ATTO - All That Time Off you teachers have

[ulysses]

So what was your day like?

I was up at four thirty, finishing off a few odds and ends that didn't get finished over the weekend (even though I worked half of Sunday). Got to school at 6:30 and wrote three "additional year plans", just in case a few of the kids on my caseload don't pass the standardized tests that start this week and get threatened with repeating the fifth grade. (Insert sound of head banging against wall here...) Kids are let in at 7:15, and I spent the next half an hour rounding up the ones who want to loiter in the stairwells and talking with a few individuals to remind them that their behavior contracts are still in effect. At 7:50, announcements came on and, as usual, I slipped next door to my other co-teacher's classroom during the Moment of Silent Reflection to get ready to teach math to her class.

8:00, estimating the area of circles. This co-teacher has a hard time letting go of any control in her room, but she dislikes math and so usually lets me have free rein. The "smart board" with which the room is equipped has a nifty feature that displays a quadrille graph at the touch of a button, but the projector is situated so that it points *up* at the board, stretching each square on the graph into a vertical rectangle. This presents a dilemma: do I draw the figures so that they remain true to the number of units in the diameter, thus resulting in ovals instead of circles, or do I abandon any tie to the square units concept (which is the point of the lesson, after all) and actually draw circles? Opt for the ovals and try to convince the kids that they're meant to represent circles. This sort of works. I think.

After twenty minutes, we break into small groups. Some of mine get it, some don't. The strategy we're required to teach for this is to divide the circle into fourths, figure the square units in one fourth (wholes and almost-wholes count as one, half units count as half, etc) then multiply by four. The ones who are lost are the ones who generally are. I have one sweet child who, for the life of her, can't be prodded into an understanding that, to generalize the results of the fourth, she should multiply by four. When told this, multiplying 6.5 by 4 is a labor of some minutes. Yes, I've worked with her on her times tables this year. God help her on the math test this Friday.

In the middle of my trying to explain these concepts to her, we're interrupted by the transition to PE. I won't see her again for math until tomorrow, by which point she'll have forgotten anything that did penetrate today. I spend my planning time working on IEPs and more additional year plans.

At 9:40, I go with my other co-teacher to pick up her class from the health trailer. A ten minute transition to the bathroom later, everyone is seated in the classroom, finishing the same lesson I taught in the other room. This gives me time to realize that my principal has sent me an urgent email, requesting field trip permission forms for the students whose names I sent her on Friday.

Here's the background for this part of the story: the fifth grade takes an end-of-year field trip every year, and this year we're going to the Georgia Aquarium, CNN and the Varsity (an iconic drive-in downtown). Great field trip, but the cost to student families is a fairly incredible $66 per child. I work in a Title I school - a child who gets his meals for free isn't likely to have $66 stashed under the mattress for just such an occasion. Worse, the grade team leader seems to have made no provisions for children who can't pay, so I, armed with the knowledge that it's quite illegal to leave children out of a field trip simply because they can't pay to go, went to the administration last week to advocate for the kids in our classes who are on the verge of being left out. Now it's on me to get the permissions.

But the forms aren't ready, so I get to call parents and gently discuss their financial situations with them in order to determine whether or not their displacement from the field trip list is due solely to a lack of ability to pay. Oh, happy day! Meanwhile, there are these kids to teach, and it's only just after 10 am.

English and CRCT prep time are largely a blur, except for one student - we'll call him Mike. I adore Mike. He's easily the most capable of my students with special needs and has a great sense of humor, but he's amazingly temperamental. Mike has no "fair" days - he's either great or on the floor, and today he's on the floor, literally. We haven't been back from the bathroom twenty minutes before he's rushing up to me, claiming to be on the verge of pissing himself. I tell him no, my co-teacher tells him no, so Mike gets fetal behind my desk for a while. When this doesn't produce results, he moves to the front of the class and, still on the floor, gets into a verbal mud-slinging match with another student. After 20 minutes of this business, and although we've prided ourselves on our low number of office referrals this year, I march Mike up to chill for a while with the AP. During this particular transition, he never once mentions a need to relieve himself.

11:00 am, back in the classroom. My making an example of Mike has subdued the class somewhat, and we're able to get through the rest of CRCT prep and social studies without much incident. Lunch is 12:18. At 12:25, having seen the first of our kids through the lunch line, I call my wife to say "hi" and eat my lunch.

