teachers unite- Page 6

[singingwendy]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 9:27pm

Wow Kel...sounds like someone needs a few days off for a mental health break! As someone who's taught on a cart (and has to do it tomorrow) I can understand the frustration, but it's completely inappropriate to take it out on the kids. I can't imagine getting back in front of a group of children after you've flipped out like that. She's totally lost their respect, and it will be a LONG time until she gains it back.

And her comment that "every school in the nation gives 10 minutes between classes" is a big old lie. Until this year, I had NO time between classes...they came one right after the other. And when I travelled I was supposed to have 5 minutes in between, but often that didn't happen either. It only happened this year because I personally went to the one teacher and asked if I could come 5 minutes later than her assigned time.

In other news....I stayed home sick today, and sure enough there was no sub for my classes. I shouldn't feel guilty for staying home when I feel like crap, yet, when they can't find someone to cover my classes I feel awful because the teachers lose their prep and the kids don't get music. Plus, I get annoyed when I take time to write sub plans and they aren't used...

[KelRel]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 9:27pm

Adam, I teach 5th graders. She is a little nuts. None of us like her and we all dread when she comes to our room because she just yells and screams at the kids and has tried to yell at the other teachers as well. Today was the first time she really went off on one of us and I am still in shock about it all.

ETA- Wendy, yeah she needs to take some time off. I need to take some time off. I can't wait for Columbus day so I can relax at home, well as much as one can relax with a 5 month old.

Updated On: 10/6/08 at 09:27 PM

[singingwendy]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 9:35pm

Enjoy Columbus Day! We have off Thursday for Yom Kippur and then Friday is an inservice day. It will be a nice short week, and I'm excited to FINALLY meet all the new members of the music faculty.

[KelRel]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 9:36pm

Well I am sick, stinkin' head cold, so I'm going to go crash. Good night all!!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 9:56pm

I think every school has a nutty, off their rocker teacher. With us, it's one of our LA teachers, who seems to hate everyone and everything. One of my friends is an LA teacher, and apparently at the last LA meeting, this teacher felt that the other LA teachers were plotting against her, and announced that they got together for their own private meetings where they plotted ways to go against her at the department meetings. My friend's response was, "Do you really think we have time for that?"

Privately, many of discuss the fact that she just really needs to get laid.

[violet72]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 10:44am

The kids are at a fire safety assembly and I FINALLY get a prep today (went 3 days with out one) so I am taking a break and reading the thread. Wow Kel that is insane. We have a few burnt out teachers just like that.

I had something like that happen to me except it was a principal (who is now fired). He was not a people person. He was principal my first 2 years of teaching and he had other teachers spying on one another, they were not allowed to have holiday parties in their room (these kids are in K5 to 3rd grade). Technically he was not my boss because the head of the CST is. Well I walk in the office to sign in and he asks me for my PIP(which he has no right to look at because he is not my boss) I was trying to tell him it was on file at the CST office when he started yelling profanities at me in front of the whole office...I left and called my boss and she came over to tell him he has no right asking for my PIP and yelling at me, she told me to never be alone in a room with him...then the next day he asked me to write a report on my students, so I did and went to hand it to him and he looked at me like I was crazy and threw it on his desk, then the next day he asked me to write another report for him because it was not good enough (it was 6 pages long describing the proficiency of each of my students with an individualized learning plan for each student.) Then I put in a referral to have one of my students studied by the CST team and in the meeting he blew up on me and told me I had no idea about this child that it was my teaching approach which he had not idea about because he never observed me...when he was done his tantrum I informed him that I wanted him studied for PST because he was a child soldier in Africa and he was having problems concentrating due to it....anyway there were several more run ins with him and at the end of my 2nd year he was fired for stealing...it was one of the greatest days of my life....sad but true and now this school is a much better working environment....

sorry so long, off to run copies

[violet72]

Posted: 10/10/08 at 11:18am

woohoo bumping in celebration for the 3 day weekend

[KelRel]

Posted: 10/10/08 at 5:15pm

Woo Hoo for 3 day weekends!!! I'm so excited for my long weekend and an extra day away from the munchkins.

Oh and I get to recover from a sore back from breaking up a fight where a kid tried to reach around from behind me to hit another kid and missed and hit me. The joys of teaching...

