Special Thx
The time to complain has passed
Last year the school district voted on a calendar and it was accepted without complaint. On the calendar, snow make-up day on Monday, January 17th. In case you are not aware, this is also MLK day. With the recent Sn-ice we were blessed with an extremely long weekend and the opportunity to exercise our make-up day plan. The next days to be used: January 17th, February 18th, and 21st. BTW, February 21st is President’s Day. You would think students were asked to come to school on Christmas or Easter Sunday. The local NAACP is freakin’ out about the first make-up day. They are calling for local reverends to encourage congregations to keep their children home. I get that it is a holiday to honor a civil rights leader. I get that people may have had plans. I even get that some object to going to school on this day. No problem, but where were they when the calendar was approved? There were no complaints then. There are also no complaints about attending school on President’s Day. There were no complaints when we were in school on Memorial Day last year. It seems to me that the time to complain was when the schedule was proposed, not now. We cannot help that 6″ of snow was dropped on our area and then covered with a treacherous layer of ice. It is the end of term and we need to get this show on the road, take our exams and begin second semester. If you want to honor a civil rights leader then by all means, do it. Get an education and exercise the dream. Sorry that the sn-ice put a kink in your plans. Put on your big boy britches and take it up with God.
Sn-ice
We’re in the deep freeze again. Ice is covering the multiple inches of snow on the ground. Most of the roads are OK, but secondary roads are apparently nasty enough to cancel school again tomorrow…well, at least for the girls. We have a two hour delay. Wait. No. Revise. The students in my district have a two hour delay. Teachers have to be there at the normal time. Feel the love in that? Yeah, neither do I. I’m looking at it like this, one day closer to getting new students second semester. Unfortunately 5 AM still comes early.
Big sigh
The last two weeks have been a struggle to the line. Students were wired and ready to be out. For that matter, their teachers were too. It sprinkled snow here Thursday. My girls were out, but I had to go. This is the beginning of Friday drama that set the tone for the rest of my Friday and continued this week.
TeenKid was sick and the girls were out Thursday due to weather. I left, with permission from my AsstAdmin, at 12:30. Jem was able to go to work and neither of us lost a day. I’m off 4th so no coverage was needed. AsstAdmin had no problem with it. I went to the office, TheAdmin was talking to Secretary and AsstAdmin handed me the sign out book. Friday we were short on subs. TeenKid was still sick, but she we figured she would be ok on her own for 1/2 day. I was going to request to leave again instead of taking the whole day. When I get to school I am called for 4th block coverage. I explain that I need to leave and why and was there anyone else? Sec said that everyone available had already been called for coverage. (NOT TRUE.) I said I would work something out for my sick child and she said nevermind and hung up. Soon after TheAdmin comes down the hall and said I need you to cover 4th. I said I understood and said I would work out my situation, as I had told Sec when she hung up on me. He said I couldn’t just leave without signing out just b/c I had 4th off. I explained that I didn’t do that and the circumstances for me leaving yesterday. He said that the Sec didn’t sign me out yesterday. I explained that he was standing there talking to her when AsstAdmin handed me the book to sign out! This is all taking place in the hallway, with a teacher beside me and students passing. My fellow teachers were very uncomfortable. Well, my friends. The jerks on the other end of the hall were amused. BTW, these are the same jerks that leave 4th block, do not sign out, and are never called for coverage. In fact, Friday they were out the door at 12:47. Long story short Admin kept on about it, I defended myself and didn’t quietly take it, and I had to take on coverage 4th. Sec called 2nd block and said she had a sub, no need for me to cover. I said, “No. Admin instructed me to do coverage and I have made arrangements to do so.” No need, we have a sub. WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why did she send Adminto make ME? I know I am not the only one that said I can’t and I know my excuse was better than making early happy hour for the Christmas Beer Crawl! I told Admin that I hadn’t planned on coming at all, but knew the sub situation so I did. I also told him I was going to seek permission to leave, just as I did yesterday, and sign out. He said AsstAdmin was out today. I explained the obvious, that there were others I would have asked if I hadn’t gotten an email response. Anyway, it was just absolutely ridiculous. My colleagues thought so, those who are not jackasses, and my students thought so. A public dress down is less than professional. Students should never be able to hear or see it. As for recourse, there is none. Crappit.
