6:45 am: Crap! Not enough time to shower. "sniff sniff" I smell ok. Clothes clothes. Kakis out of the clean laundry - they aren't too wrinkled, are they? Polo shirt from Old Navy - It has an argyle pattern. My Nikes with the blue laces and pink swoop. Pony tail. Smelly spray. Lotion. Ok, kids.
"Everyone who lives upstairs get up, we're late!"
And then my sweet noah comes bumping down the stairs on his bottom. In his footy jammies. He comes into my room and climbs into my lap and gives me a big hug. Who can hurry when they have love and snuggles in their lap? I enjoy it a moment and then haul him and his brother into the livingroom. I dig through the same laundry basket I found my own outfit in and tossed them each pants, a shirt. Socks and shoes follow.
"Isaiah, where are you?" Putting his own shoes on (always high topped converse), he took a super quick shower so his hair would lie down. Its trendily long and he parts it so it just grazes his eyes. The girls think he's cute. I think he's beautiful. But I can't tell him that.
7:20 Everyone in the car. "MOM unlock the doors" "MOM, I don't want that jacket." "he's in my seat" "where's my packpack?" "EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND PUT ON YOUR SEATBELTS!!!"
We pull out, I'm careful not to hit a trash can or the cat, who refuses to yeild to lower beings.
"I want music" "WE ARE LISTENING TO THE NEWS"
I drive a few blocks and stop in front of a very nice look ranch or double wide. The big front door is open, but the glass on the screen door has a note about buying krispy kremes to raise money for her child in volley ball. I don't buy any donuts. I do hustle in Noah (who has two speeds, running and not at all, and uses not at all in the morning) to the door. We trade hugs and kisses and I'm back in the car.
The next stop is Isaiah's. We zip across the busy highway, turn in front of a school bus that doesn't know what a stop sign is, and pull into the line in front of the middle school. "Be good, do your work, I don't want an email about you. Hustle over to the highschool when you get out" "ok mom, bye" "I love you" and the car door is shut and he's hustling across the school yard to breakfast.
Now, Gideon. We drive throuhg the school zone, past the high school where I work and turn in to a small road and then again so that I am pointed back towards the school. I wait, with much less patience than before, for the line to move so I can drop Gideon at the corn so he doesn't have to try to cross the street. I can tell its after 7:30 because the kids aren't all waiting to be let in for breakfast. They are already in. Gideon takes for ever to get his stuff together to get out of the car. I seeth with unjust impatience. He finally had his stuff, tells me bye, and gets out. I watch a bit to make sure he heads the right way and then pull out.
My own destination is four blocks south and one block east. I am pulling in at 7:41. We're supposed to be in the building and ready to go at 7:40.
7:42 In my classroom. I find my water bottle and fill it in the fountain down the hall. I have to step around a mess of crud some sophomore has dumped out of her binder to get to it. There is a cross country runner napping in the hall.
In my room, I fire up my compute and sign in. Is the internet working today? yes. Good. And pull together my day kit. Its a blue day. black notebook. Physical science, physcial science, and anatomy and physiology. I should be teaching these.
I check my day. I have an IEP team meeting after school. I should call the student's mom and make sure she remembers. Shit. I left my phone at home. Damit. Oh well. Lets see.
Print the IEP, pull up and print a current grade report. Email all the parties that need to come, remind them. Ok, add a staffing sheet and we're golden. Ready to go. The first bell rings at 7:53
7:59 I get to physical Science. This section is taught by MR. Ass. (not really, but you know) he seems to enjoy lecturing minimally and passing out an abundance of worksheets. His teaching style is to explain the worksheets before he collects them when they are due. Students are expected to ask questions and then write in the right answers. My students are never done on time. They lack the life-coping strategies it takes to just sit tight and scribble answers as he gives them. Or they honestly don't have the intellect to understand this teaching method. They are always behind.
8:15 Students have a few minutes to work. One is very behind. she got suspended for three days last week. For cussing me out and leaving my room. Akward. She declares she doesn't have the worksheets, or the notes and can't do it. I copy my notes and find her the worksheets. She still doesn't start to work. I stand next to her and walk her through a few. Soon hands are going up.
The regular teacher of that class sits at his computer. He is putting in grades. He is not answering questions. I explain what the atomic number means, how to find neutrons, why electrons is the same as protons. And then I move on and do it again.
One of my identified students has has a paper returned. Its all wrong. I re-explain bohr models (its easier if you don't try to make complete circles for your orbital shells) I watch her do one to make sure she has it down. Then I move on. "can I look at your paper" "Why" "just to make sure" "whatever" Most of its right. I'm a good teacher or she's a good guesser. "Mrs. G, do you have a pencil"
8:45 mr. ass has the kids get out their notebooks and lectures on atomic structure, the periodic table, valence shells, and covalent bonding for a while. I can tell he's not quite comfortable with this material. I think I could have made more sense of it and made it more fun. The bell rings at 9:20 and we all leave.
