I Hope You Are Settling In
By now everybody is back to work. Some have been at it for a long time already. I hope you are all settling in alright.
Many of you are probably still stinging, sore and swollen from the many days of indoctrination and team-building to which you have recently been subjected. It takes time to heal. Alternate heat and cold. Stay hydrated. At this point, you may or may not be glad you didn’t have the guts to light yourself on fire in the gym like you planned.
Last night I was rereading a couple of posts from around this time last year. One, in particular deals with Indoctrination Week and made me laugh. It is my predictions about what the week will be like before it actually starts. The predictions are pathetic and sad, but accurate. It is full of the anticipatory angst and panic of beginning a new school year. The comments are also very funny. It is called Oh, Crap.
As an aside, and to bring something slightly more to the table than an old post, I will share a song I heard this morning on the radio. It’s called Synchronicity II, recorded by The Police in 1983 on the Synchronicity album. It includes the line:
Every single meeting with his so-called superior
Is a humiliating kick in the crotch
So you see how that ties in…
Here is a live version. And here is a lesser known song called So Lonely, recorded in 1978. The early Police is often described as a cross between punk and reggae.
Special thanks to my aunt Kathy for introducing me to The Police as a youngster.
Little know fact: The Police is the only CD box set I own.
Mr. Teachbad
Getting ready to GTFO. Our latest professional development program has a blog that rants about us having coffee and picture of family members on their desks as signs of deviant behavior. Hello nursing school!
OMG Olli,
I thought my place was the only one. I was told family pictures spark personal conversations and divert attention from the lesson. LOL
The next breath is “Build relationships with the kids”.
You are ambitious with Nursing School. I tell my classes I will be a Greeter at Wal-Mart.
I met a lady once who was a Walmart Greeter in a random city I was traveling through. She was a teacher for about 8 years and said she’d never go back…she loved leaving WallyWorld with not a care in the world. I guess it helps if you have extra income sources though! haha
I would love to see the blog.
Meh, I don’t want to give them any more publicity.
So having settled in to Week 2 of 2011-12, I came here to see what horrific “community building” you were being subjected to this year and WTF?! While I was goofing off and having fun all summer, you were fired and outed?! What am I going to do after the next “Professional Learning Community” meeting?! Reading about how mind-numbing your meetings are always made me feel much better about my own. I’m devastated!
My partner keeps talking about how it’d be fun to live in NY or San Francisco for a year or two, but your blog has convinced me I’d have to be a total masochist to teach in the States. There’s nutty, annoying stuff where I am too and many of the wrong people become principals, but at least there’s still room for creativity, professional judgment and intelligence in teaching north of the border.
More seriously, I hope things are going well for you. Being fired sucks, but getting out of that place can’t be all bad.
Mr. Teachbad,
When are you going to start subbing? There’s a whole new world of crap going on out here for you to blog about!!
Oh, man…too soon.
Understood.
Two weeks in and our district goals resemble Lake Woe-be-gone: Our men will be strong, the women beautiful, and our students will all be above average. Have you thought about doing educational commentary on YouTube? I hear you can make a decent living (Just ask the Shaytards). And by the way, The Police box is the only box set we have in the house, too.
Mr. Teach Bad,
I am 3 weeks into the year. I felt pretty good until the mandatory door decorating contest on a country. Sounds fun…but…Many of us didn’t participate because we are 3 WEEKS IN- and so busy. Did I mention we have NOT received are supplies yet? Decorate with what?
We are already getting flack about word walls not being up yet and student work and then I hear this chastising announcement over the PA about the disappointment that we did not decorate our door. BUT, there’s hope…we are getting an extension until Monday. YAY! Get your ***#@!D@ door decorating on! The principal will be by to judge it.
Did I mention they have NOT given us any supplies… )-: Now I have to spend my own money to decorate some door if I want to be a team player.
Oh, the infamous door decoration competition. A couple of years in a row we were supposed to do it the 1st day of school! Not that we had anything else to do that day.
Here’s a doozy — my students didn’t want to decorate the door because THEY DIDN’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON LEARNING. Not bad for the unpopular teacher, eh?
Went by and visited my old teaching friends on Friday. Texas is now into week 5 as of this morning. I have never seen so many literally “whipped” people in all of my life. Those who can retire are already looking at a Christmas break retirement.( Two I spoke with had already started their retirement papers for semester.) The paperwork, the new curriculum, the new tests, are killing the soul of the people that remain in the trenches.
Folks, I do not know if you can retire or not, but if you are eligible, you should try it, you are not going to be rich, but you are going to be much happier.
Sean, I am retired (and subbing) in Texas and I can ditto your remark for my fellow whipped teachers.
Robbie and Sean-
Newly retired and wondering why the $%^&*( I waited so long. No longer need blood pressure meds. Am actually sleeping, rather than tossing and turning. My heart certainly goes out to all my friends who can’t walk away. It was sucking my soul everytime a new, improved initiative was announced. I was the roundhouse, and all these runaway trains (testing, admins who needed to be fired, RT3 nonsense, poorly implemented inclusion, PLC’s, RTI, happy horseshit groupie games, etc, etc ad naseum) were headed right at me. The pity is I used to love teaching–when I was actually allowed to teach. Life is just too short for the bs.
Gilda,
You said it all so well.