My father died yesterday.
Most of the traits I believe myself to have that I like are inheritances from him, including his facility for math, his quick wit and his sharp sense of humor. Every time I come up with some elaborate hoax to perpetrate on a co-worker or create some very personalized toy or trinket to give to a friend, I think of the similar things he did in the years I was growing up. I claimed never to have forgiven him for taking my "Gulf No-Knocks" horseshoes (a gas station giveaway back in the days they fought for your business with promotional items) when I was eight, promising to replace them the next time he bought gas, not realizing the promotion had ended. Secretly, though, I thought it was kind of cool he'd used the horseshoes as part of some gag on a friend at the office.
We weren't as close as I would like for a father and child to be. I don't know when, exactly, we stopped trying, but we did. I know he was disappointed with many of the choices I made throughout my adult life, and I was disappointed he wasn't more accepting of them, or at least more accepting of me despite the choices. I will undoubtedly err in the opposite direction with my own children, and their remembrances of me will be colored by their disappointment I didn't provide more guidance in their lives. I can live with that.
A minister came into his room at the hospice yesterday while my mother and I were there and asked us what we would like to pray for, for him. I chose peace. I don't believe he found much peace during his life, and it would be good if he could find some in death.
So, my father is dead. May he rest in peace.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Mea Culpa
So I'm getting irritated with my friends and family who haven't been posting to their blogs (what am I supposed to do when I should be doing lesson plans if you haven't updated your blog recently?) and I'm at least as guilty as they are. So here's a blog post.
Topics I should cover soon...
The state visit to each of the turnaround schools.
New teacher hired, and some kids moved from everyone's geometry classes into his.
"Unpacking" our data to differentiate our instruction.
The note sent to all new teachers, plus all teachers who are on double secret probation.
Parents wanting grade recovery.
we'll see...
Topics I should cover soon...
The state visit to each of the turnaround schools.
New teacher hired, and some kids moved from everyone's geometry classes into his.
"Unpacking" our data to differentiate our instruction.
The note sent to all new teachers, plus all teachers who are on double secret probation.
Parents wanting grade recovery.
we'll see...
Friday, October 23, 2009
First Quarter Score
Well, the home team's losing, but they looked better as the quarter went on, and there's hope they'll survive to the end of the game.
The state poobahs are coming in next week to do a full-school review, and they will presumably be spending time in each classroom. This has me a little concerned, but my concern is nothing compared to the hysteria this has caused with the administration. Which of course has trickled (more like "gushed," really) down to all the teachers. We have been given marching orders on at least a dozen things, all of which are "non-negotiable," and been told in no uncertain terms that we're all replacable, and that if we don't feel like meeting some of these demands, or we feel as if we don't have time, then we should find a new job where the demands won't be so heavy. Gee, I don't know if I could find another job that pays this well, in such a nuturing environment, where the physical space was so inviting and I was so well appreciated by both my bosses and my subordinates.
(It occurs to me I haven't talked about the physical space... the high school itself... with the exception of a brief mention of my portable classroom. Turns out I'm in the lap of luxury out in the boondocks. The classrooms in the main school are, frankly, abysmal. Mine smells kind of moldy, but at least it's big enough so that it doesn't feel like a prison cell with 35 people in it.)
So anyway, all of the teachers are at the breaking point -- at least 4 of them have been at meetings or received memos that left them in tears. We got a new set of ludicrous demands today, adding to an already ridiculously over-filled workload. Personally, my plan is to do what I can in the 10 or so hours per day I'm willing to devote to work, and deal with the wrath that will befall me when not enough of the "non-negotiables" are completed. For me, it's the only way to stay sane, and not be angry all the time. I expend enough energy trying to figure out how to teach without spending all of the rest of it trying to achieve the impossible. I imagine the rhetoric will be toned down some after the state leaves, although if (when, really) we get a bad report, we'll undoubtedly get a new round of "non-negotiables."
