The Ordeal of the Last Year

Life in an elementary school is always an adventure, but this year has been more of an ordeal. This is why I am planning to retire with 29 years of actual teaching, and 30 years of teaching credit.

My school has always had self-contained classes. There have been 2 in the past, a K-2 class and a 3-5 class. The last few years there has been one K-5 class. This year, on paper anyway, there isn’t a self-contained class. Those students are mainstreamed in the regular classrooms, and they come to specials, including Media, with those classes. So today, while I’m trying to teach a 2nd grade class how to use the iPads to access Google, find a picture they want to write about, and then take a screenshot of it, I have one of these students who wanders around the Media Center, hits me, screams at random times, and then removes her shoes and socks and throws them. In another class, I have a student who screams if he is not allowed on the computers to play online games when the class is trying to use them to locate the books they want to check out. Then there’s the student who wanders all over the Media Center, pulling books off the shelves, and sticking them on different shelves while I am trying to help a class of 20 students find their books and check them out.

I am teaching 6 classes most days. We are on a 6-day rotation, and four of those days I have 6 classes and teach from 8:10-2:00, with a short break between 10:35 and 11:15 which is both my lunch period and my planning time. From 2:00-2:25, I have students coming to get new books, or pick up prizes for correctly answering the trivia questions I post each month or for scoring 100% on an Accelerated Reader test on a book that is on or above their AR level. At 2:25, I have car duty until 2:45. Then, of course, I have to shelve books, repair books, make lesson plans, do book orders, and more. I am wearing out, and retirement looks so good. I only hope I can make it 5 more months.

Who hires these people?!

I had a first-grade student who had lost her library book, and owed $9.00 and some change for it. I do insist that students pay something for lost books. It helps to encourage responsibility. So, this student came in with a sandwich bag with some nickels and a few dimes, but mostly filled with pennies. I counted it – $1.10 in dimes and nickels, and $2.37 in pennies.

I put this against the fine she owed and waived the rest; I think this child brought me every penny she had. Then I went to turn in the money and my collection report to my treasurer. Here’s where it gets weird.

We have a new treasurer this year. She’s never been a treasurer before. She had been working in transportation, but transferred out of that department. I have no idea why she transferred, but I have a feeling they are glad she’s no longer their headache.

Our treasurer, (heretofore referred to as OT), is, (how shall I put this?) a little different. So I hand her the bag full of change, and she looks at me and says, “I can’t take this,” and tries to hand it back to me. I look at her and say, “What?” Surely I heard her wrong. No, she repeats that she can’t take all that change because the bank won’t allow putting change through the drive-thru window. I ask her, “What do you want me to do?,” and she actually suggests that I give the money BACK to the child and ask her to bring in bills instead. I told her that I would not be doing that, and I will take payment in any form that a student brings it to me.

It never occurred to her that she could carry the money into the bank to deposit it. In fact, when our wonderful office assistant suggested that she could go to the bank earlier so she could go in, she refused saying that then if other teachers brought her money she’d have to go to the bank twice.

Now that it looks like Dana will not be heading to Texas for any real period of time, and will be in this area, I think I can go ahead and plan to retire at the end of this school year. Not a moment too soon, I’d say. I may not be able to hold my tongue much longer. 🙂

Goals vs. Resolutions

It’s January 1st, a time when many of us make resolutions. The problem with this is we don’t keep those resolutions throughout the year. It’s all or nothing, do or don’t do, black or white. That’s why I usually don’t make any resolutions. I never keep them anyway. However, I read an article that suggested setting goals instead of making resolutions, and that makes much more sense to me. Goals are things you work toward, not something you resolve to give up. So, this year, I think I’ll set some goals to work toward.

To begin, I think that I will set a goal of writing more. I have had this wordpress account for a while now, but I’ve done nothing with it. My goal is to change that this year. Writing will help me reconnect to my creative self, something I have let slide for too long. Most of my creativity now is expressed in my bulletin boards and display window. I am hoping that I won’t be doing those much longer, so I really need to find other creative outlets. When I was young, I wrote poetry and stories. I used to create new clothes to wear. I want to get back to that.

My next goal has to do with my spiritual life. I have been very slack about attending church services, and that’s about the only thing I’ve really contributed in a while. I was helping out in the church library some, but even that fell away last year. So, my goal is to try to reconnect to my church this year.

Exercise is usually one of my resolutions. This year, it’s a goal. I want to meet my Vivofit goals every day. I did really well with this over the summer, but not so much since school started back. So, I need to take some time each day to walk and reflect.

As for my last goal, it’s to put my family and friends above my work. I have been so consumed by work, I am exhausted when I get home. I need to be more present in my personal life. Dana has been so wonderful, even when I am tired and distracted. I want to do better by him.

So, here are my goals. I will work toward them, and will probably miss my goals some days. But since they are goals, not resolutions, I will continue to try to reach them. Only the next new year will determine how I did.