12:48. On the way back from lunch, a young man in the class spits, blatantly, in the face of a young lady in the class. Young Lady then proceeds to shriek at me, demanding to know what I'm going to do about this offense, disrupting several classes on the hall. This lasts for about a minute until I can haul the two of them (minus their entourages) into the office and inform both of them that the world doesn't revolve around them. Back down to the classroom, access the parent contact folder, talk to the grandmother of one and leave messages for the parents of the other. Make mental note that neither of these children have special needs and of the time I'm spending on them.

1:30. It's Monday, and therefore time to go to the media center. I've done a lot this year in terms of helping our kids find good books to read, but today is a wash - they want to look at mummies on the net, so we go with that. I show them what I know of the frozen Inca sacrifices that have been found, and they are largely interested. Back to the classroom at 2 for announcements.

2:15. Dismissal begins. Today is the fifth grade's contribution to Staff Health Awareness, and I forgot to load up the three bags of apples I bought over the weekend when I left this morning at 6, so I've gotten someone to cover for me at bus duty and zip up to Publix for some apples. Arrive back at the school at 2:35, deliver the apples and then head next door (I get to make up the "training" for CRCT testing I missed tomorrow at 2:30) in order to track down a mother of the kids who need permission for the field trip and who doesn't have a steady phone number.

She's not there, but the boyfriend assures me that he'll give her my cell number. At 3:15, I head to class downtown.

4:30, the first class starts. The second lets out, mercifully, at 8:45. On the way home, the mom immediately previous calls back and gives the permissions I need. Good deal.

9:45, home. Wife and child are in bed, watching TV. Spend a few precious minutes kissing and talking to both before coming back downstairs - against my son't protests - to do a little work that I need to do before tomorrow. The cat and other issues take some time, and now, having vented to you, it's 12:30. I get to do this all again tomorrow.

Boy, it's nice to have a spring break. Yessir, those teachers sure have it easy.

[mbperrin]

1. Thank you!

I teach 213 seniors economics each semester, and my classes start at 7:40 and end at 3:00, which means I'm in the building from 7 til 4 minimum. Right now, TAKS makeups begin next week along with initial TAKS for sophs and juniors, so no classes meet, just TAKS five days next week. Meanwhile, I am writing individual recovery plans for the 46 who are failing as of the second 6 weeks, and that takes me through until just about now when I browse a bit before hitting the sack.

So great to have the whole summer of 10 weeks off, well except for mandatory 10 days of inservice in the fall and five optional days in the summer which will come off Christmas if you don't do them in the summer, as well as summer school.

Other than that, nothing to do!

Yay!

[mike_c]

2. yup-- I do it at a university...

...so at least I get to work with semi-adults, most of the time. But if anyone wants to trade places and try my cushy job, I only ask that they trade on a weekend or before 6:00 AM, both times I'd really like to trade places with someone else.

To be fair, I LOVE the academic calendar, but during the four month long semesters I can generally count the number of days I take off-- I mean really take off-- on one hand. Time management is a minor side component of burn-out management.

Hang in there. Summer's coming.

[ulysses]

3. "summer's coming"

yes, and this summer will see my happy ass driving downtown four days a week for classes.

I'm deeply tired of this program.

[mike_c]

5. now THAT is a bummer....

Ouch. I usually write during summer, or work with grad or REU students, but I CANNOT abide a regular academic schedule during summer. That's one of the only things keeping me sane.

My deepest sympathies. Losing your summer in this job is a terrible thing.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. One of the smartest things I did

was stop teaching summer school. Between that and taking classes, I didn't get a summer off for 25 years.

I feel your pain. I would no more take any more classes at this point than I would pull out my fingernails with pliers.

[But....]

4. God Bless You...

I hope you find enough satisfaction inbetween the heart burn to keep going, but more important what can we do to help?:grouphug:

[wtmusic]

6. What classes are you taking? nt

[ulysses]

18. ok, I can come back to this thread now.

I was a little bitter when I finished it last Monday. :)

I'm working on my masters in behavior and learning disorders. Planning to graduate in December.

[Skittles]

7. I see you got a lunch

that is very, VERY rare for me - I eat at my desk, stuck on conference calls

[ulysses]

19. mine average around ten minutes of actually sitting down.

