Eight weeks into the first grading period.
And we still don't have a seventh grade science teacher.
But we do have a rather busy parade of substitute teachers, bless each and every one of them.
There are no applicants in the pool who are qualified and/or want the job.
I have a feeling this is just the beginning.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
A Family Affair
Today.
Nine kids total.
Three were sixth graders.
All with the same father.
All with different mothers.
Sigh.
Nine kids total.
Three were sixth graders.
All with the same father.
All with different mothers.
Sigh.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Another View on Why Teachers are Leaving the Profession
As most of you know, we started the school year at The School, with two unfilled teaching positions. We are nearly finished with our first nine weeks grading period and we just, finally, filled one of the positions (a special education slot dealing with our kids with emotional and behavior issues) but the seventh grade science position is still open. Rumor has it there may be a candidate for it, but nothing concrete at this point.
So, I got to wondering if it was just my district (my building isn't the only one with open teaching positions) or the State, or what. So I started cruising some of the educational blogs and websites I read and stumbled across this gem.
You must read these.
I basically want to find this woman and hug her and scream, "Yes! What she said!" because she freaking NAILED IT.
Read these. Read them now.
Full Circle - Or When Your Big Brother Kicks Your Ass
About ten years ago I had a kid who just tore my room apart with his behavior. He was a mess. Smart as hell, but mouthy, and lazy and just off the chart disruptive. He spent a lot of time in ISS and suspended and generally broke my heart because I knew he had it in him to be more than he was.
And then he went to high school, joined JROTC and it changed his life. His sophomore year he came back and apologized to me and his other teachers for being such a jerk when we had him (and that, my friends, in 14 years, is the only kid who has done that). We've kept in touch, mainly through FaceBook, and now he's in the military, engaged to a nice girl, and is doing great. The turnaround was remarkable.
In any case, last week, I got a call from Principal Cool that an 8th grader was coming my way for the day and I recognized the last name and realized it was my former student's little brother. When I opened the door and took one look at him, there was no doubt. They are dead ringers for each other.
"So you must be Former Brat's little brother," I say when I introduce myself. "I had him about ten years ago when I was teaching science."
"Oh he was horrid, wasn't he?" Little Brother said. "I remember my parents always getting on him for stuff in school. He's in New York now, He's in the Army" he volunteered.
So I get Little Brother processed, get him to his station, he gets out his work (a much better student than his big brother was, I noted) and he gets to work after we talk a bit about why he was there and how his grades were doing.
And then I sent Former Brat a message telling him that his little brother had landed in my room. I figured he was at work, but thought he'd read it at lunch or something.
Ten minutes later, my phone dings. I look at the screen. "What's your phone number?" was what it said.
Oh boy. Someone is gonna get a phone call. I texted it back and five minutes later the phone rings.
"Hey, Mrs. Bluebird, it's Former Brat," he says. (It still cracks my up how my boys voices change so much after seventh grade).
"Well, gosh, it's nice to hear from you. Just wish it hadn't been under these circumstances," I respond.
"Can I talk to Little Brother please?" he says.
"Of course," I say, and I hand Little Brother the phone.
The look on his face was priceless. The look on the other kids' faces was nearly as good as you could almost read their minds. (Crap! She knows his older brother? Wonder if she knows mine?)
Little Brother then spent about ten minutes on the phone getting his ass chewed out by his big brother (whom it was quite apparent he idolizes). He was not enjoying the conversation at all. At the end he handed it back to me.
"He wants to talk to you," he said.
So we chatted a bit, he wanted me to text him a report at the end of the day about Little Brother, and said our goodbyes.
I looked at Little Brother.
"Got your butt chewed, eh?" I said.
"Yeah," he responded. "You didn't hear that did you? Because if you did, I'm sorry. He drops the F-bomb a lot,"
"No, we didn't hear that," I assured him.
"Are you gonna tell him I was good?" he asked.
"Maybe. Depends on if you are or not."
"I'm gonna be," he said. "He's gonna call Dad tonight, too."
Little Brother was awesome. Former Brat got a text. I even told Little Brother, on his way out the door at the end of the day, that he was a lot better than Former Brat ever had been.
That earned me a smile, and dang, if he didn't look just like his older brother with that big toothy grin!
