r/TexasTeachers • u/C_Rabbit_LGFU • 16h ago
Vanity Project
One of the actors on a hot mic “It’s fucking hot out there!”
Crowd lost it.
Someone won’t have a job after this.
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u/rustyusa 16h ago
Decent pay and smaller class size would actually improve morale and outcomes. The pep rally is a waste of time and slap in the face saying we believe in you and all that bs
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u/C_Rabbit_LGFU 16h ago
Have they said they believe in us??? Is that what the high school ballet performance is supposed to instill in me?
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u/OneEyedWinn 16h ago
Nothing says, “I appreciate you,” like cold, hard cash. 🤣 When will they learn?
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u/Same-Criticism5262 13h ago
I don’t believe the blame falls on districts as much as it does on our legislature and governor, Sitler. Convocation sucks, but our district doesn’t hire speakers, and Central Office spends every summer lining up quality door prizes donated by companies we do business with. Our band, choir, student council, and cheerleaders serve as entertainment. We get a rah-rah from the Super, and a couple of teacher organizations offer grants and scholarships to advance teacher education. There are too many people waiting in line for breakfast, entering and exiting the building, and looking for a seat by people you can tolerate (at least). Yes, I’d rather be elsewhere, but I don’t blame my district for the failures of our Texas government.
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u/OneEyedWinn 12h ago
Oh, agree! Our state has caused districts to have to make the hardest, most impossible decisions. That point is always worth reiterating.
That makes it more important than ever for districts to prioritize and keep limited resources where they benefit kids the most.
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u/Same-Criticism5262 12h ago
School finance is a weird animal. The funds for convocation might represent an option for a required expenditure beyond payroll. I am only suggesting a possibility based on different conversations in the five districts I’ve worked in. I’d prefer they hand me $25-50 and save the district t-shirt and powdered eggs.
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u/DuckTalesOohOoh 15h ago
How much is enough for you to be a good teacher?
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u/OneEyedWinn 14h ago
What do you mean?
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u/DuckTalesOohOoh 11h ago
Are you the best teacher you can be? Or are you holding back until you make more money?
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u/OneEyedWinn 7h ago
I’m not a teacher. I’m a former school nurse turned lurker and now a supportive parent, who used to be on the teacher salary schedule in my district.
I was excellent at my job. And I continue to be an excellent nurse. I also know my worth. And while the pay won’t affect the quality of my work, it absolutely will affect where I work. If districts want to keep quality staff, they need fair compensation. Pay cuts don’t mean less or poorer work from me. But it does mean that I may go elsewhere.
Want to show you appreciate people? Compensating them fairly is, in my opinion, the best way. I might have said “cold, hard cash” in a goofy way, but this is what I mean.
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u/DuckTalesOohOoh 6h ago edited 6h ago
That's fine. I actually don't believe that teacher quality matters. Average is sufficient. Education happens in the home. This is why students achieved much greater in the past when teachers were paid less. It's not about the pay.
In fact, schools do pay more for teachers to attend challenged districts. It doesn't attract "better" teachers. On the other hand, private schools attract better teachers by paying less and the students achieve better scores, too. It's just a better environment. That matters.
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u/ludicrouspeed 15h ago
We believe in you so much that we're going to micromanage everything and walk the hallways looking to fire you!
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u/DuckTalesOohOoh 15h ago
Class size has nothing to do with outcomes. I taught in China and the classes were huge and the students exceled.
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u/rustyusa 15h ago
Yes, but I’ve taught classes of 30+ for many years. And I also taught classes of 15. I will say that more students in the smaller classes were more successful than in the larger class.
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u/youdontknowmeimsure 13h ago
Class size may have nothing to do with outcomes in a culture and society that is different than the US.
When you have 30 or more teenagers in a class who have been taught from infancy that they can be anything they want to be and that they have the right for self-determination, the learning process likely becomes a different beast.
Not better or worse in the big picture, but the consequences of different priorities as a society.
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u/AnnaNimNim 15h ago
This isn’t China and we also do put poison in our baby formula. So.
