Where'sPiglet?
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2007
- Messages
- 6,682
I've been kind of MIA this week. It was a pretty rough, yet typical, week.
I wrote this out mainly as a vent, so if you don't read through it all, I won't be too hurt. It's pretty long.
This week is finally over! What a week.....
Monday: Started out okay, but by the afternoon, one of my kids (first grade) picked a fight with a 5th grader that had come into my room to take a student somewhere. My kid threw scissors at his face and the other kid choked him and they were both punching and kicking. Then after school I had a meeting that should have lasted about 15 minutes and it went an HOUR.
Tuesday: On my prep I was supposed to have two meetings with parents, but the first parent showed up like 30 minutes before her appointment time and then left, only to later send me a nasty note wondering "what happened to me, I waited 25 minutes and you never showed up". Uh, I was, I dunno, TEACHING?!? The second one, again should have only lasted about 15 minutes, but went on for the ENTIRE prep period - 45 minutes! The mother was so angry and wanted to pull her child out of my class - because I don't give spellingtests. wth?!? Whatever.
During After School, I finally got a tutor to replace the one that quit about a month ago. This is good. I also got a schedule (mind you - Tuesday was the 25th of February) that gives me lesson outlines - for the week of February 3rd.
Wednesday: This day started out innocently enough. I had to meet with MORE parents - this time on my LUNCH, but whatever. The afternoon was like something out of some crazy movie though. One of my kids went crazy (same one as Monday) because "he said my last name!" and he was lunging at kids trying to beat them up. He was arguing with me that he was going to kill himself and screaming in my face to "just close the door so I can go kill myself and these kids don't have to see" and then he said he was going to kill this one student. The other kid said something that, at the time, I went "huh" to myself, but then later I was laughing about it. The kid going nuts said "I'm going to kill Peter" [not real name] and Peter said "My name isn't Peter anymore. I changed it." Some of my kids were crying because this kid was saying such crazy stuff and totally out of control, even though I was holding him so he couldn't physically hurt anybody. Then the AP came up and took him out, then the dean came - way later - and asked "where's the problem?" "The problem already left." Then somebody from some behavior program we have came to speak to the child, who was right outside my door. The kids were all riled up from this kid's outburst, and some of them had asked if they could organize the library. So picture this: I've got 3 people dealing with this one kid right outside my door, a bunch of kids, some crying from fear and others wandering around from being agitated, some attempting to work, and some "cleaning the library". Well, their version of organizing meant they had dumped out like 10 baskets of books. I kid you not, there was like a 5 foot by 5 foot area of floor that was a foot deep in books. It's at this point when the AP and two other administrators come in to do a "learning environment checklist" - i.e., looking around the room to see how clean it is and if I have all the things on the walls that I'm supposed to. Good timing. At the time I was thinking OMG but in hindsight it's pretty funny.
Thursday: This day started out with the AP coming in and saying that the principal may be coming through in the afternoon and to make sure EVERYTHING is up to date, so to clean while the kids are working. Um, okay. So I start shoving stuff into the closet. The principal never did come through (thank God!) but my room is cleaner now, despite the closet being full! At dismissal, the explicit graffiti on the wall gets the class all riled up. At least I got to send them home at that point. Even the WALLS have the ability to disrupt class in this place.
Friday: This was kind of a strange day. I was supposed to have a prep 2nd period, and a meeting during it. But, I didn't get my prep because they pulled the teacher who was supposed to cover my class so she could do paperwork. I wonder when they will figure out that the data won't change if we don't ever INSTRUCT the children in between the "collection of data". So, the meeting gets moved - to LUNCH. So now, no prep AND no lunch. Great. I go to the meeting, where I find out that they've changed the benchmark for being "on grade level" from reading at level D in December to reading at level F in December. That's 2 levels higher than before - and they're telling us in what is essentially March now. Then, the AP tells me that they are changing the curriculum for skills block - to something that is EASIER than what I'm giving my kids now, and it would screw up the routine they are used to in skills block. I fight this one - and surprisingly, WIN!! They keep changing the curriculum, among other things, at random in multiple subject areas. Then, after school I have yet another parent meeting. I have to meet in a room where a bunch of kids are sitting around waiting for a bus because I needed a translator and the lady had to be in that room. While we're meeting, at least 3 fistfights break out in 10 minutes, so we had to kind of cut it short. The mother looked really alarmed by what was going on.
Oh, and I find out that the parents of the girl who were so upset about the spelling test issue went to the principal demanding to have her class changed, so now she will be in a new class next week. Funny thing is that I have the highest-performing class on the grade, and they class she is going into is the lowest-performing class on the grade. That's what they wanted.
So yeah, that's a pretty typical week in my world. And it's really a shame because the vast majority of my class is good kids. A small handful of kids ruin it for the rest of them. I can't teach when I'm keeping kids from throwing scissors, chairs, books, etc, or threatening suicide.
And people tell me this is normal. I've worked at other schools in different states and this was NOT normal, everyday stuff.
