Skip to main content

A New Beginning

school supplies purchased - check
new lunch box - check
new laptop computer - check
plan for the first month for sophomores - check

no plans for AP yet, as I'm not sure if there will be any AP classes. Due to budget constraints and lack of teachers, I will not be allowed to have a class of less than 20. Less than 20 students have completed the summer assignment for each section... the math is not working in our favor.

Also, have no spent more than 30 minutes in classroom since June. Really, all I have to do in there is hang up a few posters and run copies. Everything else can be done on my handy-dandy new laptop. Did I mention that I got a new laptop? It's shiny.

I did, however, take the time to look at my class rosters - joke that they are at this moment. I have two classes of 35+, one with 7 and one normal one. Is there a point in even paying attention to it at this point? I'm really hoping that the class with 7 will actually be moved to another time. I loath having classes during that hour - the magical band/choir/leadership hour when all the students who aren't trying to figure out how to smoke pot in my classroom have their electives. Thus, I am left with a class full of students all trying to figure out how to smoke pot in my classroom while carving their initials into anything not moving. Student teachers... this is why your supervisor tells you to walk around the room. A non-moving person is a carving target!

Comments

Athena said…
Aren't new laptops wonderful?! Mine is called Bessie and is my 'precious.'

Athena
bun2bon said…
Circulate, circulate, circulate.

It's also a good way to catch note passing, gum chewing, sleeping, and to not be hit by flying objects that any students might be throwing at me.

Popular posts from this blog

“They Don’t Get It”

I hear that a lot these days. It used to be mostly from various teens trying to negotiate the drama unfolding in their lives as they wandered into that no-man’s land between adult and child. These days it’s from adults trying to navigate the education scene these days. So many people talking and no one listening. The other day I was reading a post by a blogger I’ve been following for several years. Before there was such a thing as “blogging.” We all know spring is IEP review season. This blogger wrote about his daughter’s. Among the various elements, there was the discussion about the state assessment tests. She did not pass. There was discussion about what this means… and why said student needed to pass this test. Would she be taking a modified test? While reading, all I could think about was what would happen to that child as she entered middle school and high school. A history of not passing the assessment test vs. teachers who will now be evaluated on how many students pass t...

The Cruelest Month

I know T.S. Eliot favored April as the most cruel, but we teachers know that May is… even more so these days. Most importantly, it is the final testing month. National ‘assessments, state ‘assessments’, district ‘assessments’, school ‘assessments’… on and on. It’s impossible to actually get anything done. Toss in graduation activities, planning for the upcoming year and the 2011 bonus, lay-offs and transfers, and you have to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to save money by simply shutting down school entirely except for a few test proctors. Meanwhile, there seems an air of hopelessness permeating the education world. Plans to lay-off thousands are coming to fruition. Schools are being closed, despite protests. Charters are increasing where they can whether they should not. Unions have lost a lot ground and teachers are trying to decide if it’s even worth it any more to continue talking about education . ( not that I blame anyone for that, we all have lives to live ) For myself, I...

Campaign Promises

While purusing the Sunday paper, I came across an article describing some local candidate forum held over the weekend. Apprently they either weren't able to say a lot or what they said was pretty boring because the article was skimpy on specifics. What caught my eye was a position of Randy Dutton. He wants "higher standards for teachers." My interest was piqued... what kind of standards? In looking at his website, apparently those standards will be raised by carrying a gun to school, finally; "full days of school"-whatever that means - personally I'd love to put in business hours. No more 5 am wake ups; increasing the number of k-8 schools - because those kindergartners don't swear enough; sending disruptive students to placed like Habit for Humanity - babysitting is what people volunteer for; and teaching more American History- too bad that with all the testing, no one ever gets past the Civil War... I'm not sure how any of these apply to teachers, ...