(no subject)
Not a good week so far.....
Rich has very thoughtfully detailed our trip and I agree - what he said. It was very nice. We saw great parts of the country and, best of all, had time with people that we hold dear. That our children see them as a part of their lives makes it more than worthwhile.
Four days of inservices later and I'm ready for a day to work in my classroom and get ready for the year. This year along with Eng. IV, Eng. IV AP, and Eng IV GT I've got Creative Writing classes, which I'm looking forward to. It's another program that has floundered on our campus because the people who have been handed it in the past didn't know what to do with it. The last person used it almost like therapy - not a pretty sight.
The inservices are mind-numbing.... don't tell me that you're not going to read me the handbook and then read it to me. I teach English - take for granted I can read. The coach that runs the suspension room - read it to him. Agonizing over standardized scores, hearing about the work on us that piles on more and more each year that has nothing to do with the actual work we do with our students, I've downshifted. The worst is hearing the director for Language Arts for the district announce that this is her last year. She is more than my boss, more than my friend. Rich was in her classroom when he was called out to hear his mother died. She came to Catharine's baby shower and agonized with me over difficult personal and professional choices. She encouraged me into graduate school when I was worried about time and money. She spear-headed changes in this district that made what we do in our rooms meaningful for the students. She believed that the test scores would stay good if we did our jobs and didn't just teach the test. She shielded us from dictatorial ideas that some put forth to try to stamp out an assembly line of lessons for us to blindly follow (which happens in some districts). We've all tried to talk her out of it. I don't know if I want to stay in the district if she is not there.
Changes in the AP exam before mine seem to be dictating a change in how the classes under me are taught but will impact my class a lot as well. Literature is no longer the emphasis. Becky (someone I've taught with for 5 years) and I listened to 2 days of people saying that literature was not important - it's all about writing arguments and reading nonfiction with a couple of poems thrown in to help out the teachers at the senior level (gee, thanks). It was like a blow to the chest. I do teach writing and grammar and even have some nonfiction in there, but an English class without literature? Showing the movie of a play and never letting them see the play at all? Only short pieces to match standardized tests? It's a sad day. I believe the students need to write well, but many of the good writers are also great readers and that is being ignored. Immersion in a literate world is what they need and research has shown that time and again - breathing in text and breathing out words in their own voice.
I got to catch up with Nancy after the trip on Saturday and that was good. I'm going to see her tomorrow, too as the weekend is kind of crazy and I had some thoughts I wanted to run by her regarding some stuff I was working on. Widsith is meeting Friday and she likes to know what we're up to, which is great. I am always happy for her support there. I am so lucky to have someone like her in my life. With her PhD in Philosophy of Religion, Nancy has been an invaluable friend, resource, and mentor. Rich says that she just validates what I am thinking or wanting to do, but that isn't true. Case in point: Theodism. She was very upset about us entering to Theodism, esp. me, and wanted me to find a way out ASAP. Nothing that happened early on dissuaded her that she was wrong about that assessment. It hasn't been a point of tension with her, but she just didn't think it would be a place where anyone valued what I did. That changed some now that she has met Gerd. She enjoyed meeting him over dinner immensely, which was a relief. She also enjoyed meeting Terry and could see why Rich and I are so happy where we are. I hope that she can meet Stacey sometime. Her advice about the constant problems outside of the group are to just not care anymore. I haven't been able to just not care but I think after the last 2 days that it is worth a try. She keeps asking why I care... after Monday and today I've run out of answers. That hurts almost as much as the rest, as I'm not playing at the work I do. It's as serious as my teaching and as serious as my academics, but I just don't know what to say anymore.
Rich has very thoughtfully detailed our trip and I agree - what he said. It was very nice. We saw great parts of the country and, best of all, had time with people that we hold dear. That our children see them as a part of their lives makes it more than worthwhile.
Four days of inservices later and I'm ready for a day to work in my classroom and get ready for the year. This year along with Eng. IV, Eng. IV AP, and Eng IV GT I've got Creative Writing classes, which I'm looking forward to. It's another program that has floundered on our campus because the people who have been handed it in the past didn't know what to do with it. The last person used it almost like therapy - not a pretty sight.
The inservices are mind-numbing.... don't tell me that you're not going to read me the handbook and then read it to me. I teach English - take for granted I can read. The coach that runs the suspension room - read it to him. Agonizing over standardized scores, hearing about the work on us that piles on more and more each year that has nothing to do with the actual work we do with our students, I've downshifted. The worst is hearing the director for Language Arts for the district announce that this is her last year. She is more than my boss, more than my friend. Rich was in her classroom when he was called out to hear his mother died. She came to Catharine's baby shower and agonized with me over difficult personal and professional choices. She encouraged me into graduate school when I was worried about time and money. She spear-headed changes in this district that made what we do in our rooms meaningful for the students. She believed that the test scores would stay good if we did our jobs and didn't just teach the test. She shielded us from dictatorial ideas that some put forth to try to stamp out an assembly line of lessons for us to blindly follow (which happens in some districts). We've all tried to talk her out of it. I don't know if I want to stay in the district if she is not there.
Changes in the AP exam before mine seem to be dictating a change in how the classes under me are taught but will impact my class a lot as well. Literature is no longer the emphasis. Becky (someone I've taught with for 5 years) and I listened to 2 days of people saying that literature was not important - it's all about writing arguments and reading nonfiction with a couple of poems thrown in to help out the teachers at the senior level (gee, thanks). It was like a blow to the chest. I do teach writing and grammar and even have some nonfiction in there, but an English class without literature? Showing the movie of a play and never letting them see the play at all? Only short pieces to match standardized tests? It's a sad day. I believe the students need to write well, but many of the good writers are also great readers and that is being ignored. Immersion in a literate world is what they need and research has shown that time and again - breathing in text and breathing out words in their own voice.
I got to catch up with Nancy after the trip on Saturday and that was good. I'm going to see her tomorrow, too as the weekend is kind of crazy and I had some thoughts I wanted to run by her regarding some stuff I was working on. Widsith is meeting Friday and she likes to know what we're up to, which is great. I am always happy for her support there. I am so lucky to have someone like her in my life. With her PhD in Philosophy of Religion, Nancy has been an invaluable friend, resource, and mentor. Rich says that she just validates what I am thinking or wanting to do, but that isn't true. Case in point: Theodism. She was very upset about us entering to Theodism, esp. me, and wanted me to find a way out ASAP. Nothing that happened early on dissuaded her that she was wrong about that assessment. It hasn't been a point of tension with her, but she just didn't think it would be a place where anyone valued what I did. That changed some now that she has met Gerd. She enjoyed meeting him over dinner immensely, which was a relief. She also enjoyed meeting Terry and could see why Rich and I are so happy where we are. I hope that she can meet Stacey sometime. Her advice about the constant problems outside of the group are to just not care anymore. I haven't been able to just not care but I think after the last 2 days that it is worth a try. She keeps asking why I care... after Monday and today I've run out of answers. That hurts almost as much as the rest, as I'm not playing at the work I do. It's as serious as my teaching and as serious as my academics, but I just don't know what to say anymore.