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1905. Ms. No - 9/5/2016 8:54:35 PM Our Principal played this for us at our staff meeting after the first day of school. I nearly peed myself.
Kelly Woodby Ferguson: Day One is Done....and I survived
It needs a little editing - goes on a bit - but, oh my god, did we laugh. 1906. arkymalarky - 9/6/2016 12:21:21 AM Nice to have an admin who gets it. 1907. Ms. No - 4/24/2017 7:22:52 PM Things to Make You Bang Your Head (and not in the good way)
Signed on for a mini-grant with another teacher. $2,500 is not much money, but it's not nothing, either. We were tasked to create some lesson plans around mental health integration in our respective content-areas.
And when we get the particulars they wanted a full year curriculum map, multiple units with detailed lesson plans, PowerPoints & handouts etc. Essentially about 5 times what the grant would actually cover.
Seriously, it's a grant offered by people who think anybody can just whip up solid curriculum in a couple hours. To which I say: If it was so effing easy and took so little time, why did you have to hire out for it in the first place? Couldn't your office clerk have done it?
Grrrrr!
Good news is that I have a bunch of lessons ready to go for next year when I teach Senior English for the first time. :-) 1908. arkymalarky - 5/1/2017 4:25:48 PM It was hard to decide, especially in light of how crazy things have been since spring break, but I'm going to do one more year.
I'll say this about that amount of work and that amount of money, it seems like a lot for not nearly enough. 1909. Ms. No - 5/1/2017 5:11:29 PM Glad you're doing another year! I'd hate to be all alone. :-)
Yeah, it was nowhere near enough for the work we did. Fortunately there will be a bunch of curriculum development money this summer and my principal has already told us to count the additional hours we spent working on this stuff toward our summer hours. She's really good about making sure we get paid for any extra work we do. She was pissed on our behalf. 1910. arkymalarky - 5/3/2017 4:05:52 PM Yeah, A lot's been going on and I'm very ready for this year to be over, but I think one more is the best way to go. I'll catch people up in the cafe sometime. After this week it's three more including finals, so I can sort of see the endgame. The job has not been bad, it's just everything else to the point that I'm starting to feel like I don't have time to work anymore. 1911. Ms. No - 8/11/2017 7:41:18 PM Let me 'splain....no, too long. Let me sum up:
Teaching:
Senior English this year for the first time.
Still teaching Gov't/Econ
Fall Zero Per - Keyboarding
Spring Zero - HIPPA, Office systems, & Electronic Health Records
So, with the exception of my zero periods, I'm teaching all seniors, all day.
These seniors are my "babies" since I had them the last quarter of their 9th grade year and all of 10th. I didn't have them last year with the exception of a couple for zero period, but the whole class was right next door to me for their Medical Science class, so we saw each other a lot.
I'm very excited about this year --- terrified, as usual because I've got so much new stuff going on -- Senior English, Senior Project, and I've got a student teacher this year for the first time.
Actually, I'm probably most worried about the student teacher. I've met her and really like her, and I think we'll work well together, but I'm not sure if THIS is the year to have a newbie in the room with me since so much of it will be up in the air as I feel my way through the senior project. Ah well, at least she'll have an authentic experience!
Also will be working as a Berkeley Fellow this year with the Y-PLAN project, so that's exciting. 1912. arkymalarky - 8/12/2017 5:34:50 AM Sounds like you've got a great if busy year coming up, and I bet you'll be glad for the intern's help. I've never had one, because small schools really get them except in vocational subjects unless the student requests because of family or something.
Had open house last week, and loved it. I joke that when I retire I'm going to go ahead and do the first week of school every year because I love it so much. Starting my last year on Monday, and trying to not think of it as the last one. But I do want to enjoy every minute of it as well. Of course also got people trying to get me to stay on. I just don't see it happening though. Too much going on and my parents are really getting the point of needing me. And I have to be a readily available grandma at a moment's notice. 1913. Ms. No - 8/20/2017 4:55:50 PM How's it going so far? (And I'll believe it's your last year when first day comes around next year and you don't go.) :-) 1914. arkymalarky - 8/20/2017 5:07:01 PM Ha! It's been great, but I'm tired, and saw grandson this weekend, so even though you're saying what I'm hearing IRL, I think that once that grandson moves to one of the two coasts I'm going to have to be ready to travel anytime. I've been a little weepy just thinking about it, but Arkansas just did a great thing in its last legislative session I hadn't heard about until this past week. When you retire, you can apply for a permanent teaching license immediately, so after 6 months (minimum you can be out before you go back after retirement) or 6 years if I want to do something very very part-time I can do that. So now I don't feel like retiring means that I can't do things on a much more part-time basis without being in poverty. If I went back in part-time I would draw full retirement plus a part time salary. 1915. arkymalarky - 8/20/2017 5:08:16 PM And I could do full-time, but I won't do that I know. 1916. arkymalarky - 8/20/2017 5:12:04 PM Oh, and our test scores were great this year. My 7th graders beat the state average in every English category, English writing and reading. It was so much better than the year before, and a big part of it was doing a lot better preparation on the computers including interim assessments that we got which we didn't have the year before. 1917. arkymalarky - 8/21/2017 11:01:35 PM something about this site locks up my phone when I try to post for some reason. I'll try this again, but it won't be as good as the first
I love where I work. The kids are so diverse and so unpretentious and good and I love watching them interact with each other. Today the science teachers had eclipse glasses for everybody and the principal brought watermelon and someone brought popsicles and for about 45 minutes the kids ate their popsicles and watermelon and watched the eclipse with their glasses. It was really neat. The eclipse glasses were cool, but I think I'm going to make a mint in 2024 by selling some that will actually stay on your ears. 1918. Ms. No - 8/23/2017 3:32:37 AM All good news -- great news about the new retirement ruling!
We were in profdev on Monday, so we have lots of pictures of our staff out on a break watching the ecipse. We look just like a bunch of kids. Except taller and with more wrinkles. :-)
First day of orientation today, second tomorrow ending in a BBQ and Back to School Night. Great group of Freshmen this year, and I'm a little bummed that I won't have much interaction with them.
1919. arkymalarky - 8/26/2017 4:27:43 PM Seeing a good group come in makes you look forward to the next few years. That's one thing about retiring, it's like trying to figure out timing, and realizing you can't teach all the kids you would love to teach. 1920. arkymalarky - 8/27/2017 4:07:33 PM I swear I was planning to do this anyway:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/26/opinion/sunday/memorize-poems-poetry-education.html?ref=opinion&referer= 1921. arkymalarky - 8/27/2017 4:08:10 PM I used to do it every year, but haven't the last two or three. 1922. Ms. No - 8/28/2017 6:29:54 PM Ooh! Great article! Gives me good ideas for projects/lessons. 1923. Ms. No - 9/7/2017 3:59:04 PM School is off to a good start --- a little chaotic and bewildering since I'm teaching yet another new prep and had to miss the second day of school to go back to NC for a funeral -- but all in all, it's very good.
I like my student teacher, but I think I may not do one again. I'm too jealous of my students' time and attention. Right now we're still in the observation period, but the model is for co-teaching and that will start pretty soon.
Really, really awesome to have my babies back as seniors. I feel incredibly lucky to have this class my first year teaching Senior Project and Sr. English. They're very generous with me, and I think we're going to have a great year. 1924. arkymalarky - 9/8/2017 6:26:27 PM Nothing more enjoyable than a good start to the school year in my opinion.
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