Special Thx
Unproductive Day…
Two hours of writing test where I am fortunate enough to be a hall monitor. This means I had two hours to sit in the hall and grade papers. At least I accomplished something even if my classes didn’t.
After the writing tests we met all four blocks, which seems like a good idea. The students were not mentally there…and many were not physically there. Most seniors didn’t bother coming for the first two hours of the day since they would have to sit in a secluded room. Many juniors and freshman did not bother since they were required to spend two hours in homeroom while the sophomores took the writing test. They. Were. Wild. I teach mostly 10th graders and they were not interested in class. We quizzed on an assignment from yesterday and attempted to begin an image depiction project of the amendments. I fear for the quality of their products.
Honestly, I fear for the future. Most students today are lazy and uncreative. Independent thought is a lost art. It is something I don’t know how to teach. I ask questions and guide them through the process but it doesn’t stick. What really scares me is that I don’t think students around the world are this way. Is it the fault of the teachers? Partly. We have allowed it. Granted, we are forced to prepare them for standardized test after standardized test. Independent thought is not encouraged in the final assessment of their performance. They are required to produce a test appropriate answer. Granted, they must sometimes think at a higher level in order to achieve this answer…but not always. My district has spent millions on assessment creation. It is frightening. Millions for assessment and it took five months for me to get a pencil sharpener and stapler that was not brought from my home. Someone down the hall half joked that for about five years he has been asking for lightbulbs in his room. This year he was given a Promethean board. Still has burnt out lightbulbs, but that Promethean projector lamp puts out a good bit of light.
Priorities. The educational bureaucracy is lacking.
Burrr…..excuse me?
So it’s winter. I think you know that. It is the policy of Lil Bit’s school to require each student to wear their winter coat each day. They even have the “coat monitors” to enforce this policy and students get in trouble if they are not wearing their coat before/after school. Apparently, when they go to the playground the students are allowed to hang their coats on the fence. Both of my children hate coats. They come by it naturally. I would rather wear layers. In the deep south you can do that and not be uncomfortable. When Lil Bit was distracted and left her coat on the playground she was not allowed to retrieve it. Instead, she was sent home without her only winter coat. At a percussion concert tonight, we were walking back to the car and I told Lil Bit that a coat would have been a good idea. That is when she explained her coat situation. I’m about to lose my mind over this. I’m upset with Lil Bit for being irresponsible, but I am more upset with her teacher for not allowing her to retrieve the coat, or send someone for it. A more appropriate action would have been to give Lil Bit a consequence. Take away playground time tomorrow. I don’t care. It is going to be in the lower 20s in the morning and kid needs a coat! On our way home we stopped at the school and the coat was still on the fence, but what if it hadn’t been there? I don’t know if you have priced winter coats, but they are not cheap! Unhappy mom. Frustrated that my child was irresponsible. Frustrated that the teacher was callous. I did not vent my frustration in an email. I’m getting all that here. I simply emailed and asked why my child came home without her only winter coat. I hope there is more to this story, but I suspect that there isn’t.
to be continued…
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.
War Cam Eagle.
What. A. Week. Auburn is being hammered left and right. Not cool. Tensions are high and there are many who would love to see AU fall. So many are hoping that all allegations are true and Cam Newton is dirty. Sick of hearing about this whole mess. What I really don’t understand, why does the media hate Auburn? Why do they want them to fail? Why do they want to keep AU out of the championship game? I do not understand the dislike. Ugh. It is SO obvious that they are hoping beyond hope that Auburn is taken down in this mess.
My other issue…I sure as heck hope that Cecil Newton didn’t screw up his son’s career and Auburn’s season.
About to get a little busy!
I’m trying to stay focused, not get excited yet, or get hopes up. It looks like everything is in place for a house we want, but I am just waiting for the hammer to fall. I’m waiting for a stop. One month. One month to transfer the necessary services. One month to pack. One month to plan. One month to conduct life as normal and one month to prepare. We are staying in the same city, just moving to a vastly better neighborhood and home. I can’t wait and I am considerably thrilled. I hope easy is how I will describe this process.
The guy we are currently renting from will not release us from the 30 day notice requirement without penalty. That’s fine. It’s his right. However, he wants to be able to show the house with notice. Um…I’m going to have to go with no on that. If he wants to show it, he should let us leave early and without penalty. I cannot find in state code where he has a right to do this, but I can find that we have a right to a peaceful and non-disturbed home environment. I’m thinking that picking up, getting two kids out, kenneling the doxy and going out for an hour is going to be rather disturbing. It’s the part I hated when we sold our homes. Not just that, but let me remind you that I teach. Do you know teachers? I do not know teachers that have an immaculate house during the school year. I am not regularly suited for company tyvm. I’m not comfy with strangers walking through my chaos. So…no, Mr. Man…I am not happy with that arrangement.
I am happy about the opportunity we face. Please, I hope it is easy!
Lake Lure Weekend
We took off to Lake Lure this past weekend. Cute cabin with a great view of Chimney Rock. We were even able to take the dogs and I was able to get in a little geocaching. I have to say, sticking my hand into a hollow tree is NOT my favorite cache retrieval method. *shivers*
Brain dump: Carolina Beach
My blogoversary was a few days ago…I missed it.
Last week I went to the beach with a friend. She was going and taking her 14yo daughter and wanted to invite me and my 13yo daughter. Another 14yo went as well. I didn’t know how the trip would go since this friend is A LOT more talkative than I am. For perspective, let’s just say that most conversations with this individual are one sided with me nodding occasionally. Nice enough people and it was an opportunity to get to know them better and have some time with my teen.
It is important to understand that I do not like riding with other people. However, since we were invited and we were taking a van, it was important for us to all ride together. Maybe this is why God opened the door for us to go on this trip.
