Thursday, March 25, 2004

It's not working.

...the fitness plan, I mean.

I can't get enough sleep, so I end up "sleeping in" until 6am, and driving to work.

Gotta change some things.

--groovygrrl, queen of personal reflection

Monday, March 22, 2004

Monday Morning Coffee Buzz

...it's a good thing.

Aaah. Monday morning. The guy on the radio just said, "Mostly sunny and 70 today." Eat your heart out, Iowans. I drove as far as Broadway today, when I realized that I forgot my office keys at home. Good thing I left early. I walked to work 4 days last week, so my keys were still in my backpack. Since I drove today, I took my purse. I still don't have my rhythm down for transferring keys. Go figure. It's Monday.

This weather has me longing for summer break. I get to have one, this year, because of the wisdom of my advisor/professor at the University. She brought up, in their weekly faculty meeting, that she thought I had enough internship hours, and why were they making me do another one? They all agreed that I have spent more than enough time and money convincing them that I can teach, and they waived the elementary internship for me. That means I don't have to do it this summer. Whee!

That doesn't get me out of the class I'm taking now. It is both stupid and brutal. It has a ton of work each week, and much of it is repeated from my previous years in graduate school. I have to finish it, however, because it means another endorsement to my teaching license. I still have a few more years to teach before I can quit, therefore I need this endorsement. *sigh*

On a lighter note, my baby has started saying actual words. They aren't perfectly formed, but she knows what she is saying. Her words? "Brush" and "bye-bye." She says "bsh" for brush, and makes a movement to brush her hair. If I then give her the brush, she says "bsh!" and actually brushes her hair. So cute! My mom taught her to say "bye-bye" and wave, just this weekend! She has been clapping a lot, too. She is just a precious little monkey.

One more item of note for today: I am sitting in for our student advisor at school today. She needed a paperwork day, so they asked me to fill in. That means I will be the one to deal with all the kids who are sent out of class for disruptions and general tomfoolery. As Homer Simpson once said, "I got a hankerin' for some spankerin'!" No, no. We don't spank the children. Much. :)



--groovygrrl, queen of starbucks

Monday, March 15, 2004

The Moral Obligation of Stupid People

...is to either wise up, or shut up.

So I was talking to my girlfriend, S. the other day. She was telling me this small story about her crazy sister. This sister is a quite intolerant sort, and happens to be an evangelical Christain, to boot. She is a self-professed homophobe, among other things. Just a short history, for reference.

The big point that made me put my head in my hands was this: The sister, B. said to S., "Have you gone to see The Passion of the Christ yet?"

S. replied, "No, I don't think I want to. It looks pretty gruesome."

Then B. said, (I am not kidding)" S., it is your moral obligation to God to see this movie!"

S. was a bit shocked by this statement, since she didn't generally rely on her sister for moral or spiritual guidance. S. replied to her sister, "Well, that may be, but I don't know if I want to support a film that is potentially Anti-Semitic."

Now, here's the "head in her hands" moment. B. replied,"What does that mean?"

S. said, "What? What does what mean?"

B. said, "Anti-Semitic. What is that?"

*big open eyes from me...shaking my head...putting my head in my hands*

Yep. That does it. If you are smart, and want to proselytize, go for it. I'll probably not talk to you, anyway, but at least you'll understand the word "proselytize," and will probably be gracious about it when I tell you I would rather not discuss your issues.


If you are and evangelical Christian, and do not know what the term "Anti-Semitism" means, then your moral obligation to society is to shut the hell up.

Does this make me appear intolerant? Perhaps. However, I would like to state that B. has every right to follow whatever spiritual path she wants. My point is, if you are stupid, then perhaps you shouldn't follow a spiritual path that demands you recruit for your cause, because you are going to end up looking stupider than you are.

Of course, if you have read this far and are actually stupid, then I bet you have a puzzled look on your face. No problem. I'll fix it for you:

Hey! Stupid people! Zip it!


--groovygrrl, queen of intolerant rants

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Walking, Gardening, and Tae Bo, oh my.

...it's a tall order.

So I get this email from my friend A. "It's time to register for summer softball!" Good grief! I'm still recovering from last year's softball season. Granted, it was only a few months after I had my baby, and I probably had no business out on the field. It was fun while it lasted, but my muscles were so sore the next day!

So! I have decided, because I am a lunatic, to train for softball this year. My plan? Walking to school at least 4 days per week, lots of gardening (some in the evenings and some on the weekends), and Tae Bo whenever I can. Yeah. That oughta do it.

