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Lesson Plans


RE: gripe

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Sears, Ellen (ESears.us)
Wed, 25 Aug 1999 12:03:44 -0400

Well - Last Friday this ( Gripe)could have been written by me... it was our
first week of school and our new (last year) principal had implemented a new
schedule for teachers (K-8) to have common planning time... I know, I know -
I told him the same thing all last Spring - not ALL 4th (or 5th, or 6th...)
teachers will have common planning. - because all of the kids will be in
related arts - He even went so far to create a 7th and 8th team of teachers
(5 core)... these are the same people that I have worked with for 18
years... we are a small school - adding related arts to the team wouldn't
have added too many more. We (RATs) were even told not to go to their
'team' meetings - he and I debated many times - 'how can this be if they are
making decisions that affect my class? "Correct me if I'm wrong - don't I
have 7th and 8th Kids?" Blah, Blah, Blah...

I asked for support from my friends and colleagues - and perhaps that is
what hurt the most - I have a math background, and I am interested in
science, and I've taught Literature - so I think of myself as an asset
(inflated ego) - and there wasn't one person on 'the team' that hasn't
worked with me using art in their classrooms- so I felt that I had 'proven'
myself - but nothing...
So needless to say - I don't want to be here - Really didn't want to come on
Friday - cried and my husband made me go (something about 3 boys in
parochial school - two cars over 100,000 miles and " he had to go so did I")
had a lousy day and it ended when the air conditioner mounted on the ceiling
in my storage room leaked - all over my paper and various collections of
found objects - gee was I a mess.

So I read the quote that Linda Kelty sent:
A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person
lives in a hostile world: everyone you meet is your mirror.
--Ken Keyes, Jr.

...and being the cynical person I am, just couldn't buy it...

...but my last period class - 6th grade - helped me clean up the mess, my
family was especially nice to me, I blew school off all weekend, helped
someone else with a problem and made it here Monday...
still don't want anything to do with the chosen few...

...and yesterday my 6th grade class gave me some cards, and had taken up a
collection in case there was something ruined that I really wanted to
replace...
and Claire's card said:

"Hope your artistic days are not remembered by the day you lost some things
that cannot be replaced easily"...

so I need to remember that I am here for the kids, and there are teachers
that do appreciate the arts and what goes on...
Ellen

Have a good year -