tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48784512238298131032024-03-13T14:17:36.222-07:00Fat Cat TeacherMakin' it rain!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-38251239016605381302011-10-12T14:07:00.001-07:002011-10-12T14:07:27.758-07:00Wednesday, 10/12/2011Worked: 4:00 - 4:45, 6:00 -Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-90948322365778937232011-10-12T14:06:00.000-07:002011-10-12T14:06:53.654-07:00Tuesday, 10/11/2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:00, 6:00 - 9:00 (11.5 hours)<br />
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I've been wrasslin' and wrasslin' with this school year, and feel like the school year has just performed a <a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/12/05/2185736/was-clovis-wrestlers-legal-move.html">butt drag</a> 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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-34269721424315289552011-10-12T14:04:00.000-07:002011-10-12T14:04:04.573-07:00Monday, 10/10/2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:00, 7:00 - 8:00 (9.5 hours)<br />
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Not a single hour worked over the weekend, and now I feel both a) guilty and b) incredibly behind.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-19398110758216346972011-10-12T14:02:00.000-07:002011-10-12T14:02:57.472-07:00Friday, 10/7/2011Worked: 6:00 - 2:00 (8 hours)<br />
Spent: Another $100 on various supplies that were neglected in August and September, when I had to nurse a severely malnourished bank account.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-84801109737799936562011-10-12T13:55:00.001-07:002011-10-12T13:55:29.941-07:00Thursday, 10/6/2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:00, 4:00 - 7:00 (11.5 hours)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-82779311676104081652011-10-12T13:54:00.001-07:002011-10-12T13:54:39.643-07:00Wednesday, 10/5/2011Worked: 6:00 - 5:30, 8:30 - 10 (13 hours)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-47917956298866559472011-10-04T16:33:00.000-07:002011-10-05T05:33:52.229-07:00Tuesday, 10/4/2011Worked: 6:00 - 2:00, 4:00 - 7:00 (11 hours)<br />
Spent: $20 on color printer ink for maps of Napoleon's empire<br />
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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. <br />
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Le sigh.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-42147387460321018432011-10-03T14:20:00.000-07:002011-10-03T14:20:32.184-07:00Monday, 10/3/2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:30<br />
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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.<br />
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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!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-89976655869019977322011-10-03T14:13:00.000-07:002011-10-03T14:17:42.870-07:00Friday, 9/30/2011Worked: 6:00 - 3:00 (9 hours)<br />
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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!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-76895936577474660492011-09-29T14:01:00.000-07:002011-10-03T14:16:14.770-07:00Thursday, 9/29/2011Worked: 5:45 -2:00, 4:00 - 8:00 (13 hours, 15 minutes)<br />
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I just happened upon two flies gettin' it on on top of a stack of papers to grade. The nerve!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-13522177598023251312011-09-28T14:26:00.004-07:002011-09-29T06:52:36.937-07:00Wednesday, 9/28/2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:30, 6:00 - 8:00 (11 hours)<br />
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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?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-87990720846410647382011-09-28T14:26:00.000-07:002011-09-28T14:26:06.779-07:00Tuesday, 9/27/2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:30 (9 hours)<br />
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Oh, how I yearn for an actual lunch break! Maybe one day.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-7292914292454553632011-09-27T07:14:00.000-07:002011-09-27T07:14:47.400-07:00Monday, 9/26/2011Worked: 5:45 - 1:45 (8 hours)<br />
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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!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-86087216295748430692011-09-27T07:12:00.000-07:002011-09-27T07:12:15.469-07:00Sunday, 9/25/2011Whoa nelly, what a break that was! <br />
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Worked: 1:00 - 5:00, 7:00 - 8:00 (5 hours)<br />
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New school-year resolution: keep up with this freaking blog, if only to support self-martyrdom.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-35346251443047052272011-03-29T17:38:00.000-07:002011-03-31T13:48:09.102-07:00Spirit Week AftermathSuffice 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:<br />
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Friday, 3/25: 5:15 - 3:00<br />
Saturday, 3/26: Nothing! Took a day off.<br />
Sunday, 3/27: 11:00 - 3:30, 8:00 - 9:00<br />
Monday, 3/28: 5:45 - 2:30<br />
Tuesday, 3/29: 5:45 - 2:15, 4:00 -8:00<br />
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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).<br />
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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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-2106463240393259372011-03-29T17:23:00.000-07:002011-03-29T17:23:17.037-07:00Thursday, 3/24/2011Worked: 6:00 - 2:00, 7:00 - 9:30<br />
Spent: Nothing...that I remember (I may or may not be updating this post almost a week after the fact).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-18442860732127488822011-03-29T17:22:00.000-07:002011-03-29T17:22:27.285-07:00Wednesday, 3/23/2011Worked: 5:30 - 3:15<br />
Spent: $10 on various fundraisers, including but not limited to Girl Scouts cookiesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-83896016986135610032011-03-24T06:55:00.001-07:002011-03-24T06:55:19.940-07:00Tuesday, 3/22/2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:00, 4:00 - 7:00Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-69598757762664713062011-03-24T06:54:00.001-07:002011-03-24T06:54:36.116-07:00Monday, 3/21/2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:30, 7:30 - 9:30Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-91109773246503119852011-03-21T05:54:00.000-07:002011-03-21T05:54:22.982-07:00Sunday, 3/20/2011Worked: 11:00 - 12:00, 7:30 - 9:00<br />
Spent: Nothing!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-39135210583888424002011-03-21T05:49:00.000-07:002011-03-21T05:49:39.206-07:00Saturday, 3/19/2011Worked: 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.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-14801559503337289422011-03-19T13:46:00.001-07:002011-03-19T13:46:48.183-07:00Friday, March 18 2011Worked: 5:30 - 12:30 (end of 3rd quarter = minimum day), 3:30 - 5:00<br />
Spent: Nothing!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-66078640817204328472011-03-18T06:51:00.000-07:002011-03-18T06:51:17.616-07:00Thursday, March 17 2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:00, 6:30 - 7:30<br />
Spent: $10 on chocolates for my 3 TAsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-32314770164934690482011-03-18T06:49:00.000-07:002011-03-18T06:49:55.549-07:00Wednesday, March 16 2011Worked: 5:30 - 2:30, 6:30 - 7:30<br />
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<br />
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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.<br />
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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:<br />
<ol><li>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. <i>You weren't at school. </i> 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? </li>
<li>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:</li>
<ul><li>the 3 honors kids who will be absent for the two weeks leading up to STAR testing?</li>
<li>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?</li>
<li>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?</li>
<li>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?</li>
</ul></ol>The fact is that most students and parents do not care because <i>they</i> are not held accountable. Instead, society heaps the responsibility and the accountability completely upon the teachers. We forgo vacations, sleeping in on the weekends, seeing our friends and families, and simple freaking relaxation because we are held accountable for these test scores, regardless of how flawed these evaluations actually are. Why not hold students and parents accountable, too?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4878451223829813103.post-75845430073598873962011-03-15T14:33:00.000-07:002011-03-16T06:28:20.506-07:00Tuesday, March 15 2011 - Pink Slip Day!Worked: 5:30 - 3:00, 4:15 - 6:00<br />
Spent: Nothing!<br />
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It just so happens that <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/11/3466574/pinkslips.html">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</a>" (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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0