SCHOOL DAZE

Well, the end of the year is here. I cannot believe how quickly it seemed to fly by. However, my eyes know that it is the end of the year. After grading over 50 projects, plus finals and last minute work, I am exhausted, but wait, because now the real work begins with the planning of a new year in August. Four preps and another new teacher to mentor. Hurray for me.
I would just like to say to those people out there who like to criticize teachers for getting paid too much and having the summers off, you have no idea what you are talking about. I never feel like I have a few vacation. I have spent so many hours at Panera Bread grading papers that the staff now know me and practically greet me by name.
I am fortunate that I have a job and on most days really love what I am doing but I get real tired of the nay sayers. Why don't they pick on people like the CEOs of the big banks who got bailed out, received a bonus no matter that they didn't earn it, and are now sticking it to the little guy by wanting to go after our debit cards. What happened to helping us out!!! But no, people want to complain about teachers.
I digress. I really wanted to talk about this school year. I had some great kids. We accomplished a great deal and I think they enjoyed the work as much as I did. So thank you to all of you who helped me feel like what I did counted no matter what the nay sayers want to think about us. The truth is in the doing. How many lives have they impacted in a day, week or year. Put your money where it will do some good ----IMPACT a LIFE

Winding Down and Heading Out

This year has flown by so fast sometimes I wonder how we got to this point. Maybe it's because I really enjoyed my classes this year. The students were just super. I felt bad one day when the class was talking about graduation. The seniors had questions about what graduation was like, what they had to do etc. Then someone asked me if I would cry at graduation. I was honest and said that while I woukd be sad to see them go, I might do a little dance, get down tonight (laughing??), etc., but that I wouldn't cry. One of the Juniors in the class said that the teachers would probably give her class a standing ovation because they would be so glad to see them leave. She said that most teachers hated her class. THAT made me sad. While I have mostly Seniors, the Juniors I have had, I really liked so I am not sure why she said that. Hopefully, by next year our attitude toward this Junior class will change and I guess I will find out just how bad they are or not.
Again, while I said the year has flown by, I am also in a way glad to see it over. Too many things to accomplish over the summer, like, major surgery and rehab.

Where does the time go??

Here it is already the middle of March. Where has the time gone? There seems to be so much work left to do and time is just running away on me. Trying to teach using more technology doesn't help because the assignments take so much longer to do. One would think that computers would make it go faster; however, the assignments are so much more involved then they used to be. So one tends to cover less material all the while scrambling trying to get as much in as possilbe. I am tired of the dance because I am tripping over my feet and losing my balance and equilibrium. I wonder if anyone notices and hope they don't.
I have also developed a trust issue with in my building and it saddens me. No one wants to feel like they cannot depend on a person of significance within the workplace but I do so there you have it. There are certain things now I REALLY take at face value and sometimes wonder about.
This person, unfortunately, will no longer get kudos from, praise, etc, no matter how good he/she is. I will question everything and then some. So once again, it saddens me. At a time when I really need support I got kicked in the gut and I will never forget that. I can only hope that when/if that person ever goes through a very trying personal tragedy he/she gets the support I wish I had gotten.
Well, that's that as time got away from me and I ramble on

FRUSTRATION--FRUSTRATION

Have you ever taught a lesson and felt like you must be speaking a foreign language. For two days, I have spent time with my econ class trying to teach them how to figure the interest on a credit card purchase only to keep hitting a brick wall. One would think they never learned how to do percentages. There was even a Sophomore taking the class that got it and tried to teach the Seniors only to be met with blank stares. I have gone over ever method I could think of and have not even made a dent . I need help. I am not a math genius but even I understood myself and that's scary when it comes to math. I only hope that when they go home tonight the light bulb will click and they will be able to finish the assignment.
I will be glad when this phase of the class is over and we can move on to other things.

