...into the hell that I dealt with day in and day out.
There was an interesting article in yesterday's Chicago Sun Times about Englewood, which is the neighborhood in which I used to teach. Click through the gallery, then read the article. Then, imagine trying to make a difference in the lives of the babies forced to grow up in this mess.
**Um...what the hell, Blogger?!?!?! WHY do I have the new format all of a sudden!?!?! HATE IT!
Showing posts with label Englewood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Englewood. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
5/11/11
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
What is your favourite thing to cook?Sheesh, where do I start? My favorite crock pot dish is this Mexican chicken thing that I make pretty frequently. It's SO easy and SO good!
One of my favorite dinners to make is pasta with broccoli along side lemon-pepper salmon. Mmmm, just thinking about it is making my mouth water. A tossed salad is usually also on the table. Or, even better, a caprese salad. Ok, now my mouth is REALLY watering!
I'm going to stop with those two, otherwise this post will go on forever.
Today's weather was just as miserable as yesterday's. And, school sucked big giant donkey balls AGAIN! There was one tiny little bright spot, though. One of my biggest PITAs was suspended for the rest of the week. Yep, that's right. A FIRST GRADER suspended for 2 days. I have a feeling there may be an altercation with his mama tomorrow, so I'm preparing myself for the battle. She already called me stupid this week, and her darling little cherub called me a bitch today, so this should be fun.
New Principal hasn't been in all week so far, which is weird. I wonder what's going on with her. One of my coworkers joked that she just might be as sick of the Hell-Hole as we are!!
I'm far too hot and sweaty to type anymore. Even my freakin' fingers are sweating!!! I'm too cheap to turn the air on just yet, but if things don't cool off by tomorrow, I'm gonna suck it up and turn it on. I'll cry about the bill later. I need to go get naked now, and lie on my bed under my ceiling fan.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
What a way to end a week...
Now that I've had a good night's sleep, I'm not so emotionally charged about what I wanted to share with you from yesterday. That's not a bad thing, and it'll keep me from unleashing the slew of swear words that were swirling around my head yesterday. As a matter of fact, I think I'm just going to try to give you the short version of the story.
Yesterday, in a matter of less than an hour and a half, 4 cars were broken into at the Hell-Hole. Just after 8:30, there was an all-call over the PA system, asking for the owner of a red blah-blah-blah (I don't even remember what kind of car) to come to the office. I just assumed they needed to move their car, as that happens pretty frequently around the Hell-Hole. I didn't give it any thought. About 9ish, one of our security guards comes to our door, and asks me what kind of car I drive. As he's talking to me, one of the assistants also comes to my door with the same question. They both thought that a certain silver car in the lot was mine. Mr. T., the security guard (haha, I just realized he's Mr. T.!) told me that it was the second car that morning to be broken into. Thankfully, it wasn't my car. The cars that had been broken into were parked in the lot that is next to the school. I park in the very tiny lot behind the school. (One of the things I loved about my old room is that I could literally see my car all day long out my window. Now, if I wanted to keep an eye on my car, I'd have to park it on the street in front of the building, and that's not gonna happen.)
Mr. T. told me a few minutes later that the silver car they thought was mine actually belonged to a woman who was essentially making a service call to the school, and that the jackass that broke into it did it about a minute after she walked into the building. It seems to me that whoever did it was watching, and saw someone he knew didn't work at the school, so they figured what a perfect target. He smashed the window, and grabbed a bag that was on the seat. Unfortunately for him, one of the older men who work at the Hell-Hole (Mr. E., who is in his 70s) saw him and yelled, and the jerk dropped the bag and ran. Turns out, it was a bag of clothes that the woman was going to drop off at Goodwill on her way home. Hell, she would have GIVEN it to him if he had asked. So, he got away with nothing, and she's now got a busted out window. Nice, right!? "Thanks for visiting the Hell-Hole!"
Within a half-hour of hearing that story, two more cars were broken into, but this time in the back lot (where I park!). WTF?! My first question was, 'why the hell weren't the police there yet, at least to write up reports for the first two break-ins?' However, I knew the reality of it was simply this - they have WAY bigger fish to fry in that neighborhood than a couple of car windows being smashed. The did come, however, but by then, there were 4 people who had been victimized. And, the kicker is, NOTHING was taken out of any of the cars. It was more vandalization than burglary, I guess, which to me, is even more pointless and annoying.
Well, so much for the short story. Although, I'm sure those of you who know me well laughed when you read "short story" cuz you know I can never do that, even though I always say I will. What can I say? I'm chatty!
Oh, I forgot this little tidbit. Right after lunch, New Principal buzzed my room. First, let me tell you that since we've been back from break, there has been something wrong with our PA system. We can't hear what the hell they're saying to us! It's really annoying. We know they've buzzed into the room because there's a beep first, but then nothing. Anyway, New Principal buzzes in, I hear, "Mrs. L?" I answer, but then hear nothing. I called out a few times, saying, "I can't hear you," because I know SHE can hear ME on her end. Nothing. About 30 seconds later, repeat of the same. Now, truthfully, I was getting nervous because I thought they were calling to tell me that now MY car had been broken into. (I had just found out during lunch that the fourth car had been vandalized.) So, I walked down to the office myself to see what was going on. Turns out, it was just an early dismissal for one of my babies. On a side note, it was his birthday yesterday, and we hadn't had a chance to celebrate. Luckily, his mom wasn't in a big hurry, so she came down to the room, and we did a rushed version.
Now, despite having the week end on such a crappy note, the first week back really wasn't so awful. Maybe I'll feel like talking about it later (you know, since I don't think I'll be following those crappy prompts for much longer) but I'm trying to approach work with a different attitude/outlook in the new year. I'm hoping this will reduce my stress level, even a little. So far, so good. Shoot....I hope I didn't just jinx myself.... ;-)
Yesterday, in a matter of less than an hour and a half, 4 cars were broken into at the Hell-Hole. Just after 8:30, there was an all-call over the PA system, asking for the owner of a red blah-blah-blah (I don't even remember what kind of car) to come to the office. I just assumed they needed to move their car, as that happens pretty frequently around the Hell-Hole. I didn't give it any thought. About 9ish, one of our security guards comes to our door, and asks me what kind of car I drive. As he's talking to me, one of the assistants also comes to my door with the same question. They both thought that a certain silver car in the lot was mine. Mr. T., the security guard (haha, I just realized he's Mr. T.!) told me that it was the second car that morning to be broken into. Thankfully, it wasn't my car. The cars that had been broken into were parked in the lot that is next to the school. I park in the very tiny lot behind the school. (One of the things I loved about my old room is that I could literally see my car all day long out my window. Now, if I wanted to keep an eye on my car, I'd have to park it on the street in front of the building, and that's not gonna happen.)
Mr. T. told me a few minutes later that the silver car they thought was mine actually belonged to a woman who was essentially making a service call to the school, and that the jackass that broke into it did it about a minute after she walked into the building. It seems to me that whoever did it was watching, and saw someone he knew didn't work at the school, so they figured what a perfect target. He smashed the window, and grabbed a bag that was on the seat. Unfortunately for him, one of the older men who work at the Hell-Hole (Mr. E., who is in his 70s) saw him and yelled, and the jerk dropped the bag and ran. Turns out, it was a bag of clothes that the woman was going to drop off at Goodwill on her way home. Hell, she would have GIVEN it to him if he had asked. So, he got away with nothing, and she's now got a busted out window. Nice, right!? "Thanks for visiting the Hell-Hole!"
Within a half-hour of hearing that story, two more cars were broken into, but this time in the back lot (where I park!). WTF?! My first question was, 'why the hell weren't the police there yet, at least to write up reports for the first two break-ins?' However, I knew the reality of it was simply this - they have WAY bigger fish to fry in that neighborhood than a couple of car windows being smashed. The did come, however, but by then, there were 4 people who had been victimized. And, the kicker is, NOTHING was taken out of any of the cars. It was more vandalization than burglary, I guess, which to me, is even more pointless and annoying.
Well, so much for the short story. Although, I'm sure those of you who know me well laughed when you read "short story" cuz you know I can never do that, even though I always say I will. What can I say? I'm chatty!
Oh, I forgot this little tidbit. Right after lunch, New Principal buzzed my room. First, let me tell you that since we've been back from break, there has been something wrong with our PA system. We can't hear what the hell they're saying to us! It's really annoying. We know they've buzzed into the room because there's a beep first, but then nothing. Anyway, New Principal buzzes in, I hear, "Mrs. L?" I answer, but then hear nothing. I called out a few times, saying, "I can't hear you," because I know SHE can hear ME on her end. Nothing. About 30 seconds later, repeat of the same. Now, truthfully, I was getting nervous because I thought they were calling to tell me that now MY car had been broken into. (I had just found out during lunch that the fourth car had been vandalized.) So, I walked down to the office myself to see what was going on. Turns out, it was just an early dismissal for one of my babies. On a side note, it was his birthday yesterday, and we hadn't had a chance to celebrate. Luckily, his mom wasn't in a big hurry, so she came down to the room, and we did a rushed version.
Now, despite having the week end on such a crappy note, the first week back really wasn't so awful. Maybe I'll feel like talking about it later (you know, since I don't think I'll be following those crappy prompts for much longer) but I'm trying to approach work with a different attitude/outlook in the new year. I'm hoping this will reduce my stress level, even a little. So far, so good. Shoot....I hope I didn't just jinx myself.... ;-)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Well, that wasn't so bad...
The first day back went as well as could be expected. In some regard, it was better than expected because I didn't get any new kids. I thought for sure I would. On the other hand, I didn't have any transfer out, either.
It was rather chilly here in Chitown this morning. When I got up, the weatherman was talking about sub-zero windchills. By the time I left for school, the temperature had climbed all the way up to the single digits. Woo-ha!! Talk about refreshing!!! I was hoping the cold would keep some of the kiddos home this morning (yes, I know I'm an ass, thanks!) but alas, that was not the case. I did get excited when I picked them up this morning because there were only 9 out of the 31 babies there. But, slowly they started trickling in, and by 9:20, there were 24 little darlings there. Thank goodness there were 7 out, because I only have 24 seats in my room!!
The babies were so quiet and subdued when they arrived, I just loved it. That's absolutely typical of the first day back after a break. We made it through the whole morning using our quietest voices. They were a little loud when I picked them up from lunch, but then they settled down pretty quickly for rest time. As expected, most of them fell asleep, and I listened to a symphony of their 'baby snores" while I ate my lunch. It was marvelous!
I was SO happy to see my little TN. I really, really missed him over break. I wanted to take him home with me, and I'd bet my big behind that if I had proposed that to his mom, she would have readily agreed. That's just so sad, isn't it? In my fantasy world, I would take him home and raise him as my own, but then reality bursts that little bubble, and I remember his psycho mother and the crap that is his life. OK, I'm trying to keep this post upbeat, so....moving on....
Time to go appease the loser in me by watching the premier of The Bachelor. I swore I was done with it after last season, but here I am, getting sucked back in again. Geez, there's already somebody crying!! It's the first freakin' night!!! This show is like a bad train wreck. You just can't look away. I'm thinking that the people on this show seem crazier each season because they keep picking the Bachelors and Bachelorettes from the cast-offs of previous seasons. The girls on this season all watched last season, and are under the delusion that they actually know this guy. OMG!! Jillian and Ed just walked in! WTF? Time to go get under my blankie and watch this nonsense in comfort. Night night!!
It was rather chilly here in Chitown this morning. When I got up, the weatherman was talking about sub-zero windchills. By the time I left for school, the temperature had climbed all the way up to the single digits. Woo-ha!! Talk about refreshing!!! I was hoping the cold would keep some of the kiddos home this morning (yes, I know I'm an ass, thanks!) but alas, that was not the case. I did get excited when I picked them up this morning because there were only 9 out of the 31 babies there. But, slowly they started trickling in, and by 9:20, there were 24 little darlings there. Thank goodness there were 7 out, because I only have 24 seats in my room!!
The babies were so quiet and subdued when they arrived, I just loved it. That's absolutely typical of the first day back after a break. We made it through the whole morning using our quietest voices. They were a little loud when I picked them up from lunch, but then they settled down pretty quickly for rest time. As expected, most of them fell asleep, and I listened to a symphony of their 'baby snores" while I ate my lunch. It was marvelous!
I was SO happy to see my little TN. I really, really missed him over break. I wanted to take him home with me, and I'd bet my big behind that if I had proposed that to his mom, she would have readily agreed. That's just so sad, isn't it? In my fantasy world, I would take him home and raise him as my own, but then reality bursts that little bubble, and I remember his psycho mother and the crap that is his life. OK, I'm trying to keep this post upbeat, so....moving on....
Time to go appease the loser in me by watching the premier of The Bachelor. I swore I was done with it after last season, but here I am, getting sucked back in again. Geez, there's already somebody crying!! It's the first freakin' night!!! This show is like a bad train wreck. You just can't look away. I'm thinking that the people on this show seem crazier each season because they keep picking the Bachelors and Bachelorettes from the cast-offs of previous seasons. The girls on this season all watched last season, and are under the delusion that they actually know this guy. OMG!! Jillian and Ed just walked in! WTF? Time to go get under my blankie and watch this nonsense in comfort. Night night!!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thank you, Sweet Baby Jesus....
