Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tuesday, 10/11/2011
Worked: 5:30 - 2:00, 6:00 - 9:00 (11.5 hours)
I've been wrasslin' and wrasslin' with this school year, and feel like the school year has just performed a butt drag on me. The grading, the kids, the prep, the department chair paperwork, the consulting work, the Metalhead Guild insanity that my Thursday lunches have become...yep, they've all coalesced in one giant butt drag.
I've been wrasslin' and wrasslin' with this school year, and feel like the school year has just performed a butt drag on me. The grading, the kids, the prep, the department chair paperwork, the consulting work, the Metalhead Guild insanity that my Thursday lunches have become...yep, they've all coalesced in one giant butt drag.
Monday, 10/10/2011
Worked: 5:30 - 2:00, 7:00 - 8:00 (9.5 hours)
Not a single hour worked over the weekend, and now I feel both a) guilty and b) incredibly behind.
Not a single hour worked over the weekend, and now I feel both a) guilty and b) incredibly behind.
Friday, 10/7/2011
Worked: 6:00 - 2:00 (8 hours)
Spent: Another $100 on various supplies that were neglected in August and September, when I had to nurse a severely malnourished bank account.
Spent: Another $100 on various supplies that were neglected in August and September, when I had to nurse a severely malnourished bank account.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Tuesday, 10/4/2011
Worked: 6:00 - 2:00, 4:00 - 7:00 (11 hours)
Spent: $20 on color printer ink for maps of Napoleon's empire
The week started off yesterday with one of those days that make me feel lucky and gratified and thankful and oh so pleased with myself and my teaching skillz and my students and my colleagues. Today began with a late start, a 1st period oozing with ennui and exhaustion, and a rest-of-the-day chock full of students asking questions such as "Wait, you have a class website?!" No, the website that is on your syllabus and that I mention EVERY DAMN DAY doesn't actually exist.
Le sigh.
Spent: $20 on color printer ink for maps of Napoleon's empire
The week started off yesterday with one of those days that make me feel lucky and gratified and thankful and oh so pleased with myself and my teaching skillz and my students and my colleagues. Today began with a late start, a 1st period oozing with ennui and exhaustion, and a rest-of-the-day chock full of students asking questions such as "Wait, you have a class website?!" No, the website that is on your syllabus and that I mention EVERY DAMN DAY doesn't actually exist.
Le sigh.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Monday, 10/3/2011
Worked: 5:30 - 2:30
Spent: $240 on a plethora of printer ink, vinyl letter stickers so that the kids can actually read the homework lists that I put on the white board, an upgrade to my Dropbox account to use for department chair stuff, and a bunch of other crap that no one cares about until their job doesn't buy it for them.
Today I gave the kids one of those "it's time to be an adult and grow up" lectures when I found out that barely a single one of them actually studied for their test. It included liberal use of my new favorite daily affirmation, "Nelson is kickin' ass and takin' names." I also used it as a chance to brag very obnoxiously about my ass-kicking time at the Urban Cow Half Marathon yesterday: 1 hour, 48 minutes, and some seconds but I don't remember exactly how many!
Spent: $240 on a plethora of printer ink, vinyl letter stickers so that the kids can actually read the homework lists that I put on the white board, an upgrade to my Dropbox account to use for department chair stuff, and a bunch of other crap that no one cares about until their job doesn't buy it for them.
Today I gave the kids one of those "it's time to be an adult and grow up" lectures when I found out that barely a single one of them actually studied for their test. It included liberal use of my new favorite daily affirmation, "Nelson is kickin' ass and takin' names." I also used it as a chance to brag very obnoxiously about my ass-kicking time at the Urban Cow Half Marathon yesterday: 1 hour, 48 minutes, and some seconds but I don't remember exactly how many!
Friday, 9/30/2011
Worked: 6:00 - 3:00 (9 hours)
But, those hours of the incredibly long, stressful and exhausting varietal. I literally crashed on the couch at 8:30, much to The Boyfriend's chagrin. He's a lucky fellow, that one!
But, those hours of the incredibly long, stressful and exhausting varietal. I literally crashed on the couch at 8:30, much to The Boyfriend's chagrin. He's a lucky fellow, that one!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, 9/29/2011
Worked: 5:45 -2:00, 4:00 - 8:00 (13 hours, 15 minutes)
I just happened upon two flies gettin' it on on top of a stack of papers to grade. The nerve!
I just happened upon two flies gettin' it on on top of a stack of papers to grade. The nerve!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, 9/28/2011
Worked: 5:30 - 2:30, 6:00 - 8:00 (11 hours)
I now have to buy fly-trapping strips for my classroom. The school is plagued by flies and moths this year, and since we're not allowed to use pesticides to kill said pests and the school will not provide any assistance, we get to pretend like we're that creepy relative's cabin up in the mountains that was chock full of crushed velvet paintings of old ships, glass jars of oddly-colored liquids, and over-burdened fly strips. Or am I the only one who had that kind of relative?
