How many teachers on the boards?

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

What sort of school is this? Private? Public? Charter?

 

[dougmander]

What sort of school is this? Private? Public? Charter?

Charter school (for those of you who don't know what that is, it's an independently administered public school that receives a charter from the state government to operate, subject to periodic review).

 

[Jdvn1]

I can't imagine a gaming sesson that short. What is it like?

 

[dougmander]

I can't imagine a gaming sesson that short. What is it like?

Sometimes, it's just three or four rounds of combat, but you'd be surprised how much you can get done. We try to do all the housekeeping stuff, like levelling up, outside of game time, usually during lunch/recess -- that saves time. Out-of-game chatter is verboten. The players are incredibly focused, and nearly always know what they're going to do when their turn comes around. Lately they've taken to having pregame strategy sessions that I'm not privy to -- they know the PHB backwards and forwards and are always springing creative spell uses on me. If one group is going to have a major combat, I can usually get one or two older students from the other group to act as assistant DMs -- that also helps.

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

How long has it taken to get this group established and for them to develp such great habits?

Do any of your players play outside school, as well? Do they complain about summer break?

 

[Hair Wax]

What's the general rate of pay for teachers like in the states? I've got a scholarship to do an MA at my uni. after I graduate and then after that I was planning on doing a PGCE so I can teach in England but, well, I'd like to see my options first!

A rough guideline if you have different areas/states with different rates would be nice. Here you get more money for living near London (London gets everything :grumble grumble: ) but as I loathe the city I wouldn't want to work there.

Thank you, Dan

 

[Umbran]

What's the general rate of pay for teachers like in the states?

It varies widely from location to location. It is not even constant within a particular state. In more affluent communities, a teacher will earn more. In less affluent communities, they get paid less.

Frequently, the school budget is drawn from property taxes. Areas with high home-property values, or lots of industry to tax, will have more money for schools, and thus for teachers. In the Boston area alone, salaries range from "barely adequate" to "quite comfortable".

Also, the pay schedule is generally dependant upon your education level and the number of years you've been teaching. A highly educated teacher will be paid more. Unfortunately, that also means he's less likely to be hired. While in many ways he is more qualified, the more educated candidate will cost the district more...

 

[Hair Wax]

Thanks, just did a conversion of English starting pay to dollars and you start at the equivalent of $35k. There's a bonus (Golden Hello) of 4.5-9k (depending on the subject taught) after completing your first year and going from NQT (newly qualified) to QT.

Now £19k in England is an okay package to graduate to if you're going to work up, but 35K sounds a lot more appealing considering that the cost of living in America is so much lower.

Is it actually less than that on average?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just tying to plan ahead

Dan.

 

[Umbran]

Is it actually less than that on average?

It varies so much that I'd say the average wouldn't be a useful measure for your purposes. What you need to look at is where you want to live, what the cost of living in that place is (since cost of living also varies greatly), and then what the nearby teaching salaries are.

 

[dougmander]

How long has it taken to get this group established and for them to develp such great habits?

Do any of your players play outside school, as well? Do they complain about summer break?

I think their good gaming habits are an extension of their general academic and civic rigor. Things were pretty smooth right from the start.

They certainly do play outside school -- one of them just announced that they have started a Northern Crown campaign. The two groups like to do PC vs. PC grudge matches, just for bragging rights. Some of them have played WoD and Marvel Superheroes, and they also like tabletop games such as HeroClix and Warhammer. They do complain about summer break, but not so much any more, since they can DM their own games.