Those Who Stay

The first step to solving the problem of teacher attrition is to admit that there is a problem. Some groups have already taken this step, and they are listening to teachers in order to create solutions that will retain teachers. These programs make a big difference, but their approach isn’t the norm. In this episode, we hear about successful efforts to keep teachers in education, and we’ll ask the question: Who should have the responsibility of keeping teachers in education?

 Music: 

Theme Song By Julian Saporiti 

“Sunlight” by Nul Tiel Records is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

“I’m Fat” by Blanket Music is licensed under a CC BY-NC license.

“Keep The Prices Down” by Blanket Music is licensed under a CC BY-NC license.

“Kaptan Hayvanlar Alemi” by Hayvanlar Alemi  is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

“Grab a Bargain” by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a CC  BY license.

“Place on my Bonfire” by Lobo Loco is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

“Your Paradigm Dial” by Origami Repetika  is licensed under a CC  BY license. 

Transcipt

My third grade teacher had a phone booth in his classroom. It was a full size, glass booth that was mostly sound-proof. The phone booth was the choice place to spend any indoor recess, but during class, it was used as the equivalent of a time-out. Our teacher was a mustachioed man who called his facial hair his “cookie duster” and wore tinted-glasses and thick collared polyester shirts,  If a student was misbehaving, he would point that student to the phone booth, and that’s where the student would remain for the rest of the lesson. 

Discipline reigned in his class. I’m not sure if this is a quality of 3rd grade teachers in general, but both of the 3rd grade teachers at my school at the time were strict, and my parents loved it. I appreciate  some of it now, but at the time I thought it was downright oppressive - especially disciplining groups of kids together, which I’m still not a fan of. 

There was a week-stretch in particular where our class lost out on several recesses because a core group of kids were acting out. I don’t remember what they were doing, but I remember the sinking feeling of losing out on the chance to play tetherball or football or to climb on those tractor tires that were half buried in the ground and always had a faint smell o