I now have to buy fly-trapping strips for my classroom. The school is plagued by flies and moths this year, and since we're not allowed to use pesticides to kill said pests and the school will not provide any assistance, we get to pretend like we're that creepy relative's cabin up in the mountains that was chock full of crushed velvet paintings of old ships, glass jars of oddly-colored liquids, and over-burdened fly strips. Or am I the only one who had that kind of relative?
Tuesday, 9/27/2011
Worked: 5:30 - 2:30 (9 hours)
Oh, how I yearn for an actual lunch break! Maybe one day.
Oh, how I yearn for an actual lunch break! Maybe one day.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, 9/26/2011
Worked: 5:45 - 1:45 (8 hours)
Am suffering from a complete lack of motivation lately. I bring bags of work home with me, only to discover floors that really must be mopped immediately, clothes that must be sorted stat. It's a bit too early in the year for this!
Am suffering from a complete lack of motivation lately. I bring bags of work home with me, only to discover floors that really must be mopped immediately, clothes that must be sorted stat. It's a bit too early in the year for this!
Sunday, 9/25/2011
Whoa nelly, what a break that was!
Worked: 1:00 - 5:00, 7:00 - 8:00 (5 hours)
New school-year resolution: keep up with this freaking blog, if only to support self-martyrdom.
Worked: 1:00 - 5:00, 7:00 - 8:00 (5 hours)
New school-year resolution: keep up with this freaking blog, if only to support self-martyrdom.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Spirit Week Aftermath
Suffice it to say that last week (spirit week - like Homecoming but during the spring and minus the football) left a mark, one from which I am still recovering. Work for the past few days looked like this:
Friday, 3/25: 5:15 - 3:00
Saturday, 3/26: Nothing! Took a day off.
Sunday, 3/27: 11:00 - 3:30, 8:00 - 9:00
Monday, 3/28: 5:45 - 2:30
Tuesday, 3/29: 5:45 - 2:15, 4:00 -8:00
Spent: A total of $48 on cookie fundraisers, car wash fundraisers, and a copy of Mao's Little Red Book (the honors kids specifically requested this last one).
I am also anticipating an orgy or spending over the next couple of weeks. My work computer has become virtually useless and actually detracts from any learning that occurs in the classroom, and I've talked myself into attempting to build my own computer to use at work (and at home during the summer). At this point, I have a build priced at around $400-ish. My estimate is that it will be 75% used for school, and 25% used for home (read: World of Warcraft...I may or may not be splurging on an awesome graphics card to make up for the fact that my MBP card is not upgrade-able). Additionally, last week I officially ran out of copies and am coming to terms with the possibility (read: likelihood) that someone at school somehow got my copy code and raped it. I had over 9,000 copies in early February and was down to 0 by one week ago, and there's no way that I made all those copies. I have no self-control when it comes to many things, but copies are not on that list. Wine and cookie fundraisers, sure. But not copies.
Friday, 3/25: 5:15 - 3:00
Saturday, 3/26: Nothing! Took a day off.
Sunday, 3/27: 11:00 - 3:30, 8:00 - 9:00
Monday, 3/28: 5:45 - 2:30
Tuesday, 3/29: 5:45 - 2:15, 4:00 -8:00
Spent: A total of $48 on cookie fundraisers, car wash fundraisers, and a copy of Mao's Little Red Book (the honors kids specifically requested this last one).
I am also anticipating an orgy or spending over the next couple of weeks. My work computer has become virtually useless and actually detracts from any learning that occurs in the classroom, and I've talked myself into attempting to build my own computer to use at work (and at home during the summer). At this point, I have a build priced at around $400-ish. My estimate is that it will be 75% used for school, and 25% used for home (read: World of Warcraft...I may or may not be splurging on an awesome graphics card to make up for the fact that my MBP card is not upgrade-able). Additionally, last week I officially ran out of copies and am coming to terms with the possibility (read: likelihood) that someone at school somehow got my copy code and raped it. I had over 9,000 copies in early February and was down to 0 by one week ago, and there's no way that I made all those copies. I have no self-control when it comes to many things, but copies are not on that list. Wine and cookie fundraisers, sure. But not copies.
Thursday, 3/24/2011
Worked: 6:00 - 2:00, 7:00 - 9:30
Spent: Nothing...that I remember (I may or may not be updating this post almost a week after the fact).
Spent: Nothing...that I remember (I may or may not be updating this post almost a week after the fact).