Now, I don't know how soon all of this can be phased in. I mean, I'm a busy person. However, my husband was looking at some photos the other day, and commented about his own appearance, saying, "Man. I've gotta lose weight." So, I have someone that I can encourage along with me. We'll see. I hope all of you who know me now have a mental image of me with my husband, fake-kickboxing in the basement, along with Billy Blanks. Yes, you should be laughing.

Perhaps I'll get him to help with the gardening, first.

--groovygrrl, queen of fitness

Friday, March 05, 2004

What kindofa log is this?

...my last post was on Monday!

And here we are, at Friday, and I finally have one minute (literally) to spend on blogging. Such is the life of a teacher, and I hate it more and more each day. The stupid politics. The incessant gossip. The ridiculous requirements for employment, either initial or continued.

Every day, I am closer and closer to chucking it all.

I think my posts make me appear manic-depressive (bipolar?). Unfortunately, that is not the case. If I were bipolar, I could take medication to help me get through this. Unfortunately, if I were to do that right now, it would not be considered "helping, it would be considered "drinking on the job."

I'm not at that point. :)


--groovygrrl, queen of ribaldry

Monday, March 01, 2004

I need an Art Day

...a serious one.

This Friday night, I am going to a class for my sewing machine. The class came free with the purchase (It should be free! This thing is expensive!). I am looking forward to it for a couple of reasons:

a) It' free
and
b) It has nothing to do with my job.

I will miss my baby for a bit, but I am excited to learn all the things this machine can do. I'm almost done with the quilt for Baby Girl. I know this class is going to be fun.

So I've got that on my mind, and I was watching HGTV the other day, when this woman starts showing how to use copper tubing to create a trellis for the garden. It is so easy! I mean, the soldering might put some people off, but because I am skilled with stained glass work, it appears very very easy. I then got the idea to make some triangle/tipi/pyramid shaped flower trellises, with straight sides, and one snaky spiral of some skinny copper tubing wrapping around it, up to the top. Plant some morning glories, moonflowers, or other climby-viney things (clematis!), then sit back and watch the fireworks. I like it!

So. When will I find the time to do this? It is very much like taking a day off from school: I need a day off from my life, to do this! I am plagued with cool ideas, and no time in which to bring them to fruition. *sigh*

--groovygrrl, queen of unfinished projects

What Happened Last Week

...I'll just post the emails.

What follows are the emails (names omitted) that went back-and-forth from me to the teacher who completely lost all decorum and freaked out while I was teaching. I don't know if it will be clear to all what happened, or not. To teachers, it will be clear and appalling. To the rest of you, it goes like this: there is an unwritten rule of classroom management, in which if one teacher/administrator tells a student to do something, any other teacher just butts out and lets that person handle it. That way, the students get a clear idea that the adults have solidarity, and they can't play one off the other. It is very important to be this way in a middle school.

*sigh* Anyway, here are the emails, in order. I wrote the first one, and she wrote me back. Then I wrote one more, and that's been it so far. Please note the dearth of apology on her part.

A-----,

I had asked to speak with you privately, because what I had to say was not appropriate to say in front of the children. Therefore, I will tell you via email.

1. I was beginning the class, and you were not there. Therefore, I had to make decisions about how the class was going to move forward. I had asked Raysha to leave, because she had said, "F---you," to another student. I told her to wait for me. I was going to deal with her when I got a minute.

2. I then asked N----- to join her, because she called M------ a "stupid retard." I was going to deal with her when I got a minute.

3. That is the way I work, when I am running a class. You made it very clear to me, and to the whole class, that you feel I cannot control the class, and that you would rather they answer to you. You made this clear by bringing those children back in, and dressing me down in front of the class, after I had asked them to stay out and wait for me. You made it even more clear when you began to lecture them about wasting time, and asking them to apologize to me. You also made it clear, to the class and to me, that you do not think I am capable of teaching the class, because you came back in and started dictating what we were going to do.

4. When I tried to talk with you about this, you indicated that you did not want to talk about it. This tells me that you did not approve of the way I was doing things.

5. I had previously received E----'s email about students in the hall. However, I was about to proceed with the lesson in such a way that I could go deal with the situation. I was handling it in my way.

6. My conclusions, after this interaction are that you:

a. think I have no control over the class.
b. are not comfortable with me teaching your class.
and c. would rather I wasn't there.


I would like to conclude by letting you know that I feel insulted by your actions today.



Her response to me is as follows (please note that her first comment about mediation came from her conversation with the principal. I had gone to him, letting him know that I might need mediation in this matter):


A--,

I do not think mediation is necessary. I do, however, think it is important that are methods of resolution are similar. I do not think it is ever appropriate to have students out of the hall without being supervised. I usually send them to Mr. H----, our student advisor, or remove them from the group. We can discuss if this is okay with you, but is important that we are on the same page. I also think it would be good for you to have more opportunities for instruction, so the students will become accustomed to your teaching style. I address issue to build communication/relationship; not to demean anyone.

