Deaf teachers losing jobs because of English

[shel90]

Don't know what it's like in USA, but in england, when my father gave up his job as a teacher, and when my mother lived off benifit money I hardly noticed the differance.

Teaching is NOT highly paid.

I think that is a shame. I think good teachers like Shel should be valued more. Especially since they are proping up a failing sysem where people try oral and when it doesn't work the deaf kids get spat out and taught signing as there is nothing else to be done with them. Deaf education needs a change in policy I think.

Thanks...


Even during the school year, I work more than 8 hours a day and sometimes on the weekends working on IEPs, report cards, grading papers, planning lessons and so on and on..I dont get paid overtime. I wish I did cuz it would help with my bills.

I just looked at the balance of my student loans..I probably will owe them until the day I die because I dont make enough to pay them off quicker.

 

[Buffalo]

If u should think those tests should be hard, how about us getting paid a damn lot more than we r getting now? How about that? I feel teachers especially those who work in BiBi programs don't get a lot of respect.

You already got my respect!

 

[Buffalo]

Low pay? I thought teachers receives their income also during the summer time when they're not even teaching. I know this for matter of fact because two of my family members are teachers.

I was told that one have to have a Master's degree to teach at ASDB (Arizona) but one could teach at public schools with a Bachelor's degree. Get this - public school teachers are paid more than the teachers at ASDB. I think it should be the other way around. ASDB is a state school while the public schools are city schools.

 

[shel90]

I was told that one have to have a Master's degree to teach at ASDB (Arizona) but one could teach at public schools with a Bachelor's degree. Get this - public school teachers are paid more than the teachers at ASDB. I think it should be the other way around. ASDB is a state school while the public schools are city schools.

I agree...even at where I live, public school teachers with BA degree get paid more than the teachers who work at the deaf schools with Master's and the teachers who work at deaf schools are usually required to be fluent in TWO languages. How many teachers are like that out there? Few...

 

[dreama]

Thanks...

That's ok. Since my dad was a teacher I have some idea how tough the job is, and that's just an ordinary history/english teacher at high school and college level.

I agree with Buffalo. You get my respect too.

 

[shel90]

You already got my respect!

Awww thanks...not just me but all the teachers out there too. Working with a diverse population of children who come from different home environments is NOT easy at all. We have to wear so many hats during the day.

 

[shel90]

That's ok. Since my dad was a teacher I have some idea how tough the job is, and that's just an ordinary history/english teacher at high school and college level.

I agree with Buffalo. You get my respect too.

Thanks..

 

[Cheri]

Well Buffalo, From what I've been told, Teachers get paid by their level of education and the number of years they've worked in an educational setting, my step-mother gets paid more than my hearing sister based on years of being an experienced teacher. Not all public schools pays the same, I know that high school teachers earned more than elementary school teachers because of the level of education they are teaching.

 

[shel90]

Well Buffalo, From what I've been told, Teachers get paid by their level of education and the number of years they've worked in an educational setting, my step-mother gets paid more than my hearing sister based on years of being an experienced teacher. Not all public schools pays the same, I know that high school teachers earned more than elementary school teachers because of the level of education they are teaching.

That's everywhere but the starting pay for a first-year teacher with a Master's at a deaf school is lower than the starting pay for a first-year teacher with a BA degree at the public schools. That's what Buffalo is referring to...

 

[KarissaMann05]

I agree with Buffalo. You get my respect too.

I second that and she still have my respect as well.

 

[Cheri]

That's everywhere but the starting pay for a first-year teacher with a Master's at a deaf school is lower than the starting pay for a first-year teacher with a BA degree at the public schools. That's what Buffalo is referring to...

I know what she meant, but I'm not sure if that's the truth or not.

 

[shel90]

I know what she meant, but I'm not sure if that's the truth or not.

Oh yea, it is true. I have friends with the same creditentials and same number of years of experience who earn a lot more than I do working as teachers at the public schools. I could leave the deaf school and work in the public schools but if we all leave the deaf schools, who will be there for those children? If they could just at least ante up our pay to be equivalent to the pay that public school teachers get, that would be great but with the negative attitudes against deaf schools out there, I doubt it.

Anyways, I didn't mean to make this thread about me...I brought it up to make a point about someone's comment about making the certification tests hard. If people want the tests hard to pass but keep the pay low, then we may face a teacher shortage due to people not wanting to work hard to pass a test for a job with low pay.

It is a case of "be careful what you ask for."

 

[Grummer]

I have mixed feelings about this issue. I personally have a friend who's a teacher (deaf) who possess excellent English and ASL skills. She taught for about five years...and is without a doubt one of the best teachers I ever encountered. ALL of her first graders left her classroom reading on (or above) grade-level, etc. The data spoke for itself. However she was unable to pass the Praxis Tests by only 2 or 3 points...she ended up moving to another state in which the required Praxis scores were lower (that reinforces what Shel was saying about the inconsistency of deaf education across the nation)...and as a result, it was a great loss for the school. On the other hand, I can see why the standards exist. Teachers, deaf or hearing, need to meet standards. The problem now is that the standards vary state by state. And there's too much politics involved.

Approaching the problem from bottom to top isn't going to work because the problem itself comes from the top to bottom principle. In other words, we need to get the state departments and legistatures to get their act together and to be educated on the education of deaf and hard of hearing children. And they need to be united on a national front so we can have national standards.

This is tricky as the Constitution assures that states can make their own determinations about educational-related decisions (to a point).

How do we deal with the crisis of deaf education falling through the cracks? What must we do?

