Too Long...
It's been way too long to tell all the great stories I have to tell. So, I'll keep it brief.
It's rough having 28 kids. Everyone needs one on one attention but there's not enough of me to go around! I'm stretching myself as far as I can without breaking. I'm planning constantly, reworking every part of my schedule that I can, and trying to make the most of my day. I'm doing things SO differently from last year that it's hard to say how I'm doing this year. It has advantages and disadvantages. I'm having more trouble out of my assistant than I care to discuss. Mainly because I sound like a broken record. My mom jokingly remarked that I must be the problem, because everything was an issue with my assistant last year as well. (Apparently I WASN'T the problem, seeing as though she was fired in February because she threatened a kid.) Anyway, while this year's issues are of a vastly different nature, they are still every bit as stess-inducing. I have had multiple discussions with a multitude of teachers and the literacy coach....all of whom are OLDER than I am. This makes me feel better because it's HARD to tell an older person what you want and actually expect good results without any complaining. It's hard to realize that I am the teacher and SHE is the assistant and that it isn't "rude" for me to "inconvenience" her by asking her to do HER JOB. For instance, I was discussing a chair situation with the literacy coach. My assistant keeps asking for a bigger, comfier chair because it "hurts her back."
1. Can you BELIEVE she has the nerve to complain to ME about HER back when I sat there the first three weeks without any trouble at all. I mean really, I realize that older people (50's) have their various aches and pains but when she pulled out the back complaint I wanted to tell her to kiss my ass on her way to hell. WTF? (Sorry....that's my rant).
2. Mrs. Hobbs said that a simple chair is a "non-issue" that shouldn't even be discussed. She also said she realizes that I KNOW it SHOULD be a "non-issue" and that SHE is MAKING it an ISSUE. (Like all the CAPS back there?) ;) Yes, I know a chair is a simple thing but when you have a person complaining about it like a broken record it gets old. ESPECIALLY when you can't do anything about it. There are no available chairs. The desk can't be raised anyway. And if it COULD be raised, Mrs. Hobbs said that isn't appropriate for the children. Her thoughts on the subject? The assistant has no right to ask/complain to me about anything I ask her to do. I am the teacher and she is MY assistant. It is so hard to internalize that!
She has a very clear idea of what SHE thinks is right and has gone behind my back to ask other teachers how they run their classroom. FHI: I'm not interested in anyone else's classroom . . . and if I am, I'LL ASK THEM MYSELF. (In truth, I have asked a couple of people, but that's also none of her concern). She has a lot of great ideas and she is great with the kids, there is no disputing that fact. For that I am greatful. HOWEVER....she is NOT a teacher and is not certified. There are a lot of things that go on in a school that people don't know about. Nothing sinister or anything like that, just general practices that keep things running smoothly, paperwork and testing that teachers have to complete, just BS like that. For everyone but kindergarten that's all fine and well because we all go to these meetings, we all know what's going on. With kidnergarten the problem arises because assistants DON'T go to meetings. They are basically in the dark about many things until we, the TEACHERS, tell them what's going on and how to do something. This is generally not a problem. The problem is that my assistant gets mad when she doesn't know how to do something or what's expected of her. She says that everyone does something different and she doesn't know what to do/who to listen to. I can't make her understand that she is to listen to ME. I am the authority when it comes to procedures in my classroom. She acts like I have no clue when really SHE doesn't know what's going on. She spends too much time worrying over insignificant BS instead of worrying about the important aspects of the class. During the second week of school she sat beside a table cleaning up the listening center . . . without paying ANY attention to the table beside her. They were painting. They painted the entire table! All while she put books in a ziplock bag. Um...priorities. Watch the kids during centers, DON'T CLEAN UP.
Half the time she expects them to be babies and she wants to clean up after them, write their names on their papers, open everything for them, run back and forth getting them napkins and silverwear, etc. Those are the kinds of things that we are teaching them to do themselves. I mean, HELLO, if I had a shadow following behind me to clean up my mess would I ever bother to do it? NO! If I need to learn to write my name, will I learn by having someone write it for me? And will I ever learn responsibility if I know I can send someone else to take care of stuff for me? NO. These are the lessons that these activities teach. And she doesn't even get it.
Then she expects them to be mini-adults. In introduce a new way of doing centers. Centers are hectic anyway. Then add to it something different. After the first day she explodes because "centers are working, the kids don't understand, blah blah blah." COME ON! They're five years old. They can't be expected to get it right the first time. They need constant reminders and practice. In all honesty I should just remind her that we are now 21 days into school and I'm still doing half of her job for her because she can't figure it out. Why should she expect a 5 year old to be perfect on the first day? She expects them to have perfect manners, to follow all the rules. Yes, that'd be GREAT. But this is NOT a perfect world.
