Yo!
I did want to make some sort of grand post at the end of the schoolyear. I actually got through the entire thing, though not without using up all my allotted sick days and then some (no, really; my attendance was pretty bad). I never expected I'd end up sticking it out, but there you have it. And of course, everyone with my designation (Emergency Certification) was laid off at the end of the year anyway, so that made things awfully easy.
Philadelphia public schools? Are ridiculous.
The chief purpose of the administration seemed to be two fold: haranguing teachers about the rules, and feeding us paperwork that doesn't fulfill any particular purpose. I had a "new-teacher coach", who would periodically visit my classes, yell at my students to be quiet, then meet with me later to explain that I really need to be firmer on them because they are all disrespectful. I was in trouble with my supervisor from October through June, though she eased off on the randomly-visiting-my-room-and-chiding-me-about-something-in-the-middle-of-class after winter break. The principal and my supervisor twice met with me with no prior notice or union representation, which is actually expressly against our contract.
The students... what can I say? I had one smash out my window, and I had one hug me on the last day of school and tell me he loved me. I had a student who stopped misbehaving for perhaps the first time all year and did all his work for the day in two minutes. I had students enter my classroom on a skateboard, write swears on my walls, draw pictures of me and give them to me to hang up, and even try to set me up on a blind date with another teacher. I had a student who took an entire semester to master multiplication and one who squinted at the board for a minute and then somehow understood exponential notation.
If you're wondering, here's how I feel now, after all of it:
1. Our schools are abysmally run. Really, really, really poorly run.
2. The behavior problems some of the students have are beyond what a normal classroom can handle. I was too soft on them, I know, but even seasoned teachers would encounter students they simply could not deal with. It doesn't help that there is no such thing as sending students to the principal's office, or asking them to leave the classroom for any reason short of physical endangerment.
3. About 75% of my students are decent, capable, lovely young teenagers, and don't think they're not. The majority of every class is well-behaved students.
4. I went in on an emergency certification, with some experience as a TA but none as an authority figure. I would not recommend this to anyone, ever.
5. I've discovered that I want to be a foster-mother. This plan is now a part of my life. I think that says something about the love my students evoked in me -- and yes, every single one.
Anyway, I thought I should say something since I'm about to recommence posting fics. If you have any questions, ask away!
Philadelphia public schools? Are ridiculous.
The chief purpose of the administration seemed to be two fold: haranguing teachers about the rules, and feeding us paperwork that doesn't fulfill any particular purpose. I had a "new-teacher coach", who would periodically visit my classes, yell at my students to be quiet, then meet with me later to explain that I really need to be firmer on them because they are all disrespectful. I was in trouble with my supervisor from October through June, though she eased off on the randomly-visiting-my-room-and-chiding-me-about-something-in-the-middle-of-class after winter break. The principal and my supervisor twice met with me with no prior notice or union representation, which is actually expressly against our contract.
The students... what can I say? I had one smash out my window, and I had one hug me on the last day of school and tell me he loved me. I had a student who stopped misbehaving for perhaps the first time all year and did all his work for the day in two minutes. I had students enter my classroom on a skateboard, write swears on my walls, draw pictures of me and give them to me to hang up, and even try to set me up on a blind date with another teacher. I had a student who took an entire semester to master multiplication and one who squinted at the board for a minute and then somehow understood exponential notation.
If you're wondering, here's how I feel now, after all of it:
1. Our schools are abysmally run. Really, really, really poorly run.
2. The behavior problems some of the students have are beyond what a normal classroom can handle. I was too soft on them, I know, but even seasoned teachers would encounter students they simply could not deal with. It doesn't help that there is no such thing as sending students to the principal's office, or asking them to leave the classroom for any reason short of physical endangerment.
3. About 75% of my students are decent, capable, lovely young teenagers, and don't think they're not. The majority of every class is well-behaved students.
4. I went in on an emergency certification, with some experience as a TA but none as an authority figure. I would not recommend this to anyone, ever.
5. I've discovered that I want to be a foster-mother. This plan is now a part of my life. I think that says something about the love my students evoked in me -- and yes, every single one.
Anyway, I thought I should say something since I'm about to recommence posting fics. If you have any questions, ask away!