RIGHT!, Baja said it perfectly, and this echoes what i said before!, we need to get organised, form a sound (and I mean sound, like solid with clear-thinking individuals from a wide range of deafness backgrounds (hoh, Deaf, deaf, late deafened, CI users, early and late to be all combined) to form a group with an aim to establish itself as a council to represent a recognised 'standard' of communicating with d/Deaf students, in addition this council would/should have the power to decide who (already passed the hearing standard of teaching and English competency) will pass the standard of teaching d/Deaf students using various modes of communications, whereas the majority would be ASL, and/or PEE and in between but this need to consider the skills of utilising these manual means of communications to TEACH anything, aside from English. In this regard for me to say 'aside from English' I am meaning ensure students would be set to LEARN, and GAIN knowledge, indeed from this angle the connection made would then ascertain students would be able to learn English, all the while, with in this framework, it should be stated that we should be mindful it is an erroneous assumption to expect all d/Deaf students to acquire 'perfect English' because like hearing student not all are 'gifted' to possess the gift of the gab in English. This would be one of the hardest to overcome, that an expectation to acquire English is again fallen back into attention which is really an invitation for audist/oralists to make criticism and hence undermines what this 'd/Deaf council-regulated' enrolment of d/Deaf teachers in education.

But again though like what bajagals said(about politics causing irregularity across states to states. It well will be raised again even with this 'new council formulation' that frivilous pettiness in Deaf politics continue getting in the way of this progress.

 

[Grummer]

as Deafbajagal said "This is tricky as the Constitution assures that states can make their own determinations about educational-related decisions (to a point)."

Id run it off saying, "to a point, yeah but" like if we d/Deaf people get together like how Paddy Ladd envisions as in the Deafhood-like solidarity, we may then able to formate such a council much the same way as ADA has been granted some power, with this, national or indeed international level representing the welfare of d/Deaf people, this would overcome this irregularity and hence the professions will have no choice but follow suit to according to Both the hearing standards AND d/Deaf standards.

 

[zerodog]

mmm...

I read all those post, and the news. Somewhat, I disagree... should we fired the interpreter for not signing clear? It similar to person who is teaching and Deaf shouldn't being fired. If Deaf person is teaching English, my understand that English grammar change update 20 per seconds and how in the world we have to catch up?! Hearing can use the 'ear'. Same thing with the interpreter that need update with sign language that new or change in improve signing by visual communication such as total communication to people. It is fair for Hearing person to catch up or the Deaf person have to catch up and both should fired too?

The only thing should fired if they are not passive to encourage the student and improve their educate with signing and writing at the same time that important.

 

[koconut1115]

I am a 20 year old female who is fully hearing and who is going to school to become a Sign Language Teacher. I do not think that it is right to only fire deaf teachers as apposed to English teachers.

 

[deafbajagal]

I broke it down once...the hours I get paid as a teacher and the actual hours I work during the school year...

I get paid $0.98 an hour.

Don't ever let me hear that we teachers are "off" during the summer. That's a load of bullshit.

We have so many requirements we must hurdle through in order to even be certified in the first place ...and that's not good enough...many states require us to maintain our certifications by having so many hours of professional development. What does this mean? We have to take summer classes and workshops. Some teachers have to pay for those classes and materials.

Some schools don't even provide school supplies such as copy paper. In Las Vegas, teachers provide toilet paper for the students. I've spent so much money on materials, books, supplies, stickers/reinforcement materials, etc. to assure I have a high quality classroom readily available for the students. That's money out of my paycheck.

And to top it all off... my friends who have masters in other fields such as Business, Engineering, Management, etc. are making at least 35 to 50% more than myself and my fellow teacher friends with masters in education.

I work on Saturdays. I work until 2 AM on many nights grading papers, individualizing instruction, handmaking games for learning, etc.

Where's my "off" time?

We are underpaid. Underappreciated. Overworked. Too bad we don't really have two months off.

 

[deafbajagal]

And for the record...if I taught at a public school instead of the deaf school where I am, I would be making $12,000 MORE. That's a fact.

SAD! Deaf education teachers are often overlooked and underminded.

 

[shel90]

I broke it down once...the hours I get paid as a teacher and the actual hours I work during the school year...

I get paid $0.98 an hour.

Don't ever let me hear that we teachers are "off" during the summer. That's a load of bullshit.

We have so many requirements we must hurdle through in order to even be certified in the first place ...and that's not good enough...many states require us to maintain our certifications by having so many hours of professional development. What does this mean? We have to take summer classes and workshops. Some teachers have to pay for those classes and materials.

Some schools don't even provide school supplies such as copy paper. In Las Vegas, teachers provide toilet paper for the students. I've spent so much money on materials, books, supplies, stickers/reinforcement materials, etc. to assure I have a high quality classroom readily available for the students. That's money out of my paycheck.

And to top it all off... my friends who have masters in other fields such as Business, Engineering, Management, etc. are making at least 35 to 50% more than myself and my fellow teacher friends with masters in education.

I work on Saturdays. I work until 2 AM on many nights grading papers, individualizing instruction, handmaking games for learning, etc.

Where's my "off" time?

We are underpaid. Underappreciated. Overworked. Too bad we don't really have two months off.

I know..nobody really understands until they are teachers themselves, honestly.

Here is a for your hard work!

 

[Bottesini]

I am a 20 year old female who is fully hearing and who is going to school to become a Sign Language Teacher. I do not think that it is right to only fire deaf teachers as apposed to English teachers.

Go back and read the beginning post.

"opposed"