Seriously.
Most Wednesdays we have staff meetings. I, however, could not attend because I had morning duty (yes, I said "duty"). This one week-long responsibility keeps me from meeting my kids outside in the morning and escorting them up to my classroom. During weeks like this, by the time I get to my room, my kids are already there waiting to be let in.
Today, H. supposedly pushed R. on the stairs, and he fell and hit his head. On the way to my room (after morning duty), I encountered R. being brought to the office by another boy. At least I thought they were going to the office. The other boy informs me that, no, they're going to the gym teacher. "Uh, why?" I asked. The boy explains that they already went to the office and they told him to take him to the gym teacher. "Uh, why?" I asked. "Because that's where they told me to go." (Wow, school really does prepare you for the real world!)
Now let me back up a sec. You may be wondering why they didn't go to the nurse's office. Remember the nurse's office in elementary school? It was always pristine and smelled like rubbing alcohol. She always had cots for you to lay down on when you didn't feel well? Yeah, this is CPS, people. There is no nurse's office. We have a nurse 2 days a week. I'm not kidding. So when somebody is sick or hurt, they get sent to the counselor's office (who, by the way, doesn't counsel. Again, I'm not kidding, but that's a whole other blog entry). If the "counselor" is not there, the kids go to the main office.
Aaaanyway, after 5 minutes R. comes back from the gym teacher (sans ice pack or anything) with the other boy who informs me that the gym teacher said to tell me that if R. seems sleepy later, I should let him sleep since he hit his head. Uh, isn't this contrary to everything you've ever heard about head injuries? Aren't you NOT supposed to let the person sleep? I'm reeaaaalllly hoping that the kid heard wrong and that this was not the true advice of the one person apparently doling out medical advice to 700+ students.
Later on, I found out that the staff meeting that I missed was about sending kids down to the office when they're hurt or sick. "Great!" I thought to myself before hearing the rest. "I really hope they work this system out so the gym teacher isn't the acting nurse on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays." Yeah, what They've decided to do is not allow us to send any sick or hurt kids to any office anymore! They gave everybody first aid boxes and now we're on our own. I'm hoping this is more misinformation and isn't actually true, but I didn't have time to find out today. I'll let you know what happens.
Countdown: 34 days. Hopefully nobody gets something hard to diagnose within that time.
Showing posts with label problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label problems. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Morals and Ethics
Almost every day I'm faced with a moral dilemma. Or an ethical dilemma. I dunno. I once had to learn the difference between morals and ethics for some high school or college class, but I've pretty much used the two interchangeably after correctly defining them on the test.
Every day after my kids leave, I look at what's left over on the floor. Before getting knocked up, I would pick up the pencils (as they are a valuable commodity in a classroom), even if that meant crawling halfway under a desk to get it. (Now, not so much.)
The dilemma comes when I find something on the floor that I know a student NEEDS, like an assignment that's due tomorrow or a signed field trip form they forgot to turn in. My options are, of course:
A.) to pick whatever it is up and put it on their desk
or
B.) to leave it on the floor to be swept up with the other refuse.
Option A is easier for everyone involved. Their assignment will be handed in on time the next day (and I don't have to deal with grading late homework when they finally redo said assignment or inform their parents that there is a missing assigment to begin with) or I don't have to dig out another field trip form. I can just pick the damn thing up, put it on their desk, and be done with it.
Option B actually teaches them a lesson. You will have a missing assignment because you were too lazy to put your assignment where it belongs. You will not have a field trip form if you don't manage to hand it in when I ask for it every effing morning.
So occassionally I just stare at whatever the found object is until I reach my decision about what to do about it. And every time my decision's the same.
I
pick
it
up.
Every time.
Perhaps I am why we have generations of lazy people who can't manage to do anything how and when it's supposed to be done, like submit their taxes on time, causing the post office to stay open late every April 15. Because I am like the post office, bending over backwards to make sure shit gets done, just because it's easier for everyone involved. Stupid me. Stupid post office.