I wrote this out mainly as a vent, so if you don't read through it all, I won't be too hurt. It's pretty long.
This week is finally over! What a week.....
Monday: Started out okay, but by the afternoon, one of my kids (first grade) picked a fight with a 5th grader that had come into my room to take a student somewhere. My kid threw scissors at his face and the other kid choked him and they were both punching and kicking. Then after school I had a meeting that should have lasted about 15 minutes and it went an HOUR.
Tuesday: On my prep I was supposed to have two meetings with parents, but the first parent showed up like 30 minutes before her appointment time and then left, only to later send me a nasty note wondering "what happened to me, I waited 25 minutes and you never showed up". Uh, I was, I dunno, TEACHING?!? The second one, again should have only lasted about 15 minutes, but went on for the ENTIRE prep period - 45 minutes! The mother was so angry and wanted to pull her child out of my class - because I don't give spellingtests. wth?!? Whatever.
During After School, I finally got a tutor to replace the one that quit about a month ago. This is good. I also got a schedule (mind you - Tuesday was the 25th of February) that gives me lesson outlines - for the week of February 3rd.
Wednesday: This day started out innocently enough. I had to meet with MORE parents - this time on my LUNCH, but whatever. The afternoon was like something out of some crazy movie though. One of my kids went crazy (same one as Monday) because "he said my last name!" and he was lunging at kids trying to beat them up. He was arguing with me that he was going to kill himself and screaming in my face to "just close the door so I can go kill myself and these kids don't have to see" and then he said he was going to kill this one student. The other kid said something that, at the time, I went "huh" to myself, but then later I was laughing about it. The kid going nuts said "I'm going to kill Peter" [not real name] and Peter said "My name isn't Peter anymore. I changed it." Some of my kids were crying because this kid was saying such crazy stuff and totally out of control, even though I was holding him so he couldn't physically hurt anybody. Then the AP came up and took him out, then the dean came - way later - and asked "where's the problem?" "The problem already left." Then somebody from some behavior program we have came to speak to the child, who was right outside my door. The kids were all riled up from this kid's outburst, and some of them had asked if they could organize the library. So picture this: I've got 3 people dealing with this one kid right outside my door, a bunch of kids, some crying from fear and others wandering around from being agitated, some attempting to work, and some "cleaning the library". Well, their version of organizing meant they had dumped out like 10 baskets of books. I kid you not, there was like a 5 foot by 5 foot area of floor that was a foot deep in books. It's at this point when the AP and two other administrators come in to do a "learning environment checklist" - i.e., looking around the room to see how clean it is and if I have all the things on the walls that I'm supposed to. Good timing. At the time I was thinking OMG but in hindsight it's pretty funny.
Thursday: This day started out with the AP coming in and saying that the principal may be coming through in the afternoon and to make sure EVERYTHING is up to date, so to clean while the kids are working. Um, okay. So I start shoving stuff into the closet. The principal never did come through (thank God!) but my room is cleaner now, despite the closet being full! At dismissal, the explicit graffiti on the wall gets the class all riled up. At least I got to send them home at that point. Even the WALLS have the ability to disrupt class in this place.
Friday: This was kind of a strange day. I was supposed to have a prep 2nd period, and a meeting during it. But, I didn't get my prep because they pulled the teacher who was supposed to cover my class so she could do paperwork. I wonder when they will figure out that the data won't change if we don't ever INSTRUCT the children in between the "collection of data". So, the meeting gets moved - to LUNCH. So now, no prep AND no lunch. Great. I go to the meeting, where I find out that they've changed the benchmark for being "on grade level" from reading at level D in December to reading at level F in December. That's 2 levels higher than before - and they're telling us in what is essentially March now. Then, the AP tells me that they are changing the curriculum for skills block - to something that is EASIER than what I'm giving my kids now, and it would screw up the routine they are used to in skills block. I fight this one - and surprisingly, WIN!! They keep changing the curriculum, among other things, at random in multiple subject areas. Then, after school I have yet another parent meeting. I have to meet in a room where a bunch of kids are sitting around waiting for a bus because I needed a translator and the lady had to be in that room. While we're meeting, at least 3 fistfights break out in 10 minutes, so we had to kind of cut it short. The mother looked really alarmed by what was going on.
Oh, and I find out that the parents of the girl who were so upset about the spelling test issue went to the principal demanding to have her class changed, so now she will be in a new class next week. Funny thing is that I have the highest-performing class on the grade, and they class she is going into is the lowest-performing class on the grade. That's what they wanted.
So yeah, that's a pretty typical week in my world. And it's really a shame because the vast majority of my class is good kids. A small handful of kids ruin it for the rest of them. I can't teach when I'm keeping kids from throwing scissors, chairs, books, etc, or threatening suicide.
And people tell me this is normal. I've worked at other schools in different states and this was NOT normal, everyday stuff.
You are funny! Maybe we should give you the results every week and your family will think you are the Nostradamus of AI. 
Now it's time for bed! Night ladies!