Wednesday, 3/23/2011
Worked: 5:30 - 3:15
Spent: $10 on various fundraisers, including but not limited to Girl Scouts cookies
Spent: $10 on various fundraisers, including but not limited to Girl Scouts cookies
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, 3/19/2011
Worked: 2 hours chunked out from 12:00 to 8:00 (grading, grade entering, catching up with emails from students who are panicking about their grades, etc.)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18 2011
Worked: 5:30 - 12:30 (end of 3rd quarter = minimum day), 3:30 - 5:00
Spent: Nothing!
Spent: Nothing!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, March 16 2011
Worked: 5:30 - 2:30, 6:30 - 7:30
Spent: $15 on binders to start setting up for AP World History next year, $2 to donate to a fund to buy a thank you gift for the school's awesome librarian/AP coordinator/WASC chair
Today I learned that three of my best honors students are not going to be at school for the next nine to ten school days. For a variety of reasons (one is going on a cruise, the other is visiting family in the Philippines, and the other is going to a family reunion in Alabama), their parents have decided the best option is to excuse the students from school for two school weeks instead of scheduling these trips during other school breaks. When students and parents generally have their shit together, they can apply to go on these extended vacations with approval from the school and the state. It's called "Short Term Independent Study" (STIS). The students' other teachers and I are supposed to send the students on these trips with homework and classwork that would be assigned while they are away. When the students return, they'll turn this work in, I'll grade it and I'll submit it to the school, which will then submit paperwork to the state that will allow the school to get paid as if the student actually were in class. Basically, the school gets financial credit and the student gets academic credit as if the student was actually present at school.
All in all, the STIS program has good intentions and can have good results. It makes the most of a bad situation: if parents are going to voluntarily take their kids out of school for an extended period of time (which they do), it still provides the school and the students an opportunity to make up for it. But, there are still two fundamental problems with this:
Spent: $15 on binders to start setting up for AP World History next year, $2 to donate to a fund to buy a thank you gift for the school's awesome librarian/AP coordinator/WASC chair
Today I learned that three of my best honors students are not going to be at school for the next nine to ten school days. For a variety of reasons (one is going on a cruise, the other is visiting family in the Philippines, and the other is going to a family reunion in Alabama), their parents have decided the best option is to excuse the students from school for two school weeks instead of scheduling these trips during other school breaks. When students and parents generally have their shit together, they can apply to go on these extended vacations with approval from the school and the state. It's called "Short Term Independent Study" (STIS). The students' other teachers and I are supposed to send the students on these trips with homework and classwork that would be assigned while they are away. When the students return, they'll turn this work in, I'll grade it and I'll submit it to the school, which will then submit paperwork to the state that will allow the school to get paid as if the student actually were in class. Basically, the school gets financial credit and the student gets academic credit as if the student was actually present at school.
All in all, the STIS program has good intentions and can have good results. It makes the most of a bad situation: if parents are going to voluntarily take their kids out of school for an extended period of time (which they do), it still provides the school and the students an opportunity to make up for it. But, there are still two fundamental problems with this:
- Most high school classes are not correspondence courses. No matter how smart the student, how prepared the teacher and how much work is assigned (and completed), the student still will simply not learn the material as well as he or she would learn it from being present in the classroom, where we explain and discuss and analyze and question and do stuff with the material. Unless the parents do this, the kid almost inevitably comes back to school, turns in the work, and then proceeds to do poorly on any future tests, quizzes and other assessments because they never fully learned the freaking material. Then it becomes my problem: the kid (and parents) demand an explanation from me as to why his or her grade dropped. You weren't at school. Can they get extra credit? Can they re-take the test? Can I just give them an A, because they did all the work? Do I really have to answer these questions?
- As a teacher, I am informally evaluated by how my students perform on their STAR tests (both subjects that I teach are tested), and students who are absent from class on a regular basis or for extended periods of time will lower MY test scores. While this hurts me only indirectly right now (in most CA districts, hiring, firing and lay-offs and pay increases are based only on seniority and additional education or credentials, not on test scores), in the event that I move to a school or a state that formally evaluates teachers based on student test scores it becomes a huge problem. I would like someone to explain to me how I am responsible for the scores of these kids:
- the 3 honors kids who will be absent for the two weeks leading up to STAR testing?
- the kid with straight Fs and a 25% in my class, whose parents refuse to answer their phone when I call to find out what's gong on?
- the kid who transferred to my U.S. history class two weeks ago from a school where she was not enrolled in U.S. history, and has since been absent from 3 of my classes?
- the kid who is suspended for 5 days for bringing a huge bag of pot to campus and leaving it visible in the car his parents bought for him?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tuesday, March 15 2011 - Pink Slip Day!
Worked: 5:30 - 3:00, 4:15 - 6:00
Spent: Nothing!