...I am officially on Christmas vacation!! Woo-to-the-freakin'-hoo!!! If I had to show up at that cluster fucked Hell-Hole one more day, I'd 'officially' be unemployed!! The past couple of weeks have sucked some major donkey ass, and this week nearly pushed me over the edge! As I type, our Christmas party is going on at some bar/restaurant, and I'm, obviously, not there. I don't want to see, hear, or think about anything or anyone remotely associated with the Hell-Hole for the next 3 weeks. I just can NOT deal with it. I don't want to start a full-on rant right now, especially since I have to drive Stud Muffin to see a friend's Christmas show in a few minutes. His show was gloriously wonderful, by the way. I'll be back to share later.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Is it over already?
For some reason, I had 6 babies out today. Can you see how broken up I am about that? I only had 20 kids for the day. It was AWESOME!!! We got so much done today, it was ridiculous. Actually, yesterday was another great day, as I only had 22 there. It's amazing how much teaching/learning can actually happen when I don't have to spend every minute asking someone to sit down/be quiet/stop touching your neighbor/stop singing/stop jumping....you get the idea.
One of the best things about today (oh, I'm going to burn in hell....) is that TN was out. I know I haven't really posted about him, but he has been my biggest challenge this year. I have an entire notebook filled with anecdotal records about him already, and it's only the 8th week of school. He makes last year's Twin Boy look like an absolute ANGEL! More about him later.
I think one of the reasons so many kids have been out this week is because we've been sending home medical exclusion letters since before the fall intersession. These are given to children who are out of medical compliance (e.i. Their shots/physicals aren't up to date) This Thursday, October 15, was supposed to be the deadline for getting this taken care of, and if they don't, the children can NOT come to school until it's done. Well, some of the parents must not have understood the letter, because I think they've been keeping their kids home since they received the letter.
Normally, the parents just ignore the letters, and send their kids anyway. At least they try to send them. New Principal insists that she's going to strictly enforce the exclusion policy. If that happens, I'll seriously only have less than 10 kids in my class next week! Out of the 34 children I originally had on my list, only 8 didn't get a letter!!! EIGHT!! What I want to know is, how in the HELL were these children allowed to register for kindergarten without showing proof of the required physical?! WTF!? New Principal asked me the same thing when I told her how many of mine received letters. She was NOT happy, and asked me what the hell was wrong with the office staff. I must admit, it made me giggle a little.
Next week is going to be a short week for the kids, as Friday is a staff development day. I hope it goes by as quickly as this week did!!
One of the best things about today (oh, I'm going to burn in hell....) is that TN was out. I know I haven't really posted about him, but he has been my biggest challenge this year. I have an entire notebook filled with anecdotal records about him already, and it's only the 8th week of school. He makes last year's Twin Boy look like an absolute ANGEL! More about him later.
I think one of the reasons so many kids have been out this week is because we've been sending home medical exclusion letters since before the fall intersession. These are given to children who are out of medical compliance (e.i. Their shots/physicals aren't up to date) This Thursday, October 15, was supposed to be the deadline for getting this taken care of, and if they don't, the children can NOT come to school until it's done. Well, some of the parents must not have understood the letter, because I think they've been keeping their kids home since they received the letter.
Normally, the parents just ignore the letters, and send their kids anyway. At least they try to send them. New Principal insists that she's going to strictly enforce the exclusion policy. If that happens, I'll seriously only have less than 10 kids in my class next week! Out of the 34 children I originally had on my list, only 8 didn't get a letter!!! EIGHT!! What I want to know is, how in the HELL were these children allowed to register for kindergarten without showing proof of the required physical?! WTF!? New Principal asked me the same thing when I told her how many of mine received letters. She was NOT happy, and asked me what the hell was wrong with the office staff. I must admit, it made me giggle a little.
Next week is going to be a short week for the kids, as Friday is a staff development day. I hope it goes by as quickly as this week did!!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Let the wild rumpus begin!
A while ago, I posted about one of my favorite books, which has recently been turned into a movie. I wasn't very happy about it, since it didn't seem at all like the book. But....
I'M SO EXCITED that this has been made into a movie!!
From this trailer that I've seen, it looks pretty darn good! I can't wait to get it on video (wait, should I be saying DVD? I'm so old!) so I can show it to my babies. It's too bad we couldn't take a field trip to see it. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to connect it to some educational value, since it's based on a classic. Then again, I don't think I'm ever going to want to be seen in public with this group!!
It premiers October 16. I guess that means that by that afternoon, there will be bootleg copies circulating through the hood, and at least two of my kids will have copies by that night. If I wasn't so vehemently opposed to the whole bootleg thing, I might actually let one of them bring it in!
Jumping for Joy
This was me at 2:45 this afternoon. Tomorrow is a teacher institute day, so I won't have to see my little darlings again for 18 days!! Woo-freakin'-hoo!!!! I'm seriously considering taking tomorrow off, just so I don't have to sit through 6 hours of boring meetings. Then again, I hate to "waste" a sick day on a day when the kids aren't even there. I suppose I'll muddle through....~~~
Ms. C., one of our clerks, let me know today that, despite being told by New Principal that I could attend the Kindergarten Conference in December, it's not gonna happen. Someone was in today from central office to do a major audit of our books. (Surprise, surprise!) Apparently, there is no money available for outside PD right now. I'll be honest, I was very disappointed. I'm considering just paying for it myself, and taking a couple of sick days. It's just over $300 for the two days. I have time to decide, I suppose, since it's still months away.
~~~
The end of the day was a bit bittersweet today. After Ms. H. made up little goodie bags for the babies, and gave them out, she gave me a BIG hug, and told me to have a great break. I'm going to be so sad when we get back from break. Oh, and I didn't mention yet that I, more than likely, won't be getting Ms. M. (the displaced teacher who has been helping me) back either after break. While we're out the next two weeks, she'll be subbing somewhere else, so there's no guarantee she'll be back at the Hell-Hole. It more likely than not that she won't be back.
~~~
Late in the afternoon, a letter was sent out for the kids to take home letting parents know that some major changes will be happening when we return from break. If I were a parent in this neighborhood, I would be getting more than a little perturbed. How many times are these kids going to have to change rooms/teachers in one school year!? Then again, 90% of our parents don't even read these notices and have NO FREAKIN' CLUE what the hell is going on at school. It's pretty standard that when a parent comes to school for any reason (parent conference, early dismissal, etc.) they haven't got a CLUE what room their child is in, or even who the teacher is. Hell, half the time, they don't even know what GRADE their kids is in!! Argh!
~~~
As I was dismissing the babies, I was, naturally, giving them all hugs and kisses, telling them I'd miss them (what a liar!!), and I'd see them in two weeks. There was a parent out there listening, and she turns to me and says, "Uh, why there ain't no school for two weeks?!" Um, ok biz-nitch, where have YOU been the past 7 weeks!!!!!? Even after I told her it was Fall Intersession, she just looked at me like I was crazy and says, "Yeah, but why?" In my head, I said, "Get the fuck out of my face, you stupid crack whore!" But, my teacher face said, "Well, that's because we are on a year-round schedule now. That's why we came back to school 7 weeks ago, instead of after Labor Day like other schools." Even I was impressed with myself for saying it with a smile and a calm voice. My inner voice was still spewing nastiness, of course.
~~~
Time to get caught up on some laundry, since it's a big TV night for me tonight. Grey's Anatomy premiers tonight! Woo hoo!! Hell, I may even bake something to share tomorrow, since it's been so gloriously cool here in ChiTown lately. :)
~~~
*Thanks, Suz, for letting me steal my title from you today! :)
~~~~ARGH!! Fuckin' Blogger!!! WHY, WHY, WHY does it always want to delete my spacing!!!???
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
I'm no Julie McCoy....
Nothing really worth writing about today. The babies drove me freakin' nuts, as usual. All but 2 were there, so we were packed in like sardines.
I have a mom (the one I mentioned weeks ago, who kept her kid home because it was his birthday!!) who drives me freakin' craaazzzzyyy!!! Most mornings, she brings her precious little darling to school late, and then she insists on walking him all the way to the room, then she comes IN the room, hangs up his stuff for him, talking, loudly, the whole time ("Come on, Baby, give me your bookbag." "Ok, baby, have a great day!" etc.) despite the fact that class has ALREADY STARTED AND I'M TRYING TO TEACH!!!! You crazy bitch!
Then, she is always standing in the hall at the end of the day, waiting for her child, instead of being out on the playground, where she belongs!!! Today, as I'm trying to walk 30+ children out for dismissal, she starts asking me, "Are they going on the circus trip?" I gave her my best WTF look, and said, "What trip? I have no idea what you're talking about." She says, "The Univer-Soul Circus. The preschool is going." "That has nothing to do with us, this is kindergarten." In my head, that sentence finished with, "You goofy bitch!!" "Oh, really?" Yes, REALLY!!! Ugh!!! Of course, in the meantime, my other kids are all over the hall, instead of walking in two (LONG) lines.
After I dismissed my class, I was trying to get to the office to swipe out, so I could leave to pick up Stud, and she started in again! "Isn't there any way you could join the preschool?" "Absolutely not." "What if we got a lot of parents to come, like they do in preschool?" Ok, parents on field trips are the biggest problem with the field trips!!! (Keep in mind, I'm specifically referring to OUR parents, not parents in general!) "No, in preschool, the parents are required to go. We would never get enough parents to go. And, there's no way I'll be taking this many kids anywhere on my own." I wanted to throw in, "especially the way this group behaves!!" but I kept it to myself. "Well, will you be taking a lot of trips?"she whined. "No, probably not. That's the problem with having 38 kindergartners and no assistant. That's just the way it goes."
At this point, I wasn't even TRYING to be polite. She was seriously bugging my ass! I mean, seriously, WTF?! If you feel your child needs to go see the Univer-Soul Circus, then shit! Buy a damn ticket, and take him!!! I've got bigger fish to fry, like trying to teach your little cherub the damn letters of the alphabet, which you apparently were too busy to even introduce him to! How 'bout you teach him the ABC Song? Or a color? Or a number? A shape? ANYTHING!!!! I'm busy all day trying to teach the reading program, the math program, the science program, the social studies program, the NEW character education program, all while trying to get 30+ babies to sit in their seats, keep their hands and feet to themselves, and pay attention. Add the unbuttoning and buttoning of at least 20 pairs of pants at every bathroom break, unbuckling and rebuckling at least 10 belts, the tying of 100 shoe laces each day, saying 100 times a day "STOP DIGGING IN YOU NOSE AND GET A TISSUE!!" Yeah, you're right, I've got PLENTY of time to worry about taking your kid to the freakin' circus!!!!!!! UGH! Apparently, she pissed me off more than I realized... (Keep in mind that this kind of crap with this woman has been going on since school started 5 weeks ago. Today was certainly NOT the first time something like this has happened, but it obviously must have been the straw that broke the camel's back, huh?)
This is something that is really pissing me off regarding New Principal. She PROMISED us in the beginning of the year, that she was going to keep the parents out, both before and after school. Unless they have an appointment, they have absolutely NO business in the hallways, outside of our rooms. Almost every single day, I have some parent knocking on my door 10-15 minutes before school gets out because they want their child. This is exactly why we asked her to keep the parents OUT. At that time of the day, I'm trying to get every kid in and out of the coat closet, helping them pack up their bookbags, put on their jackets, etc. I don't have time to deal with people at the door. I don't even answer it anymore. How freakin' hard is it to go stand on the playground where you belong? Your child will be coming out, just like every other child. I don't get it.
OK, now that I've offended every one of my Bloggy Buddies who are parents, let me just remind you that I, too, am a parent. However, I have always followed whatever rules and procedures were in place at Stud's school. Despite my thinking that he was the single greatest child ever born, he was never treated any differently than any other child in his school, and I was expected to abide by the same rules as every other parent. I practically had to give blood just to enter the office. Parents were NEVER allowed beyond that point. We were NEVER allowed to go to the classroom. If we were picking our child up, the child was sent down to the office. We weren't allowed to just roam freely through the building, like parents are at the Hell-Hole. This is a serious safety issue, and it's being completely ignored. In that neighborhood, you can never be too careful about who the hell is walking in off the street.
Wow, so much for not having much to say. I could seriously go on and on, but it's past my bedtime, and I think I've offended enough people for one night. I hope tomorrow goes a little better. And God help this nutjob if she even TRIES to talk to me tomorrow!!!
I have a mom (the one I mentioned weeks ago, who kept her kid home because it was his birthday!!) who drives me freakin' craaazzzzyyy!!! Most mornings, she brings her precious little darling to school late, and then she insists on walking him all the way to the room, then she comes IN the room, hangs up his stuff for him, talking, loudly, the whole time ("Come on, Baby, give me your bookbag." "Ok, baby, have a great day!" etc.) despite the fact that class has ALREADY STARTED AND I'M TRYING TO TEACH!!!! You crazy bitch!
Then, she is always standing in the hall at the end of the day, waiting for her child, instead of being out on the playground, where she belongs!!! Today, as I'm trying to walk 30+ children out for dismissal, she starts asking me, "Are they going on the circus trip?" I gave her my best WTF look, and said, "What trip? I have no idea what you're talking about." She says, "The Univer-Soul Circus. The preschool is going." "That has nothing to do with us, this is kindergarten." In my head, that sentence finished with, "You goofy bitch!!" "Oh, really?" Yes, REALLY!!! Ugh!!! Of course, in the meantime, my other kids are all over the hall, instead of walking in two (LONG) lines.