Not even an hour down the road the friend was not staying steady in our lane. Before we left I had offered to drive. An hour in, I insisted. Friend had apparently taken her night meds that morning. Oh my. She pulled over and we switch.
It is also important to understand that I do not embark on a journey without viewing maps and studying my route…even when I have a GPS. I didn’t do that this trip.
About thirty minutes into the driver switch friend is out. I’m not talking dozing here, I checked to make sure there was still respiration. To make things even better, the road that we “stay on until we get there” offered a mandatory detour. Great. Joy. Craptastic. I detour and try to follow back to the road. May I point out that without my GPS I am directionally challenged, and I’m not that great even with it. I pull over and start digging through my geocache back for the GPS, car mount, and charger. Friend doesn’t notice. She mumbles something and then is back out. One teen is asleep, friend’s daughter is wondering if we were stopping for ice cream (really?) and my teen is looking at me wide eyed. Fortunately I had asked the address of the house so I could leave it with Djembe. Somehow I was able to recall this piece of info. (Thank you God.)
Addy in, GPS ready, back on the road…twenty minutes later…OMG this road does not exist on my GPS.
Crap.
Blackberry. Google Maps. I’m on the right track and I parallel the route that the GPS wants me to take…granted the GPS shows me driving “off road” but that’s OK. The routes sync up after about an hour and everything was OK, but that was a little stressful. On a quick RR stop I call Jem and confirm my turns then we are on our way. Friend wakes up for the last leg of the journey and slurs a few directions at me. I went with the GPS. FYI, telling someone to take “that” road when the road Y’s with an extra leg is not helpful. Specifics, please.
We made it in one piece. Take the girls to the beach for a little while that late afternoon, then scavenge for dinner. Since friend sort of napped when we returned to the house I do mean scavenge. I made cheese quesadillas.
Day 2.
I don’t sleep well away from home so it was no problem getting up for sunrise. I take my dachshund with me for a short walk. Tiki is not fond of the waves and their noise. You weren’t supposed to walk dogs on the beach there, but it was early and technically I was not walking her…I was carrying her. I was going to deposit my Tiki then go geocaching but the girls wanted to go to the amazing Donut shop, Britt’s. It didn’t open for another hour so I told them to get ready, and went back to the beach for a quick hunt nearby.
Friend is still asleep.
Took girls to Britt’s and had amazing fresh donuts, and found a nearby geocache. After returning to the house we got ready and went down to the beach for a few hours. Friend’s daughter wants to go out as far as possible. In yellow flag (should have been red) conditions I lost cool points and wouldn’t allow it.
Friend is still asleep.
Girls are tired so we return to the house, get comfortable and watch a movie. Somewhere in the middle of the movie friend wakes up and decides Subway would be good for a late lunch. I offer to go pick everything up, but she wants to buy and didn’t have cash. We need to go to the store anyway so I suggested letting the girls hang out while we ran to the store. Good idea, she was game…but was now interested in the movie. After it was over we made our journey and instead of Subway for 5 I suggested just buying a variety of sandwich material and everyone make their own. Cheaper, and it left extra for later. I lost cool points with her daughter, but oh well.
Back at the house we had our 4 PM lunch and then it was time for more beach action, this time with wave boards. Friend stays at the house, and I take the girls…again. We had fun. Yellow flag makes for great waves, but a challenge to keep three girls…ok, one of the three girls…in check about how far out to go. More cool points lost.
I took a lot of great pictures of the girls and really had a good time with my teen and her friends. When we returned to the house friend was in her room asleep. Really? Guess so. It was every man for himself for dinner. After a movie I decide to call it and go to my room to read. It had been a long day, with an early start. About 11 I am turning in when friend knocks on the door. WTH? NOW you decide to wake up and want to chat? I don’t like “chatting” when I’m not wiped out tired! We chat. Sort of.
Sunday reads about the same. I took in the sunrise and a five mile walk on the beach, but was joined by my teen. It was great time spent together. We get back to the house and go back to bed. When I get up friend is up. About 10 AM I decide I’ve had enough TV and take my book down to the beach. I had kid duty yesterday, and I can’t sit inside on a pretty day.
After lunch they want to go to a local discount store. By two they are ready to start the day and we head off to cheap store. It wasn’t my kind of place, but they got to shop a little and do their thing. We all go to the beach that afternoon and enjoy before the stormy weather moves in. We had mediocre mexican food that night and prepared for our early departure the next day. Ready for it. I don’t sleep well away from home and this had been a weird adventure.
I let friend start the drive home. She seemed up to it. After about thirty minutes I told her to pull over, it was time for me to drive. I was perfectly willing to take my teen and all of our stuff out of the vehicle if she refused. Fortunately, she didn’t. I drove us home without issue. The whole way I am thinking about the fact that she wants to make this trip again in a few weeks with her kids, and her husband to follow a few days later. I’m not so sure this is a good idea. In fact, I’m pretty certain that it is not. I know she has a need for her level of pain meds, but whoa.
Appreciate the trip. Glad to have had time with my teen, but it was interesting. Very interesting. I do want to go back because there are several historical areas and tourist things I would like to see. The circumstances will be different next time…I’m just not sure what to do about this adventure.
New Developments
It is a waiting game, and one that I do not much enjoy. Life as an unemployed teacher is frustrating. I have ZERO control, but that is OK. I have almost come to a point of acceptance and I do little things here and there that make me feel like I am moving forward. I have applied to ten or so positions. I have two that I am focusing on, and one that I feel I have a valid shot at obtaining. It would make me very happy to teach AP US and US again. I will not know anything until next week. I did a drop by visit today and I think it was appreciated. The first said it was nice to put a face to a resume and the second was much more receptive.
I’m hoping. Praying. Sittin’. Watchin’. Waitin’.
Flair
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