its very different when youre a teacher. you are stuck in a meeting most of the day, going over rules and regulations for the year, and wishing you were able to prep more in your classroom. that was my day today. i ended up staying much later at work because of this lovely meeting.
first, we were told to be in the cafeteria at 9am, that the PTA had a welcome breakfast ready for us. lies. the PTA did not know that they were supposed to have a large spread for us and had only gotten some bagels and orange juice and i think some banana bread. nothing special. it had been set up in the office and last minute, the PTA was told to move it to the cafeteria. SO there was about 20 minutes wasted waiting for breakfast. then, we sat around for another HOUR waiting for administration to come in and start the meeting. in the past, theyve had the meeting while everyone was enjoying breakfast. i dont know why they waited until after 10am. such. a. waste. of. my. time.
the meeting…basically, my principal read the rules from the DOE and explained them in a little more detail and pretty much told us how we would get an ineffective rating or fired. yup. welcome back teachers! lets have a great year, as long as youre scared shitless about loosing your job :) then, the assistant principal read us the handbook. yeah…read. us. the. handbook. i wanted to leave so badly. i had such better things to do with my time. we, obviously, did not end on time and went to lunch late and of course started late after lunch.
i went and got pizza with some coworkers instead of having lunch that was made from the cafeteria workers. there was nothing wrong with lunch…it was chicken and veggies and i think mac and cheese…but i wanted to walk around and get out of the building. big mistake! it was so hot outside, my legs instantly swelled. it was nice to kinda bitch about the day so far. we all agreed this was not a great way to start the year. very negative and very demeaning, like we didnt know how to do our jobs.
came back and had a quick UFT meeting (united federation of teachers). gotta get together with my union rep and discuss benefits and how to set up my retirement plan and all that fun adult stuff! then we went back downstairs and finished reading the handbook, out of order and very confusing. OH! before i was headed upstairs for the UFT meeting, my principal stopped me and asked if i was excited to start the year off right away with everyone and happy about my position and if i was getting a lot out of this meeting. my principal likes the word yes, so i said yes and that i was glad to be getting clarification on all these rules. she asked me if i was ready for tomorrow and if i had clear rules/expectations in place and of course, yes i do. anyway…
towards the end of the meeting, we got our schedules finally. i looked it over quickly, saw i was only teaching 3 general music classes each day, i had a prep and a lunch for each day AND i had all lunch periods free for orchestra lessons. i was happy! then i looked closer…NO PREK at all on my schedule AND they put the two special needs classes together in one period. that would mean one grade did not get any music at all, which is unethical, and i would be teaching a K-5 special needs class (yes, there would be paras, but it would be about 20 students all with special needs and all at different musical levels). after the meeting, i immediately went up to my union rep and the assistant principal and stated that this had to change. it is NOT ok for ANY class, let alone an entire grade, to not receive music. i was told “oh, the ESL teacher will give them music on friday afternoons for about 20 minutes” like all i do is sing them a fucking song. i had to explain that i have an entire curriculum ive aligned with the prek curriculum, that i needed to see them once a week for them to participate in the winter concert and their moving up ceremony in may and that it was unethical of the school not to give them to me. i also had to explain why i couldnt teach 20 special needs students all at the same time because of all their different levels. its difficult enough that the special needs classes are groups K, 1, 2 and 3, 4, 5. I CANNOT TEACH EVERY GRADE AT THE SAME TIME! THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE! i dont know wtf she was thinking. so…i ended up having to give up my lunch on thursdays, like last year, in order to accommodate prek and we split the special needs classes. i only have 1 fifth grade bass player, so i said i would put her in with the cello lessons (itll work out just fine since their music is similar anyway) and the younger special needs class i would see on tuesdays after their lunch. its going to work out in the end, but cmon. just…ugh!
finally, i got to work on my room from 3-6. yeah. 6. i didnt get home today until 7:45. i had to go to target after work because i left my blowdryer upstate and my hair needs to be blow dried every day or it looks a flat mess. i was not a pretty lady today lol. we were also out of food pretty much and i needed to get some staples for the week. sigh my room isnt even finished. i still have a few signs and things i need to post. oh well! it will get done when it gets done. i feel very behind this year. ive been distracted with this whole baby/pregnancy thing. its been hard to focus on work. hopefully after this week, ill be back in the swing of things.
well, finally got all that out! it was not a good day. plus, my legs are super swollen and im hoping that they dont keep doing this. its going to be a cool 97 degrees tomorrow, so going to wear a dress instead of pants to hopefully keep myself cooler.
alright, i better make notes about my lesson plans for tomorrow. ya know, the internet hasnt been working since last week at school and everything we do is online, so i better handwrite my plans instead. later.
~mana~
ps- im really thinking one more year at this school and i need to find somewhere else.
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