The month of April flew by... well, sloshed by quickly. I'd love have some exciting tales to tell, but mostly I avoided reading/thinking about education outside of my classroom. Really, it's just depressing. The constant barrage of so called "experts" railing against teachers, their benefits, summer's off, not teaching, not wanting to improve... etc.
To those who are now railing against the so-called "cadillac" benefits teachers recieve, I can only say... get your own union. YOU didn't want to pay the dues, YOU said you could do it yourself. YOU didn't. Don't come crying to me. Pay $100/mo in dues and maybe you too will start to see some benefits. Otherwise, bite me.
While I was off galavanting in my own little world... I applied for a technology grant. Didn't get it. Applied for the AP Fellows grant, go it! Finally, I will be attending a training session that is devoted to what I need. The first year I taught AP, my summer institute session was thrown together at the last minute, made up those whose slacker administration had neglected to register them (or at least MY slacker administration did) and was filled with brand new teachers and those who had been teaching the class for sometime. It was 2007.... AP Language teachers out there... can you see where I'm headed? Yah, totally dominated by "synthesis question" introduction. FYI, the synthesis question is almost exactly like a DBQ... which they didn't really want to hear. They wanted the magic answer that would guaranantee a passing score for all their students. I got a bunch of unorganizaed hand-outs (the instructor wasn't told of the hastily changed content until arrival to the institute site) and a serious case of confusion. I'm still trying to figure out how half of the class passed.
For the last month of school, I'm now trying to figure out something for the classes to do that doesn't really require me to be present. Next week I have jury duty... which may or may not last. RTI meetings and evaluations and ORF'ing to do, plus Honor Society Induction (which may just be pushed back to next fall, since every date I choose becomes not available as soon as I mention it). Suggestions?
To those who are now railing against the so-called "cadillac" benefits teachers recieve, I can only say... get your own union. YOU didn't want to pay the dues, YOU said you could do it yourself. YOU didn't. Don't come crying to me. Pay $100/mo in dues and maybe you too will start to see some benefits. Otherwise, bite me.
While I was off galavanting in my own little world... I applied for a technology grant. Didn't get it. Applied for the AP Fellows grant, go it! Finally, I will be attending a training session that is devoted to what I need. The first year I taught AP, my summer institute session was thrown together at the last minute, made up those whose slacker administration had neglected to register them (or at least MY slacker administration did) and was filled with brand new teachers and those who had been teaching the class for sometime. It was 2007.... AP Language teachers out there... can you see where I'm headed? Yah, totally dominated by "synthesis question" introduction. FYI, the synthesis question is almost exactly like a DBQ... which they didn't really want to hear. They wanted the magic answer that would guaranantee a passing score for all their students. I got a bunch of unorganizaed hand-outs (the instructor wasn't told of the hastily changed content until arrival to the institute site) and a serious case of confusion. I'm still trying to figure out how half of the class passed.
For the last month of school, I'm now trying to figure out something for the classes to do that doesn't really require me to be present. Next week I have jury duty... which may or may not last. RTI meetings and evaluations and ORF'ing to do, plus Honor Society Induction (which may just be pushed back to next fall, since every date I choose becomes not available as soon as I mention it). Suggestions?
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