So I'm substituting for a 3rd grade class the rest of the week and was doing research about the school I'll be working at. The crazy thing that jumped out at me is that of all the staff, only three were males: Principal, P.E., and 1st grade ESOL. So basically out of the three, most will only see the P.E. teacher on a regular basis, and only for a short time.
Now I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but it's crazy to me that you can literally go from Kindergarten to 6th grade without having any male teacher. I had two in elementary and each was a positive influence on my life. And let's be honest, young boys need that as much as young girls need female influences outside their family. I looked it up online and apparently this is an increasing trend and males only account for 16% of elementary teachers today. Sadly, one of the top reasons is that they're afraid of sexual abuse charges. This quote from the following article just killed me: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5670187&page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"I had a parent who was complaining and concerned about me working with her daughter," Nelson said. "The kid really liked me a lot, and because the child was liking me so much the mother got worried and suspicious."
I mean really, WTF? The teacher is doing his job and you think there's something sexual about it?
Just the world we live in. I'm sure the vast majority of child sex offenders are male. And while you may be referring to just the Elementary level, although there are more males at the other levels many of them have opted to make sure they are never in the room with just one kid anymore - all it takes is one accusation and their reputation is ruined. Again, just a reflection of the world we live in. Same goes for coaching or just about anything else where a grown up could be with kids under age.
As for the presence of males at the Elementary Level, I'm shocked you think it's shocking that a kid could go all the way through those grades and not have a male teacher. I didn't have one until 6th grade. My kids school now has one male teacher and he teaches one class in 5th grade. My wife's school (different district) has two male teachers in the school (their's is up to 4th grade there). It's fairly common for Elementary schools to be considerably mostly female.
I don't know, I guess I think it's weird since my school had a couple of male teachers, but my perception might be off since I was young. I did look up my elementary to see where it's at right now and it has eight male teachers (not counting office staff) which is a decent amount.
I didn't have a male teacher (other than for the pull-out band class; I played saxophone from 4th grade through senior year) until 7th grade...BUT we DID have a male 6th grade teacher (he later moved to 5th grade and coached our varsity girls hoops team at my high school). He recently retired, and I'm not sure there's a male teacher there in his place. When I started inquiring into the possibility of getting into the teaching profession, the district office actively pushed high school, despite the fact that the state tests are crazy hard (they cover stuff I never saw in upper division college work) because that's really where the openings are. The thing is that there's the perception that guys are good at PE, math, and science, while girls are better in "softer" areas like English and history (though there is clearly overlap in each area). Girls also have more of the TLC aspect in demand at the grade school level, but that also doesn't mean that all guys don't have it.
FWIW, I just checked the staff roster at my old grade school, and there are men teaching RSP (whatever that is), PE, Music, and (possibly; I've seen the first name used for both genders) 5th grade. That's probably about standard for Lodi Unified....
SuperHornet's Athletics Hall of Fame includes Jacksonville State kicker Ashley Martin, the first girl to score in a Division I football game. She kicked 3 PATs in a 2001 game for J-State.
What we a need are good teachers without regard to gender or orientation. With such teachers kids will prosper. I don't think it's any more complicated than that.
On the bright side, there seems to be a couple of fresh-out-of-college teachers at the school. Jackpot?
TheDancinMonarch wrote:What we a need are good teachers without regard to gender or orientation. With such teachers kids will prosper. I don't think it's any more complicated than that.
This is true. In the article though, it says one of the top 3 reasons that males don't enter elementary education is the fear of being accused of sexual misconduct. I don't know how you change that mindset, but I'm sure it's denying our nation's youth from a bunch of good teachers.
edit: Not related, but I just noticed that recess is only 15 minutes. That's kinda sad.
Unless a college guy's dream is to be a house husband, he isn't going to take any interest in a crowded job market with low pay. We're doing just fine letting bumper crops of cutesie, unambitious sorority girls teach our kids anyways.
Pwns wrote:Unless a college guy's dream is to be a house husband, he isn't going to take any interest in a crowded job market with low pay. We're doing just fine letting bumper crops of cutesie, unambitious sorority girls teach our kids anyways.
Jon: That figure might be calling it a bit high. But I'm sure they're out there, and in numbers, particularly in certain areas. And they're very likely doing the job very well, too.
SuperHornet's Athletics Hall of Fame includes Jacksonville State kicker Ashley Martin, the first girl to score in a Division I football game. She kicked 3 PATs in a 2001 game for J-State.
I'm student teaching in a 5th grade class this semester.
In a non-homo way, boys at that age (10-14) are my passion. My father has been in my life since day one and can't imagine my life without him. Boys need that one male role model and that age is when they're most impressionable.
