Seven months later and the baby boom is still is full force. I think it's just the age that I am that my friends and peers are starting families. I am quite content to sit by any watch however. With teaching full time during the year I get quite enough "kid time" to satisfy me. I won't promise it will stay that way forever, but for a few more years at least, until I've got this teaching thing down.
As for the 'teaching thing' - it was a crazy rest of the year, much like the first part in in that respect. I didn't really expect it to be different though. But my first (almost) full year has been completed with it's fair shares of highs and lows. Sometimes I think there were more lows than highs, but maybe it's because the last day was so rough for me.
The whole last bit of the year was especially stressful though as I was surplussed from my position. For those unfamiliar surplussing means that I didn't lose my continuing contract, it just meant my particiular position was no longer available. It meant that I was assigned to two different schools, in two different grade levels for a while, (K and 1st actually). But due to other circumestances I ended up back in my school and program, just in a differnt grade. I will be teaching hi-cap 6th grade (still elementary) this year. (Last year I taught hi-cap 5th). I have at least 30 kids (which is actually too many) all but a few (the ones new to the program) I've had before for at least something.
In some ways starting last year was less stressful - I knew the majority of the kids then as well, I didn't know the curriculum (I don't this year either), but I didn't have time to stress out as I started on the 2nd day of school, and wasn't hired to my contract for almost a month. This year I have time to think, to stress about how I will set up the classroom, how the discipline system should work, and worry that I don't have a clue what I am supposed to be teaching. To make matters worse, 8 of the 9 teachers in our program are at or above trigger. We really need another teacher - we went from 10 to 9 teachers and it doesn't work. I get frustrated that the district knows about this, and is refusing to even think about hiring someone until after the 4th day of school when we take the 4th day count. I really don't think that 20 some kids are not going to show for the Challenge Program. So with the posting of the job and the interviewing etc, it will be at least the 3rd or 4th week of school before we get the new teacher in, and what are we going to do until then? We have to have huge classes and start the year and then a month in, divide up the classes and basically start over. It's not fair to the kids. And it's stressful for the teachers. What makes it worse, is that the 6th graders will be going to camp the 3rd week of school, and while my class is all 6th, the other 6th is a split with 5th grade. Where are those 5th graders supposed to go while the rest of us are at camp? No other class can take them as they are all too full. We didn't plan on the 5th graders (certainly not just one part) coming to camp with the 6th graders, but it's not really fair to them if the 6th graders are doing all this team building and camp prep and they aren't. I don't know, it just stresses me out, and I still have to think about how to set up my room.
But this summer has been restful. It was almost too laid-back at first, until I realized that I don't have to do something every minute of every day and i can just relax and do nothing. After that it became more than boredom - it becam bliss. It makes me not want to go back to school in some ways, but I know that I must - if partially for the pay check, but I know I will go stir crazy once the weather goes back to the usual rainy and grey and I won't be able to lounge on the porch with a novel and ice tea all day. But nearly a month before school starts, and I don't want to waste it.
This weekend I will be going to Spokane for a very fast trip to get my piano from my parents house. It was given to me when I was in K or 1st by my great-aunt, and I've been missing playing it. I was never amazing, but I did ok and it is relaxing (though after I start playing the boys may not find it relaxing) . I have a place picked out for it already, and once it gets tuned (appparently 15+ years and a trip over the pass means you need to tune a piano) I will try and pick it up again and play just to play.
As for the rest of my summer plans, I will be finishing my project with Ms. Kenney - I won't tell what it is now because it's a secret, but I will soon. I'm also thinking about re-working my blog into something more guided. I don't know exactly what it will be focused on, but I have some ideas percolating in my brain.
No comments:
Post a Comment