After I dismissed my class, I was trying to get to the office to swipe out, so I could leave to pick up Stud, and she started in again! "Isn't there any way you could join the preschool?" "Absolutely not." "What if we got a lot of parents to come, like they do in preschool?" Ok, parents on field trips are the biggest problem with the field trips!!! (Keep in mind, I'm specifically referring to OUR parents, not parents in general!) "No, in preschool, the parents are required to go. We would never get enough parents to go. And, there's no way I'll be taking this many kids anywhere on my own." I wanted to throw in, "especially the way this group behaves!!" but I kept it to myself. "Well, will you be taking a lot of trips?"she whined. "No, probably not. That's the problem with having 38 kindergartners and no assistant. That's just the way it goes."
At this point, I wasn't even TRYING to be polite. She was seriously bugging my ass! I mean, seriously, WTF?! If you feel your child needs to go see the Univer-Soul Circus, then shit! Buy a damn ticket, and take him!!! I've got bigger fish to fry, like trying to teach your little cherub the damn letters of the alphabet, which you apparently were too busy to even introduce him to! How 'bout you teach him the ABC Song? Or a color? Or a number? A shape? ANYTHING!!!! I'm busy all day trying to teach the reading program, the math program, the science program, the social studies program, the NEW character education program, all while trying to get 30+ babies to sit in their seats, keep their hands and feet to themselves, and pay attention. Add the unbuttoning and buttoning of at least 20 pairs of pants at every bathroom break, unbuckling and rebuckling at least 10 belts, the tying of 100 shoe laces each day, saying 100 times a day "STOP DIGGING IN YOU NOSE AND GET A TISSUE!!" Yeah, you're right, I've got PLENTY of time to worry about taking your kid to the freakin' circus!!!!!!! UGH! Apparently, she pissed me off more than I realized... (Keep in mind that this kind of crap with this woman has been going on since school started 5 weeks ago. Today was certainly NOT the first time something like this has happened, but it obviously must have been the straw that broke the camel's back, huh?)
This is something that is really pissing me off regarding New Principal. She PROMISED us in the beginning of the year, that she was going to keep the parents out, both before and after school. Unless they have an appointment, they have absolutely NO business in the hallways, outside of our rooms. Almost every single day, I have some parent knocking on my door 10-15 minutes before school gets out because they want their child. This is exactly why we asked her to keep the parents OUT. At that time of the day, I'm trying to get every kid in and out of the coat closet, helping them pack up their bookbags, put on their jackets, etc. I don't have time to deal with people at the door. I don't even answer it anymore. How freakin' hard is it to go stand on the playground where you belong? Your child will be coming out, just like every other child. I don't get it.
OK, now that I've offended every one of my Bloggy Buddies who are parents, let me just remind you that I, too, am a parent. However, I have always followed whatever rules and procedures were in place at Stud's school. Despite my thinking that he was the single greatest child ever born, he was never treated any differently than any other child in his school, and I was expected to abide by the same rules as every other parent. I practically had to give blood just to enter the office. Parents were NEVER allowed beyond that point. We were NEVER allowed to go to the classroom. If we were picking our child up, the child was sent down to the office. We weren't allowed to just roam freely through the building, like parents are at the Hell-Hole. This is a serious safety issue, and it's being completely ignored. In that neighborhood, you can never be too careful about who the hell is walking in off the street.
Wow, so much for not having much to say. I could seriously go on and on, but it's past my bedtime, and I think I've offended enough people for one night. I hope tomorrow goes a little better. And God help this nutjob if she even TRIES to talk to me tomorrow!!!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Yeah...um....
...so, guess who left her dome light on in her new car, and drained the battery, so the new car wouldn't start after school, when she was in a mad dash to get the hell out of Englewood, to pick up her son at school? What, no guesses? Yeah, I don't know anyone that dumb, either....
Today was actually an OK day. The morning started with an unexpected staff meeting for primary teachers(K-2) in MY ROOM! I walked in just as the 8:30 bell was about to ring (which made me feel late, even though 8:30 is technically our start time) and New Principal had hung a sign on the time clock about the meeting. So, I rushed down to my room to gather together the handful of "grown-up chairs" I have in there.
The meeting consisted of us walking around each other's rooms with a checklist, critiquing and commenting on what we did or didn't see. (for example, word walls, student work, classroom libraries, etc.) Each category had sub-categories (Classroom Library-Is there a check out system in place? Does it have a large number of books? Are there a large variety of genres? Is it comfortable and inviting? and so on) My room right now is a hot mess (as we would say in Englewood) because I've just been trying to get through one day at a time, with too many babies crammed into too small a room.
I don't mean to toot my own horn, but for the past 8 years, my room has frequenctly received compliments and high praise for being so colorful, exciting and inviting to students. However, after the beginning of the year fiasco (cleaning issues, etc.) much of my stuff had been taken down, some thrown out (and NOT by me!!), and most never made it back up. I normally have everything that can possibly be labeled labeled. There are usually posters and so on all over the room.
My classroom library was actually organized, with every basket labeled according to genre. Unfortunately, when my stuff was moved out into the hallway for cleaning, my books were just randomly dumped then shoved back on the shelves, so it's just a disaster now. I was actually embarrassed to have my colleagues looking around.
Oh, and you'll love this one! I still don't have a word wall going. I covered my back board before school started, and put up a label that says "Word Wall," but never did anything else to it. I JUST yesterday put up the letters of the alphabet so that I can start putting up the words under each letter. That's ALL that is on there right now. Talk about doing a crappy job!! I was mortified. I thought for sure New Principal would have a lot to say about that. We were all given a checklist for each room we went to, and we were to fill it out and then leave it, face down, on each teacher's desk. I was dreading looking at the sheets on my desk.
New Principal must not be as upset with me as I thought, though, because just after school started, she came to my room with a woman and said, "This is Mrs. C., and she'll be here to help you all day, in any way you need." I almost kissed her right then and there!! Turns out, the woman was called by sub center to sub in our preschool today. However, when she went down there, no one was there. Turns out that, for some reason, there is two days of in-service scheduled for preschool, so classes were cancelled for today and tomorrow.
So, she was mine all day! It was awesome having an extra teacher in the room. Trust me, I SO appreciate having Ms. H. for the couple of hours a day that she's with me. But, having someone who actually knows how to deal with the babies was a blessing. The poor thing spent most of her day basically serving as a personal aide for one of my boys who really ought to be in a self-contained SpEd room. (Too bad we don't have those anymore at the Hell-Hole!) It was so great to not have to continually stop teaching to deal with his disturbances. Ms. H. does what she can, but she's had no formal training, obviously, to deal with these things. (She did, however, take him out of the room for me yesterday, which was nice, too.)
We had our first fire drill today, which was a bit of an inconvenience. Naturally, it happened during my prep. Now, at a normal school, the prep teacher would take the class outside and deal with things, right? Well, not here. We were told, by the parent volunteer who was walking around giving teachers the heads-up, that we needed to go up and get our kids for the fire drill. WTF? I was on my way up to the freakin' 4th floor when Mrs. H. passed me and said she was on her way to get the babies. God bless her heart! I told her I was going to duck into the bathroom real quick (cuz I'd been holding it for about 2 hours!) and I'd meet her up there. Of course, the alarm sounded as I was half-way there. I was AWESOME having another adult, in this case 2 adults, to keep the kids in line and quiet. What we're supposed to do is walk at the front of the line and guide the babies to our safe area. But, anyone who's ever walked little ones anywhere knows that you need to lead, bring up the rear, and occasionally attend to the middle, all at the same time! Now that I think about it, there were actually 4 adults because the gym teacher was with us, as well.
Luckily, the drill only lasted about 5 minutes, which meant there was still 20 minutes of gym left. I think the gym teacher thought I was going to take them back to the room, but he was sadly mistaken!! The rest of the day went pretty quickly. After gym, it was snack time. I took a small group of 6 back to the carpet with me to work on drawing and labeling a goldfish (our current science unit) while the rest ate their cookies and watched Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom. (Yes, AGAIN! They adore it, what can I say? And, I can seriously tell that it's having an impact on their letter recognition.) Before I knew it, it was time to go!
Now, you KNOW this day went to smoothly too be a day at the Hell-Hole, right? So go back up to top and remind yourself how the school day ended...go 'head, I'll wait....yeah, that's right. I'm a dork!! But, seriously, I didn't even sweat it. It took all of 5 minutes to jump it with the car parked next to me, and I was on my merry way. Right now, as I type this, there's a cool breeze blowing in my kitchen windows, and I can smell the chocolate chip cookies baking at the Nabisco factory. It smells like heaven!! I'm about to go down in the basement and do about 5 loads of laundry so I can pack for this weekend. I want to pack tonight just in case I decide to leave straight from school tomorrow.
I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. See you when I get back. :)
Wow, I just realized that I started this post over two hours ago, but half-way through my sister called me from Italy, and we talked for nearly two hours. I think my Sissy is lonely. :(
Today was actually an OK day. The morning started with an unexpected staff meeting for primary teachers(K-2) in MY ROOM! I walked in just as the 8:30 bell was about to ring (which made me feel late, even though 8:30 is technically our start time) and New Principal had hung a sign on the time clock about the meeting. So, I rushed down to my room to gather together the handful of "grown-up chairs" I have in there.
The meeting consisted of us walking around each other's rooms with a checklist, critiquing and commenting on what we did or didn't see. (for example, word walls, student work, classroom libraries, etc.) Each category had sub-categories (Classroom Library-Is there a check out system in place? Does it have a large number of books? Are there a large variety of genres? Is it comfortable and inviting? and so on) My room right now is a hot mess (as we would say in Englewood) because I've just been trying to get through one day at a time, with too many babies crammed into too small a room.
I don't mean to toot my own horn, but for the past 8 years, my room has frequenctly received compliments and high praise for being so colorful, exciting and inviting to students. However, after the beginning of the year fiasco (cleaning issues, etc.) much of my stuff had been taken down, some thrown out (and NOT by me!!), and most never made it back up. I normally have everything that can possibly be labeled labeled. There are usually posters and so on all over the room.
My classroom library was actually organized, with every basket labeled according to genre. Unfortunately, when my stuff was moved out into the hallway for cleaning, my books were just randomly dumped then shoved back on the shelves, so it's just a disaster now. I was actually embarrassed to have my colleagues looking around.
Oh, and you'll love this one! I still don't have a word wall going. I covered my back board before school started, and put up a label that says "Word Wall," but never did anything else to it. I JUST yesterday put up the letters of the alphabet so that I can start putting up the words under each letter. That's ALL that is on there right now. Talk about doing a crappy job!! I was mortified. I thought for sure New Principal would have a lot to say about that. We were all given a checklist for each room we went to, and we were to fill it out and then leave it, face down, on each teacher's desk. I was dreading looking at the sheets on my desk.
New Principal must not be as upset with me as I thought, though, because just after school started, she came to my room with a woman and said, "This is Mrs. C., and she'll be here to help you all day, in any way you need." I almost kissed her right then and there!! Turns out, the woman was called by sub center to sub in our preschool today. However, when she went down there, no one was there. Turns out that, for some reason, there is two days of in-service scheduled for preschool, so classes were cancelled for today and tomorrow.
So, she was mine all day! It was awesome having an extra teacher in the room. Trust me, I SO appreciate having Ms. H. for the couple of hours a day that she's with me. But, having someone who actually knows how to deal with the babies was a blessing. The poor thing spent most of her day basically serving as a personal aide for one of my boys who really ought to be in a self-contained SpEd room. (Too bad we don't have those anymore at the Hell-Hole!) It was so great to not have to continually stop teaching to deal with his disturbances. Ms. H. does what she can, but she's had no formal training, obviously, to deal with these things. (She did, however, take him out of the room for me yesterday, which was nice, too.)
We had our first fire drill today, which was a bit of an inconvenience. Naturally, it happened during my prep. Now, at a normal school, the prep teacher would take the class outside and deal with things, right? Well, not here. We were told, by the parent volunteer who was walking around giving teachers the heads-up, that we needed to go up and get our kids for the fire drill. WTF? I was on my way up to the freakin' 4th floor when Mrs. H. passed me and said she was on her way to get the babies. God bless her heart! I told her I was going to duck into the bathroom real quick (cuz I'd been holding it for about 2 hours!) and I'd meet her up there. Of course, the alarm sounded as I was half-way there. I was AWESOME having another adult, in this case 2 adults, to keep the kids in line and quiet. What we're supposed to do is walk at the front of the line and guide the babies to our safe area. But, anyone who's ever walked little ones anywhere knows that you need to lead, bring up the rear, and occasionally attend to the middle, all at the same time! Now that I think about it, there were actually 4 adults because the gym teacher was with us, as well.
Luckily, the drill only lasted about 5 minutes, which meant there was still 20 minutes of gym left. I think the gym teacher thought I was going to take them back to the room, but he was sadly mistaken!! The rest of the day went pretty quickly. After gym, it was snack time. I took a small group of 6 back to the carpet with me to work on drawing and labeling a goldfish (our current science unit) while the rest ate their cookies and watched Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom. (Yes, AGAIN! They adore it, what can I say? And, I can seriously tell that it's having an impact on their letter recognition.) Before I knew it, it was time to go!