But I agree, we need teachers that can reach their students regardless of gender
If all of our math teachers were Danica McKellar, we'd be #1 in math. She graduated summa cum laude in math at UCLA and has written four books about teaching math to youngsters (or to oneself). While an undergrad, she published a paper (co-authored with her professor and another student-assistants) about the Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem....
Last edited by SuperHornet on Mon Feb 18, 2013 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
SuperHornet's Athletics Hall of Fame includes Jacksonville State kicker Ashley Martin, the first girl to score in a Division I football game. She kicked 3 PATs in a 2001 game for J-State.
AZGrizFan wrote:And we wonder why our country is 17th in math and 39th in science.
At least for math (when I subbed in Norfolk), I noticed that the students never understood the reasoning behind it. They fully understood the how, but they never grasped the why. Maybe it's just the engineer in me, but there's no point in knowing math if you don't get the concepts behind it. Nearly all the nations ahead of us teach proofs in elementary while most US students learn them in high school.
edit: Basic multiplication is in the lesson plan tomorrow. I'm not really supposed to deviate from what the teacher wants, but I'd be interested to learn if they know why multiplication works the way it does. I know at that age, all I was taught were the multiplication tables.
You're exactly right, Trip. That gets behind McKellar's description of dividing by fractions. The average math book is probably a decade behind the culture of the students, using examples they don't understand. (That figure is, of course, a personal guess. But in your short time of subbing, I'm sure you noticed that many of your students didn't "get" the situations the word problems described.) So McKellar talked about taking lattes to thirsty actors. The porter can only take six lattes at one time, but each actor wants two lattes. How many actors gets their order in each trip? Three, of course. Then McKellar turns the problem on its head: what happens when the actors only want half a latte? It goes the other way: two actors get a part of each latte, or a dozen actors served. I'm not a fan of lattes, but I can see how that would help kids brought up in the Starbucks culture.
SuperHornet's Athletics Hall of Fame includes Jacksonville State kicker Ashley Martin, the first girl to score in a Division I football game. She kicked 3 PATs in a 2001 game for J-State.
AZGrizFan wrote:And we wonder why our country is 17th in math and 39th in science.
At least for math (when I subbed in Norfolk), I noticed that the students never understood the reasoning behind it. They fully understood the how, but they never grasped the why. Maybe it's just the engineer in me, but there's no point in knowing math if you don't get the concepts behind it. Nearly all the nations ahead of us teach proofs in elementary while most US students learn them in high school.
edit: Basic multiplication is in the lesson plan tomorrow. I'm not really supposed to deviate from what the teacher wants, but I'd be interested to learn if they know why multiplication works the way it does. I know at that age, all I was taught were the multiplication tables.
Why are they still on basic multiplication at this stage of third grade? That's frightening.
Last edited by YoUDeeMan on Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I had one male teacher pre-school through 5th grade, he was my 5th grade teacher but only did math, science, history, and maybe one other thing. The other teacher was female and did all of the language arts.
Middle school I had a male science teacher, social studies (history, geography, etc...), and P.E. teacher. The rest were female
High school was the accounting/business teacher...he was the basketball coach...Science....wrestling coach...and PE...girls basketball, softball, and at one point did wrestling, track, baseball, etc...
I was going to go into the elementary ed field, and had wanted to since a young age. I was told schools always wanted more male teachers and blah blah blah. I learned very quickly in the ed program at UNI that males in the el. ed field were treated very differently. I was always watched extra close when around kids....I was made to feel as uncomfortable as possible, until I left the major. That same thing happened with a good number other males that I went into the program (that I talked to, I know more of them that left the program later). A couple of them went to HS education, and the rest of us left the major entirely. That happens every single year all across the US.
Males aren't welcome in the field, though we are told we are.
I went into the family services degree, with the intention of getting into the position of a director of a daycare/YMCA setting. I worked in a day care for a year. Most of the parents that took the time to get to know me loved the fact I was there. I was the only male that worked there. Some parents didn't trust me, and I could tell.
I did my internship at a local agency that deals with state licencing for daycare center/in-home child care providers. I was the only male to work for the agency (It was a sub angency of one of the largest non-profits in the Cedar Valley) other than the maintenance and IT guys. I wasn't given any jobs related to the field of work, wasn't asked to help in them, etc... I was asked to fix computers, move desks, and all of that bull shit.
My supervisor then recommended to my academic adviser that I get a D for my internship because I didn't do enough within the field to get a true experience in the field. Thankfully, as part of the internship I had to do daily logs of what I did and learned...I got an A and the agency was cut off from interns until they got their shit straight. When I did get to go on the visits to the sites I was treated like a pedophile and not allowed any contact with kids or anything of the like
Completely turned me off to the field. The sad thing is, even though I love my job and the company I work for, I still wish I could be doing what I wanted in school.