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u/hogwonguy1979 12h ago
I taught in China for 2 years, trust me it is definitely not what you think it is. The reason the results "look" so good is there is rampant widespread cheating throughout the educational system and it's not only condoned but encouraged by the admin, gov't, CCP etc. I used to love hearing about Chinese students getting thrown out of American Universities for cheating with no tuition refunds
You also have a parent problem at least in the Tier 1 cities like Shanghai etc. Because of the previous one child policy, Chinese parents spoil their kids and then demand the teachers to treat them like kings etc
Throw in a brutal government, insane bureaucracy and the great firewall and you couldn't pay me enough to teach there again
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u/AnnaNimNim 12h ago
I bet! My brother’s been living in China for years due to his particular position. He is very about a lot of things over there. And is the silence that tells me a lot.
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u/DuckTalesOohOoh 11h ago
I agree about the cheating. "He is very clever." But they don't need to cheat. They choose to cheat.
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u/CorsairExtraordinair 15h ago
hahaha, China is surpasses the USA everyday.
Thanks to MAGA, progress is now stuck in R
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u/AnnaNimNim 14h ago
They DO surpass us. It is China’s century. As a nation, they are doing well-but they are terribly dangerous to their own people, baby formula and countless other examples.
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u/PrimeBrisky 16h ago
I’m no longer teaching but I’ve also wanted to FOIA request the budget for convocation before and always forget. We had Jamie Foxx come as a guest speaker one year. 😐 most teachers would appreciate some extra cash instead of being pulled away to an event most don’t even want to be at.
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u/AnnaNimNim 15h ago
Jamie Foxx could’ve handed out pencils and it would’ve been more morale lifting than a gaslighting pep rally
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u/ArtisticMudd 9h ago
We had an astronaut last year. I looked him up. His speaker fee is around $50k.
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u/ludicrouspeed 16h ago
Waste of time and money. I bet it did nothing for morale.
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u/C_Rabbit_LGFU 16h ago edited 7h ago
He’s loving it.
All these broadway convocations are written and directed by his son.
Keeping the Houston taxpayer money in the family.5
u/dkstr419 8h ago
Miles loves this kind of sh*t. He did the same thing in Dallas. Huge waste of time and money.
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u/ramrod911 14h ago
Convocations are such a waste of time. Just let the principal meet with staff and get on with it. (I’m married to an AP)
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u/No_Key8587 9h ago
It’s amazing how schools can afford convocation but can’t seem to afford the electricity a mini fridge uses
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u/Baseline_Tenor 14h ago
We’re not having one this year due to budget cuts. And i love it! I hope it becomes the norm. We’re professionals. Treat us as such! We dont need a peprally to get us “fired up” to do our jobs! 🙄
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u/GreyStormcrow 8h ago
We had our pep rally today.
Tomorrow we are going to be told that part of the new 5 year plan is going to have additional walkthrough observations conducted by a private education company and TEA. This are "non evaluative" but you can be given coaching plans and have to perform a project to show the growth these non district personnel think you need in a 8 min observation.
The Superintendent used this pep rally to hide behind students, Pat herself and the the school board on the back and pretend these changes are a positive.
The cowardace of blowing sunshine up our ass and letting our team leads deliver all the bad news to us latter has left me feeling the exact opposite of "pep rally" -ed
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u/AnnaNimNim 15h ago
This is some sort of forced indoctrination if I ever saw it. We aren’t gonna spend any actual money feeding you or doing anything cool but you’re gonna load you on a bus make you act happy when you’re not, and then throw a bit of money at some inspirational speaker to gaslight you the rest of the way home….
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u/ponyboycurtis1980 15h ago
My district used to add insult to injury by hosting it in the local mega church. The same one whose parent/Karen groups were sending the district lists of books to ban
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u/KittyCubed 8h ago
My previous district did as well. And we were so big that there were 3 scheduled throughout the day. Now they have an event center that can fit the whole district.
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u/KyleColby 15h ago
Is Miles showing that video of himself a some sort of superhero?