This little scenario pretty much sucked up my entire Friday and I did not leave early even though I didn’t have to cover. In fact, it is my goal to never set foot in Sec’s office for signing out again. The drama continued Tuesday when Admin beebopped into my room. He was dressed as Santa and AsstAdmin as an elf. I couldn’t tell who it was. My Sociology students (all eight of them who came) were watching Blind Side and it was dark. It is a sad fact that I can’t truly see clearly from across the room. So our movie is disrupted with Admin, and he comes to ask how things are. Right beside me, elbows on the desk. I am rather uncomfortable. Space issues you know. He also asks about TeenKid and I tell him she is still sick, but able to continue about her day. He said I could leave early if I needed. Um…gonna go with no on this. I had copies to make even if I was willing to walk into Sec’s office to sign out! Later that day…I was in the office asking AsstAdmin a question about professional development and get called into Sec’s office by Admin. Oh. Joy. He felt that I was rather irritated and wanted to clear the air. I stated that I understood him to be doing his job. He continued on with a round about apology and said the whole system had been revamped and that he didn’t realize I had actually worked out the details of signing out and such, and found everything I said to be true when he actually checked. He also said that Sec didn’t realize my family situation when I said I couldn’t cover. (I know my head had to have perked up. If you will go back several paragraphs to the original drama you will see that I was very clear on this matter when I was asked to cover.) Either way, it was almost an apology and more than I expected.
My opinion of Admin has changed drastically. I used to defend him to others and say that it was refreshing to see the enthusiasm. I have realized where my colleagues frustration comes from and can’t imagine that I will be offering words in his defense. They explained that I am not the first to receive strange, even unprofessional, treatment. I need to learn to just keep my head down and mouth shut.
It is all over and I can breathe a big sigh. Twelve days of break look really good right now.
Testing bias
My new favorite YouTube video!
Same story, different year
As I read the news today I am feeling a little deja-vu. Districts are being told to prepare for another year of budget cuts and my district is looking at 1100 jobs to cut. Oh. Joy…again. Really? How can they cut that many jobs…again! This game is growing very old. Class sizes are already HUGE. I have 35 in my first period, and I’m one of the lucky ones. There are some teachers who have 35 and 38 for there daily class load. There are 30 in my second and a daily increasing 16 on roll in my second. My second is an intro class of low level or “we had nowhere else to put them” students. I feel rather fortunate.
The other district issue is pay for performance. I don’t know of any teacher that objects to being paid for THEIR performance. The objection comes in when teacher performance is based on the whim of a teenager. Pretests and post-tests determine progress. A student who was up all night or simply decides they aren’t interested in reading a test that day determine the performance of the teacher. Business world people argue that they are paid for performance, why shouldn’t teachers be. The point is made in the previous sentence. Business people are paid for their performance, not that of others. If they are evaluated on the performance of their subordinates they at least have the power to hire and fire or evaluate with consequence those that are under them. There are so many factors outside the control of a teacher. If a student refuses to do the work, take the test, or try then there is very little that a teacher can do about it.
I have two students in a class that I haven’t seen more than 10 times this semester. They are still on my roster and their F still reflects in my (performance) class average. Anther student has missed 39 days. That student is still on my roster and still reflects in my class average. How can a teacher be held accountable for the lack of progress of students who refuse to come to school. When class size is over 25, classroom management becomes a daily issue. The students in my first block are wonderful…thankfully. Having a classroom discussion is difficult, but we manage. Most of the students are seniors so they understand that this class has the potential to be an easy grade if they just do what they are asked to do. They are willing to cooperate and it is an elective that several chose to take. All teachers are not this fortunate. My third block of 30 is a constant chore to manage. It is a class of honors students, of which some have no business being in. Those that struggle with content are at a disadvantage when I am having to constantly deal with chatter issue or silliness. It is a serious distraction issue. Again, I am fortunate. If there were 30 in my low level class and there were discipline issues there would be no hope for those who wanted to pass.