[geaj]

Posted: 10/10/08 at 7:48pm

This has been a great thread to read. I'm a high school special services teacher with 19 years of experience. I LOVE my job- always have- but, boy it's taxing. Hang in there new people; it's what you make of it! You've either got it, or you don't.... Let's see, so far this year I've had to deal with writing five IEPs since the start of school (very unusual), preparing and teaching three blocks daily, a student rape, a student with a box cutter, i.e. 9/11 type, who sliced his arm open in class, and today, a two hour and 15 minute marathon IEP meeting with a Lawyer who is hot to sue, two advocates, and all the others necessary to be invited by law to make everything nice and legal! I'm NOT complaining, just pointing out that there's a lot more to it than teaching. Now I'm sitting at home on a Friday listening to HS football (our team is currently ranked No.1 and may win the state championship this year) and having a martini...or three maybe. I'm tired! Is it May yet?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/10/08 at 8:41pm

Thank goodness for the long weekend!


A bunch of us were talking this afternoon, before we all dashed out of the building (many of us were literally following the students out today), and we all seemed to agree that for some reason this year has been exhausting. We're all a lot more exhausted now then we were at this point last year.
Updated On: 10/10/08 at 08:41 PM

[singingwendy]

Posted: 10/10/08 at 9:14pm

Interesting that everyone has off on Monday. Our district had off on Thursday for Yom Kippur and then Inservice today. But we're in for Columbus day.......

I was actually looking forward to our inservice today because the entire music faculty had not gotten together yet this year. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very frustrating day of basically being told we should be reinforcing everything that they do in the 'regular" classroom and basically teaching English and Math using arts as the inspiration. Then reviewing the very skill heavy curriculum we wrote this summer that will be completely blown out of the water if we have to teach the way we were instructed in the first session....ugh! At least we were able to talk to a few fellow music teachers, so that was nice.

Oh...and on a good note, I worked out a deal for my chorus to sing at a local festival, so they'll be super excited at our next rehearsal!

[geaj]

Posted: 10/10/08 at 9:36pm

Well, we're not off Monday either. The kids are, but we have inservice. The martinis are kicking in! Thank goodness! BTW, our team is winning!

[violet72]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 2:07pm

My marching band came in 2nd last night at the Yahmaha Cup at Giants Stadium. They did well and they were so excited. I am exhausted and am glad I have tomorrow off to recover from last night (got in bed at 3am) and from my embarrassing fall on Friday.

We were walking out for a fire drill, I turned around to tell the students to be quiet and there was a pot hole I did not see and I twisted my ankle and went down like a ton of bricks. I am ok, just sore. I think my ego was more hurt, especially when they brought out the wheelchair for me. I was the gossip of the day. I heard everything from that I was rushed to the hospital to that I had hit my head and was bleeding. haha

[singingwendy]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 10:43pm

I hope everyone enjoys their day off tomorrow and gets well! Sore backs, twisted ankles....we're quite the sorry lot!

This weekend I got a letter from the district approving my computer loan request. That means that today I went and bought an Airport Express and a Snowball microphone! These are to add to the MacBook I bought in June. More fun toys to play with! I'm really excited about the microphone because if it does all the fun things I think it will do, I'm going to ask for one for school too!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/13/08 at 12:02pm

Do any of you fellow teachers use Power Teacher for your grades, attendance, and whatnot??

I thought it was the coolest thing ever at first, but now, I'm so over it. It's very tedious, and it has a habit of giving me "System Errors" when it doesn't like the abbreviation for an assignment.

Anyone else use this program? What are your thoughts?

[violet72]

Posted: 10/13/08 at 9:22pm

sorry don't have that program

Wendy in our High school we have a music tech lab. It is set up with computers and keyboards. In music tech class this week they are taking video that they shot last week and writing music scores for it. It is really cool. Also for stage craft they are designing the lighting scheme for the holiday show and then the spring musical on the computers. I would have loved to have taken both of these classes when I was in high school

[singingwendy]

Posted: 10/13/08 at 9:38pm

oops...hit Clear form instead of post...and now I need to go....I'll be back to reply soon....


But Adam...can't help...we don't use Power Teacher, we use something called ESchool Plus. Updated On: 10/13/08 at 09:38 PM

[KelRel]

Posted: 10/14/08 at 8:26pm

So today was crazy and I am wanting to cry...tears of joy and frustration and simple outrage. We had a teacher walk out today, then we had a family literacy night that no one showed for and then on top of it all we get a call at the school at 7pm, keep in mind that I've been there since 6:45am, from a parent that she can't find her kids. School lets out at 4:00 and she was JUST NOW calling us. Well we can't find the girls anywhere, we went out and canvased the apartments near-by, called the bus driver, called other kids and friends from the class and no one knows anything. Finally around 7:30 the mom calls and says that they came home. They'd spent 4 hours at some girl's house who doesn't even have electricity at her house (but everyone, even the kids have cell phones and mom has amazing nails at ALL times...) no one felt the need to call mom and let her know. So once we know that they are all ok the principal, myself, the parent coordinator and office manager go to their house to check on them and talk to the girl and the oldest one, my student, had the nerve to get attitude with us!