And then he went to high school, joined JROTC and it changed his life. His sophomore year he came back and apologized to me and his other teachers for being such a jerk when we had him (and that, my friends, in 14 years, is the only kid who has done that). We've kept in touch, mainly through FaceBook, and now he's in the military, engaged to a nice girl, and is doing great. The turnaround was remarkable.
In any case, last week, I got a call from Principal Cool that an 8th grader was coming my way for the day and I recognized the last name and realized it was my former student's little brother. When I opened the door and took one look at him, there was no doubt. They are dead ringers for each other.
"So you must be Former Brat's little brother," I say when I introduce myself. "I had him about ten years ago when I was teaching science."
"Oh he was horrid, wasn't he?" Little Brother said. "I remember my parents always getting on him for stuff in school. He's in New York now, He's in the Army" he volunteered.
So I get Little Brother processed, get him to his station, he gets out his work (a much better student than his big brother was, I noted) and he gets to work after we talk a bit about why he was there and how his grades were doing.
And then I sent Former Brat a message telling him that his little brother had landed in my room. I figured he was at work, but thought he'd read it at lunch or something.
Ten minutes later, my phone dings. I look at the screen. "What's your phone number?" was what it said.
Oh boy. Someone is gonna get a phone call. I texted it back and five minutes later the phone rings.
"Hey, Mrs. Bluebird, it's Former Brat," he says. (It still cracks my up how my boys voices change so much after seventh grade).
"Well, gosh, it's nice to hear from you. Just wish it hadn't been under these circumstances," I respond.
"Can I talk to Little Brother please?" he says.
"Of course," I say, and I hand Little Brother the phone.
The look on his face was priceless. The look on the other kids' faces was nearly as good as you could almost read their minds. (Crap! She knows his older brother? Wonder if she knows mine?)
Little Brother then spent about ten minutes on the phone getting his ass chewed out by his big brother (whom it was quite apparent he idolizes). He was not enjoying the conversation at all. At the end he handed it back to me.
"He wants to talk to you," he said.
So we chatted a bit, he wanted me to text him a report at the end of the day about Little Brother, and said our goodbyes.
I looked at Little Brother.
"Got your butt chewed, eh?" I said.
"Yeah," he responded. "You didn't hear that did you? Because if you did, I'm sorry. He drops the F-bomb a lot,"
"No, we didn't hear that," I assured him.
"Are you gonna tell him I was good?" he asked.
"Maybe. Depends on if you are or not."
"I'm gonna be," he said. "He's gonna call Dad tonight, too."
Little Brother was awesome. Former Brat got a text. I even told Little Brother, on his way out the door at the end of the day, that he was a lot better than Former Brat ever had been.
That earned me a smile, and dang, if he didn't look just like his older brother with that big toothy grin!
Monday, September 12, 2016
Why No One Wants to Teach
So Yellow Rose posted a comment (Hi there! Yellow Rose!) about my previous post about substitute teaching, money, testing and silliness in general. And her comment was right on target:
"So is Awesome Sub not interested in the full-time job, or does she not have the paper qualifications to get on full-time? She sounds ideal."
The answer is....both.
Awesome Sub was pretty much offered the job as long as she took the Praxis and passed. It was her's for the taking.
Except she really didn't want it.
Awesome Sub and I talked quite a bit over the few weeks she was here, and she really was awesome. But she felt completely overwhelmed. She had a Fifth Period Class From the Very Depths of Hell Itself (if I know most of the kids in the class from their stints in ISS as sixth graders, then you know it's a tough bunch). And it was a class of 36. And it was an inclusion class. And even with an aide in there, They Would Not Be Quiet and Behave. She told me the only time they got quiet was when I was in there and threatened to haul the lot of them off to ISS for several days.
And that was just the beginning. She was overwhelmed by the time spent planning, and in meetings, and grading papers, and prepping for labs, and generally just all the things that go into being a teacher these days. And she has her own middle school son and felt that she wasn't being the Mother to her own kid that she wanted, and he was being short-changed because of all the time she put into her job.
So she's actually applied for an Aide position, which is a lot less stress, and would still give her a steady paycheck and benefits. And she can leave at 2:30 and take her own kid to his soccer games, and out to dinner after when they suffer a loss and he's upset, and help him do his homework.
I have noticed a trend the past few years with some of our staff - and I don't think our school is unique in this by any measure. Many teachers are leaving because the cost to stay is just too high in terms of emotional well-being.