Rainy Day humdrums

Why is it when you have to do something that you don't necessarily love to do, the weather has to suck also. I guess I should appreciate the fact that it is raining since I cannot be outside until late anyway because I have to attend parent/ teacher conferences. Since I teach 90% seniors, their parents do not feel inclined to attend conferences to check in on their daughters. I guess at this point in time they feel it is no longer necessary. I, however, still have to sit there waiting for that one parent to come along and inquire about their daughter who happens to be the star of the class, and the parents want to know what more can she do. I mean the poor child already has a 99.9 %, what more do they want her to do. At this point, I tend to get very flippant and tell them they should take their daughter out to a nice restaurant and celebrate her. The parents walk away looking at me as though I have grown horns or something. Please if you have a child that is doing that well in school cut her some slack and celebrate her hard work.
I am just constantly amazed by it. The parents that I need to see never show up, never call, to inquire about their daughter and how she is doing. Perhaps if they showed some interest, the child might just do a little better. These are the ones I feel sorry for and wish I could help them along. Those are my feelings about parent/teacher conferences. So there!!!!

A little detour

I have decided to take a small break from the reminiscing about the early years and take a moment to reflect on the year that just ended. To all my fellow teachers, we have completed the first decade of the 21st century. CRAZY!! right. What happened to yesterday when we were worried about Y2K. It is unbelievable to me that ten years have gone by already. I feel like I must have slept through some of them. However, I am very glad to report that I did not, (although at times, during the bad part I wish I had).
As I was ending my school year, which at the time felt like it could not be over soon enough, BAM, time ran out and I was left wondering what happened. I had intended to wind up the year by having all my materials organized, my room clean, my finals graded and my grades in so that I could walk out of the building and not have to go back until August. Then, life happened once again. One of my teachers became very ill and I ended up giving several of her finals. All the time I thought I had to clean, pack, organize, etc. went out the window. Now I find myself having to go back in for a few hours to do what I needed to have done already. I wanted to do it on Saturday after proctoring the ACT but the 180 degree humidity kept me from staying. Now I have to rush to get everything done in a matter of a couple of hours because like a crazy person, I planned a trip right away. Don't get me wrong I am looking forward to the trip and time with my daughter but I thought I'd be able to take my time to get things done. Time is not my friend right now, nor is the weather for that matter. So much to do and so little time. BUT I do digress, since this has nothing to so with the school year that just ended.
Why is it that some years the students are so great you hate to see them go and then other years you cannot wait until they go. For me this year was the year I hated to see them go. It was great with a great bunch of students. I truly enjoyed it. Maybe because they helped me get through a very stressful year. They didn't complain about the work, they didn't have an attitude, they were just very pleasant and kind to each other. I was very impressed with the students that I had. I am thankful that I had the time with them that I did. For those that graduated, I hope they do well, and for those that I will have next year I hope that they are half as great as the students I had this year. It is students like them that make me glad I am a teacher.

The Continuation

Wow, so first off, I need to proof read better. That being said, I will move on. What I failed to mention in my last post is that my career began and almost ended within the first 6 months. I was teaching a biology class, of all things. I had one student, who shall remain anonymous, who liked to say every swear word that is in our vocabulary and then some I probably had never heard before or since. Well, on this one particular day, I actually had a very good class discussion going, when she decided she needed to add her two cents which was prefaced with all her swear words. I happened to be standing behind her when she started and for the life of me, I cannot say what came over me (in a matter of a few minutes my life flashed before my eyes) but my hand came up and I popped her upside the head. The entire class gave one big GASP and sat in total silence waiting, and I was waiting, to see what came next. She sputtered, and then in an incredulous voice said, "You HIT me! You really hit me!!" Not knowing what else to do, I very quickly and smartly retorted, "If you continue to talk like that I might do it again." (How stupid of me, right??) As I mentioned, I really thought that would be the end of my career. However 28 years later I am still teaching and believe it or not, I changed a life that day. I am not sure whose, mine or hers, but she never swore in my presence again and for the next twelve years that I taught there, she continued to come back every year after she graduated to see me and let me know where her life had taken her. I do not know if it was because she believed I really cared (which I did) or if somebody finally stood up to her and said enough was enough. I would like to believe that we both became better people after that experience. I would never ever think of doing that today; however, it wasn't like I had planned it then. It is strange though how sometimes things just happen. I was forunate that day that I did not lose my job. I would have missed out on these past 28 years which have been the most fulfilling and frustrating and yet memorable years of my life. Teaching, besides parenthood, has given me such purpose in life. I truly feel blessed by all that I have learned and hopefully for all the good that I imparted.