The state poobahs are coming in next week to do a full-school review, and they will presumably be spending time in each classroom. This has me a little concerned, but my concern is nothing compared to the hysteria this has caused with the administration. Which of course has trickled (more like "gushed," really) down to all the teachers. We have been given marching orders on at least a dozen things, all of which are "non-negotiable," and been told in no uncertain terms that we're all replacable, and that if we don't feel like meeting some of these demands, or we feel as if we don't have time, then we should find a new job where the demands won't be so heavy. Gee, I don't know if I could find another job that pays this well, in such a nuturing environment, where the physical space was so inviting and I was so well appreciated by both my bosses and my subordinates.
(It occurs to me I haven't talked about the physical space... the high school itself... with the exception of a brief mention of my portable classroom. Turns out I'm in the lap of luxury out in the boondocks. The classrooms in the main school are, frankly, abysmal. Mine smells kind of moldy, but at least it's big enough so that it doesn't feel like a prison cell with 35 people in it.)
So anyway, all of the teachers are at the breaking point -- at least 4 of them have been at meetings or received memos that left them in tears. We got a new set of ludicrous demands today, adding to an already ridiculously over-filled workload. Personally, my plan is to do what I can in the 10 or so hours per day I'm willing to devote to work, and deal with the wrath that will befall me when not enough of the "non-negotiables" are completed. For me, it's the only way to stay sane, and not be angry all the time. I expend enough energy trying to figure out how to teach without spending all of the rest of it trying to achieve the impossible. I imagine the rhetoric will be toned down some after the state leaves, although if (when, really) we get a bad report, we'll undoubtedly get a new round of "non-negotiables."
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
More admin hijinx
The administration of MHS has scheduled meetings every single day except Friday from 1:45 (when school ends) to 2:45. Many of my kids have asked numerous times if they could come after school to get tutoring or to make up quizzes or tests, so I've told them I'd stay every day Monday through Thursday from 2:45 to 3:45. They, of course, want me to be there at 1:45 so they won't have to kill an hour waiting for me. My initial response is essentially "tough beans, my friend. You want the help, here's when it's available." But the truth is, it's hard enough to get kids to care enough to want the extra help, I'd like to make it somewhat easier to get.
So... I found out last week that for various reasons, my Tuesday afternoon meeting was cancelled, so I could offer 1:45 to my students. This is especially helpful now, because the end of the quarter is Friday, and they have a test Wednesday or Thursday. Several kids appropriately saw this as their last chance to make up a test or quiz they'd missed.
Five kids showed up at 1:45. At 1:50, an announcement over the loud speaker asks all math teachers to report to the conference room. I ignore it. It gets announced again. I go next door to Mrs. CowCulus's room and ask her to find out what's happening and call me if I need to show up. Another announcement. I finally tell my kids I'm probably going to have to leave, and then there's an announcement specifically for me to come to the office. When I get there, the first words out of the principal's mouth are that when he calls impromptu meetings, we need to show up for them... it's all part of moving our school from a D to a B. My first thought was that when I tell my students they have to be responsible, and expect them to look to me as an example, part of that is keeping one's commitments -- like being available during the times I have previously scheduled, and have cleared my calendar to accomodate. My second thought was that I'm not likely to win any influential friends with that comment, so I keep it to myself.
Mr. Principal isn't winning any friends, influential or otherwise, in my neck of the woods.
So... I found out last week that for various reasons, my Tuesday afternoon meeting was cancelled, so I could offer 1:45 to my students. This is especially helpful now, because the end of the quarter is Friday, and they have a test Wednesday or Thursday. Several kids appropriately saw this as their last chance to make up a test or quiz they'd missed.
Five kids showed up at 1:45. At 1:50, an announcement over the loud speaker asks all math teachers to report to the conference room. I ignore it. It gets announced again. I go next door to Mrs. CowCulus's room and ask her to find out what's happening and call me if I need to show up. Another announcement. I finally tell my kids I'm probably going to have to leave, and then there's an announcement specifically for me to come to the office. When I get there, the first words out of the principal's mouth are that when he calls impromptu meetings, we need to show up for them... it's all part of moving our school from a D to a B. My first thought was that when I tell my students they have to be responsible, and expect them to look to me as an example, part of that is keeping one's commitments -- like being available during the times I have previously scheduled, and have cleared my calendar to accomodate. My second thought was that I'm not likely to win any influential friends with that comment, so I keep it to myself.