Or what really burns me up: She can't take the time to actually learn their names. During the third week of school I said a child's name, and said she was beside E. On one side was a black girl. On the other side, a white girl. She picked the wrong child. This isn't a case of mistaken two similar children . . . she has NO clue. Two weeks ago we did a unit with coconuts. A child was allergic. I had to remind her daily, all week, which child it was. Then at the end of the day she wanted to put coconut in their snack, and again I had to remind her that we had someone allergic. Each child chose if they wanted coconut or not. I happened to check her cup and SHE HAD COCONUT. I sent her back and THEN, after my assistant put it in there the first place, she got mad at the five year old for coming back and trying to switch. Then she got mad and asked her why she asked for it in the first place. I'm sorry, a five year old isn't ignorant but it's a teacher/assistants job to keep the child safe and away from something that is harmful! It is her job and she can't keep ONE CHILD safe. I was livid.
And now, I'm hopping off my soapbox.
Things have been okay otherwise. I was miserable at school until last week. A couple of weeks ago I read my LJ from the previous year. I was such a happy person. Of course I had my gripes, don't we all? But all in all, I was a happy person. People at school called me bubbly and cheerful and boisterous. Although it was a lot of pressure to always be that person last year, I wanted to be that person again. I was tired of being bitter and unhappy all the time. Stressing out was getting me nowhere. So right then and there I decided to just let go, chill out, and enjoy myself. And it honestly worked. Mind over matter for once. Success. I'm more laid back in school and, whether others notice or not, I'm a lot happier.
A couple of weekends ago I went to Clemson for Ian's 21st. My baby's all grown up!! It was great meeting up with Bryan, Pinky, and Haley; it was even better to see Steven, John, Dallas, Asshole Marc . . . . all the old favorites together again in . . . TDs!!! What better way for a reunion? They were all asking me to stay but that wasn't in the cards. I said maybe next week but bitched out again. But not this weekend. THIS weekend I'm going. Tomorrow I'm driving home to drop off the boys and then Friday I'm heading out to Tiger Town.
More big news: I sent in an application to SWU . . . going to get my Masters in Education! JCoggins gave me all the info and I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. I REALLY want to do this and there's no time like the present. I really want to go through this with someone else, and that someone else will be Coggins. It meets once a week for HOURS. It begins September 19th and ends December 2007. It's also the cheapest price we've found. I think it sounds like a decent, cost efficient program. Of course, it's no Clemson degree but in the grand scheme of things: a $6000 pay raise is a raise, no matter WHAT the name on the masters degree! All the more better if I sink less money into it to still be making MORE. :)
And now, with all the latest on my life, I'm dipping out. I gotta take my ass to bed!
Susie leaves in three days. How weird is that? And tonight was really our last night to hang out. I'm going to Union tomorrow. I'm going to Clemson Friday. She's leaving on Saturday and I'll still be in Clemson. She told the boys bye tonight cause they're going to be in Union before she gets home from work tomorrow. It's all very very strange.
It's rough having 28 kids. Everyone needs one on one attention but there's not enough of me to go around! I'm stretching myself as far as I can without breaking. I'm planning constantly, reworking every part of my schedule that I can, and trying to make the most of my day. I'm doing things SO differently from last year that it's hard to say how I'm doing this year. It has advantages and disadvantages. I'm having more trouble out of my assistant than I care to discuss. Mainly because I sound like a broken record. My mom jokingly remarked that I must be the problem, because everything was an issue with my assistant last year as well. (Apparently I WASN'T the problem, seeing as though she was fired in February because she threatened a kid.) Anyway, while this year's issues are of a vastly different nature, they are still every bit as stess-inducing. I have had multiple discussions with a multitude of teachers and the literacy coach....all of whom are OLDER than I am. This makes me feel better because it's HARD to tell an older person what you want and actually expect good results without any complaining. It's hard to realize that I am the teacher and SHE is the assistant and that it isn't "rude" for me to "inconvenience" her by asking her to do HER JOB. For instance, I was discussing a chair situation with the literacy coach. My assistant keeps asking for a bigger, comfier chair because it "hurts her back."
1. Can you BELIEVE she has the nerve to complain to ME about HER back when I sat there the first three weeks without any trouble at all. I mean really, I realize that older people (50's) have their various aches and pains but when she pulled out the back complaint I wanted to tell her to kiss my ass on her way to hell. WTF? (Sorry....that's my rant).
2. Mrs. Hobbs said that a simple chair is a "non-issue" that shouldn't even be discussed. She also said she realizes that I KNOW it SHOULD be a "non-issue" and that SHE is MAKING it an ISSUE. (Like all the CAPS back there?) ;) Yes, I know a chair is a simple thing but when you have a person complaining about it like a broken record it gets old. ESPECIALLY when you can't do anything about it. There are no available chairs. The desk can't be raised anyway. And if it COULD be raised, Mrs. Hobbs said that isn't appropriate for the children. Her thoughts on the subject? The assistant has no right to ask/complain to me about anything I ask her to do. I am the teacher and she is MY assistant. It is so hard to internalize that!