So on top of all of that I also miss out on getting to spend any time with my son because now that I'm home he's already in bed. Today has sucked...

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 4:35pm

Alrighty smart teachers...

I'm using excel and making a bar graph to show pre-test scores and post-test scores.
I have a bar for each student showing the pre-test scores. I need a different color bar next to each original bar to show the progress (post-test scores).

Does anyone know how to add an extra bar? I've searched and tried several things but cannot seem to find how to insert another bar into the graph.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

Edit: Nevermind, I got it!

Updated On: 10/15/08 at 04:35 PM

[KelRel]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 8:42pm

Adam, I use powerteacher and really like it. Of course, I've only been using it for a little under a grading period, so we'll see how that continues to go.

[violet72]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 1:02pm

So with the end of the first marking period coming we have parent teacher conferences. This year my district is trying something new K5 to 12th grade. It is student lead conferences. The students tell their parents how they are progressing what they are strong at and what they need help in.It's a way to make sure parents come to the conferences. Have any of you ever done this?


btw I am home today. I twisted my ankle...again

Updated On: 10/23/08 at 01:02 PM

[KelRel]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 8:02pm

We have parent teacher conferences coming up on the 5th til 8pm, then the next night mentor program conferences til 6:30 across town, and then the following night Fall Festival til 7:30. So I have to teach all day all of those days and then stay that night three nights in a row. I'm not a happy camper...

On a happy note, my student who has been struggling so much with his language arts skills came to me to ask if he could skip PE (which he LIVES for) so that we could work on his Open Court workbook pages that he was struggling on and then today when I entered in new grades and hit save his grade changed from a C (which he had brought up to from a 40%) to a B. I almost started crying right there at my desk. I almost cried again when I told him the news and he got tears in his eyes because he was so happy and proud. Days like today make me value the opportunity that we have each day to work with kids.

[george95]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 11:24pm

Does anybody use Edline and Gradequick? Gradequick is web-based now so its easy to access, and it does all of the computing, weighting and stuff for you. Then, in one click you can upload it to edline where parents can view current grades any time. Also, the homework is on edline every night so the students and parents can see what it is.

And yeah conferences are coming up in about 3 weeks. It seems like every year we try a new gimmick to get parents to come, because if we don't do anything, all we get is the supersmart parents to show up, hear that their kids are perfect and leave. The parents we really need to talk to don't show up unless we threaten---like the school will say that students with any failures must have parents come to the conferences or they'll be suspended until their parent makes it to school and meets with all the teachers.

For the new teachers, the conference is one of the times where you really gotta cover defend yourself the most. Many parents will try to make the failures your fault---you should have called home more often, you should have offered more help after school,etc. So be ready, and always start the conversation with a positive comment about the child!

[singingwendy]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 12:13pm

Two fun student stories


** We partner with a local university who has a program that brings the university athletic teams to our school to talk about different issues---teamwork, bullying, study skills. We've had the mens basketball team, the cross country team, members of the football team. Tuesday the Lacrosse team came to talk to the students. As we're walking into the auditorium one of the 5th grade boys said, "Oh cool--they play croquet!"


** I was showing a 2nd grade class the inside of the piano..how the strings and hammers work, so I took the front off of the upright piano in the room. As I went to lift it up, I broke my thumbnail pretty far down, so that I said, "ouch". The kids asked what happened and I said, "I broke a nail". One little boy then replied, "You know, a woman needs her nails!"

And to add to the ongoing conference conversation--We do our conferences the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Combined with an inservice on Wednesday, it makes for a wonderfully short week. Of course, being the elementary music teacher, no one ever schedules a concert, so I get 6 more hours of prep time, so I don't think it's too terrible!

I'm fortunate that at my main school we don't have a problem with parents coming to conferences. In fact the bigger problem is that in divorced families BOTH parents want a separate conference. And when you're already scheduling 26 students, that can be overwhelming. I know in the 5th grade they've already gotten permission to send a note home saying "Your child is doing fine and I don't think we have anything to talk about" (not those words, obviously, but something similar) so that they can concentrate on the students who really have concerns.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 12:37pm

Great story from this week, and slightly Broadway related....

One of the english classes was reading A Tale of Two Cities, and I happened to be walking behind two students in the hallway and overheard this conversation....

STUDENT A: I have to write a report this weekend on A Tale of Two Cities.
STUDENT B: Oh, which two cities are you going to pick?
STUDENT A: Huh?
STUDENT B: You said you have to write a report on two cities. Which ones are you going to pick?
STUDENT A: No, it's a book, you idiot.

At that point, I had to laugh, and they turned around, and the first student started laughing too. The second student continued to look perplexed.