It just so happens that today is that magical day of the year upon which thousands of teachers across California (as well as the nation) are blessed with so-called "pink slips" (which, much to my dismay, are not even pink). Technically called Reduction in Force (RIF) notices, these are the notices that many new teachers get year after year telling them that their skills may or may not be necessary during the upcoming school year. Typically, most school districts will distribute these en masse because it's very difficult to lay off a teacher (although not impossible) who did not receive a preliminary RIF in March. Due to the ridiculous "Last In First Out" (LIFO) regulations that govern hiring and laying-off of teachers at most districts, these pink slips are overwhelmingly distributed to new-ish teachers (or seasoned teachers who transfer to different districts) regardless of their pay and their performance. Teachers of "core" subjects (English, math) might be spared the pink slip slightly more often than teachers of subjects that the Powers That Be have deemed less significant to our youths (science, history, health, music, drama, PE, foreign languages, etc.), but that's not always the case.
Luckily, my district functions at a level only slightly below average, meaning that when compared to other districts across the nation, we're doing alright. Because our class sizes are already maxed out, the district did not have to issue any RIFs this year. Most of my teacher friends at other school districts have received preliminary pink slips literally every year since we started teaching almost five years ago. Every single March they are warned that their job may or may not be there for them next year. They panic, they look for other jobs (which are not there), but more often than not their pink slip is rescinded in mid-May and they have a year of relative security before they have to worry about getting laid off again.
When confronted with budget problems in 2009, my district confronted the problem somewhat differently. While other local districts issued loads of preliminary pink slips in March 2009 (the end of my second year of teaching), our district issued only a handful. The four of us who were hired for the social science departments on the same day with the same credential were spared, along with some teachers from the English and Science departments who were hired on the same day with a credential from the same teaching program. Fast forward to the end of June, when the district decided to do a second round of pink slips (they cited a section of Ed Code that allows a second round of RIFs in times of unprecedented economic stress). The social science department had to get rid of two full time positions. Since four of us were the lowest on the todem pole, they put our names in a hat. They drew two names. One of those was mine. They didn't rescind those pink slips. That was a bad year - of the 28,000 CA teachers that received preliminary pink slips, 16,000 actually lost their jobs. I lucked out when a teacher who had survived the cuts decided to become an administrator at a different district in October 2009, so I was able to take his position, but it came with a pay cut, benefits cut, increased class size, and a myriad of other drawbacks.
Yes, of course I am incredibly grateful to have a job. Several of my friends do not. Several really fantastic teachers that I know personally do not. It's just that when I read about record Wall Street and bank profits coupled with record bonuses handed out to most of these executives (And for what? Royally screwing up the foundations of our economic system?) and then when I hear various pundits standing up for them, for their bonuses, for their lowered tax rates, I get a little pissed off.
Spent: Nothing!
It just so happens that today is that magical day of the year upon which thousands of teachers across California (as well as the nation) are blessed with so-called "pink slips" (which, much to my dismay, are not even pink). Technically called Reduction in Force (RIF) notices, these are the notices that many new teachers get year after year telling them that their skills may or may not be necessary during the upcoming school year. Typically, most school districts will distribute these en masse because it's very difficult to lay off a teacher (although not impossible) who did not receive a preliminary RIF in March. Due to the ridiculous "Last In First Out" (LIFO) regulations that govern hiring and laying-off of teachers at most districts, these pink slips are overwhelmingly distributed to new-ish teachers (or seasoned teachers who transfer to different districts) regardless of their pay and their performance. Teachers of "core" subjects (English, math) might be spared the pink slip slightly more often than teachers of subjects that the Powers That Be have deemed less significant to our youths (science, history, health, music, drama, PE, foreign languages, etc.), but that's not always the case.
Luckily, my district functions at a level only slightly below average, meaning that when compared to other districts across the nation, we're doing alright. Because our class sizes are already maxed out, the district did not have to issue any RIFs this year. Most of my teacher friends at other school districts have received preliminary pink slips literally every year since we started teaching almost five years ago. Every single March they are warned that their job may or may not be there for them next year. They panic, they look for other jobs (which are not there), but more often than not their pink slip is rescinded in mid-May and they have a year of relative security before they have to worry about getting laid off again.
When confronted with budget problems in 2009, my district confronted the problem somewhat differently. While other local districts issued loads of preliminary pink slips in March 2009 (the end of my second year of teaching), our district issued only a handful. The four of us who were hired for the social science departments on the same day with the same credential were spared, along with some teachers from the English and Science departments who were hired on the same day with a credential from the same teaching program. Fast forward to the end of June, when the district decided to do a second round of pink slips (they cited a section of Ed Code that allows a second round of RIFs in times of unprecedented economic stress). The social science department had to get rid of two full time positions. Since four of us were the lowest on the todem pole, they put our names in a hat. They drew two names. One of those was mine. They didn't rescind those pink slips. That was a bad year - of the 28,000 CA teachers that received preliminary pink slips, 16,000 actually lost their jobs. I lucked out when a teacher who had survived the cuts decided to become an administrator at a different district in October 2009, so I was able to take his position, but it came with a pay cut, benefits cut, increased class size, and a myriad of other drawbacks.