It’s just sad all the way around. The students who really want to do well are being put at a disadvantage. More and more barriers to success are being created. I want even get started on the BS assessment the district is paying a company to create. (Paying an outside company at the expense of teacher jobs btw.)
Ick. Ew. Blah.
Frustration.
Danza’s starting to “get it”
I’ve been watching Tony Danza’s Teach and enjoying it. There were mixed emotions at first, but if used appropriately this could be a nice expose for education. Danza is starting to connect with his students. He’s starting to care…and it isn’t easy. Yep, that’s reality.
sigh of relief
I can breathe a sigh of relief now, my first extended observation is over. I wasn’t overly concerned about it until I got to school and realized that I had forgotten to cut strips for the Supreme court foldable guide. Ugh. This was a big part of my class period. I sent one of my first period students to cut strips for me. She saved the day.
For my observation it worked out where we had multiple activities to do. I had taped amendment descriptions on each desk. As students came in I handed them a number and they had to go sit at the correct amendment description. It is a very small class so we were able to amendment hunt twice, and review each time. I was really impressed at how well they did. This class is lower level and they struggle with recall. Actually, I think their struggle is testing and confidence. After we reviewed amendments by searching the desks and matching descriptions and numbers we played a short game of jeopardy. The students again did really well. It was then time to apply their amendment knowledge. We started prep work for the 3D graphic organizer. They worked very well, even after admin left the room. After admin left they were a bit more chatty, but I was so proud of them. Not only was their behavior and participation exceptional, they demonstrated that they learned from our previous lessons and activities. WTG!
I really really like my second period. They are the most “thug” like of all my classes and have the lowest expectations of achievement. I think they are going to make it…as soon as I figure out how to teach them how to take a test. My honors class is the most difficult to manage. What is wrong with that picture?
Teach
I have started watching Tony Danza’s new reality show, Teach. I have mixed feelings about this show. Part of me is offended by the exploitation of my profession, but I also see the value in what is being shown. There is so much staging that takes place in reality TV. It isn’t always reality. Teach seems to be doing a good job of really portraying the profession. There are so many issues that I can relate to. I can imagine what teachers in the school were saying about Tony Danza and his stepping into teaching for reality TV. Really though, how is it different than what TFA people do each year? They have about the same amount of training. In fact, Danza has life experience to bring to the classroom. I would love to see something positive come from this reality show. People need to see what students are like and the frustrations of teaching. It isn’t something that anyone can step in and do. After ten years, I still question myself…especially when my alarm goes off at 4:50 AM after only a few hours sleep. On that note, g’nite.
Ready…set…wait, no not yet.
My room is together, but I have yet to turn the Promethean board on. I need to make sure everything works and play with it enough to not look like a newbie in class. Monday is open house. I haven’t written my newsletter. That is on my agenda for tomorrow. Thrilled with my classroom, I have forgotten how much work goes into a classroom that is truly yours. I wouldn’t want to trade for floating teacher again.
BTW…what does it say about us if we sit in the living room with the TV on Disney channel, and the kids are now in the other room?
Back to it
Today was sort of my first day back. It was newbie day. We listened to all the assistants speak and learned various details that will be important for our sanity. I really think I’m going to like it here. So far so good. I also picked up my new toy.
It’s a little silver HP Mini, a companion toy to my Promethean board. So far I am not impressed with the little mini. I may have gotten a dud, but the ‘net speed is atrocious. Maybe it just needs a good update session, I hope.
My room is a very good size, but the person in it didn’t realize they were changing rooms so it isn’t totally mine yet. I almost feel bad for the individual, but am glad that it is not me moving all my stuff to a “learning cottage” (aka trailer).
Thank you Promethean board. I owe my job and my classroom in a sturdy building all to you.
Flair
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