Sweet T, the teacher, is on a rant!

Okay...so today on FB someone posted something they heard last night.  They heard someone say that you can make more being a manager at Buffalo Wild Wings than a teacher in Oklahoma.


I will let that sink in.

Having been married to a restaurant manager, I will say that this is a very hard job that I would never want to do...so okay....

But what really gets me is someone commented on this post and said...well, this is very true, but would a real sincere teacher change what they do?  Jesus was the greatest teacher and he didn't get paid anything at all...



Seriously?   I just want to jump up and scream when I hear this kind of logic.  He didn't get paid for healing people either.  Do my doctor and nurse friends want to give up their salaries?

What I do is a ministry.  Believe me!  I am not doing it for the money.   I am not living in poverty....but my husband and I also make less together than most of our friends do out of ONE of their salaries, and we spend between us over 100 hours a week working.  My husband has been gone 3 out of 5 nights a week this month...one time till 1am helping with his live streaming sports class.  Is this the kind of life I want for my children?  Their parents never around?

Summers off?   I spent two to three days a week at school this summer...I wouldn't call it a summer off.  Yes, I did get paid.  I added...what maybe $3,500 to my salary for it.  Summers off are nice....I don't deny that.   However, even if you subtract the $ from your salary for the days of work that a teacher has off, I guarantee you it is still THOUSANDS and probably TENS of THOUSANDS below what a another professional job likely makes.

I have 2 masters degrees, 2 bachelors degrees, and enough college graduate hours as one who has a PhD.  Don't tell me that just because I choose to be a teacher, that I have chosen not to be respected, or if I choose another job that allows my children to have the things I want for them, that I somehow must not be a real sincere teacher....

Seriously?  People of Oklahoma get a clue.

Reading slows down when you start having children

I wouldn't change a thing about having my sweet one year old, and in a few months my new sweet boy, but it does put a hamper on the time I have had to read in the past.  Recently I read James Patterson's Confessions of a Murder Suspect.  It was pretty good, and will look forward to reading the sequel.  I wish there was a little bit more to the action, and the conclusion seemed kind of a let down, but the family itself featured in the story was intriguing and unusual.  

I also finally read John Green's Fault in our Stars.  This is an amazing book.  John Green's prose is always just enjoyable to read.  I am not really into the whole realistic fiction kid dying of cancer story, but because of the more sophisticated level that John Green brings to his characters the story is thoroughly enchanting.

I finished Perks of Being a Wallflower.  I completely understand why it is a frequently challenged book in libraries.  It is a good story, and will relate to many readers, but it is in my opinion very depressing.  Again, it will relate to what many people feel like they go through in high school though, and it is a good coming of age story for the modern reader.

Read this month

Karma
Hate List
Remember Me
Shadowcry
How to say goodbye in Robot
Geetastik: Tales from the Nerd Herd
Thirteen reasons why
Fallen

Reading now:
Hereafter
Dead Tossed Waves

I think I am going to try to do this in a more efficient way.  I am going to join GoodReads or Librarything... Watcht for it coming soon....

What I am reading now....

I just finished Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford.    I am also reading The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, and I am starting the Hate List tonight.  I won't bore you with my grad class readings.....but I am doing that too.

haven't posted in a bit....

I read tons of books this summer (one reason is that I had a class), but I haven't posted on here in awhile.  Here are the highlights.
Favorite Book: Divergent by Veronica Roth

This video doesn't really do it justice, but it is a dystopia and is just as good as Hunger Games if not better.

Ally Carter's books are cute.  I read The Heist Society and one of the Gallagher Girl Books this summer.

I am also into book trailers right now if you haven't noticed.  I am going to start using some on our website at school to feature and highlight books.  I LOVE my job!!!:)

I read Mortal Instruments series.... City of Bones, City of Glass, City of Ashes, and City of Fallen Angels.  http://bcove.me/sh8h9koi

Also really good was the Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan.  I read this just last weekend.

I read a bunch more....but I don't have time to add to this tonight.  I love YA Lit!!!!:)

Nick Hornby--not exactly kid fiction---

Don't ask why, but I am reading two Nick Hornby's novels at once.  How to be Good, and Slam.  The first one I am more than half way through and I really like it.....and since you pleaded and asked me why till I can barely stand it anymore.....I left this book at school, and was so mad when I realized that I couldn't finish it this weekend....so I started Slam.  It has the auora of About a Boy, but so far I am not feeling it too much.  I hope this changes, but I love everything Nick Hornby writes.  Everything from Juliet Naked, to the Pollysallabic Spree, to High Fidelty....all of it. 

I would love to put his books in a high school library, but I am not sure about how that would go over.  Sherman Alexie's books are in the library, and I was actually suprised at first, but I don't think our librarian knew some of the stuff that is in his books.....she took them back off the shelves I think.  There is some really great literature out there that would appeal to teenagers I think, but how do you decide how much they can handle....or actually....how much their parents can handle?  Especially in the Bible belt of the Bible belt......
hmmmm.......

Hunger Game series

So I finished the rest of the Hunger Game series, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.  I really liked them, but not quite as much as the first.  A lot of people I talk to say they only like the first one, and the other two aren't very good.  Not so sure I am with them, but I know why they say what they do. 

Suzanne Collins is especially good at creating suspense and action.  You really like the characters and are torn between which boy that the main character should end up with. 
Although some of the plot is easy to figure out, such as who is going to side with the capitol and who is going to join the revolution, it is interesting what happens with Peeta's character, and the result is not always pleasing, but again, slightly realistic.  What else might you expect from a dystopia?