stuff I really want to know. But this would be breaking the rules, so I've tried to tone it down. Here, in no particular order, are all the big and small things I'd love to actually ask:
1. Will I get my own classroom? Will I be schlepping around piles of paper on a cart?
2. Do your teachers get along?
3. What's your philosophy behind school discipline policies? How does that play out in reality?
4. Why are your classes tracked? What are you doing about it?
5. Will all of my years of experience be counted?
6. Will my tenure be recognized? Assuming no, will my tenure time be shorter than the norm?
7. If I want to talk to you (principal) about something, do I need to make an appointment or can I just chat with you when I walk by your open door office?
8. Do I have to use your textbook?
9. Do I need to be teaching in lock-step with the other teachers of my subject?
10. Is there money for field trips? Is there administrative support for them?
11. Do I have to engage in over-the-top displays of school pride?
12. Am I going to be the only gay teacher?
13. Is this the kind of school where my prep period is for me to use as I wish, including popping out of the building to buy the after school snacks I promised or coming in "late" during my first period prep from a dentist appointment?
14. What will I be teaching?
15. Can I wear jeans? Sandals? A nose-ring? A visible tattoo?
16. Is there enough paper for teachers to make as many photocopies as they want?
Ok, that's all I can think of for now. I asked a few of these during interviews, plus many of the more obvious ones.
The one I'm feeling most annoyed about is #5: Will all of my years of experience be counted? I try not to jump on the "woe is us" teacher bandwagon, but seriously? In what other profession is experience in other companies/organizations not credited? What kind of person works in the same district their entire life these days? Nobody. Or rarely anyone interesting.
Intellectually, I know it is perfectly reasonable to know what I would be paid before accepting a position. And yet I feel all guilty that this is one of my questions, because I know it's assumed that I won't ask it. I'm supposed to be grateful if someone offers me a job and save the hardball for the summer when I scrounge up old furniture in the rooms of teachers who left. Is it too much to ask that teachers get paid based on their years of experience, regardless of where that experience happened?
I've been on the job hunt these days and I find myself wanting to be 100% real and just ask the stuff I really want to know. But this would be breaking the rules, so I've tried to tone it down. Here, in no particular order, are all the big and small things I'd love to actually ask:
1. Will I get my own classroom? Will I be schlepping around piles of paper on a cart?
2. Do your teachers get along?
3. What's your philosophy behind school discipline policies? How does that play out in reality?
4. Why are your classes tracked? What are you doing about it?
5. Will all of my years of experience be counted?
6. Will my tenure be recognized? Assuming no, will my tenure time be shorter than the norm?
7. If I want to talk to you (principal) about something, do I need to make an appointment or can I just chat with you when I walk by your open door office?
8. Do I have to use your textbook?
9. Do I need to be teaching in lock-step with the other teachers of my subject?
10. Is there money for field trips? Is there administrative support for them?
11. Do I have to engage in over-the-top displays of school pride?
12. Am I going to be the only gay teacher?
13. Is this the kind of school where my prep period is for me to use as I wish, including popping out of the building to buy the after school snacks I promised or coming in "late" during my first period prep from a dentist appointment?
14. What will I be teaching?
15. Can I wear jeans? Sandals? A nose-ring? A visible tattoo?
16. Is there enough paper for teachers to make as many photocopies as they want?
Ok, that's all I can think of for now. I asked a few of these during interviews, plus many of the more obvious ones.
The one I'm feeling most annoyed about is #5: Will all of my years of experience be counted? I try not to jump on the "woe is us" teacher bandwagon, but seriously? In what other profession is experience in other companies/organizations not credited? What kind of person works in the same district their entire life these days? Nobody. Or rarely anyone interesting.
Intellectually, I know it is perfectly reasonable to know what I would be paid before accepting a position. And yet I feel all guilty that this is one of my questions, because I know it's assumed that I won't ask it. I'm supposed to be grateful if someone offers me a job and save the hardball for the summer when I scrounge up old furniture in the rooms of teachers who left. Is it too much to ask that teachers get paid based on their years of experience, regardless of where that experience happened?