Often as not, you can find me during lunch by the sandwich crumbs I drop while I'm walking around dealing with paperwork. :hi:

[barbtries]

8. yeah and how about that cushy pay?

after all who is more important than a teacher?
last week i visited Sacramento for a day and 1/2 and hoped to have a nice visit with my good friend who is a teacher in roseville. she got one day off school for our visit because the evening we were going to spend together was canceled due to her moonlighting job grading tests from 5:30 to 10:30 at night. she's putting in 17 hour days temporarily because she's broke.

also, she came late to the capitol where i was participating in the mother's march on the capitol to commemorate national victims of violent crime week because even though she had arranged for the substitute she needed to get something done at work. the day before after teaching all day she had had to attend a meeting to advocate for one of her students who is threatened with expulsion. she is a special needs teacher. no child left behind has left many of her children behind.

more reasons to get out the democratic vote and elect democrats come november.

thank you for being a caring teacher. seriously, who is more important in our children's lives?

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Excellent!!

We have been testing for two weeks and I won't finish before some time next week. All of my classes are cancelled, as testing takes so much time, since I have been told to test my kids one at a time (gotta get those scores up!). We are also due for a state review in May.

So today when I went to lunch, the principal caught me and told me the state team will be in next Tuesday for our review. (I found out later she lied; this is her way to make sure we are ready when they do come the following week.) Then she asked me if I had something up in my room and I had no idea what she was talking about. She is BIG on putting crap up on the walls. We have to have three current (no older than 2 weeks) work samples up from every kid - and she freakin checks our rooms to make sure!

So I looked at her and said "I have spent the last two weeks testing. I will spend all of this week testing. And I have absolutely no idea WHAT you are talking about." And I walked away. She mumbled something about wanting everyone to be ready for the state team. Like if I am not ready NOW I can pull it off AND finish testing by next week?!?!

I swear to God. I love my kids and I used to love my job. It's the idiot administrators who drive me up the wall. No amount of money is worth being treated like shit on a daily basis.

[sorrybushisfromtexas]

11. I feel your pain

I am a 29 year teacher who started before air conditioning, copy machines(we used spirit duplicators, which had alcohol based toner-everything came out purple. You could get high just smelling it), before duty free lunches (Yeah right-that means I no longer go to the cafeteria with them), ao everyday is much like yours, and I still plug along. Last night I came home, with a terrible cold or flu last night, graded 3 classes of portfolios and since my goal was four, I didn't make it. I graded from 6:00 till 9:00 took some cold medicine and went into a drug induced coma. I am awake at 3:00 a.m. since the drugs wore off and still can't face that 4th class of portfolios. That means I have 3 classes to do tonight. I still need to grade last weeks labs, and since they finish another today that is 12 periods of labs I have to finish. Next week we state test for 4 days so at least my tutoring group for reading will finish up on Friday. That means I will have a little time at school for grading. I will have had meetings 5 afternoons after school this week. Saturday, I am having Saturday school the weekend before the state's mandated test so I will be there Saturday until 1:00/

The kids aren't the problem, a few of the parents, state and federal mandates are. I teach four classes of Pre-AP science and 2 classes of Academic Science. Since we are part of the most successful magnet school my Pre-AP classes are usually my cities best and brightest. Not this year, they will not do squat when they are supposed to. My academic classes are the bigger problem, no motivation at all, and they just want to stall until the year is out. The parents of the Academic kids do not want to hear from me. They are tired too. The parents of my Pre-AP want to know why their little Einsteins aren't making the grade that they made in Elementary.

Finally to the positives. I truly love my job since my team of teachers are like best friends, and believe it or not I actually teach a boatload of science each year to the kids. They love science, my class is very challenging, but is also hands on, and they come out with a passion for the sciences.

The little WOW moments, the light bulb finally got turned on moments, the thank you Mr. Price moments are humbling.

The fact that I have been entrusted to work with our countries most precious raw materials is daunting.
I do my best each day, some days better than others, and really enjoy the summers. Even though I spend much of it in school, trying to hone my skills. I will start out next year with the determination to change the world and will end up the year with the satisfaction of touching 130 lives in a positive way.

aging hippie

:hippie: :hippie: :hippie: :hippie:

I am sorrybushcamefromtexas

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. 28 years here

We've been doing this long enough to remember when kids got to learn instead of take tests.

Oh you are one up on me. I still work in a non air-conditioned building. :)

[LWolf]

17. Don't you just love the admins checking your walls

to make sure you are complying with more standardized expectations?

:sarcasm:

[Longhorn]

13. I've got a great lesson for discovering the formula for the volume

of a sphere as derived from the volume of a right cylinder. It involves Play Doh, transparency film, tape, scissors, and a ruler. I didn't make it up but it's pretty cool! Let me know if you're interested.