Every day after my kids leave, I look at what's left over on the floor. Before getting knocked up, I would pick up the pencils (as they are a valuable commodity in a classroom), even if that meant crawling halfway under a desk to get it. (Now, not so much.)
The dilemma comes when I find something on the floor that I know a student NEEDS, like an assignment that's due tomorrow or a signed field trip form they forgot to turn in. My options are, of course:
A.) to pick whatever it is up and put it on their desk
or
B.) to leave it on the floor to be swept up with the other refuse.
Option A is easier for everyone involved. Their assignment will be handed in on time the next day (and I don't have to deal with grading late homework when they finally redo said assignment or inform their parents that there is a missing assigment to begin with) or I don't have to dig out another field trip form. I can just pick the damn thing up, put it on their desk, and be done with it.
Option B actually teaches them a lesson. You will have a missing assignment because you were too lazy to put your assignment where it belongs. You will not have a field trip form if you don't manage to hand it in when I ask for it every effing morning.
So occassionally I just stare at whatever the found object is until I reach my decision about what to do about it. And every time my decision's the same.
I
pick
it
up.
Every time.
Perhaps I am why we have generations of lazy people who can't manage to do anything how and when it's supposed to be done, like submit their taxes on time, causing the post office to stay open late every April 15. Because I am like the post office, bending over backwards to make sure shit gets done, just because it's easier for everyone involved. Stupid me. Stupid post office.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Dropouts
I was listening to NPR this morning when I heard that a study was conducted regarding high school drop out rate in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). They followed 9th graders thru to their 12th grade year for x number of years to see how many students dropped out, why they dropped out, and to pinpoint exactly who is most likely to be a dropout.
I was SHOCKED to hear how many students dropped out of Chicago Public High Schools between 9th and 12th grades. Are you sitting down? 44%
Yes, 44% of all high school students do not finish high school in CPS. That's a lot of fucking kids! Approximately 30,000!!!!
They were able to pinpoint 3 distinct groups of dropouts:
1. Students who started freshman year at age 15 or over.
2. Students who fail a core subject (reading, math, social studies, or science) in their first year of high school.
3. African-American students (49%!!!!!!!!)
This study is going to prompt some action on CPS's part, as it should. I'm sure it'll also cost us a bazillion dollars. Supposedly, they will hold countless meetings, offer mentoring to students in the 3 at-risk groups, now that we know exactly who they are, and create "freshman on-track labs" in 6 high schools that have the highest dropout rates that will investigate the problem further and come up with strategies to address it. Oh, and this study will also create, for the first time ever, a freshman orientation for incoming freshman.
Are you kidding me? These kids have never had a freshman orientation???? 8th graders in CPS go to school at a K-8 school. Yes, they share a school with 5-year olds, and you're telling me there's never been any kind of help with transitioning them from their elementary school of, let's say, 700 kids to a high school that has perhaps 3,500? Hell, I'd drop out, too! Not because I didn't want to finish, but because I probably wouldn't be able to find any of my classes!
Who's running the show here? [Insert monkey commerical here].
I was SHOCKED to hear how many students dropped out of Chicago Public High Schools between 9th and 12th grades. Are you sitting down? 44%
Yes, 44% of all high school students do not finish high school in CPS. That's a lot of fucking kids! Approximately 30,000!!!!
They were able to pinpoint 3 distinct groups of dropouts:
1. Students who started freshman year at age 15 or over.
2. Students who fail a core subject (reading, math, social studies, or science) in their first year of high school.
3. African-American students (49%!!!!!!!!)
This study is going to prompt some action on CPS's part, as it should. I'm sure it'll also cost us a bazillion dollars. Supposedly, they will hold countless meetings, offer mentoring to students in the 3 at-risk groups, now that we know exactly who they are, and create "freshman on-track labs" in 6 high schools that have the highest dropout rates that will investigate the problem further and come up with strategies to address it. Oh, and this study will also create, for the first time ever, a freshman orientation for incoming freshman.
