I got to attend my first official (tape recorded) hearing. An outside person came in and had to receive 'official statements' in regards to an incident that took place between two of my students (though the incident occurred in another teacher's class). The student (Student 1) had received 10 days suspension and the family was challenging that decision.
The situation: In math class two female students were arguing over a chair while a math test was being passed out. When Student 1 received his test he turned to them and asked them to be quiet (unsure what the tone or actual words used were). The girl (now referred to as Student 2), a student who is also in my 4th period class and who has a history of really not getting along w/Student 1, got really angry and began yelling at him to stay out of her business, and she eventually walked over to him continuing to yell and began poking him and sticking her finger in his face. Student 1 eventually stood up and they began yelling at each other, without stopping/listening to the teacher. The director then walked in and broke up the fight telling the students to walk to her office. Student 1 turned and began walking to the front of the room, and at this point Student 2 balled up her fists and began attempting to attack Student 1 rather wildly. The director stepped in between and got hit by Student 2, and Student 1 left the room and headed to the office. Both students received 10 days suspension.
Background: Both students have a history of 'being in each other's business' and it has been very hard to get them to stop. While it has not come to physical blows in my room, Student 2 has thrown Student 1's backpack across the room, and there is a general craziness between them that can be very very annoying. Now Student 1 is very smart and levelheaded and he uses these two abilities for 'evil' sometimes by pushing people's buttons who he knows are going to explode and possibly get in trouble while he won't. That being said, nothing he has ever done or said in my presence has warranted the outbursts that Student 2 has had. She also has a history of completely unacceptable behavior and the director does not give her a harsh enough punishment. If a boy had done what Student 2 had done in the incident above they probably would have been expelled. And the fact that they both got 10 days seems ridiculous to me.
The Hearing: Because the sentence was so harsh for Student 1 and right at the end of the advisory (which would probably affect his grades), his mom called for an official hearing to have the decision reviewed. The Director walked into my room that morning and asked if I would come in and be a witness, although I had not seen what had officially happened. She wanted me to be there to explain their history of bad relations. But the fact was that I disagreed w/the decision so I wasn't really sure what to do/say, because I didn't want to not back my boss, but I also did not agree w/what she did at all. So the arbiter came in and began asking everyone questions, and I basically didn't say anything because they had never actually fought in my room and that was all he wanted to know. In the end, Student 1's sentence was brought down to 3 days. It seemed like there was a lot of animosity and stuff between the social worker who was there and the Director, though it was really the social worker's tone that was kind of uncalled for. But in the end I think the Director made a bad call, and that Student 2 should potentially be expelled if her behavior doesn't change, because her behavior has gotten out of control and she needs to be somewhere else.
Anyways it was an interesting experience to be in an actual 'hearing.' Student 1 is one of my favorite students because he is very bright and someone who seems to love to learn for the sake of learning (to some extent) and is also an extremely motivated person who knows his goals are only attainable through hard work on many different fronts and is willing to put in that work. He is also very smart, scoring advanced on his many standardized tests. I want to help him w/the SATs, because I believe that if he gets a good score on a national scale, that he can go wherever he wants for college (combined w/his continued excellence in school and football). He also seems amenable to that help, so I will have to figure out how I can help him, maybe find a SAT prep course that he can take if he is willing with someone who actually knows what they are talking about.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
First 'sick day'
So today I decided to call in and use one of my sick days. This is officially the first day that I have missed (although I had to go to 2 social studies meetings making me miss my 4th period class, and once I left at like 1:30 the day before Winter Break when I didn't have any kids and I needed to pack/leave). Admittedly I am not sick. But I was really really tired, and yesterday did not go well.
The classes themselves actually went fine. No better or worse than any other class, but for the first 2 periods they were pretty laid back, so no real problems. The day started out on a sour note though because apparently on Wednesday afternoon (after I had left to go to the social studies department chair meeting) things got out of hand in the auditorium (where the kids had been moved due to the flood) and the teachers didn't do anything to stop the students from acting like wild animals. So the Director sat us all down and gave us a 'talk' which I think was a good idea but she misinterpreted what people were up to. She said that people clearly didn't support her, but I think teachers were just being lazy and didn't want to take on extra responsibilities during the 'crisis situation.' As I've seen before, the teachers here are all about doing 'just what I have to.' And I know that that is partly because they have been here for a long time, but good lord I can't stand the teachers on this staff (minus the math teacher - I like her a lot). And that's the reason I can't stay in the long run (although it sounds like a lot of them might leave at the end of this year... so maybe I should stay in the hopes that I can help out in the hiring process and get some more motivated teacher up in here to help me out).