Now, you KNOW this day went to smoothly too be a day at the Hell-Hole, right? So go back up to top and remind yourself how the school day ended...go 'head, I'll wait....yeah, that's right. I'm a dork!! But, seriously, I didn't even sweat it. It took all of 5 minutes to jump it with the car parked next to me, and I was on my merry way. Right now, as I type this, there's a cool breeze blowing in my kitchen windows, and I can smell the chocolate chip cookies baking at the Nabisco factory. It smells like heaven!! I'm about to go down in the basement and do about 5 loads of laundry so I can pack for this weekend. I want to pack tonight just in case I decide to leave straight from school tomorrow.
I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. See you when I get back. :)
Wow, I just realized that I started this post over two hours ago, but half-way through my sister called me from Italy, and we talked for nearly two hours. I think my Sissy is lonely. :(
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Holy Hump Day!
OK, let me get all the personal bitching out of my system, and then I'll move on to school. Like I said Monday, my car is in the shop. My dad managed to jump my mom's car and get it started for me Monday night. But, as I was backing out of the driveway, I noticed the brakes were a little wonky. It only got worse as I drove down the block. I needed to start braking about a half a block before I actually wanted to stop! But, it was late, and I needed to get to school the next day, so I just went home. The next morning, I was super cautious as I drove to work. (Luckily, CSJ drove Stud to school.) I got there in one piece, obviously, but the drive home was a different story. I nearly got into two separate accidents. I seriously almost pissed my pants! I came within literally six inches of crashing into some assbag that pulled out in front of me. Naturally, he was on the phone, so I didn't hesitate to screech "Get the fuck off the phone, asshole!!" in his open window!!
Anyway, I went home, and stayed there last night. Then, this morning I got in the car to leave for work (CSJ drove Stud again) and the car started beeping at me like crazy. There were two separate lights flashing "low brake fluid." I didn't know what the hell to do. On top of the blaring alarm, it was pouring rain this morning. I had no freakin' idea how to work the windshield wipers in this car, and no matter what the hell I did, the damn washer fluid kept spraying on the already soaking wet window! I thought I was going to cry. I called my dad from the car to see if he could drive me to school, because there was no way I was driving into the ghetto in that car. Luckily, he was almost ready for work, so I drove to his house. The funny thing is, the brakes actually worked better this morning than they did last night. I parked the car, waited for my dad to finish getting dressed, and off we were.
My parents have been telling (or is that yelling at?) me for YEARS to get the hell out of Englewood. Every time a murder, or some other crime, in Englewood is reported on the news (which is fairly often) they go off. Well, I knew this ride was NOT going to be pleasant. About half-way there, my dad started. "What the hell happened to this neighborhood?" "Why the hell do you have to come here everyday?" "Why don't you get a new job at a new school?" And, that was when we were in a fairly decent neighborhood still. He was amazed at how it's changed from when we lived in "the old neighborhood," and he used to drive through the same area. It only got worse from there. When we actually turned into the neighborhood where the Hell-Hole is, I though he was going to blow a gasket. When we approached the block the school actually on, the shit really hit the fan. Naturally the buildings directly behind and next to the school are all boarded up, the property is not taken care of, etc. I mean, come on, it IS the ghetto after all. I don't even notice it anymore. He, however, was losing it. I seriously didn't think he was going to let me out of the car. My daddy is so cute. I'm sure I'm never going to hear the end of this now.
Well, like I said yesterday, today we had open house. It was supposed to go from 3-5. I forgot to mention that before I called my dad this morning, I tried calling CSJ, hoping he was still near Stud's school, and maybe he'd be able to drive me to work. But, I couldn't get through on his phone. He ended up calling me back while I was driving to my dad's. I told him what was going on, and he asked how I was getting home. I told him that I could probably get a ride, "unless you want to come to Englewood at 5:00 and get me." I was joking, but he said, "Well, let me see where I am at 5." Hmmm, ok....Again, weirdly nice, right? I wasn't going to bother him, but by the time open house rolled around, I was so freakin' exhausted from herding cats all day, that I figured, what the hell! If he can come, great. If not, I'll go home with my girlfriend. I figured I could weasel my way out of staying for the whole open house if he came because then I could tell New Principal that I had to go because he was my only ride. (She already knew about what happened in the morning, because I immediately called school to let them know what happened and that I would probably be late, etc. She actually came to me later to say "I see you made it. Glad you're here!" And, no, she WASN'T being sarcastic. How refreshing!)
Anyway, I sent CSJ a text around 3:30 saying, "Any chance you'd be able to pick me up?" He got back to me about a half-hour later, saying simply, "When?" I replied, "Any time that works for you. I'll leave whenever you get here." "OK, I'm leaving Ma's right now." Well, hell's bells, he wasn't even working! He was with Stud over at his mom's. Now, I actually felt bad. He certainly wasn't close, plus he never gets time to visit with his mom. Especially WITH Stud! But, at that point, I just wanted to get the hell out of Dodge.
I found New Principal and told her that I may have to leave a little early because I had a ride coming. She couldn't have been nicer. In the windup, CSJ got to school about 4:45, so I didn't even feel bad about leaving. I went to find New Principal to let her know I was leaving, and I apologized for having to leave early. She told me not to give it another thought, and then thanked me profusely for staying as long as I did. I'm sure part of that is because we stayed today on our own time. There's no money budgeted to pay us for any after school time. Earlier, when I first told her I was going to have to leave when me ride got there, she and I talked about a couple other things, and then she suddenly looked at me and said, "How are you doing? Are you feeling alright?" I was a bit confused, but said, "Yeah, I'm ok, just a bit stressed by the sheer number of babies I'm dealing with." While I was talking, she just kept looking at me, then she said, "Are you sure you're ok, you look wiped out, and your eyes are red." I wonder if she thought I had been crying or something. Truthfully, it's just my contacts irritating me. But, it was kind of touching that she even noticed. I guess that's a woman thing, huh? Jeez, I hope it wasn't because she thought I was on drugs or something! haha!
I assured her it was just the stress, but that I was plugging along. She then asked about how DIBELS was going, and I just happened to have in my hand a copy of my results. I was actually on my way to the office to put it in her mailbox. I'M FINISHED!!!! (All except one little boy who has been out for almost a week.) She was thoroughly impressed. I did admit to having to put on Sesame Street for part of the time I tested, expecting to get a look at the very least. Instead, she said, "You show them that Sesame Street, Girl! These babies need it!" I was floored!!! Hell, that was probably NOT the thing to tell me right now. I'm afraid we're going to end up having Sesame Street time every day until this class size problem is fixed. Still no word from central office, BTW.
CSJ surprised me by showing up with Stud. That was a nice surprise since I didn't think I'd be seeing my baby tonight. I suppose I may have to stop using "CSJ" if he keeps being so nice to me. Things that make you go hmmmm...... Things have been very pleasant between us lately. It's nice not always screaming and fighting with each other. On that note, it's time to change the subject, lest I jinx myself.... ;-)
All in all, open house was a giant waste of my time. I had all of TWO parents come to my room!! I was able to take care of a few housekeeping chores, so at least that's something. I also did a major clean-up this morning to prepare for open house, and that felt great. I finally got all the old reading materials out of my room, and the new materials put away. I cleaned out the coat closet, and cleared off two table. Woo hoo!! The reading coach came in and was impressed. I also got both my carpets back down on the floor, which was quite a task. The big carpet in the front was on the floor in the back when I got to school, so I had to roll it up and drag it to the other side of the room. That wouldn't have been so bad if the room wasn't already filled with nearly 30-something little baby bodies! When I put my other carpet down in the back of the room, I ended up changing its position to make it a better set up for doing calendar and the other things we do back there. It worked out great this afternoon. Luckily, 4 kids were absent today, so I was able to move the table that was sitting in that spot, and I shoved it in a corner for the day.
Let me tell you, having those 4 out made a big difference. Oo, another bad parent story to share! I've had a sweet little girl sitting in my room since the very first day of school. However, her name was never on my list in the computer. Every day I attached a note to my attendance sheet to tell them she needed to be put in the system (along with about 4 other kids.) Well, I come to find out Monday afternoon from Mrs. J. in the office what the deal was. Get this!! She attended pre-k at the Hell-Hole, but then Mom transferred her out to another school for this year. Mrs. J. found her name in the system with the new school's name. So she called Mom, who claimed she never transferred her. Huh? Well, then who the hell did? Mrs. J. told her that if she wanted to continue sending her here, she needed to transfer her back. Mom kept saying it wasn't her that transferred, etc., but then says, "Well, I can't get the paper work until they open the office next week." Hmmm, how do you know when that school opens if you didn't transfer your kid there?! Can you believe how slick she was?! Gee, let me get a whole MONTH of FREE BABYSITTING over at the Hell-Hole, then I'll take my kid out when her real school starts. WTF?! I was fit to be tied!!! So, at least that's one less baby in my room. And, I was actually a little bummed because this little girl was very sweet, smart and well-behaved. Poor thing. I hope her mother's sneaky ways don't rub off on her!
Holy crap, I think this is my longest post ever! And, I didn't even tell you everything I wanted to tell you. If you're still here, thanks for hanging in there! I'll save the rest for tomorrow. You're welcome!
Anyway, I went home, and stayed there last night. Then, this morning I got in the car to leave for work (CSJ drove Stud again) and the car started beeping at me like crazy. There were two separate lights flashing "low brake fluid." I didn't know what the hell to do. On top of the blaring alarm, it was pouring rain this morning. I had no freakin' idea how to work the windshield wipers in this car, and no matter what the hell I did, the damn washer fluid kept spraying on the already soaking wet window! I thought I was going to cry. I called my dad from the car to see if he could drive me to school, because there was no way I was driving into the ghetto in that car. Luckily, he was almost ready for work, so I drove to his house. The funny thing is, the brakes actually worked better this morning than they did last night. I parked the car, waited for my dad to finish getting dressed, and off we were.
My parents have been telling (or is that yelling at?) me for YEARS to get the hell out of Englewood. Every time a murder, or some other crime, in Englewood is reported on the news (which is fairly often) they go off. Well, I knew this ride was NOT going to be pleasant. About half-way there, my dad started. "What the hell happened to this neighborhood?" "Why the hell do you have to come here everyday?" "Why don't you get a new job at a new school?" And, that was when we were in a fairly decent neighborhood still. He was amazed at how it's changed from when we lived in "the old neighborhood," and he used to drive through the same area. It only got worse from there. When we actually turned into the neighborhood where the Hell-Hole is, I though he was going to blow a gasket. When we approached the block the school actually on, the shit really hit the fan. Naturally the buildings directly behind and next to the school are all boarded up, the property is not taken care of, etc. I mean, come on, it IS the ghetto after all. I don't even notice it anymore. He, however, was losing it. I seriously didn't think he was going to let me out of the car. My daddy is so cute. I'm sure I'm never going to hear the end of this now.
Well, like I said yesterday, today we had open house. It was supposed to go from 3-5. I forgot to mention that before I called my dad this morning, I tried calling CSJ, hoping he was still near Stud's school, and maybe he'd be able to drive me to work. But, I couldn't get through on his phone. He ended up calling me back while I was driving to my dad's. I told him what was going on, and he asked how I was getting home. I told him that I could probably get a ride, "unless you want to come to Englewood at 5:00 and get me." I was joking, but he said, "Well, let me see where I am at 5." Hmmm, ok....Again, weirdly nice, right? I wasn't going to bother him, but by the time open house rolled around, I was so freakin' exhausted from herding cats all day, that I figured, what the hell! If he can come, great. If not, I'll go home with my girlfriend. I figured I could weasel my way out of staying for the whole open house if he came because then I could tell New Principal that I had to go because he was my only ride. (She already knew about what happened in the morning, because I immediately called school to let them know what happened and that I would probably be late, etc. She actually came to me later to say "I see you made it. Glad you're here!" And, no, she WASN'T being sarcastic. How refreshing!)
Anyway, I sent CSJ a text around 3:30 saying, "Any chance you'd be able to pick me up?" He got back to me about a half-hour later, saying simply, "When?" I replied, "Any time that works for you. I'll leave whenever you get here." "OK, I'm leaving Ma's right now." Well, hell's bells, he wasn't even working! He was with Stud over at his mom's. Now, I actually felt bad. He certainly wasn't close, plus he never gets time to visit with his mom. Especially WITH Stud! But, at that point, I just wanted to get the hell out of Dodge.
I found New Principal and told her that I may have to leave a little early because I had a ride coming. She couldn't have been nicer. In the windup, CSJ got to school about 4:45, so I didn't even feel bad about leaving. I went to find New Principal to let her know I was leaving, and I apologized for having to leave early. She told me not to give it another thought, and then thanked me profusely for staying as long as I did. I'm sure part of that is because we stayed today on our own time. There's no money budgeted to pay us for any after school time. Earlier, when I first told her I was going to have to leave when me ride got there, she and I talked about a couple other things, and then she suddenly looked at me and said, "How are you doing? Are you feeling alright?" I was a bit confused, but said, "Yeah, I'm ok, just a bit stressed by the sheer number of babies I'm dealing with." While I was talking, she just kept looking at me, then she said, "Are you sure you're ok, you look wiped out, and your eyes are red." I wonder if she thought I had been crying or something. Truthfully, it's just my contacts irritating me. But, it was kind of touching that she even noticed. I guess that's a woman thing, huh? Jeez, I hope it wasn't because she thought I was on drugs or something! haha!
