The Longest Day

I had the most... overwhelming day of work yet.

This morning I knew something was bothering our assistant principal. All day when I said something to her, there was no smile, no warmth. I dressed a little more casual today than normal, seeing as how I wanted to get there at 630 instead of 7 to get some extra work done. The beginning of the year always seems to be that way. Lots of organizational stuff to set up and make. Well, it was fine till noon. Our normal "planning" half hour. Usually the most of the other teachers use it as a time to eat, preferring to be in the cafeteria when the kids are there at 10:40ish.

I'd forgotten we'd had a meeting with our assist. principal at noon. She didn't like the lesson plans we'd put up. Or rather, I'd put up. One- they were skimpy. It just listed the activities, not long drawn out sentences about what the kids were doing for each activity while we assessed. Two, the ditto sheets we had, I had listed as ditto sheets. Granted, my team said it was their decision too when I tried to take all the blame, but she didn't like "ditto" being on the lesson plans. And I can't fault her, to be honest. For too long I've been exasperated at the ditto sheet mentality of the teacher that plans our math. But it's either adjust the assignment slightly, or put up with it, or offend her and end up planning it all myself- no thanks. Also in the meeting we segued from that into the new lesson plan templates to use in all the subject areas. Great. Joy.

I don't know what it is about my brain, but I notice it balks at trying to do organized written work. I can do a hundred creative or cute activities, communication folders, letters, spreadsheets to track assessment scores, and even problem solve why the mouse I lent a teacher isn't working and then load up drivers for it - but when it comes down to forming cohesive sentences about a topic, I freeze up. Even in elementary school when I had to start writing research reports in 6th grade. I think I feel like whatever I have to put down on the template must be perfect, exactly what they're looking for. And without a completed one (which we got to view from a 4th grade lesson) I feel at a loss for words in knowing where to plug in what for activities and curriculum goals.

Tomorrow is our grade level meeting, where we bring to each other the plans for next week. I'm in charge of Science. We're starting a unit on our 5 senses. If all I had to do was close the door and teach, no problem. But somehow I'm stifled looking at that template. So... I'm starting by scribbling ideas down on paper, looking through the resources, the pre-made unit plan, and hope I'll have something cohesive by tomorrow afternoon.

pause. deep breath.

After school today we had a faculty meeting. One of the things that came up is that overall, our numbers are low. We have about 20 less children than we are currently staffed for as a school. IF we don't increase by Labor Day, then we have to lose a teacher. Now, I know exactly how this works, because it happened to me several years ago. I started the year teaching kindergarten at another school, and our numbers didn't go up. The principal came to me on a Monday, and told me I was the last hired so I had to leave. Displaced, it's called. Now, the music teacher was hired same day as I was. But she was protected because of her specialty. I was given the rest of the day to work in an office, call my now ex husband, and email Human Resources to tell them my grade level and area preferences of my county. By 2pm I got email with 2 choices of schools that needed a teacher. One was K at my present school, one was 4th grade further away. I was instructed to leave and go meet my new principal to be. Tuesday I had to teach and explain to my class why I was leaving (we were sharing me with a school that needed a teacher). Tuesday afterschool all the teachers pitched in to pack up my room. There was a 5 car caravan to my new school. Wednesday I started.

So to get to our immediate problem... all the teachers hired this year are specialists. The last hired is our 3rd kindergarten teacher. I went up after the meeting and asked the principal if we were in danger of losing her if our numbers didn't go up. He said he wasn't ready to name her specifically. (My first reaction was that he was treating me like someone that wasn't smart, but I think he's trying to avoid causing drama in the school) but on telling him I knew the process, he said it's either last hired, or a volunteer. So yeah.... Our dilemma is that right now, kindergarten NEEDS 3 teachers. 2nd grade, however, has 3 classes with 13 in each. I can imagine our coworker leaving, and one of them having to move down to teach kindergarten. ARRRRGGGGGGG

Ok, time to get back to lesson plans.