One of our best sixth grade language arts teachers, who had rock star test scores, decided she had had enough and quit to stay home and being a mom to her kids. She and her husband realize that money will be significantly tighter than when she was working, but now, instead of grading papers all night, she's spending time with her own kids.
Another rising star math teacher quit a few years ago and is now installing fencing. He blames the hours and time put into his teaching job as a contributing factor in the break up of his marriage. Now he has half the stress, makes about the same amount of money, and is able to spend a lot of time with his little girls.
I even had some serious thoughts about leaving myself a few years ago. I was leaving school every day at 6:00 pm, spending all day Saturday grading and prepping, and was constantly being told it wasn't enough. When I started teaching, lesson plans were written in a 3" square block in a lesson plan book. Now we not only need weekly plans, typed, but daily plans, also typed, which are so scripted they explain exactly what you're going to do and say during every minute of class - and can run to two pages long. The hours, the stress, the pressure to get those almighty test scores was tremendous.
And along the way we forgot that these were kids, and not test scores.
If I hadn't been given the gift of ISS, I probably would be out of the profession by now. I have a degree in business, and can run an office with one hand tied behind my back, so finding a job outside of the profession was feasible. I was at the point where something had to give.
And then I was given ISS and decided to stay. At least for a while.
"So is Awesome Sub not interested in the full-time job, or does she not have the paper qualifications to get on full-time? She sounds ideal."
The answer is....both.
Awesome Sub was pretty much offered the job as long as she took the Praxis and passed. It was her's for the taking.
Except she really didn't want it.
Awesome Sub and I talked quite a bit over the few weeks she was here, and she really was awesome. But she felt completely overwhelmed. She had a Fifth Period Class From the Very Depths of Hell Itself (if I know most of the kids in the class from their stints in ISS as sixth graders, then you know it's a tough bunch). And it was a class of 36. And it was an inclusion class. And even with an aide in there, They Would Not Be Quiet and Behave. She told me the only time they got quiet was when I was in there and threatened to haul the lot of them off to ISS for several days.
And that was just the beginning. She was overwhelmed by the time spent planning, and in meetings, and grading papers, and prepping for labs, and generally just all the things that go into being a teacher these days. And she has her own middle school son and felt that she wasn't being the Mother to her own kid that she wanted, and he was being short-changed because of all the time she put into her job.
So she's actually applied for an Aide position, which is a lot less stress, and would still give her a steady paycheck and benefits. And she can leave at 2:30 and take her own kid to his soccer games, and out to dinner after when they suffer a loss and he's upset, and help him do his homework.
I have noticed a trend the past few years with some of our staff - and I don't think our school is unique in this by any measure. Many teachers are leaving because the cost to stay is just too high in terms of emotional well-being.
One of our best sixth grade language arts teachers, who had rock star test scores, decided she had had enough and quit to stay home and being a mom to her kids. She and her husband realize that money will be significantly tighter than when she was working, but now, instead of grading papers all night, she's spending time with her own kids.
Another rising star math teacher quit a few years ago and is now installing fencing. He blames the hours and time put into his teaching job as a contributing factor in the break up of his marriage. Now he has half the stress, makes about the same amount of money, and is able to spend a lot of time with his little girls.
I even had some serious thoughts about leaving myself a few years ago. I was leaving school every day at 6:00 pm, spending all day Saturday grading and prepping, and was constantly being told it wasn't enough. When I started teaching, lesson plans were written in a 3" square block in a lesson plan book. Now we not only need weekly plans, typed, but daily plans, also typed, which are so scripted they explain exactly what you're going to do and say during every minute of class - and can run to two pages long. The hours, the stress, the pressure to get those almighty test scores was tremendous.
And along the way we forgot that these were kids, and not test scores.
If I hadn't been given the gift of ISS, I probably would be out of the profession by now. I have a degree in business, and can run an office with one hand tied behind my back, so finding a job outside of the profession was feasible. I was at the point where something had to give.
And then I was given ISS and decided to stay. At least for a while.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Is It About the Kids or About Saving Money?
As you may have read, we currently have an opening for a seventh grade science position. We are also heading into our fifth week of school and this position is unfilled. This is a pretty big district, and they recruit heavily throughout the state and even go to job fairs Up North and elsewhere, but we still do not have a single applicant in the pool who is qualified and/or wants the job.
