So i found out today that my nightmare came true... one more student was added to my roster of 36. So here's the question: how did i find out this info this late on a Sunday night? I have access to my online-only gradebook at home. It is quite acceptable for my buisness, my employers, my school to expect that i would work extra hours--grading papers, entering grades, writing lessons, etc.--at home, but it is quite the opposite that i should be able to expect to have a teachable classload.
And should i still wonder why my test scores are so low?
On the other hand, a cute guy called me today... too soon for news on that front... But with all this work, will there be time to add a spice to life?
30 August 2009
29 August 2009
week one... over and done... again
This is my nineth year teaching. (Man, does that make me feel old.) My sixth at the same school. One would think that I know what I am getting myself into year after year. But again it all seems new and untried, mych like I am the first teacher in the world to deal with the problems I have been handed. No, this is nothing new or original. I am not the only person who has to deal with a rotten schedule, students who lack a knowlege base, overcrowded classes, and low test scores.
It seems to me that, besides my rotten schedule, the other three are directly related. Students begin to lack a knowlege base when they are not getting enough learning attention and intruction because they are crammed like sardines into a classroom, which leads to low test scores.
I am no miracle worker, but one would think that the powers-that-be, who always seem to work in the realm of a "research based agenda," would read some of the literature or research on class sizes. That is probably the one thing that local authorities can control by spending money on real needs such as more classroom teachers and lessmoney on frivolities like "programs" that waste time and money on staff development that teaches teachers what they already know.
Back to the now, I couldn't sleep this morning, this Saturday morning, because I had a nightmare that another student was added to my roster of thirty-six in my forth block class where students already have to sit in chairs at the back and sides of the room because I don't have enough desks to accomodate all of them. I am not trying to be finicky because I know that some teachers have it worse than I do, but some have it better... why can't we all have it better? I would think the students deserve it better.
It seems to me that, besides my rotten schedule, the other three are directly related. Students begin to lack a knowlege base when they are not getting enough learning attention and intruction because they are crammed like sardines into a classroom, which leads to low test scores.
I am no miracle worker, but one would think that the powers-that-be, who always seem to work in the realm of a "research based agenda," would read some of the literature or research on class sizes. That is probably the one thing that local authorities can control by spending money on real needs such as more classroom teachers and lessmoney on frivolities like "programs" that waste time and money on staff development that teaches teachers what they already know.
Back to the now, I couldn't sleep this morning, this Saturday morning, because I had a nightmare that another student was added to my roster of thirty-six in my forth block class where students already have to sit in chairs at the back and sides of the room because I don't have enough desks to accomodate all of them. I am not trying to be finicky because I know that some teachers have it worse than I do, but some have it better... why can't we all have it better? I would think the students deserve it better.
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