I've always said that public school teaching is 12 months of work crammed into nine months. Add professional development, graduate school, summer school, and/or summer jobs and it's amazing that anyone survives it for five years, let alone makes a career out of it!

I didn't survive it. After about five years teaching middle or high school, I got a masters degree and now teach at community college. I teach year round but I'm an adjunct so I teach three or four classes per semester and it's all teaching or prep -- no discipline, no parent meetings, limited IEPs, very few meetings (none that are mandatory,) and of course, fairly low pay with no paid benefits. I make about $30,000 a year but I love it so the lower pay is worth it to me.

Thank goodness for folks like you! :yourock:

[erinlough]

14. My day after 35 years.....

Got up at 6:20 and was at school by 7:20 (I live close)
Took care of three parent reminder calls for IEP's, 2 staff complaints (union President)
Met with the Principal about 5 times about student serious behavior problem and possible expulsion
Taught all day because my co-teacher is out having surgery plus covered my Special Education Students needs
At break graded for an hour
Ran to a meeting in another community until 9:00 pm (great meeting by the way, Union business) this is my choice
Came home and did three IEP forms until 11:30 this was also my choice
GOOD NIGHT!

One thing I have to say is that I give 100% when I'm at school, but I try to stay out of going back at breaks or on weekends. I also come to the building 10 minutes before I'm being paid for and stay until the time the contract says I can leave. I will do some things at home but I try to work smart and not do it too much. I NEVER go back to the school during the summer or on spring break. I Love my job as a result.

I know this is not possible for everyone. I always tell my new teachers to try to strike a good balance between home and school and give themselves time at home as a first priority, if they want a long career that is. If I don't have enough time at school I figure as long as I'm working all the time I'm being paid for that is all the administration has a right to expect. Things can wait a day and I tell them so.

[CRK7376]

15. Bless you Elementary and Middle School

teachers. I spent 13 years teaching high school AP history and coaching Cross Country and Track. Unfortunately, we as a family of 5 could not survive on a teachers salary, so I ended up back in the military where my salary doubled overnight. I will be retiring from Uncle Sam in a few years and plan to come right back into a high school classroom. I truly miss the classroom, but not the lousy pay. Summer, Christmas and Spring breaks are the best. I too started in the days before AC was in all the classroom buildings, and that was absolutely miserable in Rural NC. My third year of teaching was the first year our county allowed kids(male and female) to wear shorts to school....

[LWolf]

16. Monday?

I got up at 4 AM, having spent the weekend knocked flat by a nasty flu epidemic going on at work. I drank some hot tea, dosed up with tylenol, fed the horses, and got to work by 7am.

I spent the first hour writing sub plans for the first half of the day. The next 4 hours doing curriculum mapping in a different room. The curriculum mapping that was supposed to be turned into the district at the end of July. Since I'm the only language arts teacher for 3 grade levels at my school, and I had to do it by myself instead of collaboratively, I got an extension.

I had an 8th grader with me the whole time; he's assigned to me for the morning block (my 6th grade block) for legal reasons right now.

Lunch was at 11:30; I chewed a pnut butter sandwich while I finished typing.

12:00: back in the classroom until 3:30 without a break.

By then I was feverish, so at 3:30 I left the piles of papers to be corrected and went home to bed. Had fever and chills all night, got up and repeated the day again on Tuesday.

On Tuesday I didn't leave until 4:30; it took that long to write subplans for today. I packed up all the papers that were now burying my workspace and brought them home. I spent today drinking tea and correcting papers. At 5:34, half of the papers are done. Dinner's in the oven, and I'm taking a break. I'm tired of reading middle-schooler's papers, so I took a break to pop in at DU. A couple of rounds in GDP, where I can be guaranteed a good scrap, since I don't like any of the candidates and don't mind saying so, and my head is clear. I'm ready to grade another 35 essays. I expect that I will still be working on them tomorrow morning, when my alarm again goes off at 4:00.

The good news is that I'm fever free. Can't breathe too well, but the fever's gone. It will be easier to manage 90 teenagers tomorrow without the effects of fever, lol.

I get to work every morning at 7, and usually leave about 5:30. I'm working the whole time, including through my 30 minute lunch, which I usually spend with students who need extra help or extra time.

I still bring work home. Some of it I do between 4:30 and 6:00 in the morning, some on the weekends.