We recently received our contracts for next year in the APS. The contracts are given out in February for a school year that starts in August and you have 10 days to sign them or they become null & void. But that is not the main point. This upcoming year they have instituted a 191 day work year for teachers. This was instituted because there were complaints about not having enough planning. So instead of doing what’s right and actually using planning days for planning, the system has added another day which is just going to be taken away for something else anyway.
This year when we came back to school our 1st 2 and ½ days of planning were used for so called “professional development” leaving us with only a day and a ½ to actually get our classrooms together and get organized for the 1st day of school. Then every year the 1st teachers planning day of the school year is used for a convocation, where every teacher in the APS boards a bus and heads down to the Georgia Dome for the superintendent’s State of the Union address, yet we still have to have grades in on time. Why should we have extra days added on to our school year when the days we have now are not being used effectively and for their primary purpose? Unfortunately these are the cards that have been dealt us. I would like to know if this goes on in other systems, or do you actually get to use your planning days for planning?
This site is a class blog space for new Career and Technical Specializations and Heathcare Science teachers enrolled in the New Teacher Institute (NTI) at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Rules For Posting To This Blog and Weekly Blog Question
1. Only use your first name (no last names, addresses, IM screen names, etc.)
2. Show respect and consideration of others when posting and commenting. This includes individuals, students, organizations, political parties, colleagues, etc.
3. Check all posts for spelling and grammar errors before posting.
4. Protect the privacy of others. Gain permission from other people before you write about them. Avoid sharing someone else's last name. Use job titles or pseudonyms when writing about experiences with your co-workers or students.
5. Watch your language. Use politically correct and non-offensive language.
6. Make sure you write about things that are factual.
7. Keep your postings education-oriented. Avoid discussing plans for the weekend, etc.
2. Show respect and consideration of others when posting and commenting. This includes individuals, students, organizations, political parties, colleagues, etc.
3. Check all posts for spelling and grammar errors before posting.
4. Protect the privacy of others. Gain permission from other people before you write about them. Avoid sharing someone else's last name. Use job titles or pseudonyms when writing about experiences with your co-workers or students.
5. Watch your language. Use politically correct and non-offensive language.
6. Make sure you write about things that are factual.
7. Keep your postings education-oriented. Avoid discussing plans for the weekend, etc.
FINAL BLOG POST - OUR "DAILY TRIPLE" (DUE 12/1).
This week I would like you to use your imagination. You have just won the lottery and will leave your teaching post immediately to travel around the world. As you leave your keys you meet your replacement. You are asked to give this new teacher just ONE piece of advice. What would that be, and why? Enjoy your world expedition!
Blog Post - Week 7
This past week in my own teaching I felt a little disconnected which prompts my question to you, "What was the moment (or moments) when I felt most disconnected or disengaged as a teacher - the moment(s) I said to myself, I'm just going through the motions here?"
Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 6
For the past couple of weeks you have experienced asynchronous online learning (doing modules by yourself). Previously this semester you have experienced synchronous online learning (all together in the Collaborate room). Which do you think is more effective and why do you think that? Which do you like better, and why?
Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 5
This week we have what we call "open mic." You can write a post about anything related to your teaching that you would like responses from your classmates.
Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 4
Here is this week's question: "What was the event that most took me surprise this week - and event that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"
Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 3
Please write a post about the following question, "In thinking about my past week teaching what is one thing I would do differently, and why?"
Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 2
Please write a post about the following question, " In thinking about my teaching activities this past week, of what do I feel most proud? Why?"
Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 1
Describe something you used in your program in the first weeks of school that you learned in the summer NTI program. How did it work? Did it get you off to a stronger start than last year?
3 comments:
I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised this year. Last year my situation was much like yours... no time to do the work that you needed to do. This year it's been different. At the beginning of the year we had the obligatory meetings during preplanning, but during the year our teacher workdays have mostly been ours, which has been great. We have another one on 3/12, so I hope I'm not jinxing myself.
We received our contracts Wednesday and were told that the amount of our pay is wrong (low of course) on each and every contract. We were told that our pay will be right when we get our checks next year but that they will not retype the contracts. We must sign them as is and turn them in 2 weeks. I must say I have a problem with that and so did the teachers sitting around me.
As you wrote, I too wonder why our teacher work days are not left alone for teachers to work on grades. Instead they are used for administration to meet or train or do whatever else they want done.
I have often wondered why they just don't go ahead and call them "professional development days" instead of "planning days". Every year i continue to be frustrated with those planning days when I walk in the first day to find my whole room is outside the door in the hallway. Why they wait to wax my floors until the day before we come back to school I will never understand. My daughter experiences your same frustrations with APS but an adition to every preplanning day being filled with meetings, she has meetings during her planning period throughout the schoolyear. They are also reqired to stay to tutor students with no monetary compensation therefore loosing that time right after school to plan. This woul be why she has decide to no longer teach.
I don't know what the answer is but we will just have to make the most of the planning time we have.
Post a Comment