Yes, of course I am incredibly grateful to have a job. Several of my friends do not. Several really fantastic teachers that I know personally do not. It's just that when I read about record Wall Street and bank profits coupled with record bonuses handed out to most of these executives (And for what? Royally screwing up the foundations of our economic system?) and then when I hear various pundits standing up for them, for their bonuses, for their lowered tax rates, I get a little pissed off.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Monday, March 14 2011
Worked: 5:45 - 1:45, plus a total of one hour chunked out from 6:30 to 9:00
Spent: $87 for one student to register for the AP European History exam.
I'm tempted to start counting the number of minutes that I actually sit down during the day (excluding the commute). With 3 periods at 42 humans in my classroom and only 41 desks (including my teacher desk and my student teacher's desk), the morning is shot. Fourth period sometimes spares me a moment's respite, as they are a small class (35 students, 5 of whom are absent on a regular basis) and a low-maintenance class and therefore a magnificent class. Lunch is spent running around helping those 5 kids who are chronically absent from 4th period as well as the 10 kids from 5th period who are often mentally absent from life, while 5th period is spent using proximity to manage student off-task behavior. This translates to me walking back and forth and up and down and side to side into corners of the room that I never knew existed while simultaneously explaining and monitoring and practicing my teacher stare and the list goes on and on.
But hey, at least we teachers get lavish-with-a-capitol-L pay and benefits!
Spent: $87 for one student to register for the AP European History exam.
I'm tempted to start counting the number of minutes that I actually sit down during the day (excluding the commute). With 3 periods at 42 humans in my classroom and only 41 desks (including my teacher desk and my student teacher's desk), the morning is shot. Fourth period sometimes spares me a moment's respite, as they are a small class (35 students, 5 of whom are absent on a regular basis) and a low-maintenance class and therefore a magnificent class. Lunch is spent running around helping those 5 kids who are chronically absent from 4th period as well as the 10 kids from 5th period who are often mentally absent from life, while 5th period is spent using proximity to manage student off-task behavior. This translates to me walking back and forth and up and down and side to side into corners of the room that I never knew existed while simultaneously explaining and monitoring and practicing my teacher stare and the list goes on and on.
But hey, at least we teachers get lavish-with-a-capitol-L pay and benefits!
Friday, March 11 2011
Worked: 5:30 - 3:00
Spent: Nada!
The highlight of my day was a 5:14 am voicemail I received from my overworked student teacher. It went a something like this: "I don't know if you've heard or not, but there was a huge earthquake in Japan...I heard they're evacuating the Bay Area and that many areas are under a tsunami warning...I was just, um, wondering if maybe school was canceled? [insert tinge of hope mingled delusion here]." I couldn't help but to giggle as I informed her that no, school was not cancelled, but that I find myself hoping for a school-closing natural disaster that kills no humans and/or animals on a semi-regular basis. When you spend the majority of your waking hours with high schoolers, I suppose something's bound to rub off.
Spent: Nada!
The highlight of my day was a 5:14 am voicemail I received from my overworked student teacher. It went a something like this: "I don't know if you've heard or not, but there was a huge earthquake in Japan...I heard they're evacuating the Bay Area and that many areas are under a tsunami warning...I was just, um, wondering if maybe school was canceled? [insert tinge of hope mingled delusion here]." I couldn't help but to giggle as I informed her that no, school was not cancelled, but that I find myself hoping for a school-closing natural disaster that kills no humans and/or animals on a semi-regular basis. When you spend the majority of your waking hours with high schoolers, I suppose something's bound to rub off.
Thursday, March 10 2011
Worked: 5:30 - 2:30, 7:30 - 9:30
Spent: $50 on a new projector/presentation remote, complete with green laser! $20 on printer ink, to print off a class set of Warsaw Pact/NATO maps.
Busy, busy week, hence not updating until several days later.
Spent: $50 on a new projector/presentation remote, complete with green laser! $20 on printer ink, to print off a class set of Warsaw Pact/NATO maps.
Busy, busy week, hence not updating until several days later.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wednesday, March 9 2011
All in all, not a bad day. Probably not the greatest way to follow up from my rage-inspired 1st post, but alas.
Worked: 5:45 - 2:00, 3:15 - 3:45
Spent: $14 on fancy laminating sheets for a primary source activity on Nato & the Warsaw Pact
The Good: Whipped out a truly inspiring analogy: Maury Povich and Jerry Springer are to international relations pre-United Nations as Dr. Phil is to international relations post-United Nations. Not sure how accurate it is - my guess is that Dr. Phil actually has some success with people that he counsels, probably due to the pure RPG-esque power of his sage advice. Also, got to observe my fabulous former master teacher teaching a lesson we co-created on Korematsu v. United States, thanks to a grant from the History Project and my poor student teacher's willingness to watch my 3rd period class.