Now of course the teachers were getting very defensive instead of just listening to the Director, so that made people mad. They acted just like the students, I mean seriously. So that wasn't good.
The next bad thing was "The Boy", the student I am trying to help get his act together, who was the main wild student who was not controlled. So that was very disappointing.
As I said, my first two periods went fine. And it wasn't until lunch and my free third period that things began to unravel. During lunch, there were a TON of students in my room. And once again they were acting like little wild animals. Especially "The Boy". Every 3rd word out of his mouth was a swear word (and I have NEVER heard things like that from him before, he is usually fairly respectful even if he is more on the playful side). And "The Bad Boy" was the one behind it. His very presence makes other boys act crazy. We have been trying to get rid of him (usually I'm against that, but in this case the boy HAS to go), but so far no good. So during lunch I was just getting angrier and angrier.
Then during my planning period I had to watch someone else's class because the teacher had to go pick up her daughter. That part wasn't so bad, but it was the 9th graders and they were acting crazy and at that point I didn't want to deal with them so I just planned for my 4th period and let them sit and talk. I mean it wasn't like I had been warned that I would have to do that so I didn't feel obligated to try and make them do work. They always tell me 'we don't have work' anyways and I simply didn't feel like arguing. Some of the kids did do work, and it wasn't too bad having them there.
What was actually the most frustrating thing was that I wanted to make copies of my powerpoint presentation and the bookwork that the students were going to do. I went to the copier and it jammed up 5 times in a row. So I got 2 full copies out of that. Then I tried to just print them with my printer in my room, but that printer is awful, it printed one page and stopped. Then I tried printing it out on the laser printer in the formerly flooded room, and that one didn't work. Then I tried room 201, but there was a meeting in there so I couldn't use that printer. Once the meeting was over I tried, but it also wasn't working. So then I asked the Director if I could use her printer and so finally after 5 more minutes I got my work printed JUST as the bell rang for 3rd period to get out. (During that time the 3rd period teacher came back and collected her students.)
So that was super frustrating, I was going to bust some copy machines and printers after that. Like literally take them out Office Space style. So I was starting to lose it. 4th period was ok, "The Needy Student" can be very draining, but he is a good kid and very smart. He is always asking for attention and information and for me to do this and do that, and a lot of times I will because it isn't that much, but it adds up. So when the bell rang, it took me 10 minutes to get out of there today. Which is probably the earliest I have left in a long time. I mean I usually stay at least 30 minutes if not much longer.
So last night I thought about it for a while and concluded that I really didn't want to go to work today, I wanted to rest and get some grading done, and that's what I am going to do. I think based on how I am feeling this was a very good decision. Yay sick days!
The classes themselves actually went fine. No better or worse than any other class, but for the first 2 periods they were pretty laid back, so no real problems. The day started out on a sour note though because apparently on Wednesday afternoon (after I had left to go to the social studies department chair meeting) things got out of hand in the auditorium (where the kids had been moved due to the flood) and the teachers didn't do anything to stop the students from acting like wild animals. So the Director sat us all down and gave us a 'talk' which I think was a good idea but she misinterpreted what people were up to. She said that people clearly didn't support her, but I think teachers were just being lazy and didn't want to take on extra responsibilities during the 'crisis situation.' As I've seen before, the teachers here are all about doing 'just what I have to.' And I know that that is partly because they have been here for a long time, but good lord I can't stand the teachers on this staff (minus the math teacher - I like her a lot). And that's the reason I can't stay in the long run (although it sounds like a lot of them might leave at the end of this year... so maybe I should stay in the hopes that I can help out in the hiring process and get some more motivated teacher up in here to help me out).
Now of course the teachers were getting very defensive instead of just listening to the Director, so that made people mad. They acted just like the students, I mean seriously. So that wasn't good.
The next bad thing was "The Boy", the student I am trying to help get his act together, who was the main wild student who was not controlled. So that was very disappointing.
As I said, my first two periods went fine. And it wasn't until lunch and my free third period that things began to unravel. During lunch, there were a TON of students in my room. And once again they were acting like little wild animals. Especially "The Boy". Every 3rd word out of his mouth was a swear word (and I have NEVER heard things like that from him before, he is usually fairly respectful even if he is more on the playful side). And "The Bad Boy" was the one behind it. His very presence makes other boys act crazy. We have been trying to get rid of him (usually I'm against that, but in this case the boy HAS to go), but so far no good. So during lunch I was just getting angrier and angrier.