Mr. Principal isn't winning any friends, influential or otherwise, in my neck of the woods.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
In what world is this okay?
I got to school at 6am on Wednesday, per usual, and went to my mailbox. In it was a memo from the principal's secretary to me saying "Please schedule a meeting with Mr. Principal on Wednesday. You may bring representation to the meeting."
I freaked. First, I went to Mrs. D, one of my two closest confidantes at school (along with Mrs. CowCulus), because she's always in that early, and she's been teaching for 33 years. I was hoping she'd say something to the effect that this is the standard letter they send when you have to sign your contract, or whatever.
She freaked. In the process of saying this sounded very bad, she also managed to say a number of very nice things about me vis-a-vis my teaching. In addition, she asked if any of the other teachers had similar notes in their boxes. It hadn't dawned on me to look, so I went back up and checked. Sure enough, 4 or 5 other teachers had notes. Unfortunately, of the ones I knew, they were teachers who I've heard less than stellar reports on.
So I continued to freak. I wandered around the office for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do next, when the principal's secretary came in, went to her office and immediately shut her door. Undeterred, I knocked and entered. I asked her what this was about. She seemed very apologetic and said it was about lesson plans. She said there were 12 people on the list, and they all got the same note. (One of the assistant principals had checked people's lesson plans the previous day, and mine was hand-written and frankly not terribly thorough. Nonetheless, it was done, which is the only requirement I know of -- if they want it done well, they should probably do some training, since we've been given three different lesson plan formats since the beginning of the year and no explanation of what they want on any of them... but that's another story.)
So now I'm not freaking out anymore, but I'm starting to get irritated. I should bring representation to a meeting about substandard lesson plans? (At this point it hadn't dawned on me that they probably meant union representation rather than legal, but still... representation for lesson plan malfeasance?) After getting back to my room, I called the principal's secretary and said I wanted to schedule the meeting, to which she replied that I should just try to catch him when he's free and talk to him then. Now I'm getting really irritated. "No," I said, "he asked me to schedule a meeting and to bring representation. That's not a 'catch him in the hallway' kind of meeting. Also, when he asks me to schedule a meeting, I'm not going to hang around hoping to catch him. Schedule a meeting."
We set it for 12:30. Fifteen minutes later she calls me back to tell me that she's spoken with him and let him know that people are very upset about the note. (Apparently, one of the teachers began crying, and another turned around to leave school, feeling she would be unable to teach that day, until she learned what it was about.) The principal then told her that the people with hand-written plans shouldn't have been on the list, so I don't have to meet with him after all.
Now I'm livid. You send me a note like that and it turns out it's a MISTAKE? The only reasonable interpretation of that note is that I'm about to be fired, and it's all just a big mistake? Oops, sorry.
Turns out I'm not the only one unhappy -- this example of "bull in the china shop" leadership has been the talk of the school for the last couple of days. Despite that, I've heard no apology or explanation from the principal. As Mrs. CowCulus said, every one of the teachers was behind him 100% at the start, feeling he could turn around the school and make us all proud to be a part of it... but he's losing people fast, and has already lost a lot of them with his "fire, ready, aim" style and his insistence on a dozen different things being highest priority (a tale for another day).
On the personal front, other than expressing my displeasure to another teacher who I know speaks with him regularly about what's going on, I haven't confronted him or anyone else about the note, and don't plan to. There just doesn't seem to be any personal gain to be had in the confrontation, and I'm trying to avoid getting involved in fights against some larger injustice that might be psychically rewarding but personally costly.
I freaked. First, I went to Mrs. D, one of my two closest confidantes at school (along with Mrs. CowCulus), because she's always in that early, and she's been teaching for 33 years. I was hoping she'd say something to the effect that this is the standard letter they send when you have to sign your contract, or whatever.
She freaked. In the process of saying this sounded very bad, she also managed to say a number of very nice things about me vis-a-vis my teaching. In addition, she asked if any of the other teachers had similar notes in their boxes. It hadn't dawned on me to look, so I went back up and checked. Sure enough, 4 or 5 other teachers had notes. Unfortunately, of the ones I knew, they were teachers who I've heard less than stellar reports on.