The Bad: Nothing, really.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Worst Financial Decision I Ever Made
(This post - this entire blog, actually - is dedicated to the lovely and effervescent Megyn Kelly at Fox News and everyone else who is under the gross misconception that we teachers are overpaid and underworked.)
I am 30. I live with my boyfriend and our cat in a small (yet very cute) apartment. I drive a 1993 Honda with a cracked windshield, windows that no longer roll down yet have to be held up with duct tape, a missing antenna and a missing hubcap. I make my own lunch or I don't eat lunch at all during the work week, and I don't go to Starbucks anymore. I have exactly $123 in savings, the retirement account of a 4-year-old, and I've never been able to visit my boyfriend's family in Nebraska. On what do I blame this pretty pitiful tale?
The $6,000 in credit card debt that I racked up in my early 20s on stuff for which I have nothing to show? Pretty stupid, but manageable. I haven't used a credit card in a couple of years, and I'll have that debt paid off in just under five years.
Spacing out while driving home one day, causing me (and three other unfortunate drivers) to pass a buss with its flashing red lights right in front of the happiest motorcycle cop in Vacaville? Nine hundred dollars later (not counting the monthly increase in my car insurance), I still shudder and mentally seek the fetal position whenever I see a bus, but it's all paid off.
My decision to take out almost $50,000 in student loans to become a highly qualified teacher with an MA degree? That's the one.
In 2006, having worked at various mundane-yet-comfortable office jobs throughout college and for a couple of years after, I decided to take a chance and get my credential to become a high school history teacher. I was 25, living relatively comfortably with my then-boyfriend in an endearingly small, cute apartment. We were by no means wealthy, or even middle class. But, lacking a mortgage, car payments, kids, and extreme amounts of debt, we were pretty comfortable. We ate out at nice restaurants a couple of times a month, went on vacations once in awhile. There was Hawaii, and Disneyworld. I flew to visit my best girlfriend in Toronto a handful of times. There was no glitz or glamour, but financially it was enough.
If there's anyone to blame for me becoming a teacher in the first place, it's NPR. They aired a fantastic interview with a teacher with Teach for America and I was hooked. I don't remember why, exactly, but I just knew that I could be a pretty effing good teacher, eventually. It sounds cheesy, but I knew it. That was September 2005. By July 2006 I had left my office job and was getting ready to start the one-year super intense social science credential/MA program. Add a few months of thesis-writing to that program and boom, you have your MA degree, an investment that would pay itself off soon enough due to the annual stipend that most districts grant teachers with MA degrees (win!). Being prohibited from working during the during the credential program, I paid for the whole shebang with student loans from the U.S. government. That was my big mistake, and I take full responsibility for it.
Even though I was paying in-state tuition at a public university, at the end of the 18-month long program myself with a principal debt load of close to $50,000. I was not that worried at first. Everyone from my parents to my friends to the others in the teaching cohort to our advisers to Suze Orman thought it was not a big deal, and I agreed. The debt was an investment. I wasn't crazy enough to think that I would ever get rich teaching (Megyn Kelly never got the message, but then again she thinks that $50,000/year is positively rich), but this was all right before the financial collapse. This was before the era of pink slips, lay offs, furloughs, and increased class sizes. This was when new teacher graduates still got jobs. I knew that so long as I stayed a teacher, I would most likely never be rich, but I thought I'd be able to live a comfortable middle-class life. I knew it would be at least a decade before I could afford to buy a house, but that was OK. Along with three of my close friends from the credential program, I got hired at a school with a good reputation (taking into account its location in a less-than-stellar county) and a decent starting salary). The trade-off was a very significant commute and relatively high monthly out-of-pocket insurance costs, but it was a good deal all in all.
Fast forward to March 2009. This was the first year of mass pink slips throughout most of California. Many of my friends received pink slips then (hell, most of them have received pink slips every year), but the four of us new social studies teachers celebrated when March 15 passed with no pink slips. We finished out the year (our second year of teaching), and celebrated that we had achieved the holy grail of public high school teaching - tenure! Finally we could live the comfortable high-roller life for which every other working professional lusts. We could work the mere 6.5 hours each day for which our contract pays us, enjoy our 3 months of "vacation" and bleed the state dry by happily over-dosing on our cushy health care benefits (how many pap smears can I try to get this month?! oh joy!). I frequently had sultry dreams in which I was the movie version of King Denethor, greedily consuming delicious roast chicken and grapes and wine in front of various private-sector peons.
