Post by elementary on Aug 23, 2012 1:06:34 GMT -5
Dear Diary,
I have to be honest with myself. I truly don't know how long I will keep up this diary, but I feel compelled to write it. I don't know if that urge comes from the optimism (ha!) I have for this class, or because the last two years have been so overblown with events and tragedy for my teacher friends that I want to capture the behind the scenes life of a 'normal' school year from the start.
So here it is. I don't really care who reads it either. My goal is to write it, and to keep it as honest as possible - so when I think back on this school year, I don't see it through rose-colored glasses.
So how to begin?
Well, the easy part is to say I returned to my school in X two days ago to receive some training and begin preparing my room for the new crop of students coming in.
The training was interesting. It focused on our school's role as emergency service personal in case of a large scale disaster - especially if the disaster occurs during school hours. It was a new concept to me - this possibility of watching over students for several days in a worse case scenario while we wait for civil authorities to organize and respond. We worked on listing our potential commanders, discussed liability (welcome to the new world), and argued the finer points of who got to leave first (pregnant women, people with dependents with medical conditions, people with dogs(?!?).
Closer to home was the discussion of lockdown drills - the process of shutting down a campus in case there is an intruder. My school has had several Type 2 lockdowns over the last couple years - primarily caused when the police raid a home in the neighborhood, but there was another when an armed man was jumping fences through the backyards of people's homes. The man eventually was found hiding in the bathroom of one of my students later that day.
But as I said, last year was tough. In my class we had the father of one of my students pass away, and that affected many people as he was the assistant coach of our boys basketball team. I also had several divorces that occurred during out school year.
At least I wasn't in the 4th grade. They had a girl killed in a rollover accident that partially was filmed and then posted on You Tube. We had crisis and grief counselors all over the place for that event.
But though this may seem to be a digression, it isn't, as these things have been preying on my mind now for the past couple weeks as the first day of school crept on getting closer and closer.
After my first couple years of teaching, I realized that we, as teachers, go to see the effects of traumatic events through the eyes of children. We don't usually see the parents or aunts and uncles and grandparents, but when a person dies, when marriage fails, when homes are lost, we witness these events through the eyes of the children involved. Policemen and firemen and bankers all deal with the adults for the most part. In my world, the adults are very rarely seen.
So beyond this depressing beginning we also spoke about the budget. First of foremost our principal talked about the new law on the ballot that would raise sales tax to aid schools. If it passes, it helps a little. If it doesn't pass, I'm expecting a 12 day furlough. Yeah, that's like a 1/2 month decrease in salary (on top of the already $100/month raise of medical insurance). Still, you do what you can as there's not much money out there now.
There's more, but maybe I'll add it to some later posting.
So, diary, who are the teachers this year?
Well, four years ago when I started in 6th grade, I joined S and G and we spoke of leading the 6th grade for years to come.
Didn't happen. Both got pregnant (don't look at me) and were out 1/2 of the next year - then G got another job. So that second year I worked primarily with 2 long term subs. (one of whom is back this year).
S came back again the 3rd year (aka Year 3 as we called it because it was like the 3rd year of a TV series - we had some recurring characters, some new ones, and a few who weren't coming back), and we had C join our crew, another male teacher...but he didn't last.
Why you ask?
Consider this a behind the scenes peak at what teachers must deal with while functioning in a classroom:
Well, not that people are serious, but some say that third 6th grade room (Mr C's) is cursed. Now, I'm not the one to believe in curses, but there has been a fair bit a horrible things that have happened to the teachers in that room the last three years - and it hasn't stopped this year at all.
G, who was in that class four years ago, lost her youngest sister in a offroading accident while in that room.
Last year C has his child diagnosed with a non-life threatening yet serious condition so he went home to stay with his child.
G, who replaced him, lost her husband in Nov in tragic boating accident in the pacific (3 others also were lost).
F, her replacement, lost her housing while subbing in that room and became essentially homeless.
G returned for the end of the year.
This year CL was given the teaching job during the summer. Her ex father in law (her son's grandfather) was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and he passed away today - the first day of school. Her son is grief stricken right now.
I tell the other teachers that life happens to everybody and that it is not the room....but truthfully, I would feel like I was tempting fate if I volunteered to move in there.
Day-om!
So, really Mr Teacher, how did today go with the students.
Truthfully, in my class, it went great.
What's interesting is that 5 of them have siblings that I have taught in the past. I kept on seeing names that I recognized (and all apparently had good things to say about me...)
I gave them the "I'm not your friend speech" which says basically my position in their life is different than everyone else, and that I won't be watching movies at their home next saturday after eating dinner and texting all day.
My job is to make them smarter, more capable, more self-assured, better problem solvers, more responsible, and blah blah blah.
We all put hand prints on a poster to symbolize our community and our commitment to help each other up rather than tear each other down. I gave a simple multiplication quiz - facts 1x1 to 10x10 - that takes 5 minutes. Nobody passed. First time that has occurred, and I know my year is going to be busy and engaged.
We did schedules and we did books and and we got used to being in 6th grade today.
I'm watching a few boys and girls to make sure they stay controlled with their comments and actions. Some might need some support pretty soon.
We ending the day with some random batting practice. Then all were dismissed home.
Well, diary, I've written way more than I expected.
I'll talk more tomorrow.
If anyone stumbles across this diary and finds anything worth responding to, well, be my guest.