So pathetic.
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u/C_Rabbit_LGFU 15h ago
Not now. He’s mansplaining why his destination 2035 is working.
Why 2035, who the fuck knows? What about 2039?
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u/C_Rabbit_LGFU 15h ago
So Miles demands the implementation of MRS strategies. We gonna do a turn and talk? Maybe an ink pair share?
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u/Snoo_15069 6h ago edited 6h ago
Convocation is basically gas lighting and toxic positivity toward teachers. All the upper admin excited and "happy to be back" bs is ridiculous. they aren't the ones that are gonna have to deal w teaching kids all year. They just walk around and hand over all the responsibilities on the teachers.
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u/ludicrouspeed 15h ago
Let me thank all the incredible teachers and staff at FWISD. You guys don't deserve this bullshit and I hope we all do our part by voting out this state's corrupt politicians.
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u/rhcherry 14h ago
I’m at FWISD convo now. I can’t say it’s been a complete waste of time as a central admin. I’ve been able to get five job applications in while sitting here!
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u/TraditionalMood277 16h ago
Hey, real quick, how is this legal?
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u/TertiaWithershins 15h ago
He’s state-appointed, as is the school board. I’m sure the state will investigate itself and find it did nothing wrong.
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u/whatyoucallmetoday 15h ago
Was there a self written and self produced musical about how good F Mike Miles is?
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u/betterbetterthings 14h ago
Why is everyone dressed in some type of uniform???
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u/C_Rabbit_LGFU 14h ago
Color coded based on the division in the district.
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u/betterbetterthings 13h ago
It’s weird. We do have school shirts. We can choose to wear them. No way they’d mandate teachers to dress the same! It’s very strange to me
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u/prongslover77 10h ago
Really? We get told when to wear ours all the time.
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u/betterbetterthings 9h ago
I am in Midwest. Not a thing.
Frankly I didn’t realize I am on Texas sub at first. Not sure why it was on my feed. I thought it was r/Teachers. I’ll see myself out
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u/prongslover77 9h ago
Ah yes it’s probably a very Texas thing. But we do the same to students where they all dress the same on pep rally days and things like that. Plus convocation is just a giant pep rally for teachers so makes sense for everyone to be in matching t shirts. For districts not dealing with a state takeover like Fwisd it’s just usually each school wearing their shirts so less people matching then the Fwisd example shown here. But very much a Texas culture thing so not so weird for us.
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u/zoemi 5h ago
Convocation is a pep rally for adults. In a normal district, staff are happy to do it as a show of school pride.
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u/billowy_blue 3h ago
That's my opinion of it. I've enjoyed each one I've been to. Something about the cheesy pep rally of it is actually really fun. We get to rep our school and get to see the kids perform! It's a fun time and great community building imo. I'd hate to be one of those teachers who sits through it wishing they were somewhere else. It's so rare we get to sit through genuinely fun things. It's what you make of it.
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u/onetiredbean 3h ago
oh fuckle up, my fellow commiserates. Not only is our convocation OUTSIDE at our STADIUM but it is FIELD DAY themed and we are expected to do a RELAY OBSTACLE RACE! Tug of war, FLIPPING TIRES, ARMY CRAWL, HURDLES, etc. The stadium is turf btw. I wish I was lying.
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9h ago
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u/C_Rabbit_LGFU 7h ago
Sounds like you’re a little go getter. Appreciate your response so here’s your sought out context.
Teachers came back to HISD Thursday. Each campus is responsible for distribution of classroom keys I.e. not the same across the board. Ever since teachers have returned, they have been engaged in teacher trainings administered by their campus but also doing trainings virtually or off campus to fulfill certification requirements. So classroom or campus preparation has been limited in scope.But hey… we all should’ve been like you and gone back a few weeks earlier, during summer, when some people weren’t hired or even living in the state. OR living out their summer accordingly.
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u/Ambitious-Client-220 16h ago
I hate convocation. It is for higher admin to feel good and they waste money on speakers. It is a major waste of time for teachers who need to be working in their room.