What a way to feel valued as a teacher...

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Quote:
Well, we just finished watching the documentary Waiting for Superman by Guggenheim. I think it's OK to watch a movie/documentary about your field and its MAJOR stressors. In our stressful life, I found my DH would ramp up and get busier during the stress, ie, growth begets more growth and busy-ness begets more business. I hope it might work that way for others, too, like you if you find making a plan to help fix the system might stop the colitis. They always say, "Ya can't take care of anyone if ya don't take care of yourself" and I know it sounds self centered, but the truth is that stewing over problems often CAUSE colitis flare-ups, and working on solutions often calm it down. There's no stress like living in the realm of "maybe"s. That's my 2 cents, to start making lists of your possible solutions to your crisis.

Mae West said, "...but the world is round, and what seems like the end may only be just the beginning...." but she was quoting somebody else.
and "The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings" (Dave Weinbaum) -just to getcha started on moving forward. Ahhhh, calm gut.

 

[booker81]

I was asking for advice on how to prepare for the worst. I was hoping to hear from people in regards to self-sufficiency (considering this is an agricultural board), ways of cutting budgets, and their own experiences with losing a job and having to move, or changes to alternate career paths.

Well, I think the first thing is to start living like you have been laid off - or trying to. If you are laid off, you should be able to draw unemployment, go and find out how much it is - usually there is a cap (in MI it's $392 or $372 a week, can't remember). Not a lot. Start seeing if you can live in that budget though - when you get paid, portion that amount out, and put the rest in savings. You'll have to dip in most likely for job related expenses, but it's important to get a good idea where you'll be and what it will be like if you have a severely restricted budget.

Call up your service providers - cell, internet, electric, etc. Ask if there are any deals or changes in pricing for service you can get. See if you can get a discount for enrolling in budget pay or automatic pay. Shop around for car insurance if you have a car, make sure you aren't paying too much for the same coverage. Start paying attention to the various grocery stores, find the ones that have the best deals, or double coupons, or what not. We have Aldi's here - I can get almost two months of dry, canned and frozen goods for $200, leaving me with only having to purchase milk and a few other items.

As for alternating career paths - I did this. My degree is in Molecular Biotechnology/Microbiology. I worked for 7 years total between a microbiology lab, and then for the State in an organic chemistry lab (I tested groundwater for the whole state for organic compounds and pesticides). I became pregnant, had a LOAD of health issues, and ended up quitting and then staying home for a year with our baby. When I was ready to return to the work force in 2008, there were no lab jobs. I networked my heinie off, but everywhere was laying off, not hiring. Finally, a friend suggested I apply at the insurance company she works for, a LARGE insurance and annuity company. I was hired immediately by them - for paperwork processing and data entry. My pay was half of what my pay was when I was at the lab. However, it was a job, and I did my best for them. I'm an analytical person, and upper management started to take notice, and started assigning small projects to me, and then started assigning larger and more complex projects. Last fall, I ended up being promoted to the Systems and Programming group (IT), with NO computer science background, NO experience testing new computer programs, nothing like that. They were more interested in how I think (analytical) than what I knew - they trained the rest. I now make as much as I did in the lab, have free training, and if I want to go to college for Computer Science, they will pay for it. I doubled my salary there in two years - not bad. Moral is, don't just rest on your paper laurels (degree etc), but do an inventory of what you are good at and what you like. I never though I'd like being in a "cube farm" but the computer systems I work now are a whole new complex world for me to explore and challenge - I enjoy every day I work. Don't be afraid to apply for things you don't think you'll like - my dad always says "You were looking for a job when you got this one." If you get laid off, just start looking, and if you get hired for something else, don't STOP looking if it's not the right fit.​

 

[Katy]

Quote:
My point in posting the first time was just to say there are no guarentees with any job. We've always lived like the weather was planning on screwing us out of the upcoming harvest....a layoff in our business. Until that grain is harvested or the calves have been hauled to the auction I don't count on any money to pay any bills. We've never had cable, we don't eat out much, my clothes budget for the year generally consists of 2 new pairs of jeans, a couple new shirts and a new pair of chore boots. This year our wheat crop looks the best that it has in many years....good planting conditions in the fall and a good stand but it's a very long time till June/July when we'll harvest it. We've always lived like we were going to be laid off or fired by Mother Nature.

And by the way this is not an agricultural board......it's a backyard chicken forum.......BIG difference.

ETA re the colitis: I used to suffer constantly from it and I know it was from stress...then one day I decided all that worrying wasn't changing a darn thing, in fact it was just making things worse so I made myself have an attitude adjustment. I'm not saying I never worry about anything because I do, but at least now I don't get up in the morning worrying and go to bed worrying. If I do get stressed out about something it comes back with a vengeance.

 

[nivtup]

To the OP:

I find myself in the position of needing to find new employment after 25 years of dedication. It is an interesting position to be in.

Add to that, I am also tasked with eliminating the jobs of 40 other people. These are people that are not only employees, but many have become friends. There is just a little mental stress over that.

I have no answers for you, I only wanted to let you know that there are others in your shoes. And a fine pair of shoes they are.

