We have the most amazing PE program because of exactly that–our PE teachers are primarily PE teachers.
When I was a young teacher I resented the coaches who were negligent teachers, but I finally came to realize that it was impossible for them to do both jobs, and that they were hired—and would be fired–based entirely on their coaching performance. That was their job.
Based on what my mom told me from her 10+ years she mentioned it being a rather thankless job. How she pretty much had to teach kids things they should have known from a lower grade level just so they can perform in their current level, the cuts to funding, dealing with the parents and also having to sometimes play the role of parent or person who gives a damn, plus the kids being unruly at times. All in all it doesn’t sound at all what I imagined it to be, but then again things rarely are.
That explains why the boys’ PE teachers at my high school all sucked. None of them had seemed to have much interest in actually teaching or any clue what to unathletic boys with zero knowledge or interest in sports other than yelling, negatively comparing our performance to “the girls”, or otherwise insulting us. I hated it so much I ended up ruling out several colleges, that in retrospect may have a better choices for me, because they had PE requirements, and didn’t voluntarily set foot in a gym until I for almost 10 years after graduating high school. Bad teachers can end up doing a lot more harm than good.
Most area high schools have a full time theater teacher. At my sons school they have a theater teacher who just teaches and runs that department. They do about 5 plays and musicals a year which might sound overwhelming but really the students do almost all the work.
He’s even joked how easy it is and he could just sit back and drink his coffee. Its really amazing how its the students who are the directors and such and the older students even teach some of the classes. Which is good that since its the students who handle all the small and middle things and even big ones he has the time to fix the larger issues that come up.
This gives him time to direct outside professional productions or pursue other interests.
I think the days of the hated drill sergeant PE teacher have mostly gone away. They are now expected to have lesson plans and actually teach. No more just toss out a basketball and them just sit on the side doing coaching paperwork. My sons PE teacher has a set curriculum (hes taking weightlifting) and they watch the kids closely.
Now there are still the ones who teach history and just show videos all the time and spend most of their time on coaching.
You would be surprised how much they make on the side running camps and clinics or doing private coaching.
Also I think that having half the PE staff are also female now has changed alot of it.
I tried being a classroom teacher for decades, but that is a brick wall I will not beat my head against anymore. It is amazingly rewarding, but I could not succeed at it. I taught every grade from Pre-K to 6 full-time, middle school and high school art, and library; I volunteered with marching band. I substituted all levels. I taught at public, charter, and Christian schools. I loved working with primary students, I was all right with 4th; 5th and 6th was just not me; I was great with middle and high school students when they wanted to learn what I was teaching and couldn’t stand them when they fought me.
I moved often; I never taught at any school more than 3 years. Some jobs I left when it became obvious I couldn’t agree with the administration; some I left because my husband was moving. Contracts would not be renewed, but never with definitive reasons. (“It’s time for a change” being the worst.) I was asked to resign once, when false gossip in the extremely small rural town (pop. 300) got toxic. In the last school, I don’t know what they wanted from me because feedback was nonexistent, but I was told I “hadn’t grown as much as they had hoped”.
I thought I was done with education when we moved to Indiana, but just when I thought I was out, it pulled me back in. The difference this time is that I am not a classroom teacher. I am now an assistant. I work with 2nd graders at a public school in a Midwestern city. It’s part time; the pay is not enough for one person to live on; there are no benefits, but the rewards are fabulous. I get to work one-on-one and with small groups of kids instead of herding cats. I teach; I don’t do paperwork, lesson plans, or grades (which are at best nebulous and are utterly inadequate for reporting student progress). I don’t have to deal with parents. I don’t catch heat from the dad who thinks every kid in class is bullying his son when in reality his son spits on everyone in class. I don’t have to try to control a classroom full of ipads when the IT department won’t give one to the teacher so she can use Apple Classroom to monitor the kids. I don’t have to mediate between feuding parents whose kids are in my class because the administration won’t intervene. I do get to talk to kids whose families are a disaster and are hurting and angry. I’m not a counselor, but I can listen, cry with, and love them when they need it.
I also work part time with a private tutoring company. Still not enough to live on, but still rewarding.
Forgive the sidetrack but with moving around so much, how have you been able to build up a retirement? My wife teaches in Kansas and thus is part of KPERS. Same with an aunt in Missouri. Are you part of such a program in Indiana?
Sorry about the late reply, but yes. I think each class goes to my friend’s science classroom once, so about 1 hour/week of science instruction. He says the 1st graders are the most curious and most interested in science, but that ANYTHING can distract them.