Which means, we've been skipping along using substitute teachers. And yes, that's plural.
Our substitute program was brought in-house a few years ago, so the subs are now employees of the District. Employees, yes, but without benefits. And that's the way the District wants to keep it. And since we have Obama Care, which would require the District to pay for their health insurance should they be considered full-time, the District has decided that substitutes can only work for 20 days before they have to take some time off. I'm not sure how long they have to take off, however.
So, at the beginning of the year, we had Mrs. Awesome Sub in for the seventh grade science position and man, she busted her tail and did a great job. I would go and help her when I could, especially those first few days when I didn't have kids, and she was a gem.
And she had to leave after 20 days.
So then they got another sub. I've never seen this man in the building before, but bless his heart, he should be home enjoying retirement and not dealing with obnoxious seventh graders. He appeared to be in his 80's. And as soon as I saw him, I knew that the kids on that team (who have been frequent flyers with me already) would chew him up and spit him out. Which they did. I think he made it through one day.
And now we're on to our third sub who actually retired from our building a few years ago because of the stress, He's a great guy, a veteran, and he doesn't take any crap from the kids. But like he said, if the stress gets too bad, he'll have to leave too.
So it begs the question...since school districts live, eat and breathe on test scores (as stupid as it is, that's the reality), wouldn't it make sense to have a good, qualified, substitute in there for the long haul, as opposed to changing them up every 20 days?
But apparently that's not important. Saving money is.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Kicking and Screaming
So one of my three readers asked me how I liked ISS and if I thought I'd go back to the regular classroom anytime soon.
Let me put it this way....we have a an opening, still, for a seventh grade science teacher. It is currently being filled by substitutes because we cannot find anyone who is either qualified or who wants the job (I am so not kidding here).
I live in absolute fear that they will want me to go back to teaching seventh grade science and leave our Happy Little Portable.
So far, I don't think that's going to happen because I've got ISS running like a well-oiled machine and I'm actually pretty good at what I do. And not everyone has the temperament to put up with the kids that tear apart other people's classrooms. But still, a little part of me is praying every night that they find a teacher for that position and they never ask me to leave ISS.
I got into teaching to work with kids, and it's a lot easier to do that when there aren't 35 of them trying to get your attention., And when you're stuck with them for an entire day (or two, or three, or...). And I do good with the kids that are less than perfect. Not sure why that is, but maybe it's because I'm a bit of a snarky bitch and I have a pretty infantile sense of humor.
Regardless. I love ISS. I don't want to leave. It's a great gig. Sure, there are things that can be annoying. Like teachers who don't send work, kids who don't get with my program, and air conditioners that don't work, but I also don't have to grade papers or do lesson plans.
Let's face it, I get to hang out with some pretty entertaining kids all day long. And that's kinda fun.
So if they ask me to go back to seventh grade science, I will, because I'm a good soldier. But believe me, I'll be kicking and screaming when I do.
Let me put it this way....we have a an opening, still, for a seventh grade science teacher. It is currently being filled by substitutes because we cannot find anyone who is either qualified or who wants the job (I am so not kidding here).
I live in absolute fear that they will want me to go back to teaching seventh grade science and leave our Happy Little Portable.
So far, I don't think that's going to happen because I've got ISS running like a well-oiled machine and I'm actually pretty good at what I do. And not everyone has the temperament to put up with the kids that tear apart other people's classrooms. But still, a little part of me is praying every night that they find a teacher for that position and they never ask me to leave ISS.
I got into teaching to work with kids, and it's a lot easier to do that when there aren't 35 of them trying to get your attention., And when you're stuck with them for an entire day (or two, or three, or...). And I do good with the kids that are less than perfect. Not sure why that is, but maybe it's because I'm a bit of a snarky bitch and I have a pretty infantile sense of humor.
Regardless. I love ISS. I don't want to leave. It's a great gig. Sure, there are things that can be annoying. Like teachers who don't send work, kids who don't get with my program, and air conditioners that don't work, but I also don't have to grade papers or do lesson plans.
Let's face it, I get to hang out with some pretty entertaining kids all day long. And that's kinda fun.
So if they ask me to go back to seventh grade science, I will, because I'm a good soldier. But believe me, I'll be kicking and screaming when I do.
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