Then during my planning period I had to watch someone else's class because the teacher had to go pick up her daughter. That part wasn't so bad, but it was the 9th graders and they were acting crazy and at that point I didn't want to deal with them so I just planned for my 4th period and let them sit and talk. I mean it wasn't like I had been warned that I would have to do that so I didn't feel obligated to try and make them do work. They always tell me 'we don't have work' anyways and I simply didn't feel like arguing. Some of the kids did do work, and it wasn't too bad having them there.
What was actually the most frustrating thing was that I wanted to make copies of my powerpoint presentation and the bookwork that the students were going to do. I went to the copier and it jammed up 5 times in a row. So I got 2 full copies out of that. Then I tried to just print them with my printer in my room, but that printer is awful, it printed one page and stopped. Then I tried printing it out on the laser printer in the formerly flooded room, and that one didn't work. Then I tried room 201, but there was a meeting in there so I couldn't use that printer. Once the meeting was over I tried, but it also wasn't working. So then I asked the Director if I could use her printer and so finally after 5 more minutes I got my work printed JUST as the bell rang for 3rd period to get out. (During that time the 3rd period teacher came back and collected her students.)
So that was super frustrating, I was going to bust some copy machines and printers after that. Like literally take them out Office Space style. So I was starting to lose it. 4th period was ok, "The Needy Student" can be very draining, but he is a good kid and very smart. He is always asking for attention and information and for me to do this and do that, and a lot of times I will because it isn't that much, but it adds up. So when the bell rang, it took me 10 minutes to get out of there today. Which is probably the earliest I have left in a long time. I mean I usually stay at least 30 minutes if not much longer.
So last night I thought about it for a while and concluded that I really didn't want to go to work today, I wanted to rest and get some grading done, and that's what I am going to do. I think based on how I am feeling this was a very good decision. Yay sick days!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
First fires... then floods. What's next?
*Ok so now I'm knocking on wood... A LOT.*
So we had a flood on the 2nd floor today. Took up one of the hallways completely and two rooms. The steam pipes had burst and the 2nd floor was incredibly hot and stinky. We were unable to have our classes on the floor so we had to have class in the cafeteria, which was a little nuts. (Gives open spaces a whole new meaning...). Then we couldn't even hold classes up there after lunch when all the water had been vacuumed up because of air quality problems (oh mold... how the heck do you grow so freakin fast?). Hopefully we can have our rooms back tomorrow... but who knows?
Luckily my room wasn't touched, but the water was getting close (about 5 feet away), so that is NOT GOOD. No keeping electronics near the walls or on the floors.
It is good they are knocking down the building, but we still don't know what is going to happen next. Apparently the comprehensive regular school is going to Fletcher Johnson, (a school that was closed because the building sucked...) until they build the new school. That could take YEARS! I could be done teaching by the time the new school is built. I don't know if I can wait. A lot of teachers (and I mean a LOT) want to transfer... but where to? If we are all transferring then the likelihood of me finding another school that isn't a charter in DC becomes a lot lower. And while I don't hate all charters... I can't conceive of working for one. Mainly because I have to believe in the public system (despite it's myriad of problems) and I don't believe charter schools are the answer, so I can't give up on my principles and start working for one.
Anyways... good riddance to the building, but hello uncertainty for next year!
So we had a flood on the 2nd floor today. Took up one of the hallways completely and two rooms. The steam pipes had burst and the 2nd floor was incredibly hot and stinky. We were unable to have our classes on the floor so we had to have class in the cafeteria, which was a little nuts. (Gives open spaces a whole new meaning...). Then we couldn't even hold classes up there after lunch when all the water had been vacuumed up because of air quality problems (oh mold... how the heck do you grow so freakin fast?). Hopefully we can have our rooms back tomorrow... but who knows?
Luckily my room wasn't touched, but the water was getting close (about 5 feet away), so that is NOT GOOD. No keeping electronics near the walls or on the floors.
It is good they are knocking down the building, but we still don't know what is going to happen next. Apparently the comprehensive regular school is going to Fletcher Johnson, (a school that was closed because the building sucked...) until they build the new school. That could take YEARS! I could be done teaching by the time the new school is built. I don't know if I can wait. A lot of teachers (and I mean a LOT) want to transfer... but where to? If we are all transferring then the likelihood of me finding another school that isn't a charter in DC becomes a lot lower. And while I don't hate all charters... I can't conceive of working for one. Mainly because I have to believe in the public system (despite it's myriad of problems) and I don't believe charter schools are the answer, so I can't give up on my principles and start working for one.
Anyways... good riddance to the building, but hello uncertainty for next year!
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