Well said. Just finished my third year teaching and I’ve decided to go half and half. So next year (and years thereafter), I’ll be teaching three classes and taking roughly 9-12 credits of doctoral classes a year. At some point I’ll have to “leave” the classroom, but this was a temporary compromise.

Best of luck!

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_13493373
indicates that in Dan’s county, there are 23 administrators at County Office of Education making over $100k a year.
There are hundreds of full professors at UCSC making less than that http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_13741287

The purpose of getting a PhD is to do research or to teach at a university. Only rarely will it get you an entrance any where else.

(THANKS FOR BEING INSPIRATIONAL TO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ALIKE!)

Just felt the need to jump in with a post-script to my original post. If I know you at all (and I think that you have given us all quite an important insight into your psyche) you may be tempted to take some of these posts personally … PLEASE DON’T …

At least for me … my comments are not a criticism of your decision … but rather a commentary on the current American Educational system that requires moving out of the classroom to be part of career advancement.

Maybe someday that may change … maybe someday we will be closer to the social/professional status enjoyed by teachers in some European countries, or have the 1:1 planning to student contact time of many Japanese schools … maybe ….

Best of luck …

I look forward to seeing more of you in the future, of benefiting from your leadership once you find your new level.

Best regards, (and many thanks for all of your dedication, excessive hours planning for your students and most of for taking the aditional time to share all of this with us in an inspiring way)

Tim

You obviously are more than a classroom teacher always have been. You reached out and touched people with the simple questions like “What Can You Do With this?” We responded by discovering that whining and complaining about piss poor textbooks did nothing, but a simple picture of a measuring cup could incite imagination.

Go to grad school discover why what we know intuitively to be true, that real math can and should be taught in the classroom.

What I hate most about teaching and why I am working towards my administration degree is that I can only teach in one classroom, I can only coach a few teachers, my reach is just too limited. I need a bigger stick to make these people listen. We need to change the way we teach or we might as well just forget about it.

So go get your doctorate and see what you can do with that.

It frustrated me to realize during that conversation with my father in law … that in my chosen career … the only way to be considered as having ambition, in the eyes of someone in a “real profession” (law, medicine, engineering …) is to leave it and move on …….

I wish Dan the best … and will miss him. Although I just found him (via TED) He inspired and re-energized my outlook on my 9th grade conceptual physics course …

Good luck Dan … you will be missed … by more than just your future students ….

Tim

However, in that last part, where I live a person would always be hired back if they did a good job. Why wouldn’t they? What was their reasoning?

Of course, smaller places are better for that, where people know you.

Also, “as long as you don’t mind the lack of income” is far too casual for this conversation, I’m afraid. It sounds worrisomely like the currently popular rhetoric of “real teachers shouldn’t care about money.” I’ll let the needs of my two growing children, aging widowed mother, and disabled brother speak as testimony against that statement.