As far as the two situations, M------ admitted to the fact that he started the whole incident between he and N-----. N----- was merely repeating what he said. M------ apologized to N-----, and they worked it out.

R----- did admit to saying profanity and she apologize to A------ for saying that to her. She also wrote a letter of apology to me for being disruptive in class. She remained with Mr. H---- for the remaining of the period.

Hopefully this experience will allow an opportunity for us to collaborate and figure out ways to resolve issues, which are similar, regardless of whether both of us are in the room or not.

Have a good day,

A-----



*fuming, even as I am reading this again*

Ok, and my most current response:

A--,

I do not think mediation is necessary. I do, however, think it is important that are methods of resolution are similar. I do not think it is ever appropriate to have students out of the hall without being supervised.I usually send them to Mr. H----, our student advisor, or remove them from the group. We can discuss if this is okay with you, but is important that we are on the same page.

Since you do not think it is "ever appropriate" to have students in the hall without being supervised, then I don't think we will come to an agreement on that. However, when there are two of us in the room, then there is never a need to have a student alone in the hallway, is there? I made a decision as the only teacher in the room at the time. I am not complaining about that, I am just stating it as a fact that pertains to my issue.

When I am the only teacher, and someone needs to be removed, I either send them to the office, or send them to the hall to wait for me to conference with them. They were not sent to the hall indefinitely. I sent them there to wait for me, so I could talk with them privately, and to send the message to the students that a person may not remain in the room if they are behaving badly. That is how I usually do things, when I am the only teacher in the room, making the decisions. I did not have the chance to handle that situation today, because you took over.

That is my issue here: that you took over the situation when I was teaching. I had made a decision, and you swooped in and usurped it. That sends the message to the children that they don't have to follow my directions.



I also think it would be good for you to have more opportunities for instruction, so the students will become accustomed to your teaching style.

Many of these students experience my teaching style during other classes. Others know my teaching style because I am the teacher during period 3, when you have a sub. They know how I work, because they have had that experience several times. Each time, they behaved differently, but each time I handled it.


I address issue to build communication/relationship; not to demean anyone.

I felt demeaned when you addressed this issue in front of the children,and in the middle of instruction.

As far as the two situations, M------ admitted to the fact that he started the whole incident between he and N-----. N----- was merely repeating what he said. M------apologized to N-----, and they worked it out.

R----- did admit to saying profanity and she apologize to A------ for saying that to her. She also wrote a letter of apology to me for being disruptive in class. She remained with Mr. H---- for the remaining of the period.

I would have found out what actually happened, had I been allowed to handle the situation myself. As it stands, I did not have the chance. Can you imagine my frustration, when a student who had just said the "f" word was led back into class, and you then told me that she "needed to be there?" What was I supposed to do? Question your authority in front of the students? I will not do that, to any teacher.


Hopefully this experience will allow an opportunity for us to collaborate and figure out ways to resolve issues, which are similar, regardless of whether both of us are in the room or not.


I suspect that we do not see the situation the same way, since your email did not address my issues, which I thought were very clear. Perhaps not. I'll be more explicit:

I feel incredibly insulted by the entire experience, because my authority as the teacher was usurped in the middle of instruction, and I was belittled in front of the children. That is my issue.




Now, as far as resolving issues when both of us are in the room, I can answer that one for you: I am there to serve my students with special needs. When problems arise, I'm happy to help with them. When shared reading time comes, I'm happy to read. I am also happy to simply assist the students with special needs, and remain otherwise silent, if you would prefer.

Right now, I cannot get over my anger at being belittled in front of children. Since you did not apologize for it before, I presume you don't think you did anything wrong. The fact remains that I feel insulted, no matter how you perceived the situation.

E---- has informed me that he would like to observe me during period 3 on Monday. I don't have time today to have a face-to-face conversation with you, because my schedule is tight, as usual. At this point, I guess I'll just have to roll with whatever comes my way on Monday. I feel this is still unresolved.



And THAT is why I couldn't write about it last week. Now, I did have my observation today, after talking with E----, the principal. You won't believe what happened: During the lesson that we had agreed I would teach, she interrupts, saying, "I've been trying to remain silent, but..." and then proceeds to teach for the next 5 minutes. The content she was teaching was what I was just going to say, to boot. After the class, in the hallway, the principal said to me," That was nice of her, to interject and then teach for 5 minutes, wasn't it?" being sarcastic. I am so glad he was there to see it.

*sigh* *rolls eyes*

Do you people now see why I have to get out of here?








--groovygrrl, queen of cranky emails