Are you kidding me? These kids have never had a freshman orientation???? 8th graders in CPS go to school at a K-8 school. Yes, they share a school with 5-year olds, and you're telling me there's never been any kind of help with transitioning them from their elementary school of, let's say, 700 kids to a high school that has perhaps 3,500? Hell, I'd drop out, too! Not because I didn't want to finish, but because I probably wouldn't be able to find any of my classes!
Who's running the show here? [Insert monkey commerical here].
Monday, February 11, 2008
No Brainer
Sometimes I think my job could be done by a computer. No, not the teaching part, silly, but all the mundane paperwork that goes with it. I'm not talking about grading papers...it's the other stuff. Here's an example:
At the end of every quarter, we have to compile four lists:
1) students who received all As and Bs on their report card
2) students who have perfect attendance
3) students who have no behavior checks on their report card
4) students who fit all 3 aforementioned categories.
Now tell me, if our report cards are (FINALLY) done on a computer, why can't I (or better yet someone else) just enter the criteria in and print out a list? I mean, it's 2008, right? We don't have flying cars, can't we have THIS? It doesn't seem THAT hard.
Today we had an inservice day (so no kids at school). We had to work on our School Improvement Plan, which sounds productive, but actually is a bunch of bullshit. We split up into 3 teams. My team was responsible for looking over the test data from the past three years and identifying areas of strength and weakness. Ummmm, our data was PRINTED OUT from some sort of database storing all this information. Could a simple program not be created to identify areas of weakness and areas of strength? This just seems like a no-brainer to me!
Ahhh, I think I got it! I forgot who's running the show. People with no brains. Got it.
This commercial is often what I feel like (now, I'm not talking about all the teachers I work with. It's moreso the Central Office who, as I said above, "runs the show"). It's one of my favorites:
http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/working-with-monkeys-1.html
At the end of every quarter, we have to compile four lists:
1) students who received all As and Bs on their report card
2) students who have perfect attendance
3) students who have no behavior checks on their report card
4) students who fit all 3 aforementioned categories.
Now tell me, if our report cards are (FINALLY) done on a computer, why can't I (or better yet someone else) just enter the criteria in and print out a list? I mean, it's 2008, right? We don't have flying cars, can't we have THIS? It doesn't seem THAT hard.
Today we had an inservice day (so no kids at school). We had to work on our School Improvement Plan, which sounds productive, but actually is a bunch of bullshit. We split up into 3 teams. My team was responsible for looking over the test data from the past three years and identifying areas of strength and weakness. Ummmm, our data was PRINTED OUT from some sort of database storing all this information. Could a simple program not be created to identify areas of weakness and areas of strength? This just seems like a no-brainer to me!
Ahhh, I think I got it! I forgot who's running the show. People with no brains. Got it.
This commercial is often what I feel like (now, I'm not talking about all the teachers I work with. It's moreso the Central Office who, as I said above, "runs the show"). It's one of my favorites:
http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/working-with-monkeys-1.html
Friday, February 1, 2008
A Typical NON-Snow Day
I'm so annoyed I don't know where to begin. Here in Chicago we had a snow storm that started at about 3:00 yesterday afternoon and stopped at about 11:00 a.m. this morning. A lot of snow accumulated, probably about an average of 6 inches in the city. That's a lot of snow in a short period of time. Now I am completely aware that I have chosen to live in Chicago where it will snow - a lot. I am also aware that I work for a public school system that NEVER EVER closes. EVER. We would need a hurricane to close the public schools here, which would be interesting since the only body of water we border is a lake.
I understand that schools have to stay open for many reasons:
1.) Education is important.
2.) Thousands of kids rely on the schools to feed them breakfast and lunch. If they didn't come to school, many of them may not eat that day. (Sad, isn't it?)
3.) Parents have to work and this may leave children home alone unattended or it may cost an unfortunate family a day's wages.