I assured her it was just the stress, but that I was plugging along. She then asked about how DIBELS was going, and I just happened to have in my hand a copy of my results. I was actually on my way to the office to put it in her mailbox. I'M FINISHED!!!! (All except one little boy who has been out for almost a week.) She was thoroughly impressed. I did admit to having to put on Sesame Street for part of the time I tested, expecting to get a look at the very least. Instead, she said, "You show them that Sesame Street, Girl! These babies need it!" I was floored!!! Hell, that was probably NOT the thing to tell me right now. I'm afraid we're going to end up having Sesame Street time every day until this class size problem is fixed. Still no word from central office, BTW.
CSJ surprised me by showing up with Stud. That was a nice surprise since I didn't think I'd be seeing my baby tonight. I suppose I may have to stop using "CSJ" if he keeps being so nice to me. Things that make you go hmmmm...... Things have been very pleasant between us lately. It's nice not always screaming and fighting with each other. On that note, it's time to change the subject, lest I jinx myself.... ;-)
All in all, open house was a giant waste of my time. I had all of TWO parents come to my room!! I was able to take care of a few housekeeping chores, so at least that's something. I also did a major clean-up this morning to prepare for open house, and that felt great. I finally got all the old reading materials out of my room, and the new materials put away. I cleaned out the coat closet, and cleared off two table. Woo hoo!! The reading coach came in and was impressed. I also got both my carpets back down on the floor, which was quite a task. The big carpet in the front was on the floor in the back when I got to school, so I had to roll it up and drag it to the other side of the room. That wouldn't have been so bad if the room wasn't already filled with nearly 30-something little baby bodies! When I put my other carpet down in the back of the room, I ended up changing its position to make it a better set up for doing calendar and the other things we do back there. It worked out great this afternoon. Luckily, 4 kids were absent today, so I was able to move the table that was sitting in that spot, and I shoved it in a corner for the day.
Let me tell you, having those 4 out made a big difference. Oo, another bad parent story to share! I've had a sweet little girl sitting in my room since the very first day of school. However, her name was never on my list in the computer. Every day I attached a note to my attendance sheet to tell them she needed to be put in the system (along with about 4 other kids.) Well, I come to find out Monday afternoon from Mrs. J. in the office what the deal was. Get this!! She attended pre-k at the Hell-Hole, but then Mom transferred her out to another school for this year. Mrs. J. found her name in the system with the new school's name. So she called Mom, who claimed she never transferred her. Huh? Well, then who the hell did? Mrs. J. told her that if she wanted to continue sending her here, she needed to transfer her back. Mom kept saying it wasn't her that transferred, etc., but then says, "Well, I can't get the paper work until they open the office next week." Hmmm, how do you know when that school opens if you didn't transfer your kid there?! Can you believe how slick she was?! Gee, let me get a whole MONTH of FREE BABYSITTING over at the Hell-Hole, then I'll take my kid out when her real school starts. WTF?! I was fit to be tied!!! So, at least that's one less baby in my room. And, I was actually a little bummed because this little girl was very sweet, smart and well-behaved. Poor thing. I hope her mother's sneaky ways don't rub off on her!
Holy crap, I think this is my longest post ever! And, I didn't even tell you everything I wanted to tell you. If you're still here, thanks for hanging in there! I'll save the rest for tomorrow. You're welcome!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Day 12....I haven't quit yet....
Yeah, today sucked, just like the past two weeks. I am completely overwhelmed with little bodies. We are barely getting through our phonics and phonemic awareness lessons every morning. I spend more time hushing than teaching. I didn't even bother with the name papers today because I need to get this DIBELS crap finished. (I have been writing down the cute/funny answers to share with you, as usual, but, as usual, I forgot the paper at school! I'll try to remember tomorrow, I promise!) This morning they watched one of my favorite tapes while I tried to test. It's one of my favorites because it's quiet. My BFF, the librarian, had given me some videos years ago that she was getting rid of, and I'm so thankful she did. Last year's babies (oohhh, I think I feel tears welling up.... I MISS THEM SO MUCH!) absolutely could NOT get enough of these movies. It's a set of movies based on quality, well-known children's books. The one we used today was their favorite. It was a "movie version" of There's a Nightmare in My Closet (Mercer Mayer), and a movie about a magic carpet, the name of which escapes me right now.
Then, this afternoon, it was a Sesame Street afternoon so I could try and squeeze in a few more babies. Since it was technically math time, we watched one of the number videos. I'm so annoyed that I couldn't enjoy and embrace the way they were enjoying the video. They actually wanted to sing along, and talk back to the characters when they asked questions. But, of course, they couldn't because I WAS TESTING!! Ugh!! I had to keep asking them to keep it down, which really made me sad. Normally, I would encourage that kind of interaction with the video. We will definitely watch that one again when we can all sing along and enjoy it.
Ideally, I would be able to leave the room, even if it's just to sit in the hallway, and test the children in quiet. If I had an actual assitant (and not just a wonderful parent volunteer!) I'd be able to do that. But, I obviously can't leave 37 of them alone in the room while I go out in the hall with one. Ms. H. isn't even with me enough for me to leave her with the kids in the room. Plus, I'm not really comfortable with that, as that's just far too much responsibility (and headache!!) for a volunteer. So, instead, they watch Sesame Street and Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom! Sue me!
I had to call a couple mommies today. One of my little PITAs* decided he would give some other kids the finger. I caught him red-handed. After I called his mom, his behavior just continued to go downhill. He spent a good chunk of time across the hall in Mrs. M.'s room, to ensure I didn't "bust my foot off in his ass!" (Surely one of my favorite Englewood-isms!)
I didn't hear anything from New Principal today about the half-day situation. She was actually out most of the day for a principals' meeting. I saw her for about a second in the hall, but didn't speak to her. Then, at the end of the day, I had to skedaddle, since today was Stud's first full day of school, and I had to pick him up. (In the windup, CSJ called just as I was pulling out the lot to tell me he was in the area, so he would pick him up for me, and meet me at the house. Like I said, he's been nice lately. Weird, huh? But, I digress...)
Thanks to CSJ, I actually was home just a few minutes after 3! I can't even remember the last time that happened. He just brought Stud home for a minute so I could see him, kiss him, hug him, then send him on his way. He stayed at his dad's last night, too. CSJ will probably take him as many nights as he can this week because he didn't see him over the weekend (Stud went to Michigan with a friend, remember?) and Stud will be going to Michigan again this weekend with the same friend. Then, the following weekend is Labor Day weekend, and in keeping with tradition, I'll be taking all my boys to Saugatuck. This year we'll be adding the "new" friend to our group, and I'm really excited, as is Stud Muffin, of course! Anyway, the point is, CSJ is feeling a little gypped, so he's going to take Stud as often as possible during the week.
So, tomorrow night is our open house. Um...yeah...I kind of forgot all about that. We haven't spoken about it since that first week of meetings. I voted to have it during the school day, but obviously I was outvoted. But, I was far from the only one who wanted that time! I HATE having to stay in Englewood past 3:00. It's simply not safe. Anyhoo, I'm not the least bit prepared for this. I didn't have my kids make anything cutesy to hang up, I have nothing to display, my room is still a hot mess, my carpets were taken out last week to be cleaned and haven't been put back yet (mostly because I have freakin' tables where the one used to go!!!), I'm simply NOT ready. But, my main focus tomorrow is going to be to tell the parents that they need to let all their friends/neighbors with kdg. age children know that school started 3 weeks ago, and they need to get them in NOW. They can't wait til after Labor Day, which is the tradition in this neighborhood. I'm going to let them know that half-day kdg. is a very real possibility to relieve the overcrowding, but if we get enough new kdg. students, we will be able to open a second room, and I can babysit ALL DAY. I mean, their kids can learn all day, yeah, that's what I meant... I just hope it makes a difference. But, I've been thinking about this a lot, and I'm starting to think getting the OK for half-day will sort of be a win-win for me. At the very least, I'll only have to deal with half the kids at a time, even though it'll SUCK to still have to deal with 40 sets of parents, do 40 report cards, keep 40 sets of records, etc. Then again, once we go half-day, I guarantee many parents will pull their kids out (like I explained yesterday) and my class will just get that much smaller. OK, I'm not going to stress about it anymore. I'm just going to let it go...
I think I may just embrace the fact that I'm home all alone, and take a nice, relaxing bath. I haven't done THAT in ages. I'm off to light a candle right now....
*Pain In The Ass -- I know, I'm mean. Get over it!
Then, this afternoon, it was a Sesame Street afternoon so I could try and squeeze in a few more babies. Since it was technically math time, we watched one of the number videos. I'm so annoyed that I couldn't enjoy and embrace the way they were enjoying the video. They actually wanted to sing along, and talk back to the characters when they asked questions. But, of course, they couldn't because I WAS TESTING!! Ugh!! I had to keep asking them to keep it down, which really made me sad. Normally, I would encourage that kind of interaction with the video. We will definitely watch that one again when we can all sing along and enjoy it.
Ideally, I would be able to leave the room, even if it's just to sit in the hallway, and test the children in quiet. If I had an actual assitant (and not just a wonderful parent volunteer!) I'd be able to do that. But, I obviously can't leave 37 of them alone in the room while I go out in the hall with one. Ms. H. isn't even with me enough for me to leave her with the kids in the room. Plus, I'm not really comfortable with that, as that's just far too much responsibility (and headache!!) for a volunteer. So, instead, they watch Sesame Street and Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom! Sue me!
I had to call a couple mommies today. One of my little PITAs* decided he would give some other kids the finger. I caught him red-handed. After I called his mom, his behavior just continued to go downhill. He spent a good chunk of time across the hall in Mrs. M.'s room, to ensure I didn't "bust my foot off in his ass!" (Surely one of my favorite Englewood-isms!)
I didn't hear anything from New Principal today about the half-day situation. She was actually out most of the day for a principals' meeting. I saw her for about a second in the hall, but didn't speak to her. Then, at the end of the day, I had to skedaddle, since today was Stud's first full day of school, and I had to pick him up. (In the windup, CSJ called just as I was pulling out the lot to tell me he was in the area, so he would pick him up for me, and meet me at the house. Like I said, he's been nice lately. Weird, huh? But, I digress...)
Thanks to CSJ, I actually was home just a few minutes after 3! I can't even remember the last time that happened. He just brought Stud home for a minute so I could see him, kiss him, hug him, then send him on his way. He stayed at his dad's last night, too. CSJ will probably take him as many nights as he can this week because he didn't see him over the weekend (Stud went to Michigan with a friend, remember?) and Stud will be going to Michigan again this weekend with the same friend. Then, the following weekend is Labor Day weekend, and in keeping with tradition, I'll be taking all my boys to Saugatuck. This year we'll be adding the "new" friend to our group, and I'm really excited, as is Stud Muffin, of course! Anyway, the point is, CSJ is feeling a little gypped, so he's going to take Stud as often as possible during the week.
So, tomorrow night is our open house. Um...yeah...I kind of forgot all about that. We haven't spoken about it since that first week of meetings. I voted to have it during the school day, but obviously I was outvoted. But, I was far from the only one who wanted that time! I HATE having to stay in Englewood past 3:00. It's simply not safe. Anyhoo, I'm not the least bit prepared for this. I didn't have my kids make anything cutesy to hang up, I have nothing to display, my room is still a hot mess, my carpets were taken out last week to be cleaned and haven't been put back yet (mostly because I have freakin' tables where the one used to go!!!), I'm simply NOT ready. But, my main focus tomorrow is going to be to tell the parents that they need to let all their friends/neighbors with kdg. age children know that school started 3 weeks ago, and they need to get them in NOW. They can't wait til after Labor Day, which is the tradition in this neighborhood. I'm going to let them know that half-day kdg. is a very real possibility to relieve the overcrowding, but if we get enough new kdg. students, we will be able to open a second room, and I can babysit ALL DAY. I mean, their kids can learn all day, yeah, that's what I meant... I just hope it makes a difference. But, I've been thinking about this a lot, and I'm starting to think getting the OK for half-day will sort of be a win-win for me. At the very least, I'll only have to deal with half the kids at a time, even though it'll SUCK to still have to deal with 40 sets of parents, do 40 report cards, keep 40 sets of records, etc. Then again, once we go half-day, I guarantee many parents will pull their kids out (like I explained yesterday) and my class will just get that much smaller. OK, I'm not going to stress about it anymore. I'm just going to let it go...
I think I may just embrace the fact that I'm home all alone, and take a nice, relaxing bath. I haven't done THAT in ages. I'm off to light a candle right now....
Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it. ~Harold HulbertThis is definitely one of my FAVORITE quotes (I've shared it before) and it hangs in my room. I've been trying to keep this in the forefront of my mind lately, for obvious reasons!
*Pain In The Ass -- I know, I'm mean. Get over it!
Monday, August 17, 2009
She's trying to kill us...
Oh my hell. I know I have absolutely no right to do so much complaining, given that I prayed for a long time for Big Cheese to be gone, but Lord, I don't know how much more I can take.
I forgot to mention something that happened last week. My little darling, A.G., of The G Family, was moved to 1st Grade. Yay! You may remember that she and another little boy were in my class last year for half the day. They both spent their mornings with me in kdg., and then went to pre-school in the afternoon. They both have late birthdays, so they technically weren't old enough to be in kindergarten. However, D.F.'s grandma, who is our security guard, arranged for D.F. to be placed in a 1st grade class this year (with my approval). I thought A's mom was going to do the same, but she never talked to anyone in the office. I ended up going to the office for her, and was able to get her moved. As much as I'm going to miss her, I was glad to have one less baby.
