16 Dec 2009, 01:25
So some of you might be wondering where the heck I've been lately and why Amanda's been posting pics and stuff on my behalf. LOL
Main reason? My job.
Over the summer, I was laid off and recalled (after a lot of arguing and hassle) to a new school: Remus Robinson Academy. And no, lol I had NO say in being sent there. But yes, it amuses me to no end that the place is called Remus.
Anyways, there's been a lot of turmoil happening in my District due to the near collapse of the auto industry in Michigan, the economy, etc.
So just when things started to calm down, the teacher next door to me (who also teaches Grade 2 like I do) began having LOTS of classroom management issues, was being heavily watched by the principal, and was under evaluation. The Principal began transferring his "bad kids" into my room, so I could get them back on track academically and to help them manage their behavior.
At the end of October, things got so bad that six of his students jumped another little boy, breaking his nose. The teacher put the child into the hall, said to go clean himself up in the bathroom, and closed the door. The boy collapsed and screamed, which is when I came out and found him lying in a pool of his own blood. There's a lot of things that happened during and because of this, but the short version is that when security and the nurse didn't come after I called them on the PA system, I carried the boy myself downstairs to the office to get him medical attention.
Since then, that teacher has been heavily investigated and the Principal wanted to charge him with criminal negligence. Since then, there's been one problem after another with him.
Last week the principal placed me in charge of his entire class AND mine. I am currently the main 2nd Grade teacher in the building. She has decided that under no circumstances is the other teacher to be allowed to be alone with his class. He now is "team teaching" with me, but I'm Lead. So that means I have a class size of 33... my maximum is supposed to be 25.
Today was the official hearing to determine the fate of that teacher. I had to give an official statement in front of the District's investigative team and their lawyer, the principal, our building's Union Rep, and a representative from the Union itself. And then when it was all said and done, they sent him back upstairs for me to monitor him for the rest of the day. We don't know yet what they've decided will happen to him, but my principal is pushing to have him terminated.
On top of that insanity, I'm one of three teachers in my school who have been asked to help pilot the new Burst Reading Intervention Program. We've officially beginning it in January after the break (or in my case, after I return from London!). But we've been attending a lot of training sessions after work. So I've been working 12 hour plus days on the times when I have training.
I'm also assisting with training the staff on the proper use of a PDA *head desk* and how to administer the DIBELS reading test. Our Ed Tech has been having me help her with syncing all of our scores to the database, and also explaining to our principal how to read and use the test result data. I've become the official tech geek at this school too. LOL Gotta love it.
This is our last week of classes and then Christmas break begins. Woo! So over the hols I'll be doing a lot of scanning, capping, and updating around here. Then it's off to London for a fun filled and much deserved break.
If you've got any questions, feel free to ask.
Main reason? My job.
Over the summer, I was laid off and recalled (after a lot of arguing and hassle) to a new school: Remus Robinson Academy. And no, lol I had NO say in being sent there. But yes, it amuses me to no end that the place is called Remus.
Anyways, there's been a lot of turmoil happening in my District due to the near collapse of the auto industry in Michigan, the economy, etc.
So just when things started to calm down, the teacher next door to me (who also teaches Grade 2 like I do) began having LOTS of classroom management issues, was being heavily watched by the principal, and was under evaluation. The Principal began transferring his "bad kids" into my room, so I could get them back on track academically and to help them manage their behavior.
At the end of October, things got so bad that six of his students jumped another little boy, breaking his nose. The teacher put the child into the hall, said to go clean himself up in the bathroom, and closed the door. The boy collapsed and screamed, which is when I came out and found him lying in a pool of his own blood. There's a lot of things that happened during and because of this, but the short version is that when security and the nurse didn't come after I called them on the PA system, I carried the boy myself downstairs to the office to get him medical attention.
Since then, that teacher has been heavily investigated and the Principal wanted to charge him with criminal negligence. Since then, there's been one problem after another with him.
Last week the principal placed me in charge of his entire class AND mine. I am currently the main 2nd Grade teacher in the building. She has decided that under no circumstances is the other teacher to be allowed to be alone with his class. He now is "team teaching" with me, but I'm Lead. So that means I have a class size of 33... my maximum is supposed to be 25.
Today was the official hearing to determine the fate of that teacher. I had to give an official statement in front of the District's investigative team and their lawyer, the principal, our building's Union Rep, and a representative from the Union itself. And then when it was all said and done, they sent him back upstairs for me to monitor him for the rest of the day. We don't know yet what they've decided will happen to him, but my principal is pushing to have him terminated.
On top of that insanity, I'm one of three teachers in my school who have been asked to help pilot the new Burst Reading Intervention Program. We've officially beginning it in January after the break (or in my case, after I return from London!). But we've been attending a lot of training sessions after work. So I've been working 12 hour plus days on the times when I have training.
I'm also assisting with training the staff on the proper use of a PDA *head desk* and how to administer the DIBELS reading test. Our Ed Tech has been having me help her with syncing all of our scores to the database, and also explaining to our principal how to read and use the test result data. I've become the official tech geek at this school too. LOL Gotta love it.
This is our last week of classes and then Christmas break begins. Woo! So over the hols I'll be doing a lot of scanning, capping, and updating around here. Then it's off to London for a fun filled and much deserved break.
If you've got any questions, feel free to ask.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity."
That's not my dream, but now that you mention it... I did win a trip for two from