HOWEVER...1/3 of my class was absent today, so I didn't teach one new thing. Not one. What's the point? I'd just have to reteach it on Monday. But this is not even what pisses me off. What pisses me off, Mayor Daley and Arne Duncan, is that you expect teachers to go to work and kids to come to school, yet don't even bother to ensure that the roads around the schools are given ANY attention in regards to snow removal. In my 20 mile commute, the street my school is on was the worst street I drove on in the 1.5 hours it took me to get to work today! I *barely* was able to make it thru the parking lot (because god forbid CPS takes care of that even).
It's unacceptable, but typical. I don't know why I let myself get all riled up about it. Everything in public schooling (and probably any urban public institution) is like this: all talk and no action (or money) to back it up.
I understand that schools have to stay open for many reasons:
1.) Education is important.
2.) Thousands of kids rely on the schools to feed them breakfast and lunch. If they didn't come to school, many of them may not eat that day. (Sad, isn't it?)
3.) Parents have to work and this may leave children home alone unattended or it may cost an unfortunate family a day's wages.
HOWEVER...1/3 of my class was absent today, so I didn't teach one new thing. Not one. What's the point? I'd just have to reteach it on Monday. But this is not even what pisses me off. What pisses me off, Mayor Daley and Arne Duncan, is that you expect teachers to go to work and kids to come to school, yet don't even bother to ensure that the roads around the schools are given ANY attention in regards to snow removal. In my 20 mile commute, the street my school is on was the worst street I drove on in the 1.5 hours it took me to get to work today! I *barely* was able to make it thru the parking lot (because god forbid CPS takes care of that even).
It's unacceptable, but typical. I don't know why I let myself get all riled up about it. Everything in public schooling (and probably any urban public institution) is like this: all talk and no action (or money) to back it up.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Is It Too Much to Ask?
I'm not in a very good mood today. The main reason is because I didn't get enough sleep last night, but a lot of little things that happened today added to my bad mood. It's the little things in life that matter, so I must ask the question:
Is it too much to ask...
1. to have the street our school is on plowed? I mean, a school is a pretty important city building, right? Hundreds of people go in and out of it daily; cars, buses, and pedestrians are a given. So why the hell wouldn't the city make it a priority to plow around a school? I'd bet if an ambulance had to come to our school, it'd get stuck there's that much snow. Cars, including mine, were sliding all over the place.
2. for the French teacher to actually BE AT SCHOOL on the days that my kids have French? I mean, how many f'ing preps can I have cancelled?
3. have paper towels in the teacher's bathroom? I mean, it's bad enough that I bring toilet paper.
4. have my administrators actually answer my emails in a timely fashion? My principal and assistant principal are hard people to find. They're never stay in one place, so email is a perfect form of communication. However, I NEVER get a response from them. Grrrrr.
There's actually a lot more on my list, but thinking about all this stuff again is making my bad mood worse. So I'm going to stop now, take some deep breaths, and just let it go.
Is it too much to ask...
1. to have the street our school is on plowed? I mean, a school is a pretty important city building, right? Hundreds of people go in and out of it daily; cars, buses, and pedestrians are a given. So why the hell wouldn't the city make it a priority to plow around a school? I'd bet if an ambulance had to come to our school, it'd get stuck there's that much snow. Cars, including mine, were sliding all over the place.
2. for the French teacher to actually BE AT SCHOOL on the days that my kids have French? I mean, how many f'ing preps can I have cancelled?
3. have paper towels in the teacher's bathroom? I mean, it's bad enough that I bring toilet paper.
4. have my administrators actually answer my emails in a timely fashion? My principal and assistant principal are hard people to find. They're never stay in one place, so email is a perfect form of communication. However, I NEVER get a response from them. Grrrrr.
There's actually a lot more on my list, but thinking about all this stuff again is making my bad mood worse. So I'm going to stop now, take some deep breaths, and just let it go.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Are You Effing Kidding Me?
They say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When dealing with a school, I'd say the equivalent saying is: "A school is only as strong as its main office." Really, if the main office can't get it together, then the school is screwed. We're screwed. The office is definitely our weakest link.