I also found out that one of the boys who had been sitting in my room for 3 days was also supposed to be in 1st grade. The 1st grade teacher had been listing him as a "no show." That's 2 babies in one day! Woo hoo!
But, that excitement was short-lived. I immediately got 2 more babies the next day, so I was back to 29. Then, this morning, when I went out to pick up my class, a woman walked up to me and essentially handed me her child, saying that she was going to be in my room. Yep, the 30th baby had arrived.
On an up note, preps started today. My babies went to computers today. Yay! And, Ms. H., my parent volunteer, stayed with them and brought them back down for me. She's awesome!
OK, time to bitch about a stupid parent...
One of my babies was still standing outside with me at 3:00. He was the last one, and was waiting for his brother. Turns out the brother's teacher had kept them late, and I obviously missed them coming out, since I was already on my way to the office. I HUGE thunder shower hit as I was walking back into the building, so apparently the brother just went home instead of looking for his baby brother. I sat with him for a while, and finally at about 3:25, I called his house. I was surprised when his mother answered the phone. I identified myself, and told her that T was still sitting at school, despite school ending nearly 45 minutes ago. She goes, "Oh, I didn't even know." WHAT?!?! I mean, seriously, WTF? How do you NOT know that your 5 YEAR OLD still isn't home 45-freakin'-minutes after school got out!? THEN, she has the balls to tell me, "well, he can just walk home by himself." I wanted to reach through the phone and slap a bitch!! What part of HE'S FIVE YEARS OLD did that moron not understand!!?? Argh!!! Ok, I feel my blood pressure rising, so time to move on...
In my never-ending quest to end on a positive note, let me just say again how nice it is to have Ms. H. helping out. It's been working out to about an hour in the morning and about an hour in the afternoon, which doesn't sound like much, but it makes a world of difference, trust me! And, the best part is that she told me she doesn't mind taking my class to their prep and bringing them back when it's over. Woo hoo! You have no idea how wonderful that is for me!! That means I will truly get a 40 minute prep!! Normally, by the time I get the babies together enough to walk, then get them up (to either the 3rd or 4th floor!) to the prep, and come back down, anywhere from 10-15 minutes of my prep is gone. God forbid I have to do something crazy, like pee (!), I end up with about 20 minutes to actually do some work. This is going to almost double the amount of time I have to get things done. THANK YOU, Ms. H!!
I forgot to mention something that happened last week. My little darling, A.G., of The G Family, was moved to 1st Grade. Yay! You may remember that she and another little boy were in my class last year for half the day. They both spent their mornings with me in kdg., and then went to pre-school in the afternoon. They both have late birthdays, so they technically weren't old enough to be in kindergarten. However, D.F.'s grandma, who is our security guard, arranged for D.F. to be placed in a 1st grade class this year (with my approval). I thought A's mom was going to do the same, but she never talked to anyone in the office. I ended up going to the office for her, and was able to get her moved. As much as I'm going to miss her, I was glad to have one less baby.
I also found out that one of the boys who had been sitting in my room for 3 days was also supposed to be in 1st grade. The 1st grade teacher had been listing him as a "no show." That's 2 babies in one day! Woo hoo!
But, that excitement was short-lived. I immediately got 2 more babies the next day, so I was back to 29. Then, this morning, when I went out to pick up my class, a woman walked up to me and essentially handed me her child, saying that she was going to be in my room. Yep, the 30th baby had arrived.
On an up note, preps started today. My babies went to computers today. Yay! And, Ms. H., my parent volunteer, stayed with them and brought them back down for me. She's awesome!
OK, time to bitch about a stupid parent...
One of my babies was still standing outside with me at 3:00. He was the last one, and was waiting for his brother. Turns out the brother's teacher had kept them late, and I obviously missed them coming out, since I was already on my way to the office. I HUGE thunder shower hit as I was walking back into the building, so apparently the brother just went home instead of looking for his baby brother. I sat with him for a while, and finally at about 3:25, I called his house. I was surprised when his mother answered the phone. I identified myself, and told her that T was still sitting at school, despite school ending nearly 45 minutes ago. She goes, "Oh, I didn't even know." WHAT?!?! I mean, seriously, WTF? How do you NOT know that your 5 YEAR OLD still isn't home 45-freakin'-minutes after school got out!? THEN, she has the balls to tell me, "well, he can just walk home by himself." I wanted to reach through the phone and slap a bitch!! What part of HE'S FIVE YEARS OLD did that moron not understand!!?? Argh!!! Ok, I feel my blood pressure rising, so time to move on...
In my never-ending quest to end on a positive note, let me just say again how nice it is to have Ms. H. helping out. It's been working out to about an hour in the morning and about an hour in the afternoon, which doesn't sound like much, but it makes a world of difference, trust me! And, the best part is that she told me she doesn't mind taking my class to their prep and bringing them back when it's over. Woo hoo! You have no idea how wonderful that is for me!! That means I will truly get a 40 minute prep!! Normally, by the time I get the babies together enough to walk, then get them up (to either the 3rd or 4th floor!) to the prep, and come back down, anywhere from 10-15 minutes of my prep is gone. God forbid I have to do something crazy, like pee (!), I end up with about 20 minutes to actually do some work. This is going to almost double the amount of time I have to get things done. THANK YOU, Ms. H!!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
In response to your comment...
Yesterday, someone left this comment for me on this post:
Anon #2_
I agree with you 100%!! I long for the days when kdg. was about socialization and BEGINNING to develop the skills needed to succeed in school. Sadly, it's not like that anymore. I don't know where you live, but check out http://www.isbe.net/earlychi/pdf/iel_standards.pdf
to see the kdg. standards for Illinois. The book is 118 pages long!! If my children don't meet these standards, I'M held accountable, not their parents, not their preschool teacher, ME! And, if Obama gets his way, I'll make less money (to support my own child with!) thanks to this deficit, paired with the lack of support from my students' parents. The whole (merit pay) situation is ludicrous!
The preschool program here in IL supposedly has an academic curriculum, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what it is exactly. However, knowing that kdg. is the new 1st grade, shouldn't pre-k then be the new kdg.? Some children spend 2 years in our pre-school program. Is it too much to ask that they learn a letter or a number or a color? Hell, you can learn that by watching Sesame Street, for God's sake!
As professional educators, we both know that at 3 and 4 years old, children are not developmentally ready for a formal curriculum, but unfortunately, we don't have much of a say-so about it here. It is dictated to us that we do it, so we do it. It's not like I don't know these things, but when I have to deal with it on a daily basis, it becomes incredibly frustrating. Especially given that the parents in our community provide almost nothing when it comes to school-readiness. Most of my students don't have any books in their homes, no one is reading to them, no one is actively teaching them their numbers, letters or colors as part of their daily routine (bring mommy the blue dish, let's count how many cookies, your name starts with an R, etc. Things that you and I probably take for granted.) Most of my students don't even know what the hell their real name is because they've been called Little Man, or Boo Boo for the past 5 years. I'm not trying to be funny, it's a fact. A sad, sad fact.
Whew, sorry, let me climb down from my soapbox before I hurt myself...
-
I've been in Early Childhood for over thirty years, and I take issue with your comment. What's wrong with most Early Childhood programs today is that they are forcing 4 year olds to write before they are ready and many of them can't succeed and stop trying. I don't know who woke up one morning and decided to push the First Grade curriculumn down to K, and so forth, but it needs to stop. Maybe if your kids had been allowed to play more and develop some real small motor skills with clay and lego and puzzles and all those good things in preschool they would be more ready to settle down. On the other hand, that's way too big a group. I taught First Grade with 31 once and I swear there were kids in that class who I was lucky to talk to twice a day.And this was in the days when kids didn't learn to write their last names in Kindergarten and I had 3 Barbara B.s. Any chance of relief?
Anon #2_
I agree with you 100%!! I long for the days when kdg. was about socialization and BEGINNING to develop the skills needed to succeed in school. Sadly, it's not like that anymore. I don't know where you live, but check out http://www.isbe.net/earlychi/pdf/iel_standards.pdf
to see the kdg. standards for Illinois. The book is 118 pages long!! If my children don't meet these standards, I'M held accountable, not their parents, not their preschool teacher, ME! And, if Obama gets his way, I'll make less money (to support my own child with!) thanks to this deficit, paired with the lack of support from my students' parents. The whole (merit pay) situation is ludicrous!
The preschool program here in IL supposedly has an academic curriculum, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what it is exactly. However, knowing that kdg. is the new 1st grade, shouldn't pre-k then be the new kdg.? Some children spend 2 years in our pre-school program. Is it too much to ask that they learn a letter or a number or a color? Hell, you can learn that by watching Sesame Street, for God's sake!
As professional educators, we both know that at 3 and 4 years old, children are not developmentally ready for a formal curriculum, but unfortunately, we don't have much of a say-so about it here. It is dictated to us that we do it, so we do it. It's not like I don't know these things, but when I have to deal with it on a daily basis, it becomes incredibly frustrating. Especially given that the parents in our community provide almost nothing when it comes to school-readiness. Most of my students don't have any books in their homes, no one is reading to them, no one is actively teaching them their numbers, letters or colors as part of their daily routine (bring mommy the blue dish, let's count how many cookies, your name starts with an R, etc. Things that you and I probably take for granted.) Most of my students don't even know what the hell their real name is because they've been called Little Man, or Boo Boo for the past 5 years. I'm not trying to be funny, it's a fact. A sad, sad fact.
Whew, sorry, let me climb down from my soapbox before I hurt myself...
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
What the....?
Wow, talk about a doing a 180! Today was NOT at all like yesterday. Those kids drove me freakin' crazy today!!!! I actually could feel myself raising my voice by the end of the day. I NEVER like to raise my voice the first week of school. I don't want them to think their teacher is some big, scary dragon. She's supposed to be The Queen, remember? I'm up to 25 babies now (with about 17 "no shows" on my list.) As much as I'm not enjoying having such a full class, I'm still wishing that about 25 more would show up, so that New Principal will open the other kindergarten class again, and put my friend back in kindergarten with me. I have a sinking feeling that the majority of the missing kids will show up after Labor Day, since their parents don't think school starts til then. I'm just afraid that by then, it'll be too late to open up another position, since it will be after the 20th day of school. (That's the 'magic day' that most of our funding is based on.)
I forgot to mention yesterday that one of the things New Principal told me at the end of the day was that she was going to send one of our parent volunteers to help me out during the day. She's one of my very favorite volunteers, so I'm very excited. She's actually worked for me in my afterschool program for the past couple of years. New Principal mentioned that if I kept getting more kids, she would send another person to help, as well, until she can reopen the other kindergarten. I'm glad she's as hopeful as I am that this is going to happen.
Even with Ms. H. to help me, the babies drove me nuts today. Even she couldn't believe how they were acting. We couldn't keep still, keep our hands to ourselves, or keep our mouths shut, to save our lives today! It was infuriating! I wonder if part of my lack of patience comes from the fact that I was just so very in love with my last class. They were phenomenal!! And, with the very short break that we had, I didn't have a chance to "forget" how wonderful they were. I don't know, whatever it is, I hope I can find some extra patience to deal with this group. The fact that I've been spending my days drenched in sweat is doing nothing to improve my mood, either!
Oo, Big Cheese news! I found out from my favorite mom, Mrs. G., that ever since Big Cheese was "evicted" from our school, he's been over at another school, doing absolutely NOTHING! This particular school isn't actually a functioning school with students. It's used for professional development, and as basically a holding place for displaced principals! His plan is to wait out his time until the end of the month, and then he can officially retire. Hopefully, the board will get their investigation going by then, or he's gonna get off scott free!
I forgot to mention yesterday that one of the things New Principal told me at the end of the day was that she was going to send one of our parent volunteers to help me out during the day. She's one of my very favorite volunteers, so I'm very excited. She's actually worked for me in my afterschool program for the past couple of years. New Principal mentioned that if I kept getting more kids, she would send another person to help, as well, until she can reopen the other kindergarten. I'm glad she's as hopeful as I am that this is going to happen.
Even with Ms. H. to help me, the babies drove me nuts today. Even she couldn't believe how they were acting. We couldn't keep still, keep our hands to ourselves, or keep our mouths shut, to save our lives today! It was infuriating! I wonder if part of my lack of patience comes from the fact that I was just so very in love with my last class. They were phenomenal!! And, with the very short break that we had, I didn't have a chance to "forget" how wonderful they were. I don't know, whatever it is, I hope I can find some extra patience to deal with this group. The fact that I've been spending my days drenched in sweat is doing nothing to improve my mood, either!
Oo, Big Cheese news! I found out from my favorite mom, Mrs. G., that ever since Big Cheese was "evicted" from our school, he's been over at another school, doing absolutely NOTHING! This particular school isn't actually a functioning school with students. It's used for professional development, and as basically a holding place for displaced principals! His plan is to wait out his time until the end of the month, and then he can officially retire. Hopefully, the board will get their investigation going by then, or he's gonna get off scott free!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Day Poo. I mean 2....
Seeing as it's already nearly 10:30, and it's WAY past my bedtime, I'll try and make this as short as possible.
The wind was completely let out of my sails today.