But shortly after my first year teaching, I learned first-hand how ridiculous the "Last In First Out" lay-off policy that plagues many unionized teachers actually is. Our school laid off two social science teachers, and because four of us had the same hire date and credentials, they drew two names out of a hat. Mine was one of those names, and in June of 2010 I learned that I would not have a job to go back to in August. Luckily, I managed to find a teaching job elsewhere. But, through a very odd turn of events, I found myself back at the original high school in the middle of October 2010. One of the teachers left the school for a job as an administrator in September, so I took his position.
I came back to a school that had changed significantly. Class sizes, which had previously been "soft capped" at 30 and "hard capped" at 32 (meaning we got paid a certain amount each day that we had 31 or 32 students enrolled in a period, due to the extra work associated with those students), were now capped at 39. Any pay for extra students was gone. We took an additional 2% pay cut, which manifested themselves as three furlough days. Where there had been limited money for technology, new textbooks, or basic supplies, now there was little to none. Teachers routinely purchased their own paper, ink, markers, and anything else that might be needed. Technology was (and is) a mostly joke - my computer had a floppy disk drive, and I'm talking the 5-inch floppy disk drive (it was recently upgraded to one with a broken CD-Rom drive and USB ports that don't recognize flash drives). And while this situation is the shits, compared to other districts throughout California and the nation, ours still has it pretty good.
Now it is 2011, and while the fiscal situation of schools and teachers throughout the nation has worsened, I find myself battling waves of mental rage when I hear someone complain that teachers are greedy, lazy, overpaid babysitters. Due to the pay cuts and increased out-of-pocket healthcare costs, I barely bring home the same amount that I brought home as a first-year teacher. Because our district has not purchased new U.S. history textbooks since 1998, I spend literally hundreds of dollars every couple of months in paper and ink so that I can create and print out my own background information resources and primary sources. I buy my own scantrons. I bring papers to grade to Superbowl parties. The days when I work only 8 hours are few and far between, and I don't remember the last time that I didn't work at least a little bit during a weekend or a vacation.
This blog isn't meant to garner any pity (although mom, if you're reading, I could use a little cioppino and a bag of kitty litter), and I blame no one but myself for making the decision to become a teacher in the first place. If I could go back and do it again, I would wait a few years and save up the $35,000 that it cost to get the credential and say to hell with the MA. But I can't, and I still don't think it makes sense that in a nation like America we can't afford to treat and pay our school teachers like the professionals that we (usually) are. The only reasons I can rationalize for this are a) the "system" that runs our nation is fundamentally broken and we're all ultimately screwed, or b) enough people don't fully understand how hard teachers work, how much we actually accomplish, how highly most of us actually do perform, and how little we are paid. Hence, this silly little blog.
I am 30. I live with my boyfriend and our cat in a small (yet very cute) apartment. I drive a 1993 Honda with a cracked windshield, windows that no longer roll down yet have to be held up with duct tape, a missing antenna and a missing hubcap. I make my own lunch or I don't eat lunch at all during the work week, and I don't go to Starbucks anymore. I have exactly $123 in savings, the retirement account of a 4-year-old, and I've never been able to visit my boyfriend's family in Nebraska. On what do I blame this pretty pitiful tale?
The $6,000 in credit card debt that I racked up in my early 20s on stuff for which I have nothing to show? Pretty stupid, but manageable. I haven't used a credit card in a couple of years, and I'll have that debt paid off in just under five years.
Spacing out while driving home one day, causing me (and three other unfortunate drivers) to pass a buss with its flashing red lights right in front of the happiest motorcycle cop in Vacaville? Nine hundred dollars later (not counting the monthly increase in my car insurance), I still shudder and mentally seek the fetal position whenever I see a bus, but it's all paid off.
My decision to take out almost $50,000 in student loans to become a highly qualified teacher with an MA degree? That's the one.
In 2006, having worked at various mundane-yet-comfortable office jobs throughout college and for a couple of years after, I decided to take a chance and get my credential to become a high school history teacher. I was 25, living relatively comfortably with my then-boyfriend in an endearingly small, cute apartment. We were by no means wealthy, or even middle class. But, lacking a mortgage, car payments, kids, and extreme amounts of debt, we were pretty comfortable. We ate out at nice restaurants a couple of times a month, went on vacations once in awhile. There was Hawaii, and Disneyworld. I flew to visit my best girlfriend in Toronto a handful of times. There was no glitz or glamour, but financially it was enough.
If there's anyone to blame for me becoming a teacher in the first place, it's NPR. They aired a fantastic interview with a teacher with Teach for America and I was hooked. I don't remember why, exactly, but I just knew that I could be a pretty effing good teacher, eventually. It sounds cheesy, but I knew it. That was September 2005. By July 2006 I had left my office job and was getting ready to start the one-year super intense social science credential/MA program. Add a few months of thesis-writing to that program and boom, you have your MA degree, an investment that would pay itself off soon enough due to the annual stipend that most districts grant teachers with MA degrees (win!). Being prohibited from working during the during the credential program, I paid for the whole shebang with student loans from the U.S. government. That was my big mistake, and I take full responsibility for it.