Today I gave a math test. I mistakenly only ordered 19 copies of the math test instead of 20. While I only have 19 students (a blessing), I used one of them to make the test key, so I was short 1 test. Totally my fault. I sent a student down to the office to ask them to make one simple copy of the test. The test was 2 pieces of paper, with the first page being back to back, so I needed a total of three copies. I sent a reliable kid with the test and a very nice note explaining my request. FIFTEEN minutes later, the kid comes back up with the original test and my copy. However, the copy is only 2 pages: the first page and the last page. When I asked him where the middle page was, he said that the secretary told him to tell me that she couldn't copy the second page because it was on the back of the first page. I said nothing. What I wanted to say was "Are you f*cking kidding me?"
So I had to manually write out the 10 problems and the 4 multiple choice answers for each problem on one of my student's test because the secretary was too dumb to figure out that all she needed to do was turn the paper over to copy the back.
We shouldn't worry so much about the future of America. We should worry about its present.
Today I gave a math test. I mistakenly only ordered 19 copies of the math test instead of 20. While I only have 19 students (a blessing), I used one of them to make the test key, so I was short 1 test. Totally my fault. I sent a student down to the office to ask them to make one simple copy of the test. The test was 2 pieces of paper, with the first page being back to back, so I needed a total of three copies. I sent a reliable kid with the test and a very nice note explaining my request. FIFTEEN minutes later, the kid comes back up with the original test and my copy. However, the copy is only 2 pages: the first page and the last page. When I asked him where the middle page was, he said that the secretary told him to tell me that she couldn't copy the second page because it was on the back of the first page. I said nothing. What I wanted to say was "Are you f*cking kidding me?"
So I had to manually write out the 10 problems and the 4 multiple choice answers for each problem on one of my student's test because the secretary was too dumb to figure out that all she needed to do was turn the paper over to copy the back.
We shouldn't worry so much about the future of America. We should worry about its present.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
All is Well
I sometimes get overwhelmed by the problems in the world and think that we're going to hell in a handbasket. On the news we hear about crime, poverty, illiteracy, children raising themselves, etc., all of which are such huge problems that feed into one another it boggles the mind. It's enough to want to cry and quit.
While this is wholly depressing, I'd like to report some good news: Kids, no matter where they live, or how shitty their home lives are, or how tough they pretend to be, are still kids.
On field trips, they still crank their arms like mad to make truck drivers honk their horns. They still like to draw with sidewalk chalk. They cheer for no homework or extra recess. They still have compassion for small animals. Girls think boys are gross and dumb and boys think girls are gross and weird.
And for the things about kids that scare us: the violence, the poor performance in school, the "gangsta" mentality that many idolize, etc. We have no one to blame but ourselves: adults. We have modeled it. And if we have not modeled it, we have allowed it, perhaps by doing or saying nothing).
"We have been so eager to give our children what we didn't have that we have neglected to give them what we did."
While this is wholly depressing, I'd like to report some good news: Kids, no matter where they live, or how shitty their home lives are, or how tough they pretend to be, are still kids.
On field trips, they still crank their arms like mad to make truck drivers honk their horns. They still like to draw with sidewalk chalk. They cheer for no homework or extra recess. They still have compassion for small animals. Girls think boys are gross and dumb and boys think girls are gross and weird.
And for the things about kids that scare us: the violence, the poor performance in school, the "gangsta" mentality that many idolize, etc. We have no one to blame but ourselves: adults. We have modeled it. And if we have not modeled it, we have allowed it, perhaps by doing or saying nothing).
"We have been so eager to give our children what we didn't have that we have neglected to give them what we did."
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Hello Drrrrrrama!
School starts at 8:50 every morning. By 9:00 I had already dealt with two major problems between my kids. The first was between two boys, the second between two girls. The incidents really highlight the difference between how boys and girls "fight" with each other and which one I prefer handling.