Also, yes...I'm fully aware of the low pay and what not....I'm also, to be fully honest, content with the idea of being a stay at home dad. IDGAF if you think that makes me less of a man..
Well thanks for making me feel better Clenz! If men trained to actually teach elementary kids aren't trusted, I'm pretty fucked this week considering I'm a complete stranger (with no TA this time).
BTW, I don't know why they're still learning basic multiplication; that's for the administrators to answer. I'm looking over the attachment she gave me and the toughest problem is "1070 x 181 = ___." There's actually no problem with more than one multiplier (ex. 3 x 5 x 6 x ...).
∞∞∞ wrote:Well thanks for making me feel better Clenz! If men trained to actually teach elementary kids aren't trusted, I'm pretty fucked tomorrow considering I'm a complete stranger.
BTW, I don't know why they're still learning basic multiplication; that's for the administrators to answer. I'm actually looking over the attachment she gave me and the toughest problem is "1070 x 181 = ___." There's actually no problem with more than one multiplier (ex. 3 x 5 x 6 x ...).
Maybe it's different out east...as forward thinking/progressive as Iowa is in many areas trusting men around children isn't one.
To be fair any of the parents/co-workers that actually took the time and got to know me loved the fact I was spending any amount of time with their children. Most parents want more positive male influence in the life of their children (as many these days have none, or no GOOD male influence). I saw my time around those kids as a way to promote being a "real" man.
Sadly, as much as they want men around, they don't trust men. Part of it is the media and the "men who like being around kids are nothing but predatory pedophiles", part of it from the mothers is that she carries her bad past experiences with males, and a couple other things.
I hope the best for you.
At this point, because of my past experiences with being treated like that around kids I don't let anyone know how much I love being around kids (not so much HS kids, but under the age of 10 or so), which is why almost everyone I know is shocked at how good I am with them. One of my wife and I's very good friends has a daughter that will be 2 in May. I never really made a "huge" effort to hold her or anything (though I know they wouldn't have thought I was a pedophile for doing so), until she came to me to play when she was about 13 months old. I spent probably a half hour/40 minutes or so just having a great time with her. They were all shocked by that.
Maybe I'm just extremely jaded because of my experiences.
Definitely nothing wrong with loving to be around kids, but yeah, society seems to have conditioned us to believe that it's only appropriate for females to show compassion for children that aren't theirs. I know a highly educated stay-at-home dad and he loves every moment of it, but he says people give him weird (as in disgusted) looks all the time which is unfortunate 'cause he's a great father. I'd probably be a bit jaded too if people systematically mistrusted me for no reason other than being a male.
AZGrizFan wrote:And we wonder why our country is 17th in math and 39th in science.
At least for math (when I subbed in Norfolk), I noticed that the students never understood the reasoning behind it. They fully understood the how, but they never grasped the why. Maybe it's just the engineer in me, but there's no point in knowing math if you don't get the concepts behind it. Nearly all the nations ahead of us teach proofs in elementary while most US students learn them in high school.
edit: Basic multiplication is in the lesson plan tomorrow. I'm not really supposed to deviate from what the teacher wants, but I'd be interested to learn if they know why multiplication works the way it does. I know at that age, all I was taught were the multiplication tables.
Dude, I never understood what a derivative was for until I was a junior in COLLEGE. I knew how to CALCULATE them, but had no idea what they were actually used for. Then again, my Calc teacher was Chinese and spoke virtually NO English except what he'd memorized to be able to attempt to teach Calculus.
"Ah fuck. You are right." KYJelly, 11/6/12
"The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." Barack Obama, 9/25/12
Now that you made me think about this, I had one male teacher (7th grade) in my first 8 years of school (Catholic). Many nuns, including for PE. I had many male teachers in my 4 years of public high school.
My sons have one male teacher at their Catholic grade school (1st through 6th grade). I think he is gay.
I won't blame the education of our youth on females. I attribute math being my life-long strength to one particular nun. However, in Virginia, the public schools teach to standardized tests called SOL's (Standard of Learning or something like that). It is complete bullshit. There is literally no teaching of "how" to learn. It is just memorization of facts so that it can be applied to tests. This has created a larger gap in the abilities of individuals. We are creating a society of "task masters".
Clenz, if you don't do it already, you should volunteer for youth coaching.
I had one male teacher (6th grade) until middle school. He was a former principle and well respected. He was also known for giving out "hacks" with a wooden paddle, not only for discipline, but everyone also got a slight one on their birthday.
A few years after I graduated he was convicted of molesting a student. I had briefly dated the victim's older sister so I knew the family a little. The victim ended up committing suicide. The teacher got out of prison years later and used to occasionally come into my business and, because it is a small town, still knew be my name.
I had many male teachers in my 4 years of public high school.
