The school bells are indeed ringing around here - we start on Wednesday, but the teachers had to report to work today.
Unlike legions of kids who are gearing up for the first day - and in spite of protestations to the contrary - are actually pretty excited to get back to the routine of school - I am not excited!
Each year it gets worse - and I was wondering why. In my case, things keep changing - and not always for the better. I try not to be negative - and by next week, I will be in the swing of things and won't be reflecting on such things as much - but one of the first things I discovered about teaching was that it was all about change. You get used to a group of students, a place, a routine. But the next year there are new students to get to know, old students who are older and a little different, and sometimes a new classroom is assigned or the textbooks change or the bell schedule is different or your prep period is reassigned.
All of the above have happened to me on a regular basis. And I have pretty much acknowledged that it's going to be different each year. But something else is changing too. Something more fundamental. Harry says it's the Wal Mart Effect - and I think he's right.
The principal needed my much-loved classroom for the discipline room. I could understand that - it's right next to the counselor's office in the main hall and it's a good place. But she put the other SPED teacher and me into the two smallest classrooms in the school!
We've always had 2 student-free periods - one for testing and IEP's and one for prep. But now we have only one. For testing and IEP's we have one sub day a month and maybe I can make that work. But it will require a new approach, which means more work.
Then the principal wanted the other SPED teacher and me to share students so that the kids would get more variety in their day. So that means bigger classes, since I don't just have kids on my caseload. And in a smaller classroom, bigger classes is huge!!(Bigger in SPED means 15 instead of 8)
There was supposed to be another teacher hired, but for some reason they didn't. We are keenly disappointed, because more teachers mean fewer students in each class which means more opportunity to help more kids! It's really just basic math!
So you can see that the corporation (the district) is squeezing everything to get a better product for less. (I won't even go into the testing mania we are in here in America - no child left behind indeed - this madness seems to be leaving more, not less, kids behind - don't get me started!)
Wal Mart - who knew it could invade the classroom?!
5 comments:
Wal - Mart - don't get me started.
At least we don't have one near us.
Ah, Wal-Mart. Good analogy; and I'd say your problem and the NCLB conundrum in general are even more urgent than the U.S. economy's dubious future.
That has to be one of the most frustrating things about teaching--facing obstacles like not enough resources or too many kids in a class, when you don't have control over those decisions.
If anyone can handle it, it's you!
No child left behind bugs me! I hate it when the focus is on the tests. Sarah's kidergarten teacher couldn't get past her worry about testing to see how well Sarah was doing. I'm grateful that the rest of her teachers have not been like that!
Wal Mart. Not my favorite.
bugI like Wal-Mart. Ours seems to be better than others I have been. SDC in are school means 25 or more students per class. In the beginning of the semester we had 30 or more in the class. They had to create a new class, because we could not handle them all. So now the class is smaller. Now if they would just be quite and want to learn we would have it made. Most are taking the class for the 2nd or 3rd time. So they are tried of taking the class. Of course their are those who want to learn. They sit in the front and ask questions.
I was lucky with McKay in Kindergarton and got a GREAT teacher. She was really on the ball and cared about the students. She was the one that came to me and suggested McKay be go to first grade half the time because she had to tell her she couldn't answer the questions. She just didn't let it slide. Not many teachers are like that all the time.
Post a Comment