So I continued to freak. I wandered around the office for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do next, when the principal's secretary came in, went to her office and immediately shut her door. Undeterred, I knocked and entered. I asked her what this was about. She seemed very apologetic and said it was about lesson plans. She said there were 12 people on the list, and they all got the same note. (One of the assistant principals had checked people's lesson plans the previous day, and mine was hand-written and frankly not terribly thorough. Nonetheless, it was done, which is the only requirement I know of -- if they want it done well, they should probably do some training, since we've been given three different lesson plan formats since the beginning of the year and no explanation of what they want on any of them... but that's another story.)
So now I'm not freaking out anymore, but I'm starting to get irritated. I should bring representation to a meeting about substandard lesson plans? (At this point it hadn't dawned on me that they probably meant union representation rather than legal, but still... representation for lesson plan malfeasance?) After getting back to my room, I called the principal's secretary and said I wanted to schedule the meeting, to which she replied that I should just try to catch him when he's free and talk to him then. Now I'm getting really irritated. "No," I said, "he asked me to schedule a meeting and to bring representation. That's not a 'catch him in the hallway' kind of meeting. Also, when he asks me to schedule a meeting, I'm not going to hang around hoping to catch him. Schedule a meeting."
We set it for 12:30. Fifteen minutes later she calls me back to tell me that she's spoken with him and let him know that people are very upset about the note. (Apparently, one of the teachers began crying, and another turned around to leave school, feeling she would be unable to teach that day, until she learned what it was about.) The principal then told her that the people with hand-written plans shouldn't have been on the list, so I don't have to meet with him after all.
Now I'm livid. You send me a note like that and it turns out it's a MISTAKE? The only reasonable interpretation of that note is that I'm about to be fired, and it's all just a big mistake? Oops, sorry.
Turns out I'm not the only one unhappy -- this example of "bull in the china shop" leadership has been the talk of the school for the last couple of days. Despite that, I've heard no apology or explanation from the principal. As Mrs. CowCulus said, every one of the teachers was behind him 100% at the start, feeling he could turn around the school and make us all proud to be a part of it... but he's losing people fast, and has already lost a lot of them with his "fire, ready, aim" style and his insistence on a dozen different things being highest priority (a tale for another day).
On the personal front, other than expressing my displeasure to another teacher who I know speaks with him regularly about what's going on, I haven't confronted him or anyone else about the note, and don't plan to. There just doesn't seem to be any personal gain to be had in the confrontation, and I'm trying to avoid getting involved in fights against some larger injustice that might be psychically rewarding but personally costly.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Still haven't graded the quizzes, but tonight's the night.
Meanwhile, I just thought I'd provide some perspective on the student population at MHS (My High School).
Three of my students are pregnant. Not 3 of the students at MHS. Three of mine.
I teach Geometry. Which is a 10th grade class.
Three of my students are pregnant. Not 3 of the students at MHS. Three of mine.
I teach Geometry. Which is a 10th grade class.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
More fun stuff to talk about rather than grade those quizzes...
So I had about 8 kids in my class after school today for various reasons (after-class detention, test re-takers, quiz re-takers and kids seeking help). One kid asks me for the quiz I gave on October 2nd. I give it to her. She says she's never seen this stuff before, and can't possibly take the quiz. I ask her (kind of in a snotty way) why she was coming to take a quiz she was completely unprepared for. Meanwhile, another kid wants the same quiz. He looks at it and gives the same response. So, huffily, I tell them we'll use the time as review of the material they missed while absent, and they'll just have to come back and take the quiz another time. (All the while, I'm thinking about the principal in "Back to the Future" -- "Slackers! You're all slackers!")
So I explain the material to them, they seem to be picking it up, and they leave, properly chastened. I go to put the lesson plan on which I wrote the original quiz back into my notebook where I keep all my lesson plans. Which is when I notice I've given them the Algebra II quiz. These kids are in my Geometry class.
Oops.
So I explain the material to them, they seem to be picking it up, and they leave, properly chastened. I go to put the lesson plan on which I wrote the original quiz back into my notebook where I keep all my lesson plans. Which is when I notice I've given them the Algebra II quiz. These kids are in my Geometry class.
Oops.
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