There is an answer to all of this, we just don't get to know it until the future arrives. There is probably nothing you can do to change the course that is unfolding before you. Be at peace with it, look to your future, do not let this event define you.

I have lots of thoughts on our education system, however this is not the time.

Be strong.

For me, I am thinking a cardboard box, under a bridge, in Hawaii ............... I hear there are chickens there .....


Edit, spelling ......

 

[chickened]

I am self employed and I can tell you healthcare at 100.00 for what type coverage they get would be awesome. I can buy a house for the payment I would make for equal plans.
Quote:
Sports were a big part of my kids' life (especially the youngest 2). Our school district didn't pay for meals....the kids either took a lunch or money to eat at McDonald's.

I was thinking the same thing when I saw that someone has to pay $100 a month for health insurance. Now that is a benefit that is RARE!!!! Most people have to foot a $700/month for health insurance that basically sucks.

Teachers are only as good as the person behind the title.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
Ummmm, you think it's the TEACHERS who put the focus on sports and PC?!!! NOT! It is administration combined with community pressure from parents who want to viscerally relive their own "glory days" through their kids that put the focus there. I don't know any serious teachers that believe the sports budget should be any more important than other areas of the curriculum. As for how our students stack up against those from other nations, perhaps you should look at how our PARENTS stack up against those from other nations. As a teacher I consistently witnessed how different cultures value education and thus teach their young to value it. If I sent home a note to an immigrant parent from, say, Korea about a student misbehaving or under-performing, I had a parent meeting with me asap, wanting to know how to HELP ME HELP HIS/HER KID. I could send that same note to an American parent, and I was just as likely to receive 1) no response, or 2) a complaint to administration that I was "picking on" the parent's "perfect kid." The ironic thing is, the same parents who act this way are usually the ones hollering that teachers aren't doing their jobs. Sorry, but it's not teachers' job to raise those kids and teach them good citizenship and personal responsibility- that is the parents' job, one that is increasingly being abdicated by people who find it easier to point the finger out than to do some serious introspection. I don't know of any other profession that gets scapegoated like teaching for not only society-wide problems but individual disappointments on the part of parents. If little Johnny doesn't get into the college of his choice or make it to "the pros" in sports, it MUST be because all his teachers and coaches failed him. It certainly couldn't be because his parents taught him a sense of entitlement instead of a sense of investment in his own education and future. If a parent always tells a kid that his/her failures are someone else's fault, that parent has no one to blame for those failures but the person in the mirror.

No truer words were ever spoken!! Thank You!!! Spiritdance!!

 

[chickened]

Why is it that teachers in the private(real) world never complain only those from the government schools? Maybe the problem lies in the Government running our schools(which they do, NEA?) Teachers are like any other profession you have those that do a good job and those that Do not. Accountability is the problem on the teachers side and crap-parents on the kids side is where the fault lies. My father ran a business for 50 years with an 8th grade education from a one room school with 50 plus kids and one teacher, the older kids were expected to help the younger ones. I am sorry for the lay offs but they are a reality to everyone that is employed.

 

[FourPawz]

My credit took a hit due to my own stupidity, although thank GOD I have no debt right now whatsoever so it should recover shortly.

This puts you in such a better position should you end up as one of the folks in the upcoming layoffs. I really hope you keep your job. If I can offer one piece of advice, I think it would be to put every penny you can spare into savings right now. In addition, if you see sales at your grocery store on non-perishables, stock up and start looking at some of the thrift blogs. There is great advice on here in the canning threads, too.

Start making a list of friends neighbors and family and network with them about possible job alternatives now.

 

[country lady]

Unemployment---"...usually there is a cap (in MI it's $392 or $372 a week...."-----------Every part of our country is different. Most workers where I live would love wages like your unemployment checks. In my area factories began leaving decades ago so that now really the only good good paying jobs are with schools, medical, and farming.

Just last week, Goodyear announced it would close in NW TN; 1900 jobs will be lost. It is a major, high paying, factory there and radically changed the whole area when it was built decades ago. That doesn't lessen the pain, though, of all of you who are facing downsizing or losing your jobs. My former elderly neighbor (a strong union man BTW) used to say that "when you lose your job, it is a recession. When I lose my job, it is a depression."

Kids today bring a lot of baggage into the schools but many jobs out there are equally stressful, especially low paying jobs. True, the decisions we make as youths usually influence our entire lives, but not everyone can or should go to college. What I'm trying to say is that everybody has to share the pain of fiscal responsibility. It makes me very angry at certain institutions that are giving bonuses in the millions when so many are hurting in this economy. Our government also missed the boat by not demanding that the UAW workers not receive a ($4,000) bonus before the company repaid us, the taxpayers. So many things are unfair.

Sometimes posters on this board are criticized for their writing skills, but in my opinion, it is content that is more important. We all make errors; that's why there is an "edit" key.

 

[chickened]

Maybe some of the fine folk on BYC can shovel a little cash and care to the unemployed since some can afford to donate to animal groups and other non-humanity beggar groups oops I mean organization. Just a thought.