She has a very clear idea of what SHE thinks is right and has gone behind my back to ask other teachers how they run their classroom. FHI: I'm not interested in anyone else's classroom . . . and if I am, I'LL ASK THEM MYSELF. (In truth, I have asked a couple of people, but that's also none of her concern). She has a lot of great ideas and she is great with the kids, there is no disputing that fact. For that I am greatful. HOWEVER....she is NOT a teacher and is not certified. There are a lot of things that go on in a school that people don't know about. Nothing sinister or anything like that, just general practices that keep things running smoothly, paperwork and testing that teachers have to complete, just BS like that. For everyone but kindergarten that's all fine and well because we all go to these meetings, we all know what's going on. With kidnergarten the problem arises because assistants DON'T go to meetings. They are basically in the dark about many things until we, the TEACHERS, tell them what's going on and how to do something. This is generally not a problem. The problem is that my assistant gets mad when she doesn't know how to do something or what's expected of her. She says that everyone does something different and she doesn't know what to do/who to listen to. I can't make her understand that she is to listen to ME. I am the authority when it comes to procedures in my classroom. She acts like I have no clue when really SHE doesn't know what's going on. She spends too much time worrying over insignificant BS instead of worrying about the important aspects of the class. During the second week of school she sat beside a table cleaning up the listening center . . . without paying ANY attention to the table beside her. They were painting. They painted the entire table! All while she put books in a ziplock bag. Um...priorities. Watch the kids during centers, DON'T CLEAN UP.
Half the time she expects them to be babies and she wants to clean up after them, write their names on their papers, open everything for them, run back and forth getting them napkins and silverwear, etc. Those are the kinds of things that we are teaching them to do themselves. I mean, HELLO, if I had a shadow following behind me to clean up my mess would I ever bother to do it? NO! If I need to learn to write my name, will I learn by having someone write it for me? And will I ever learn responsibility if I know I can send someone else to take care of stuff for me? NO. These are the lessons that these activities teach. And she doesn't even get it.
Then she expects them to be mini-adults. In introduce a new way of doing centers. Centers are hectic anyway. Then add to it something different. After the first day she explodes because "centers are working, the kids don't understand, blah blah blah." COME ON! They're five years old. They can't be expected to get it right the first time. They need constant reminders and practice. In all honesty I should just remind her that we are now 21 days into school and I'm still doing half of her job for her because she can't figure it out. Why should she expect a 5 year old to be perfect on the first day? She expects them to have perfect manners, to follow all the rules. Yes, that'd be GREAT. But this is NOT a perfect world.
Or what really burns me up: She can't take the time to actually learn their names. During the third week of school I said a child's name, and said she was beside E. On one side was a black girl. On the other side, a white girl. She picked the wrong child. This isn't a case of mistaken two similar children . . . she has NO clue. Two weeks ago we did a unit with coconuts. A child was allergic. I had to remind her daily, all week, which child it was. Then at the end of the day she wanted to put coconut in their snack, and again I had to remind her that we had someone allergic. Each child chose if they wanted coconut or not. I happened to check her cup and SHE HAD COCONUT. I sent her back and THEN, after my assistant put it in there the first place, she got mad at the five year old for coming back and trying to switch. Then she got mad and asked her why she asked for it in the first place. I'm sorry, a five year old isn't ignorant but it's a teacher/assistants job to keep the child safe and away from something that is harmful! It is her job and she can't keep ONE CHILD safe. I was livid.
And now, I'm hopping off my soapbox.
Things have been okay otherwise. I was miserable at school until last week. A couple of weeks ago I read my LJ from the previous year. I was such a happy person. Of course I had my gripes, don't we all? But all in all, I was a happy person. People at school called me bubbly and cheerful and boisterous. Although it was a lot of pressure to always be that person last year, I wanted to be that person again. I was tired of being bitter and unhappy all the time. Stressing out was getting me nowhere. So right then and there I decided to just let go, chill out, and enjoy myself. And it honestly worked. Mind over matter for once. Success. I'm more laid back in school and, whether others notice or not, I'm a lot happier.
A couple of weekends ago I went to Clemson for Ian's 21st. My baby's all grown up!! It was great meeting up with Bryan, Pinky, and Haley; it was even better to see Steven, John, Dallas, Asshole Marc . . . . all the old favorites together again in . . . TDs!!! What better way for a reunion? They were all asking me to stay but that wasn't in the cards. I said maybe next week but bitched out again. But not this weekend. THIS weekend I'm going. Tomorrow I'm driving home to drop off the boys and then Friday I'm heading out to Tiger Town.
More big news: I sent in an application to SWU . . . going to get my Masters in Education! JCoggins gave me all the info and I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. I REALLY want to do this and there's no time like the present. I really want to go through this with someone else, and that someone else will be Coggins. It meets once a week for HOURS. It begins September 19th and ends December 2007. It's also the cheapest price we've found. I think it sounds like a decent, cost efficient program. Of course, it's no Clemson degree but in the grand scheme of things: a $6000 pay raise is a raise, no matter WHAT the name on the masters degree! All the more better if I sink less money into it to still be making MORE. :)
And now, with all the latest on my life, I'm dipping out. I gotta take my ass to bed!
Susie leaves in three days. How weird is that? And tonight was really our last night to hang out. I'm going to Union tomorrow. I'm going to Clemson Friday. She's leaving on Saturday and I'll still be in Clemson. She told the boys bye tonight cause they're going to be in Union before she gets home from work tomorrow. It's all very very strange.