By 8:52, two of my boys "got into it" (scuffling, arguing, pulling something between them so it was about to rip in two) in front of their lockers. I went over to see what was going on. It turned out that one boy knocked over the other's book bag, so the other one tried to take his jacket away. THIS IS WHAT 4TH GRADE BOYS FIGHT ABOUT. Ugh. They were SO mad with one another. When I "broke it up," they each tried to tell me what the other did (of course they themselves were not at fault), but I hushed them up right quick and told them I didn't want to hear it. I told them to close their mouths, get their stuff put away, and go pull their cards. What're the next words I hear?
"BUT..."
"But nothing," I said. And if I hear another word about it, you can go pull your card again" (which puts them on red before the day even starts! Oooooooh...). One of them couldn't help it. He kept trying to defend himself. Poor kid got on red before he even entered the classroom. He was NOT happy. Oh well. This is the kid who, according to him, is wrongfully accused for everything. He never does anything wrong. Mmm-hmm.
Not even 2 minutes later, one of my girls comes pouting to me that she wants to change seats because another girl who sits at her table is rolling her eyes at her, talking about her, and turning all the other girls against her. This all stemmed from a problem yesterday at lunch. And I had already told the eye-roller yesterday after the lunch incident that there is NO DRAMA ALLOWED IN MY CLASSROOM. There will be no eye-rolling, no rumor-starting, no tongue-sticking outing (?), NONE OF THAT.
I (stupidly) let the eye-roller give me some background info about why she was acting the way she was acting, because I knew it could not have been about the stupid lunch incident yesterday. It turns out that the other girl told her that "she couldn't get no man." (hee-hee). I (stupidly) asked the one who supposedly said this to her about it and it turns out that she had written it in her diary and the eye-roller read the diary without her permission. Oooooooh...
Then I realized that I was (stupidly) getting caught up in the drama that I had expressly forbid in my classroom and told them I didn't want to hear any monre "buts....". Then I expressly forbid diaries in my classroom. At this point, I felt exhausted. It was 9:09. This is how my day started.
Oh, and by lunch the girls were best friends again.
By 8:52, two of my boys "got into it" (scuffling, arguing, pulling something between them so it was about to rip in two) in front of their lockers. I went over to see what was going on. It turned out that one boy knocked over the other's book bag, so the other one tried to take his jacket away. THIS IS WHAT 4TH GRADE BOYS FIGHT ABOUT. Ugh. They were SO mad with one another. When I "broke it up," they each tried to tell me what the other did (of course they themselves were not at fault), but I hushed them up right quick and told them I didn't want to hear it. I told them to close their mouths, get their stuff put away, and go pull their cards. What're the next words I hear?
"BUT..."
"But nothing," I said. And if I hear another word about it, you can go pull your card again" (which puts them on red before the day even starts! Oooooooh...). One of them couldn't help it. He kept trying to defend himself. Poor kid got on red before he even entered the classroom. He was NOT happy. Oh well. This is the kid who, according to him, is wrongfully accused for everything. He never does anything wrong. Mmm-hmm.
Not even 2 minutes later, one of my girls comes pouting to me that she wants to change seats because another girl who sits at her table is rolling her eyes at her, talking about her, and turning all the other girls against her. This all stemmed from a problem yesterday at lunch. And I had already told the eye-roller yesterday after the lunch incident that there is NO DRAMA ALLOWED IN MY CLASSROOM. There will be no eye-rolling, no rumor-starting, no tongue-sticking outing (?), NONE OF THAT.
I (stupidly) let the eye-roller give me some background info about why she was acting the way she was acting, because I knew it could not have been about the stupid lunch incident yesterday. It turns out that the other girl told her that "she couldn't get no man." (hee-hee). I (stupidly) asked the one who supposedly said this to her about it and it turns out that she had written it in her diary and the eye-roller read the diary without her permission. Oooooooh...
Then I realized that I was (stupidly) getting caught up in the drama that I had expressly forbid in my classroom and told them I didn't want to hear any monre "buts....". Then I expressly forbid diaries in my classroom. At this point, I felt exhausted. It was 9:09. This is how my day started.
Oh, and by lunch the girls were best friends again.
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