meteoroids
Meteoroids are tiny pieces of dust and rock that originate from comets and asteroids. The smallest meteoroids produce meteors; larger pieces reaching the earth are meteorites....Mrs. Hewlett Hodges of Sylacauge, Alabama, was the first recorded person to be injured from a meteorite when one fell on her home on November 30, 1954, and badly bruised her.
Hmmmm. an interesting way to be remembered.
JOB. I figured that it wouldnt be responsible to just up and quit the job. I spoke with C today about it since it's my turn to have the 'teacher-manager' sort of meeting. She didn't seem to be particularly pleased with my current management of my classes. Apparently, even if my students arent following, even if there is only one student, I am obliged to stand at the front of the classroom and lecture from the white board and even if they/he/she don't/doesn't get it I have to keep rushing forward so that 'I cover the ground I am supposed to because that is my job'. I understand where she's coming from, and it works really well on paper. But the problem is, on a case-by-case basis you can't just stick to some bunch of general structural rules. Or maybe we just disagree, or have different motives. According to her, my responsibility is to get students ahead in the course, to TEACH IT quickly, and if a few students are doing different things in school I am to teach something none of them have done, and set them homework on that, and if they don't do their homework it is my job to write it down on the homework slip and write this on their semesterly reports that they take home to show their parents. And then I have to assign them all overall grades, even the kids in my one-students classes, and I can't give them leeway for effort or inherent ability. I also can't give them grades that are too good, because if they get As from me and then Cs in school the parents will be angry.
I suppose running a business you have to be careful about holding on to customers, and since none of that is my concern perhaps I care too little about that side of things, but frankly, giving grades to kids barely a year younger than me and reprimanding them for not doing homework? Feels like some silly patronizing system. Something I'd do playing pretend school. When I work, I want to make sure that even if my students don't learn as much in terms of breadth of content, what they do learn, they learn well. They understand. They can explain and remember and not just say they've done. I believe that is my obligation. And isn't that the purpose of a weekend, small study group- closer attention to students' individual needs? I thought we were trying to counter the negatives of the large classroom environment, not creating a new, additional, possibly even more pointless one.
So if this conflict continues, I'm probably going to go ahead with resigning in June after all. Cutting my salary in half will be a bit of a bummer, but the time I'll get out of it (and the escape from this icky parent-pleasing) will be good. Economically speaking, benefit exceeds cost so that's that. The only problem is, I really like my students. They're very sweet- I told Ch about how we'd have to move a lot faster because I wasn't allowed to go at a comfortable pace even if she was my only student, and she said 'I don't want you to get into any trouble, so if we have to go much faster, it's ok' even though she agreed with me that she was happy with how we'd been progressing, and the thing is I think she's really improved since we started. So if anything, i feel terrible about ditching them. But even C said it today (even though I think it was about something else)- I'm probably too nice. :/
Hmmmm. an interesting way to be remembered.
JOB. I figured that it wouldnt be responsible to just up and quit the job. I spoke with C today about it since it's my turn to have the 'teacher-manager' sort of meeting. She didn't seem to be particularly pleased with my current management of my classes. Apparently, even if my students arent following, even if there is only one student, I am obliged to stand at the front of the classroom and lecture from the white board and even if they/he/she don't/doesn't get it I have to keep rushing forward so that 'I cover the ground I am supposed to because that is my job'. I understand where she's coming from, and it works really well on paper. But the problem is, on a case-by-case basis you can't just stick to some bunch of general structural rules. Or maybe we just disagree, or have different motives. According to her, my responsibility is to get students ahead in the course, to TEACH IT quickly, and if a few students are doing different things in school I am to teach something none of them have done, and set them homework on that, and if they don't do their homework it is my job to write it down on the homework slip and write this on their semesterly reports that they take home to show their parents. And then I have to assign them all overall grades, even the kids in my one-students classes, and I can't give them leeway for effort or inherent ability. I also can't give them grades that are too good, because if they get As from me and then Cs in school the parents will be angry.
I suppose running a business you have to be careful about holding on to customers, and since none of that is my concern perhaps I care too little about that side of things, but frankly, giving grades to kids barely a year younger than me and reprimanding them for not doing homework? Feels like some silly patronizing system. Something I'd do playing pretend school. When I work, I want to make sure that even if my students don't learn as much in terms of breadth of content, what they do learn, they learn well. They understand. They can explain and remember and not just say they've done. I believe that is my obligation. And isn't that the purpose of a weekend, small study group- closer attention to students' individual needs? I thought we were trying to counter the negatives of the large classroom environment, not creating a new, additional, possibly even more pointless one.
So if this conflict continues, I'm probably going to go ahead with resigning in June after all. Cutting my salary in half will be a bit of a bummer, but the time I'll get out of it (and the escape from this icky parent-pleasing) will be good. Economically speaking, benefit exceeds cost so that's that. The only problem is, I really like my students. They're very sweet- I told Ch about how we'd have to move a lot faster because I wasn't allowed to go at a comfortable pace even if she was my only student, and she said 'I don't want you to get into any trouble, so if we have to go much faster, it's ok' even though she agreed with me that she was happy with how we'd been progressing, and the thing is I think she's really improved since we started. So if anything, i feel terrible about ditching them. But even C said it today (even though I think it was about something else)- I'm probably too nice. :/