My Last First Day of the Students First Day Back to School
Today is my last first day of students returning to school. I am not prepared and I will not be prepared and that is through no fault of mine. Yesterday, the day before school officially opened, I actually did not have a schedule. At some point between opening meetings and speeches I took a moment to ask the Principal what my assignment would be. He informed me that I would need to see the Assistant Principal who is doing the master schedule. and I received a tentative schedule. . Like most teachers I have always had my own classroom. Over the years I have gone from having my own classroom to sharing a classroom due to an increasing enrollment. This year I do not have that. This year, for two of my three classes, I am going to be a push in English teacher to English as a New Language classes. My third class is going to be a public speaking class. There are all kinds of excuses that the administration will toss up for not having schedules and room assignments ready well before the start of school. The bottom line is that if this school was run for profit it would not survive.
Although I know that this schedule is designed as retaliation and, minimize my reputation administration actually did me a favor. I am teaching 1 elective for which there is no curriculum. That means I get to make the rules. The other two classes I am a push in. I support, I assist and I am not the lead. I do not have the responsibility of lesson plans, or grades or attendance. Don't get me wrong, the students that I encounter will get 100% of my knowledge, passion and ability. I am simply thankful that I do not have any major responsibilities. I will not have the pressure that comes with making sure my seniors pass my class, or the incredible number of edits that go into college and scholarship essays, or the Regents exams. And, I do not care about my evaluations. For the first time I do not care if my board configuration is not perfect. I do not care if students are not sitting in groups. I do care that the students in my charge receive an education and they will because I am not constrained by administrators who are walking in and out of classrooms simply checking off boxes about room set up, board set up, technology etc. etc. etc.
Today our student population was probably half of what it should be. It is a short week first of all and secondly we have conditioned the students to accept that their schedule will not be right, or, there will not be one at all. We had one of two chillers for our A/C unit barely working and, by the end of the day we had our first "code blue" fight of the 18-19 school year. The heat inside the building rivaled the 90 degree temperature on the outside. As the penguins of Madagascar said, "Smile and wave boys, smile and wave."
Although I know that this schedule is designed as retaliation and, minimize my reputation administration actually did me a favor. I am teaching 1 elective for which there is no curriculum. That means I get to make the rules. The other two classes I am a push in. I support, I assist and I am not the lead. I do not have the responsibility of lesson plans, or grades or attendance. Don't get me wrong, the students that I encounter will get 100% of my knowledge, passion and ability. I am simply thankful that I do not have any major responsibilities. I will not have the pressure that comes with making sure my seniors pass my class, or the incredible number of edits that go into college and scholarship essays, or the Regents exams. And, I do not care about my evaluations. For the first time I do not care if my board configuration is not perfect. I do not care if students are not sitting in groups. I do care that the students in my charge receive an education and they will because I am not constrained by administrators who are walking in and out of classrooms simply checking off boxes about room set up, board set up, technology etc. etc. etc.
Today our student population was probably half of what it should be. It is a short week first of all and secondly we have conditioned the students to accept that their schedule will not be right, or, there will not be one at all. We had one of two chillers for our A/C unit barely working and, by the end of the day we had our first "code blue" fight of the 18-19 school year. The heat inside the building rivaled the 90 degree temperature on the outside. As the penguins of Madagascar said, "Smile and wave boys, smile and wave."
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