Open Mic

It's open mic so I just want to vent. At my school, whenever we (the teachers) want to do something, whether it's a field trip, fundraising opportunity, "out of box" classroom strategy or even something that is required like teachers getting their required professional development hours, the initial answer is always no. This is the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced in a professional work environment. Everything is always "policy and procedure" this or "district policy" that. Most days I'm optimistic but sometimes I get really down. I want to help the kids and give them new and real world experiences, of course while covering all the standards. Case in point, some of our CTAE students attended a district-wide health and wellness symposium at Atlanta Metropolitan State College this past Wednesday. The field trip had to be rescheduled because it was originally scheduled to take place during our 2nd Snowpocalypse. Our CTAE department notified us (after the district notified them) that we did not have to resubmit the field trip paperwork, we only needed to have the students and parents complete a new permission slip. My administration did not allow this. I wasn't made aware that I had to resubmit all the field trip paperwork until the Monday before the trip. On this past Monday I had to drive to 3 separate locations and retrieve signatures because interoffice mail would not have gotten the paperwork to the necessary offices before the field trip. It was storming rain and very chilly on Monday. I really wanted my students to attend the symposium so I did what was required from my administration to make that happen. I feel resubmitting the paperwork was very unnecessary, especially since the district did not require it. Why must potential road blocks be placed in front of us, while attempting to help the students?

Atlanta Snowmageddon 2014

While I'd like to keep working through Prosser's theorems, I think this is a good week to take a break and talk about "us." Please put on your "teacher hat" and your "favorite hat" to answer the following: How have the snow days and time away from school affected you? The snow days and time away from school has been positive from a relaxation point of view. I am mildly dreading our return to school for a few different reasons. Partly because the students act as though they have forgotten every classroom management technique that has been presented to them. It's always a battle the first few days back getting the students back on track. We have less time to prepare for the HOSA state leadership conference and the students are worried. We haven't had much time to fundraise and to prepare the students for competition. I have caught up on a lot of school work for myself and paperwork for both of my positions. Getting back into the swing of things will be difficult but I'm optimistic we can handle it.

sNOw Thank You

I can honestly say that I am not one of the teachers glued to the television or my phone waiting on a snow day to be announced. I love my job, I love my kids, and I certainly love being in the classroom. I want to be at school! I did take advantage of the break, but I haven't been doing very many school things. I have used my "off days" to catch up on a lot of personal tasks that have been put off as a result of being in school. I despise cold weather, so during this most recent snow day I was an absolute bear, and hibernated the entire time indoors, and didn't accomplish much of anything. I am also frustrated with the cold weather because I had a fun outdoor activity planned for my class this week, and now we have to move it indoors. Plus, if the proposal for "no make-up days" does not pass, I don't want to be in the classroom when it is nice outside.