Even though I was paying in-state tuition at a public university, at the end of the 18-month long program myself with a principal debt load of close to $50,000. I was not that worried at first. Everyone from my parents to my friends to the others in the teaching cohort to our advisers to Suze Orman thought it was not a big deal, and I agreed. The debt was an investment. I wasn't crazy enough to think that I would ever get rich teaching (Megyn Kelly never got the message, but then again she thinks that $50,000/year is positively rich), but this was all right before the financial collapse. This was before the era of pink slips, lay offs, furloughs, and increased class sizes. This was when new teacher graduates still got jobs. I knew that so long as I stayed a teacher, I would most likely never be rich, but I thought I'd be able to live a comfortable middle-class life. I knew it would be at least a decade before I could afford to buy a house, but that was OK. Along with three of my close friends from the credential program, I got hired at a school with a good reputation (taking into account its location in a less-than-stellar county) and a decent starting salary). The trade-off was a very significant commute and relatively high monthly out-of-pocket insurance costs, but it was a good deal all in all.
Fast forward to March 2009. This was the first year of mass pink slips throughout most of California. Many of my friends received pink slips then (hell, most of them have received pink slips every year), but the four of us new social studies teachers celebrated when March 15 passed with no pink slips. We finished out the year (our second year of teaching), and celebrated that we had achieved the holy grail of public high school teaching - tenure! Finally we could live the comfortable high-roller life for which every other working professional lusts. We could work the mere 6.5 hours each day for which our contract pays us, enjoy our 3 months of "vacation" and bleed the state dry by happily over-dosing on our cushy health care benefits (how many pap smears can I try to get this month?! oh joy!). I frequently had sultry dreams in which I was the movie version of King Denethor, greedily consuming delicious roast chicken and grapes and wine in front of various private-sector peons.
But shortly after my first year teaching, I learned first-hand how ridiculous the "Last In First Out" lay-off policy that plagues many unionized teachers actually is. Our school laid off two social science teachers, and because four of us had the same hire date and credentials, they drew two names out of a hat. Mine was one of those names, and in June of 2010 I learned that I would not have a job to go back to in August. Luckily, I managed to find a teaching job elsewhere. But, through a very odd turn of events, I found myself back at the original high school in the middle of October 2010. One of the teachers left the school for a job as an administrator in September, so I took his position.
I came back to a school that had changed significantly. Class sizes, which had previously been "soft capped" at 30 and "hard capped" at 32 (meaning we got paid a certain amount each day that we had 31 or 32 students enrolled in a period, due to the extra work associated with those students), were now capped at 39. Any pay for extra students was gone. We took an additional 2% pay cut, which manifested themselves as three furlough days. Where there had been limited money for technology, new textbooks, or basic supplies, now there was little to none. Teachers routinely purchased their own paper, ink, markers, and anything else that might be needed. Technology was (and is) a mostly joke - my computer had a floppy disk drive, and I'm talking the 5-inch floppy disk drive (it was recently upgraded to one with a broken CD-Rom drive and USB ports that don't recognize flash drives). And while this situation is the shits, compared to other districts throughout California and the nation, ours still has it pretty good.
Now it is 2011, and while the fiscal situation of schools and teachers throughout the nation has worsened, I find myself battling waves of mental rage when I hear someone complain that teachers are greedy, lazy, overpaid babysitters. Due to the pay cuts and increased out-of-pocket healthcare costs, I barely bring home the same amount that I brought home as a first-year teacher. Because our district has not purchased new U.S. history textbooks since 1998, I spend literally hundreds of dollars every couple of months in paper and ink so that I can create and print out my own background information resources and primary sources. I buy my own scantrons. I bring papers to grade to Superbowl parties. The days when I work only 8 hours are few and far between, and I don't remember the last time that I didn't work at least a little bit during a weekend or a vacation.
This blog isn't meant to garner any pity (although mom, if you're reading, I could use a little cioppino and a bag of kitty litter), and I blame no one but myself for making the decision to become a teacher in the first place. If I could go back and do it again, I would wait a few years and save up the $35,000 that it cost to get the credential and say to hell with the MA. But I can't, and I still don't think it makes sense that in a nation like America we can't afford to treat and pay our school teachers like the professionals that we (usually) are. The only reasons I can rationalize for this are a) the "system" that runs our nation is fundamentally broken and we're all ultimately screwed, or b) enough people don't fully understand how hard teachers work, how much we actually accomplish, how highly most of us actually do perform, and how little we are paid. Hence, this silly little blog.
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