The wind was completely let out of my sails today.
- My room STILL hadn't even been TOUCHED when I walked in this morning. Seriously?!
- We sat in a meeting until nearly 1:30 again. We talked about inclusion and LRE for HOURS!
- We received the tentative prep schedule. I WASN'T EVEN ON IT! We are going from 5 preps a week to 4, 2 of which are to be used for collaborative meetings, leaving us 2 freakin' preps a week to get work done! It seemed that every one of the other kdg. preps was at a different time each day, which is really annoying. I'm dreading seeing the same schedule for myself tomorrow.
- As we were swiping out this afternoon, New Principal called my friend over to tell her that there were going to be changes made in the morning. When they walked away to talk, I asked one of the clerk WTF was going on, and bottom line, she's moving my friend out of kdg. because we don't have enough babies for two classes. Um...hello!! Apparently, New Principal doesn't realize how our parents operate in Englewood. You don't register your child for school in April or May when the board asks you to. You sign them up when you're damn good and ready, which is usually the first week of school. I guarantee that by next Friday, we will have well over 50 kdg. students. (We currently have 29, which I'm sorry, is WAY too many for one class!)
- As I was walking to the parking lot, past my room, I saw that the janitors were just starting to wash my floor. At 3:30! I asked the janitor if I was going to be able to move my furniture back tomorrow, and he promised I would. That would mean something if I wasn't already promised that my room was going to be finished every day since freakin' Monday!!
- Oh, did I mention New Principal said that she planned to do a walk-through tomorrow to check every one's rooms? She wants to make sure that they're all set up exactly to her specifications. Are you kidding me?! I've already lost two days of work time in my room. She mentioned both days that the building was going to be open until at least 8pm, if we want to stay and work. HA! Yeah, right! That's EXACTLY what I want to do. Stay in Englewood until 8pm. Is she out of her flippin' mind?!
- New Principal still plans to go ahead with the planned rally for the neighborhood tomorrow afternoon. I better believe I'm going to ask/beg her to let me stay in the building and work on my room instead of participating in this silly rally. Every time I think about the huge task ahead of me, I truly want to cry.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Yeah, I'm still here...
I know I've been pretty much a slacker here lately, so I apologize to anyone who has been bothered by that. Oh, who am I kidding, the three of you that read this love me no matter what, right! ;-)
Today is my last day of "freedom." It's back to work tomorrow. Oh, joy. I actually went to school yesterday, hoping to get my room set up, but it was a bust. When we went in for out "Meet the New Principal" meeting a few weeks ago, I saw that everything had been taken out of the room next to mine (where my best bud will be teaching this year, yay!) and placed in the hallway. For those not in the know, that means the room was about to be thoroughly cleaned. The "summer clean," if you will. Well, here we are, 3 weeks later, and EVERYTHING WAS STILL IN THE FREAKIN' HALLWAY!! MY room hadn't even been touched yet! Um, HELLO!! We come back to work TOMORROW!!! Ok, calm down, ChiTown, get a grip!
I've gotten really spoiled working for the Big Cheese. In "real" schools, the first 3 days back are mostly meetings. We get our schedules, have professional development meetings, etc. At the Hell-Hole, we had about 45 minutes to an hour of "meetings" each day (most of it BS and nonsense) then the rest of the day was ours. We could set up our rooms, socialize, whatever. Now, with a real principal in charge, I'm assuming we'll be having 3 days of meetings, with very little time to set up our rooms. That's why I went yesterday, thinking I'd spend yesterday and today setting up, and then not have to worry about it the rest of the week. Yeah, well, fuck me! It hadn't even been touched.
I'm really pretty pissed about the whole thing, since I have a LOT of work to do, and not a lot of time. There's no way I'll be staying late each day in the ghetto, especially given that it's only August, and every scumbag gang-banger will be out by 3 when we get off work. I'm thinking that maybe I'll go in about an hour early each day, since not a soul in the neighborhood will be out, but that still kinda sucks, since I like my sleep!
I suggested that they just skip my room this year, since it really wasn't that bad. I'm a bit obsessed with keeping it clean since I'm terrified of getting rodents and/or roaches in my room. It looks better now than most rooms looked after being "cleaned" in the past. But, now we have a new engineer and janitorial staff, so we were promised some major cleaning. I was really excited by the prospect of NOT having to sweep up dead bugs and rodent droppings myself when I came back. Now, the wind has been let out of my sails.
Let's just hope New Principal will give us adequate time to set up. I'm hoping she will, as she decided to move many teachers around during the past couple of weeks. She has to realize that we all need time to get our rooms in order and ready to receive the babies on Monday. And, actually, we only have two days to get this done because she told us at the last meeting that she's planning on having a Back-to-School rally on Friday for the neighborhood. I can't wait to see how that goes! Yikes!
Oo, a weird little side note to share - when I went in yesterday, I noticed a couple of the bulletin boards in the hallway had been decorated. They face the front door, and we've traditionally used one of them to display the names of all the staff members. Someone put the board up, but I noticed at the top that two of the apples used for names said "principal" on them. One with New Principal's name, one with a name I didn't know. WTF? I asked Mr. H., our assistant principal about it, and he said that this other woman is being sent in to help out (THAT'S how screwed up the Hell-Hole is!!) but that she also works at another school, so I'm not sure how this is going to work.
This year, I'm going to try hard to bring this back to being a 'school blog,' which is what I originally intended it to be. I intend to come and post daily, like I used to when I first started this blog. I assume they'll be plenty to write about, given all the changes we are undergoing. I'm hoping I'll be able to come up with a different nickname for the Hell-Hole, too. You know, something a little more positive. I'm positive I have a lot of work to do this week....
Oh, and just to get the last of my bitching out, let me share that most of our summer has been in the high 60s-mid 70s (even hitting 50s at night!) Suffice it to say, I've never been happier!!! I wish EVERY summer was like this! But, now that I have to go back to work - in the ghetto - in an un-air-conditioned crappy old building - it's going to climb to the freakin' 90s by the end of the week!!!! WTF!??!
And, not to leave on such a crabby note, let me share that I'm planning to head to Navy Pier this Saturday night because friends of mine will be playing in the beer garden from 8-11. If you're free and in the area, PLEASE stop by and say hi! (8741, this means you, if you can!!) Let's just hope the lake will cool things down enough to be tolerable. We plan to dance our behinds off!
Today is my last day of "freedom." It's back to work tomorrow. Oh, joy. I actually went to school yesterday, hoping to get my room set up, but it was a bust. When we went in for out "Meet the New Principal" meeting a few weeks ago, I saw that everything had been taken out of the room next to mine (where my best bud will be teaching this year, yay!) and placed in the hallway. For those not in the know, that means the room was about to be thoroughly cleaned. The "summer clean," if you will. Well, here we are, 3 weeks later, and EVERYTHING WAS STILL IN THE FREAKIN' HALLWAY!! MY room hadn't even been touched yet! Um, HELLO!! We come back to work TOMORROW!!! Ok, calm down, ChiTown, get a grip!
I've gotten really spoiled working for the Big Cheese. In "real" schools, the first 3 days back are mostly meetings. We get our schedules, have professional development meetings, etc. At the Hell-Hole, we had about 45 minutes to an hour of "meetings" each day (most of it BS and nonsense) then the rest of the day was ours. We could set up our rooms, socialize, whatever. Now, with a real principal in charge, I'm assuming we'll be having 3 days of meetings, with very little time to set up our rooms. That's why I went yesterday, thinking I'd spend yesterday and today setting up, and then not have to worry about it the rest of the week. Yeah, well, fuck me! It hadn't even been touched.
I'm really pretty pissed about the whole thing, since I have a LOT of work to do, and not a lot of time. There's no way I'll be staying late each day in the ghetto, especially given that it's only August, and every scumbag gang-banger will be out by 3 when we get off work. I'm thinking that maybe I'll go in about an hour early each day, since not a soul in the neighborhood will be out, but that still kinda sucks, since I like my sleep!
I suggested that they just skip my room this year, since it really wasn't that bad. I'm a bit obsessed with keeping it clean since I'm terrified of getting rodents and/or roaches in my room. It looks better now than most rooms looked after being "cleaned" in the past. But, now we have a new engineer and janitorial staff, so we were promised some major cleaning. I was really excited by the prospect of NOT having to sweep up dead bugs and rodent droppings myself when I came back. Now, the wind has been let out of my sails.
Let's just hope New Principal will give us adequate time to set up. I'm hoping she will, as she decided to move many teachers around during the past couple of weeks. She has to realize that we all need time to get our rooms in order and ready to receive the babies on Monday. And, actually, we only have two days to get this done because she told us at the last meeting that she's planning on having a Back-to-School rally on Friday for the neighborhood. I can't wait to see how that goes! Yikes!
Oo, a weird little side note to share - when I went in yesterday, I noticed a couple of the bulletin boards in the hallway had been decorated. They face the front door, and we've traditionally used one of them to display the names of all the staff members. Someone put the board up, but I noticed at the top that two of the apples used for names said "principal" on them. One with New Principal's name, one with a name I didn't know. WTF? I asked Mr. H., our assistant principal about it, and he said that this other woman is being sent in to help out (THAT'S how screwed up the Hell-Hole is!!) but that she also works at another school, so I'm not sure how this is going to work.
This year, I'm going to try hard to bring this back to being a 'school blog,' which is what I originally intended it to be. I intend to come and post daily, like I used to when I first started this blog. I assume they'll be plenty to write about, given all the changes we are undergoing. I'm hoping I'll be able to come up with a different nickname for the Hell-Hole, too. You know, something a little more positive. I'm positive I have a lot of work to do this week....
Oh, and just to get the last of my bitching out, let me share that most of our summer has been in the high 60s-mid 70s (even hitting 50s at night!) Suffice it to say, I've never been happier!!! I wish EVERY summer was like this! But, now that I have to go back to work - in the ghetto - in an un-air-conditioned crappy old building - it's going to climb to the freakin' 90s by the end of the week!!!! WTF!??!
And, not to leave on such a crabby note, let me share that I'm planning to head to Navy Pier this Saturday night because friends of mine will be playing in the beer garden from 8-11. If you're free and in the area, PLEASE stop by and say hi! (8741, this means you, if you can!!) Let's just hope the lake will cool things down enough to be tolerable. We plan to dance our behinds off!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Mini Update
Ok, so we had a meeting yesterday with our new principal. So far, so good. It was a VERY short meeting, far too short in my opinion, but she was able to touch on a few things that sounded promising.
One of the things I'm most excited about it that she going to be strictly enforcing the uniform policy. Like just about every other CPS school, our students will be expected to wear white shirts, WITH collars, and navy blue pants/skirts/jumpers. THAT'S IT! Big Cheese had decided that any white shirt would be acceptable, including T-shirts. He decided black or blue pants were ok, and hey, even jeans would be ok. WTF? You just gave the kids permission to dress in the neighborhood gang banger uniform - white T-shirt and baggy jeans. Nice!
Last year, he decided to try a couple of new things. White, yellow or blue shirts would be acceptable as uniform, and that every Friday (EVERY Friday!!!) would be dress-down day. Seriously?! WTF?! I had actually argued pretty strongly with him about that one. I don't see anything wrong with an occasional dress-down day, as long as the kids have to EARN it. Maybe the last day of each marking period, and you have to have worn your uniform everyday up to that point. NOT every week, that's ridiculous! I don't think any children were in uniform last year. Which meant I could easily tell you what kind of boxers every one of the boys wore, because their jeans hung down to the back of their freakin' knees. The girls were no better, wearing shirts that they probably took out of their kindergarten sister's drawers!
I'm so excited about this one little change, it's crazy! She already has the marquee outside of school stating that uniforms are required on the first day of school. Yay, New Principal!! (I need to get to know her a little better before I can come up with a clever nickname.)
I had thrown out a suggestion to her regarding something we did at my last school. On the first day of school, all the teachers dressed in "uniform" to let the kids know how important it was to adhere to the uniform policy. Well, she got all excited and said, "I'm so glad you brought that up. I was going to tell you all this later, but at my last school, the teachers did this every Monday, and so we'll be doing the same." Oh, and she added, "If we were off on a Monday, then we did it on Tuesday." Woo hoo!! That's seriously one less day that I have to worry about figuring out what I'll be wearing to work. I think it's great!
She has already made some big changes in the past week and a half regarding the appearance of the school. There must have been a cleaning frenzy going on! She basically gutted the front office, threw out about 60% of the furniture, and rearranged what was left. It looks amazing. Our payroll clerk, who used to basically sit in a vault all day, is having a very difficult time with the new boss, however. She's been told that she will be expected to move out of her "closet" and sit out in the office. She also is expected to actually do all clerk duties, not just hide away all week, and only do payroll. Now, those of you who either work now or have worked in the past at the Hell-Hole realize what a huge thing this is!! Apparently, she tried to tell the new boss that, no, she's just the payroll clerk, and that's not her job, but that went over like a lead balloon. I can't wait to see what fireworks come from this!
