As much as I rant and rave, readers should know that I do not hate my job. I am merely disheartened at the direction education is taking and the day to day frustrations the classroom brings. There are bright spots, I promise.

I’ve returned to traditional education and love the actual teaching and feel that I am making a difference. I get the test scores and just want to quit. I’m going to be judged by these scores? Evaluated. Ranked. Failed.

I’ve been browsing the net and ran across a blogger that gives me a little hope. Teachers At Risk is written by a blogger at an at-risk school. She shares great advice and strategies, clarifying that most she learned the hard way. Don’t we all? It is encouraging because so much that I am reading there is what I am doing. I don’t know why it isn’t working in my new school, but I am determined to find out.

I think part of my problem is that I came to this school and chose to conform. Educationally speaking I am a non-conformist. I integrate the non-traditional with the traditional and do my own thing in order to get the job done. This has worked for me. Now I am part of a team that expects a level of conformity. We have common planning, share information, and give the same tests on the same schedule. It is very new for me and I am going to say, not working. I have to stop trying to teach like they do and do it like I know…using my own materials. We just did a two week project that was supposed to serve as a review. My students were not ready for a review, they needed reteaching. (This is a year long class – think introduction semester 1 then depth semester 2.) They hadn’t had the material since the beginning of last semester and struggled with the project. There’s two weeks I will never get back, and their grades on the post-test were awful. I did not teach these students last semester, but will be held accountable for them this semester. It is very difficult for me to avoid focusing on that as an excuse.

I don’t know what to do, but I know it is not what I have been doing.

Fortunately we were able to return to our rooms for the rest of the day. I didn’t have anything that my last two classes could have done.

It seems to me that it would have made sense to prepare for the ice situation since we have known this winter storm was on its way and the prediction was for 4-5 inches of snow. Granted, we didn’t receive even a good dusting of snow, but the ice on the boardwalk was still slushy from the day before when snow did fall hard. All the snow on the ground melted, but the boardwalk is elevated enough that it was colder…I guess.

Whatever. I’ve learned to just go with it.

It has been a really good week, but I am glad to see the weekend. Sometime within the next 90 days I will find out if I make the cut. Apparently schools are facing even great budget woes this year and the “best” way to save money is to cut teachers. Teacher’s do not make up even 50% of the work force in this district, so why should they be the one’s facing the largest cuts? There are admins making 6x more than I am. A recent news article stated that findings indicate a higher degree does not equate to a better classroom teacher. Yeah, a higher degree doesn’t equate to better school leadership either, but a higher degree in my field does give me a greater knowledge base in my subject and this can translate into the classroom. If I suck as a teacher before the higher degree I will likely not improve with it, but don’t use that degree classification as an excuse to add MA level teachers to the cut list. We all know it is b/c you have to pay them more and you want to cut out the MA grant money for teachers.

I understand that cuts have to be made. I also understand that I am low man on the totem. I certainly hope that I am actually evaluated before a decision is made and I also hope that it is an honest evaluation. As of right now I have never met the school principal, and my immediate supervisor speaks only in passing b/c it can’t be avoided. My colleagues are a different story. They have been extremely helpful and welcoming. They are also lobbying for me to stay.

It will be curious to see how this story plays out…

Each day is a little better, and some days are better than others. I’m almost to a point where I am not playing catch up. Catch up…not a fun game.

an eighth-grade teacher wrote on her Facebook page that it was a “hate crime” that students left a Bible on her desk and how she “was able to shame her kids” over the incident. Her Facebook page included comments from friends saying that the parents of Hussain’s students were “bigoted, stupid and uncaring.”

I’m not supporting blasting your students on FB, but it does irk me that teachers have to be so guarded with what they say.  I try to be careful here and not reveal where I teach, or anything that would give away personal information of students and other faculty.  Since I consider this my little sanity journal, that line is sometimes a little blurry.  Given that this teacher taught 8th grade she REALLY shouldn’t have said anything, but I have to wonder about the proper way to address the situation.  I don’t think shaming them is it.  Even if one uses this as a teachable moment, are they crossing a line?  Does a teacher have to put up with harassment from students?  I know of a teacher that has experienced similar situations in her high school classroom with students speaking to her, proselytizing, and emailing her.  Some went as far as condemning her for eternity.  That’s an invasion into the personal I think.  She handled it well, even though it was very upsetting for her to face this issue on a regular basis.

I find this article disturbing. My role as a teacher is understood, and I chose it. I struggle with the diminishing liberty that goes along with the job. Setting a good example is one thing, but not being able to express your thoughts outside the classroom is another.

A student falls asleep in class and the teacher snaps a pic to send to dad.  Instead of dealing with his son, the dad contacts the local news to complain about the teacher.  Why is it always the fault of the teacher? 

According to the father, the student in question “has had issues in this class” all school year.

No joke. 

The teacher gives “tardy quizzes” first thing, with students receiving a zero if they’re not there to answer the question on the board. The father calls that “ludicrous,” saying it discourages students who already are struggling.

And it is to encourage students to be on time and prepared for class.  They are also REQUIRED by admin.  It’s called bell to bell teaching.

The father says his son has been sick all week, and he’s outraged that the teacher would photograph him sleeping.

Sir, do you think that the teacher caught your son asleep and snapped the pic without giving him an opportunity to wake up and participate?  If he was sick he shouldn’t have been at school.  I personally feel the outrage is b/c he was caught sleeping and it was brought to your attention along with the proof.

“Maybe if (the teacher) had taken the time to wake him up, and keep him on track, instead of using that time to snap a photo of him and send it to me, then my son may have been able to finish the assignment, and the e-mail would not have been necessary!” he wrote. “Shouldn’t (teachers) be more accountable for the education our children receive?

Maybe if his parent would see to it that he gets enough sleep at night and arrives to school on time then the teacher wouldn’t have had to stop class and snap the pic.  Somehow I doubt your son wanted to be self-accountable and finish the assignment.  Obviously accountability is not modeled at home.   In a previous article the “parent” blamed traffic for his son missing the tardy quizzes.  Again, why is it the teacher’s fault? 

Yes, this is part of the problem with education today.  Parents who do not believe their child can do any wrong, even in the face of proof.

You know, one on one these kids are really good. It’s collectively that they turn into gangsta thugs, frontin’ and representin’. Ugh. Every single one will greet you in the hall and speak with respect when you call them out for a conference. In class, different story.

Anyway, I hate the bureaucracy and paperwork. Up until today I was catching up and not having to spend as much time in prep each evening. I found out today that I have to do a minimum 43 day study on a class or target group. To top it off, it has to be started by Friday. This means I have to create a pretest, get it approved, administer it, grade it, and then determine specific learning goals for each student in the data group. If the students meet growth over this minimum 43 day study I might receive a bonus. I will have to totally redo my plans for this week and still work in the goal test by Friday. Ridiculous. So after I found out about this happy little project I found out that I had to attend training for it after school. Again, no notice. Look, I know I am bad about not getting all the info I need out of emails, but this one did not arrive until today. Fortunately, I have good colleagues who will help me through and we will collaborate on the goal analysis.

Besides, what are they going to do, fire me? Really? Trust me, no one else wants to teach here. Think serious inner city. Yep, we have the students that cling to the underside of the bottom of the barrel. Oddly, I like them…most days.

I would love to post more often and even write something substantial, right now I’m just keeping my head above water and hoping to catch up soon. Besides, sleep wins.