Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've already enjoyed my first 10 days of summer break! For those of you who are still teaching and feel like you are toasted, burnt, and done, your students' parents are feeling it, too. This blog is too funny not to share. Make sure to watch the video of the little girl doing her nightly reading, too! Hang in there!
I've already enjoyed my first 10 days of summer break! For those of you who are still teaching and feel like you are toasted, burnt, and done, your students' parents are feeling it, too. This blog is too funny not to share. Make sure to watch the video of the little girl doing her nightly reading, too! Hang in there!
I am so jealous. I am at that super stressed point in the year. I have two weeks to grade everything, including finals, clean my room, dispose of chemical wastes, order next year's supplies and put the lab in order for the summer (translation, wash a chitload of glassware). I feel the clock ticking. I have always wished they'd give science teachers the week after school is out to have everything in order. I have a lot more to do than the average teacher.
I am so jealous. I am at that super stressed point in the year. I have two weeks to grade everything, including finals, clean my room, dispose of chemical wastes, order next year's supplies and put the lab in order for the summer (translation, wash a chitload of glassware). I feel the clock ticking. I have always wished they'd give science teachers the week after school is out to have everything in order. I have a lot more to do than the average teacher.
Could be worse.
You could be a science teacher displaced due to the hurricane who has to do all the normal close of business, but instead be preparing to move back to the old school as well. With no additional time and a brand new teacher evaluation system being implemented.
If I hear one more admin tell me how it is my job to motivate 70 FSIQ delinquents to actively participate in reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD I will turn myself in to the nearest monastery!
This afternoon I was supervising (as a substitute teachers aide) a special education student while she was on a fieldtrip with her kindergarten class and two other kindergarten classes from the same school. The students were reminded that it was a school fieldtrip and they should follow all of the school playground rules.
We spent I 1/2 hours at a neighborhood park with a lot of playground equipment. After observing some dangerous behavior I verified with the teacher that all of the school playground rules applied during the fieldtrip. I spent most of the time by the slides (as that is a favorite activity of the student I was watching).
The problem?
Many parents came to the park to enjoy the outing with their children and their classmates. For some of the parents the usual playground rules did not apply to their Special Snowflake. I can't tell you how many times I had to remind students "Sit on the slide, do not go head first" and "We go down the slide , we do not climb up the slide." Several times the child's parent (I think) was standing right there and didn't say a word to stop their child, or other children, from unsafe behavior and I was the "bad guy" reminding the child/children of the rules.
I noticed one dad helping his daughterwalk up the slide totally standing up (usually children try to climb up the slide on their hands and knees). Another child, very appropriately, slid down the slide and almost knocked the first girl off the slide. Arrgg!!
The final straw was when I reminded a student for the second time about sliding down head first. I said "Remember Principal Smith's safety rule about sliding down on your bottom?". This kindergarten student sarcastically said to me "I don't see Mrs. Smith here". Arrgg!!
It would be different if these parents were at the park by themselves on a Saturday but there were about 75 students on a school sponsored outing.
BTW The special education student didn't even need one reminder about appropriate behavior on playground equipment.
I decided to write this after I read a thread on another area about the difficulty of a someone who is "different" getting a teaching job.
Schools have been getting better but the general population has absolutely no idea how "restrictive" teaching it can be. Personal freedoms that most of the adult world takes for granted can be denied to people who choose to be in education.
I am not ancient, as I just turned 61. In my teaching career I remember when school district could forbid female teachers from wearing slacks to work and could legally fire female teachers if they became pregnant.
There was a male elementary principal in my school district who insisted & required all of "his teachers" wear high heels, stockings and short skirts to work (even the kindergarten and special education teachers). This was illegal but he managed to get away with it until he retired about 15 years ago.
He was so adamant about it that if a female teacher had to come to "his building" for an IEP meeting you were advised to wear a short skirt, heels and stocking. Remember this wasn't the dark ages but the 1990s.
There was a male elementary principal in my school district who insisted & required all of "his teachers" wear high heels, stockings and short skirts to work (even the kindergarten and special education teachers). This was illegal but he managed to get away with it until he retired about 15 years ago.
He was so adamant about it that if a female teacher had to come to "his building" for an IEP meeting you were advised to wear a short skirt, heels and stocking. Remember this wasn't the dark ages but the 1990s.
He was a very powerful principal and everyone was afraid of him. If you crossed him he could and would make your teaching life a "living hell" so no one ever crossed him. At that time we still had a very strong union but none of the teachers ever agreed to file a complaint against him. A few transferred to other buildings but no one ever sued or publically made a "big deal" about his illegal "dress code".
He started as a principal in the 1960s when mini-skirts were popular and I guess he just enjoyed the way they looked. BTW if an overweight woman somehow was assigned to his building he either hounded them until they quit, lost weight or transferred to another building.
Many people thought that he was a real jerk. But several of the teachers who were new teachers when he started as a principal in the 1960s stayed in the building until they all retired in the late 1990s. So either they were "brainwashed" by him or they didn't think that he was a jerk.
I got a surprise in my email yesterday. A letter of intent from my old district. However, I was told, at my end of year review, that if I returned next year, I would face denial of tenure at the end of the year. My principal says I have a "perception" problem. Data supports that I am as good as the other teachers who teach the same subjects I do but parents perceive that I am a harder teacher (probably true as I believe in holding students to high standards) and I give fewer A's (not true, in fact, I gave more (statistically insignificant but I did give more A's.)). Hence there are requests to not be in my class that have led to the denial of tenure situation. My admins will not argue with the parents. If they request another teacher, they get another teacher. They will not defend me even though the data supports that kids learn just as well in my class as the next class. I'm still looking for another position in either teaching or engineering and will continue to look even after the school year starts but I'm very worried about the denial of tenure situation. How bad is denial of tenure? Is it the end of a teaching career?
Being laid off, I could have continued to look for both a teaching job or an engineering job even next summer if I didn't find something. I could have subbed in districts I think I'm a good fit for if I didn't find a job but that is now off the table. I fear that denial of tenure means this year is my last shot at teaching and, if I don't find something else before September, I will spend it in a district that has already declared I cannot stay permanently. Right now, I feel sick to my stomach at the idea of returning for one more year knowing that I face denial of tenure at the end of the year. I wish they hadn't called me back. I don't know why they did. I was shocked to open my email yesterday and see a letter of intent in my mailbox from the district. Unfortunately, this means that I'd be ineligible for unemployment until December if I don't return (I would have been eligible in June if they had not recalled me) so I will have to return if I can't find something else.
As bad as the lay off notice was, it was a relief to know I was out of a toxic situation even if I faced a year of unemployment and being laid off looks so much better on an application. Avoiding denial of tenure would have preserved my ability stay in teaching if I can't find something in engineering. I do not get this. If they've already decided to deny tenure, why have me back at all? Why not just let me go now? I have to keep looking and they know it. However this really curtails my ability to find something in teaching. With me unemployed in the fall, I could have taken an opening that came up in the fall. I don't know about elsewhere but here once the year starts, no one will look at teacher's who are under contract.
My summer vacation just went to hell in a hand basket.
I, seriously, need some moral support here.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 06-28-2013 at 07:15 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
