Educators across the Big Bend say they’re facing growing demands in the classroom, from state education requirements and changing standards to student behavior, absenteeism, and the individual needs of students with IEPs.
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Florida teachers say growing classroom demands are putting pressure on educators
Those concerns were raised during a roundtable discussion hosted by the Florida Education Association and the Leon Classroom Teachers Association, bringing educators together with politicians and advocates.
Scott Mazur, the president of the LCTA, says hearing from people at different levels of education is important to understanding what’s happening in classrooms.
“Everybody sees something different, right? So if we don’t have everybody at every different level, then we’re not getting the full picture of what’s going on,” Mazur said.
Sandra Meador, an algebra teacher at Rickards High School, says teachers are often balancing the needs of many students while trying to meet requirements and accommodations.
“If I have 20 students in my class which would be extremely low for high school I have at least 19 different ways that I have to teach each of those individual students. It’s tough. It’s draining, but it’s rewarding.”
Meador retired two years ago before returning to the classroom last school year. She says she took a pay cut to return and believes veteran teachers aren’t always given enough incentive to stay in education.
“Right now, my salary at 30 years of teaching is only 10. It’s actually less than $10,000 a year more than a beginning teacher, so and I teach math, I teach in a Title One school, and both of those are shortage areas. Go back and look at some of the figures that show where teachers are missing,” Meador said.
Another part of the discussion focused on what educators called the art and science of teaching, balancing state requirements, lesson plans and curriculum with the individual needs of students.
Mazur says the science of teaching can be found in the theories and rules, but the art comes from understanding how to connect with each student.
“When it comes down to it, there’s a lot of theory of how you can teach, and you can follow a lesson plan and what’s scripted in a textbook. But the art is being able to understand people and how they respond and different personalities and different home lives and things like that. So, what works for one student is not going to work for another student to get them to get motivated or connected to the material,” Mazur said.
That same challenge came up during the discussion about student absenteeism. Educators say when students aren’t in class, they can miss instruction and fall further behind. Teachers are then left trying to figure out how to get those students back on track.
Educators say that’s why teachers need a voice in the policies that shape their classrooms. Meador says state leaders should listen to the people who are working directly with students.
“Don’t listen to the companies that write the test. Listen to the people who administer the tests,” Meador said.
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