The school looks so different already. There are REAL flowers and plants all over the place! Not just in the office, but in the hallway. I was amazed to see vases of fresh flowers beautifully places around the entranceway. Someone has gone down the hall and covered all the bulletin boards with fresh new paper and borders, and bright, pretty colors. New Principal told us in the meeting that she loves to see color, and she plans to keep adding it to the school. For as long as I've been there, the entire school has been the same shade of...I don't even know...dirty beige? There were some volunteers that came the week school ended and painted murals around the building. There's a HUGE one directly outside my door that is beautiful. I love it. The only problem I have, though, is it's on a wall that I used to completely cover with my babies' work. I'm going to have to figure out where to hang their beautiful papers and projects now. I was told that there are other murals on the second and third floors, but I didn't venture up there yesterday.
She told us she plans to "beautify" the bathrooms, and enlisted the art teacher to spearhead that project. She said she wants to have a "theme" for each bathroom (i.e. Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, etc. Possibly a copyright infringement, no?) which I'm hoping will help cut down on all the graffiti.
I stepped out the front door to talk to a parent (Mrs. G., who you all know I love!) and literally gasped when I saw what's changed already. We have grass in our courtyards! AND flowers! It looks like a completely different school. Somehow I got sucked into being on the School Beautification Committee (or whatever the hell it's called) and we are going to be applying for a grant to get landscape materials. Specifically, we will be turning our front courtyards into butterfly gardens. I think it's going to be magnificent. Most years I try to do the whole butterfly thing with my babies, and now we'll have the perfect place to release them. Our engineer has promised to bring me some caterpillars when school starts so we can do it right away. (I suppose that one advantage of starting school so early. Hey, I'm trying to find the silver lining here, people!)
I'm really excited to see how these changes all come together, and what effect it will have on our students. I hope they get on board with the new program. Although, she seems like a tough cookie, so they may have no other choice! The school she came from (where she was for over 20 years) is not too far from our school, but is directly across from one of the biggest projects in the city. She said the demographics of her last school were comparable to the Hell-Hole, but I have a feeling it was a bit rougher. I assume that means she'll be able to handle anything (student, parent, teacher) that tries to stand in her way. Yay!! Finally, an administrator who has a spine!!!! I'm so excited!
Well, I suppose "mini"update isn't all that accurate now, is it? I'm going to stop right here, before you all fall into a coma from boredom. But, hey, I'm excited!!!
One of the things I'm most excited about it that she going to be strictly enforcing the uniform policy. Like just about every other CPS school, our students will be expected to wear white shirts, WITH collars, and navy blue pants/skirts/jumpers. THAT'S IT! Big Cheese had decided that any white shirt would be acceptable, including T-shirts. He decided black or blue pants were ok, and hey, even jeans would be ok. WTF? You just gave the kids permission to dress in the neighborhood gang banger uniform - white T-shirt and baggy jeans. Nice!
Last year, he decided to try a couple of new things. White, yellow or blue shirts would be acceptable as uniform, and that every Friday (EVERY Friday!!!) would be dress-down day. Seriously?! WTF?! I had actually argued pretty strongly with him about that one. I don't see anything wrong with an occasional dress-down day, as long as the kids have to EARN it. Maybe the last day of each marking period, and you have to have worn your uniform everyday up to that point. NOT every week, that's ridiculous! I don't think any children were in uniform last year. Which meant I could easily tell you what kind of boxers every one of the boys wore, because their jeans hung down to the back of their freakin' knees. The girls were no better, wearing shirts that they probably took out of their kindergarten sister's drawers!
I'm so excited about this one little change, it's crazy! She already has the marquee outside of school stating that uniforms are required on the first day of school. Yay, New Principal!! (I need to get to know her a little better before I can come up with a clever nickname.)
I had thrown out a suggestion to her regarding something we did at my last school. On the first day of school, all the teachers dressed in "uniform" to let the kids know how important it was to adhere to the uniform policy. Well, she got all excited and said, "I'm so glad you brought that up. I was going to tell you all this later, but at my last school, the teachers did this every Monday, and so we'll be doing the same." Oh, and she added, "If we were off on a Monday, then we did it on Tuesday." Woo hoo!! That's seriously one less day that I have to worry about figuring out what I'll be wearing to work. I think it's great!
She has already made some big changes in the past week and a half regarding the appearance of the school. There must have been a cleaning frenzy going on! She basically gutted the front office, threw out about 60% of the furniture, and rearranged what was left. It looks amazing. Our payroll clerk, who used to basically sit in a vault all day, is having a very difficult time with the new boss, however. She's been told that she will be expected to move out of her "closet" and sit out in the office. She also is expected to actually do all clerk duties, not just hide away all week, and only do payroll. Now, those of you who either work now or have worked in the past at the Hell-Hole realize what a huge thing this is!! Apparently, she tried to tell the new boss that, no, she's just the payroll clerk, and that's not her job, but that went over like a lead balloon. I can't wait to see what fireworks come from this!
The school looks so different already. There are REAL flowers and plants all over the place! Not just in the office, but in the hallway. I was amazed to see vases of fresh flowers beautifully places around the entranceway. Someone has gone down the hall and covered all the bulletin boards with fresh new paper and borders, and bright, pretty colors. New Principal told us in the meeting that she loves to see color, and she plans to keep adding it to the school. For as long as I've been there, the entire school has been the same shade of...I don't even know...dirty beige? There were some volunteers that came the week school ended and painted murals around the building. There's a HUGE one directly outside my door that is beautiful. I love it. The only problem I have, though, is it's on a wall that I used to completely cover with my babies' work. I'm going to have to figure out where to hang their beautiful papers and projects now. I was told that there are other murals on the second and third floors, but I didn't venture up there yesterday.
She told us she plans to "beautify" the bathrooms, and enlisted the art teacher to spearhead that project. She said she wants to have a "theme" for each bathroom (i.e. Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, etc. Possibly a copyright infringement, no?) which I'm hoping will help cut down on all the graffiti.
I stepped out the front door to talk to a parent (Mrs. G., who you all know I love!) and literally gasped when I saw what's changed already. We have grass in our courtyards! AND flowers! It looks like a completely different school. Somehow I got sucked into being on the School Beautification Committee (or whatever the hell it's called) and we are going to be applying for a grant to get landscape materials. Specifically, we will be turning our front courtyards into butterfly gardens. I think it's going to be magnificent. Most years I try to do the whole butterfly thing with my babies, and now we'll have the perfect place to release them. Our engineer has promised to bring me some caterpillars when school starts so we can do it right away. (I suppose that one advantage of starting school so early. Hey, I'm trying to find the silver lining here, people!)
I'm really excited to see how these changes all come together, and what effect it will have on our students. I hope they get on board with the new program. Although, she seems like a tough cookie, so they may have no other choice! The school she came from (where she was for over 20 years) is not too far from our school, but is directly across from one of the biggest projects in the city. She said the demographics of her last school were comparable to the Hell-Hole, but I have a feeling it was a bit rougher. I assume that means she'll be able to handle anything (student, parent, teacher) that tries to stand in her way. Yay!! Finally, an administrator who has a spine!!!! I'm so excited!
Well, I suppose "mini"update isn't all that accurate now, is it? I'm going to stop right here, before you all fall into a coma from boredom. But, hey, I'm excited!!!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Wow, thanks...
...to all my Bloggy Buddies, and the other commenters, who have shared their love and concern for me and my Hell-Hole situation. Actually, I'm feeling a bit guilty that I even mentioned the whole shooting thing. Well, truthfully, I don't really know what I feel about that. The shooting was the LEAST of my concerns when deciding to take today off. It was due more to the fact that I've been completely stressed out from dealing with bratty kids all week. Couple that with the fact that Stud Muffin has the day off, AND his bed is being delivered today, and all the planets seemed to align for a mental health day.
Tuesday, the other Kdg. teacher was out, so her kids were nuts all day, which meant I had to deal with their poor behavior all day and help out the sub who was unfortunate enough to be assigned to that class. They actually act 10 times WORSE when their actual teacher is there, but that's another post.
Then, on Wednesday, the 1st grade teachers were both out for workshops, so the class across the hall was FUCKING AWFUL!!! I have NEVER seen them act the way they were. They were running around, throwing things, fighting with each other, just acting like animals. I could hear them clear at the opposite end of the hall, they were so damn loud. They were so incredibly rude and disrespectful to their sub. I was just in shock. One of the parents stayed all day to try and help the poor woman who was subbing, but the kids were just as rude and disrespectful to her, and she's there almost everyday, as they were to the stranger. Unbelievable. I finally had to step in and take over for a while. They were supposed to have gym that afternoon, so I had the sub take MY class to gym, and I took the first graders into my room for 40 minutes of lecturing. Yeah, I'm a bitch, what of it? I also had them write letters of apology to the sub. If they said they were finished, I had them put their heads down and just be quiet until the period was over. They all knew better than to piss me off, so it was pretty much silent for 40 minutes. (You know what else in unbelievable? That the two "security guards," that sit on their asses all day in the hallway, BOTH commented on how "that class is just off the chain!" but neither one of them made any attempt to go down to the classroom and see if the sub needed any help. You know damn well that the office could hear the noise just as well as I could, but Big Cheese didn't bother to go down there, either. Pitiful!)
For some reason, my own babies drove me nuts yesterday. It was probably a combination of the previous two days of having to be Super Bitch and the fact that I think I'm PMSing. (Plus, I had perfect attendance yesterday, so every one of the babies was there to push my buttons!) The cherry on top was Big Cheese making that announcement at the end of the day. I wasn't scared by it, just pissed off. I mean, for God's sake, why don't you scumbags just kill each other and get it over with, and leave us the hell alone! It's just another inconvenience of working in the ghetto. I've said before that shooting goes on all the time while we're in school, but usually it happens during the day, when the kids are all in the building. I haven't taken my kids out for recess/playtime in years because of all the shooting. The reason Big Cheese even mentioned it now is because the gang bangers are forgetting the unwritten rules, and are shooting it out when kids are around. Assbags!
Getting back to my confusion about how to feel about this, after reading all your comments, I was hit by how numb I've become to all the madness that is Englewood. I should be as scared for myself as you guys are for me, and yet, like I said, I'm just annoyed and irritated by it. There's something wrong with that, isn't there? I don't know, I suppose that's what happens after a decade of working in the ghetto. Whatever it takes, I guess, to come back everyday for the babies. Truthfully, some of your comments made me feel really guilty about not being there today when the babies are there. On some level, I feel like I've abandoned them, even though I know, logically, that's NOT the case. Like I said, the situation is really no different than any other day. Sad? Yes. Fact of life in the ghetto? Yes. Will I be returning Monday, after a long weekend, feeling refreshed, both physically and mentally, ready to give my all to the babies I love? YES!
Tuesday, the other Kdg. teacher was out, so her kids were nuts all day, which meant I had to deal with their poor behavior all day and help out the sub who was unfortunate enough to be assigned to that class. They actually act 10 times WORSE when their actual teacher is there, but that's another post.
Then, on Wednesday, the 1st grade teachers were both out for workshops, so the class across the hall was FUCKING AWFUL!!! I have NEVER seen them act the way they were. They were running around, throwing things, fighting with each other, just acting like animals. I could hear them clear at the opposite end of the hall, they were so damn loud. They were so incredibly rude and disrespectful to their sub. I was just in shock. One of the parents stayed all day to try and help the poor woman who was subbing, but the kids were just as rude and disrespectful to her, and she's there almost everyday, as they were to the stranger. Unbelievable. I finally had to step in and take over for a while. They were supposed to have gym that afternoon, so I had the sub take MY class to gym, and I took the first graders into my room for 40 minutes of lecturing. Yeah, I'm a bitch, what of it? I also had them write letters of apology to the sub. If they said they were finished, I had them put their heads down and just be quiet until the period was over. They all knew better than to piss me off, so it was pretty much silent for 40 minutes. (You know what else in unbelievable? That the two "security guards," that sit on their asses all day in the hallway, BOTH commented on how "that class is just off the chain!" but neither one of them made any attempt to go down to the classroom and see if the sub needed any help. You know damn well that the office could hear the noise just as well as I could, but Big Cheese didn't bother to go down there, either. Pitiful!)
For some reason, my own babies drove me nuts yesterday. It was probably a combination of the previous two days of having to be Super Bitch and the fact that I think I'm PMSing. (Plus, I had perfect attendance yesterday, so every one of the babies was there to push my buttons!) The cherry on top was Big Cheese making that announcement at the end of the day. I wasn't scared by it, just pissed off. I mean, for God's sake, why don't you scumbags just kill each other and get it over with, and leave us the hell alone! It's just another inconvenience of working in the ghetto. I've said before that shooting goes on all the time while we're in school, but usually it happens during the day, when the kids are all in the building. I haven't taken my kids out for recess/playtime in years because of all the shooting. The reason Big Cheese even mentioned it now is because the gang bangers are forgetting the unwritten rules, and are shooting it out when kids are around. Assbags!
Getting back to my confusion about how to feel about this, after reading all your comments, I was hit by how numb I've become to all the madness that is Englewood. I should be as scared for myself as you guys are for me, and yet, like I said, I'm just annoyed and irritated by it. There's something wrong with that, isn't there? I don't know, I suppose that's what happens after a decade of working in the ghetto. Whatever it takes, I guess, to come back everyday for the babies. Truthfully, some of your comments made me feel really guilty about not being there today when the babies are there. On some level, I feel like I've abandoned them, even though I know, logically, that's NOT the case. Like I said, the situation is really no different than any other day. Sad? Yes. Fact of life in the ghetto? Yes. Will I be returning Monday, after a long weekend, feeling refreshed, both physically and mentally, ready to give my all to the babies I love? YES!
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