The year is over...
The school year is over for teachers. I didn't survive. I take that back. I did. I'm still breathing. I just meant that the school decided not to renew my contract for another year. Why? I have no real idea. I have some theories.
First off, it's been said that I've done more for the school than any other agriculture teacher before me. I've installed a catfish pond, steer pens, landscaped half the school grounds, restored the irrigation system, took over both the junior high and senior high FFA chapters, and ever curriculum... My students took many awards at the county fair, including Grand Champion steer, and first place in the High School Night Competition, netting our school an extra 1,000 dollars.
So why? Well, I was told I was "unprofessional in meeting school obligations". I missed a few faculty meetings while getting feed and supplies for the cattle on school grounds. I was told that that was no reason to not renew a contract. It's like being given a speeding ticket for going 46 in a 45 mile an hour zone. But that was the excuse given. And you know what? I support the principal in that decision.
I no longer have to worry about the most destructive, callous, rude, obnoxious, foul-smelling brats coming into my class next year. Some kids almost killed my Holstein calves, feeding them rubber. Some kids smashed our decorative terra cotta pots, some kids smashed our wooden parking signs. Some kids would jump in the steer pens and drum on the steers head, inciting the steer to charge them. I couldn't let anything beautiful outside, as they would try to find some way to destroy it. And they played me like a well-tuned violin.
I was a piss-poor teacher. Sure, I got the highest marks when it came to subject area knowledge, but I had no control over these guys. Sure, I was stressed with maintaining animals, the grounds, and essentially two cirriculum levels (7-8th, and 9-12th grades), but I let that stress get to me. People were demanding more and more of my time, time which was needed to work on my First-Year Teacher portfolio. Long story short, these people got pissed, thinking I was "snubbing" them, and my portfolio barely got finished, but never got turned in... So, at this point, even if the principal wanted to renew, she can't.
I let stress get to me very easily. So much so that I often create situations that are ultimately destructive. Heck, two years ago, I let stress get to me, and it cost me two very dear friends. They're doing quite well up in Michigan now, and I couldn't be happier to hear that. If I saw them, I'd apologize to them. I'd rather do it in person, instead of through some cold medium where I could't look them in the eyes.
But, all is not lost, and I'm not letting it get me down. In fact, I feel stronger, because the principal swore to give me a glowing reference for the future, and she did. I completed the Peace Corps application and she gave her reference. As did another teacher, and a great friend. Things are looking quite positive in that direction.
I'll know in a week or two how things turn out.
I also moved down to a place in a town called Starke, a backwater village that's a railroad junction. I live in the maid's quarters of a mansion that was built in the 1930s. It's just me, and four wolf spiders. Used to be six, until I introduce two of them two some very... heavy literature... over and over... I didn't know they were harmless at the time. So now I just leave them be. They hunt cockroaches. I guess that's a job for them to do in leiu of being smashed by Tolstoy or charged rent. I just need to teach them to pick up after their molting, not leaving their hollowed exoskeletons hanging on the curtains.
Well, I now have the summer off, and it's paid for! Woohoo!
First off, it's been said that I've done more for the school than any other agriculture teacher before me. I've installed a catfish pond, steer pens, landscaped half the school grounds, restored the irrigation system, took over both the junior high and senior high FFA chapters, and ever curriculum... My students took many awards at the county fair, including Grand Champion steer, and first place in the High School Night Competition, netting our school an extra 1,000 dollars.
So why? Well, I was told I was "unprofessional in meeting school obligations". I missed a few faculty meetings while getting feed and supplies for the cattle on school grounds. I was told that that was no reason to not renew a contract. It's like being given a speeding ticket for going 46 in a 45 mile an hour zone. But that was the excuse given. And you know what? I support the principal in that decision.
I no longer have to worry about the most destructive, callous, rude, obnoxious, foul-smelling brats coming into my class next year. Some kids almost killed my Holstein calves, feeding them rubber. Some kids smashed our decorative terra cotta pots, some kids smashed our wooden parking signs. Some kids would jump in the steer pens and drum on the steers head, inciting the steer to charge them. I couldn't let anything beautiful outside, as they would try to find some way to destroy it. And they played me like a well-tuned violin.
I was a piss-poor teacher. Sure, I got the highest marks when it came to subject area knowledge, but I had no control over these guys. Sure, I was stressed with maintaining animals, the grounds, and essentially two cirriculum levels (7-8th, and 9-12th grades), but I let that stress get to me. People were demanding more and more of my time, time which was needed to work on my First-Year Teacher portfolio. Long story short, these people got pissed, thinking I was "snubbing" them, and my portfolio barely got finished, but never got turned in... So, at this point, even if the principal wanted to renew, she can't.
I let stress get to me very easily. So much so that I often create situations that are ultimately destructive. Heck, two years ago, I let stress get to me, and it cost me two very dear friends. They're doing quite well up in Michigan now, and I couldn't be happier to hear that. If I saw them, I'd apologize to them. I'd rather do it in person, instead of through some cold medium where I could't look them in the eyes.
But, all is not lost, and I'm not letting it get me down. In fact, I feel stronger, because the principal swore to give me a glowing reference for the future, and she did. I completed the Peace Corps application and she gave her reference. As did another teacher, and a great friend. Things are looking quite positive in that direction.
I'll know in a week or two how things turn out.
I also moved down to a place in a town called Starke, a backwater village that's a railroad junction. I live in the maid's quarters of a mansion that was built in the 1930s. It's just me, and four wolf spiders. Used to be six, until I introduce two of them two some very... heavy literature... over and over... I didn't know they were harmless at the time. So now I just leave them be. They hunt cockroaches. I guess that's a job for them to do in leiu of being smashed by Tolstoy or charged rent. I just need to teach them to pick up after their molting, not leaving their hollowed exoskeletons hanging on the curtains.
Well, I now have the summer off, and it's paid for! Woohoo!