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Homewood High School math teacher Tim Hurry is a straight shooter. No nonsense kind of guy. His awesomely honest course syllabus shows why. He sets the bar pretty high for his advanced algebra students and he lets them know it in this three-page syllabus.
Cursing:
“I will not swear/cuss/whatsoever in class (I will save all of mine for the drive home on hwy 280 – just kidding)…I’m not suggesting that I think less of you because you might occasionally swear or that I’m completely above this sort of behavior myself (I’m Scott/Irish/Italian & my father was in the military -I’m very versed with this kind of “language’). I’m just saying THIS classroom is not the place for it. Also, if something I say happens to offend you, please bring it to my attention after class and I will try my best to accommodate you. If the whole idea of math is offensive to you, well, sorry.”
Homework policy:
“Expect homework to be given every night. How often? EVERY NIGHT. Are you sure you are coming to grips with this? EVERY NIGHT. If you are the type of student who, in the past, has said, ‘I don’t do homework,’ then please change your habits immediately or you will get hammered.”
Classroom etiquette:
“Whatever you do, please do not sharpen your pencil while I am teaching or during a test or quiz. If you really think about it, loudly sharpening your pencil while someone else is talking with you or trying hard to concentrate is quite rude. … Also, feel free to lay into a verbal onslaught of your fellow classmates if they break this rule.”“Please don’t sleep in my class. Besides being a social faux pas, it will be hard for you to hear me. In addition, if you attempt to sleep I might ask you to jog, stand at the podium for the rest of the class period, or perhaps take your picture and send it to your loved ones (the technology of today makes it very easy for me to send pictures & video to your parents).”
“I chose to be a teacher. I was not relegated this position as I might have been in some socialist/communist society and I did not become a teacher because I couldn’t get a job anywhere else. I actually want to be here and I enjoy it, despite the weak salary.”‘
An Alabama teacher sent home this brutally honest (and totally amazing) course syllabus
[via AL.com]
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Brian McGannon
What do I love? I love happy hour, a good golf tan, and getting moderately drunk during dinner.
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brianmcgannon
They teach math in Alabama?
Claiming you want to be there, despite the weak salary. PGP.
I still don’t understand why teachers are the only profession who lament about their pay…..if you take what they’re paid and add 3 months of the year where they DON’T WORK…..I feel they get as much as everyone else.
My favorite rebuttal to your argument is comparing similar pay that would be afforded to someone who provided daycare/adolescent supervision to that of a teacher. Now, factor in that teachers work 50+ hrs. a week MINIMUM, and also are responsible for ensuring that your kids don’t enter the workforce as complete idiots. Plus, it’s not a full 3 months off, there is a lot of planning going on in the meantime.
…..let’s be honest. Everyone works around 50+ a week. But none-the-less….good point. But what I’m saying is why do they complain so much about it. If that’s what they chose to be, then it shouldn’t be about the money! That’d be like myself complaining that I don’t make as much as an Astro-physicist……..
Alright, by that same logic you shouldn’t ever ask your boss for a raise. The difference is, government employees are at the whim of their bureaucratic leadership and idiot voters. It’s not just teachers complaining; cops, sanitation, basically any working-class government employee group.
Going to remark that I’m biased on this topic; my mother was an elementary school teacher her whole adult life and never made more than half of what my starting salary was. I personally value the impact my primary and secondary school teachers have had on my life, and I think shit salary is keeping a lot of skilled people from entering the education field.