I wonder what tomorrow brings...
L
I have to be honest with myself. I truly don't know how long I will keep up this diary, but I feel compelled to write it. I don't know if that urge comes from the optimism (ha!) I have for this class, or because the last two years have been so overblown with events and tragedy for my teacher friends that I want to capture the behind the scenes life of a 'normal' school year from the start.
So here it is. I don't really care who reads it either. My goal is to write it, and to keep it as honest as possible - so when I think back on this school year, I don't see it through rose-colored glasses.
So how to begin?
Well, the easy part is to say I returned to my school in X two days ago to receive some training and begin preparing my room for the new crop of students coming in.
The training was interesting. It focused on our school's role as emergency service personal in case of a large scale disaster - especially if the disaster occurs during school hours. It was a new concept to me - this possibility of watching over students for several days in a worse case scenario while we wait for civil authorities to organize and respond. We worked on listing our potential commanders, discussed liability (welcome to the new world), and argued the finer points of who got to leave first (pregnant women, people with dependents with medical conditions, people with dogs(?!?).
Closer to home was the discussion of lockdown drills - the process of shutting down a campus in case there is an intruder. My school has had several Type 2 lockdowns over the last couple years - primarily caused when the police raid a home in the neighborhood, but there was another when an armed man was jumping fences through the backyards of people's homes. The man eventually was found hiding in the bathroom of one of my students later that day.
But as I said, last year was tough. In my class we had the father of one of my students pass away, and that affected many people as he was the assistant coach of our boys basketball team. I also had several divorces that occurred during out school year.
At least I wasn't in the 4th grade. They had a girl killed in a rollover accident that partially was filmed and then posted on You Tube. We had crisis and grief counselors all over the place for that event.
But though this may seem to be a digression, it isn't, as these things have been preying on my mind now for the past couple weeks as the first day of school crept on getting closer and closer.
After my first couple years of teaching, I realized that we, as teachers, go to see the effects of traumatic events through the eyes of children. We don't usually see the parents or aunts and uncles and grandparents, but when a person dies, when marriage fails, when homes are lost, we witness these events through the eyes of the children involved. Policemen and firemen and bankers all deal with the adults for the most part. In my world, the adults are very rarely seen.
So beyond this depressing beginning we also spoke about the budget. First of foremost our principal talked about the new law on the ballot that would raise sales tax to aid schools. If it passes, it helps a little. If it doesn't pass, I'm expecting a 12 day furlough. Yeah, that's like a 1/2 month decrease in salary (on top of the already $100/month raise of medical insurance). Still, you do what you can as there's not much money out there now.
There's more, but maybe I'll add it to some later posting.
So, diary, who are the teachers this year?
Well, four years ago when I started in 6th grade, I joined S and G and we spoke of leading the 6th grade for years to come.
Didn't happen. Both got pregnant (don't look at me) and were out 1/2 of the next year - then G got another job. So that second year I worked primarily with 2 long term subs. (one of whom is back this year).
S came back again the 3rd year (aka Year 3 as we called it because it was like the 3rd year of a TV series - we had some recurring characters, some new ones, and a few who weren't coming back), and we had C join our crew, another male teacher...but he didn't last.
Why you ask?
Consider this a behind the scenes peak at what teachers must deal with while functioning in a classroom:
Well, not that people are serious, but some say that third 6th grade room (Mr C's) is cursed. Now, I'm not the one to believe in curses, but there has been a fair bit a horrible things that have happened to the teachers in that room the last three years - and it hasn't stopped this year at all.
G, who was in that class four years ago, lost her youngest sister in a offroading accident while in that room.
Last year C has his child diagnosed with a non-life threatening yet serious condition so he went home to stay with his child.
G, who replaced him, lost her husband in Nov in tragic boating accident in the pacific (3 others also were lost).
F, her replacement, lost her housing while subbing in that room and became essentially homeless.
G returned for the end of the year.
This year CL was given the teaching job during the summer. Her ex father in law (her son's grandfather) was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and he passed away today - the first day of school. Her son is grief stricken right now.
I tell the other teachers that life happens to everybody and that it is not the room....but truthfully, I would feel like I was tempting fate if I volunteered to move in there.
Day-om!
So, really Mr Teacher, how did today go with the students.
Truthfully, in my class, it went great.
What's interesting is that 5 of them have siblings that I have taught in the past. I kept on seeing names that I recognized (and all apparently had good things to say about me...)
I gave them the "I'm not your friend speech" which says basically my position in their life is different than everyone else, and that I won't be watching movies at their home next saturday after eating dinner and texting all day.
My job is to make them smarter, more capable, more self-assured, better problem solvers, more responsible, and blah blah blah.
We all put hand prints on a poster to symbolize our community and our commitment to help each other up rather than tear each other down. I gave a simple multiplication quiz - facts 1x1 to 10x10 - that takes 5 minutes. Nobody passed. First time that has occurred, and I know my year is going to be busy and engaged.
We did schedules and we did books and and we got used to being in 6th grade today.
I'm watching a few boys and girls to make sure they stay controlled with their comments and actions. Some might need some support pretty soon.
We ending the day with some random batting practice. Then all were dismissed home.
Well, diary, I've written way more than I expected.
I'll talk more tomorrow.
If anyone stumbles across this diary and finds anything worth responding to, well, be my guest.
I wonder what tomorrow brings...
L