9:20 Second block is my planning period. While I was in class, my program coordinator sent out a bunch of google events notices. I know what he was getting at, but he confused the hell out of a bunch of us. I have two IEPs that need sent to the main office. I run copies for my own files and put the official copies in the special blue envelope. I drop the envelope in the psych office and go back down stairs. I check my office mail and find that the case worker of one of my students has faxed back signed pages. I run more copies and take them back to the psych office and add them to my blue envelope. While I am there I clairfy a couple of details about AB, a student who's IEP meeting is on thursday. His IEP expires Friday, the meeting has been rescheduled twice. Thurs we are going to have to meet and adopt the IEP even if the parent cannot come. Kid is a good kid, not planning any changes to his program.
Go back downstairs. I have a meeting for CT later today. I see I have an email from LG about the IEP I wrote for her. So I take the copy I printed earlier upstairs. The student comes from a school where Algebra 1 is not offered to middle schoolers. We do not offer it at the high school. She's got a "D" in geometry and is failing Enlish 9. Mom is worried. I wrote an IEP to get her placed in a resource math class. This required moving her other classes around a little. I emailed my proposed new schedule to our coordinator Sunday. He either never got it, never bothered to read it, or decided he didn't like it. Because he told me that wouldn't work. The options became, lets put her into a computer based algebra class and AT, another special ed teacher, can check in on her. I'm not thrilled with that idea. But ok fine.
11:00 The bell rings. Where did my plan go? (I was going to pop out to the city offices to pay my electric bill) I run downstairs and stop in AT's room to confer. New-ish plan sounds odd to her as well. Coordinator wonders if she will do some diagnostic testing with CT. Uhm, on the day of the meeting coordinator? I have to go to class.
11:10 Class is reviewing a worksheet and quiz with the main teacher. After lunch they will be taking a test. I am taking five of them out to test in my room with me.
11:30. Second lunch. I run back across the street (the science building is not in the main building) and pop into the guidance office. The computer based learning coordinator is also the underclassmen's guidance councilor. I call her volleyball coach. VC nixes plan two. But suggests that we put CT in a group of kids using computer learning to do algebra, who are also with a math teacher (granted this is bitchy math teacher 1). BM1 is also the geometry teacher. "So she will be familiar with CT and CT will know her". Ok. And keep her in journalism. But her disability is in written expression and I can't offer assistance in a non-core class . . .
Oh, what ever. This is the new plan. Email it to all involved. Go back to class when the bell rings.
12:00 Shit. I forgot to eat. Don't want to eat junkfood while my kids test. Ok, deal. The main teacher "Mr. Track coach" gives a few reminders. I tell the five I am taking to gather their things so that they can go with me to my room as soon as the test is out. The test goes out, I get "the nod" from TC. "Anyone testing with me, lets go" "can I go" asks the kid who calls me names and doesn't have a disability. "nope". We all go. One of my students straggles. Gather up your stuff apparently has different meanings to different people.
We get to my room. And test. "King Henry Died Upstairs Drinking Chocolate Milk" Its an mnumonic to help remember the metric system's most common prefixes. The first part of the test in metric to metric conversions. "NEVER EVER CHANGE THE DIGITS, JUST MOVE THE DECIMAL POINT" Maybe I expect too much. There is one who's always wanting to multiply things by four.
On to temperature conversions. "I know you can do it that way, use my way, if you use the same way every time, when you make a mistake you can see where you made it" I think this kid is wanting to prove something. All he accomplished was to waste my time.
Dimensional analysis. worklines. Petroski's fence. Its a pain by what ever name. But there are rules. Write your given. Like units should be diagonally below each other. Vertically the amounts should be equivalent. Multiply across the top and bottom. Divide the top by the bottom. Remember to report units too.
"I hate math" "go take a walk in the hall" "I don't want to" through clenched teeth. "You'r so stressed you can't think logically, you need a break," "I hate effing math" "Take a break, do your best"
Another student "I need to stop the test" "why" "because I have government and math to do too" "but this is science class" "I'm done, I can't do any more" "give me your paper, we will work on it later" He farts around with his other papers without accomplishing anything of consequence. The bell rings at 1:00
1:00 Seminar. My class shuffles in. I attempt to take role. "can I go to the library" No" "why" "because last week you went without a pass and didn't accomplish anything, you have world history, american history, english or speech to work on, here, use my computer" He goofed.
I have six extra kids finishing physical science tests. Another three working on earth science. Two extra are in to work with my para on history. My coordinator shows up to grab the kid who wanted to go to the library. I spend 44 minutes helping with science. And threatening another student that if he did not find work to do he would be sent to the office. He eventually got out a novel. It wasn't the perspective drawings he needs to art, or the article summary he needs for biology, or the paper he needs to write for english. but it wasn't sitting and doing nothing. Four of the five finished their tests. Two still need to work, and one who started yesterday didn't show up today.
1:50 The bell rings. I check my email before going to my next class. The BM1 wants to know why we are planning to meet on CT and why we want to move her. I reply. Coordiator has sent out meeting notices again. These have the right dates on them. I'm hungry. I quickly retype the parts of the IEP that will apply to the student, hit print, and run to class.
2:00 A&P The kids are taking notes. The school got this great grant that let it buy a classroom set of Ipads instead of biology texts. They use google apps to take notes, share documents. Its great in thought, a horrifying waste of time in practice. I take notes by hand on paper. I sit next to a student who tends to have behavior issues. Mrs. wishywashy comes and asks me to sit near a few non-identified kids. They seem to be watching a video on the Ipad instead of working. I move.
The student in front was using the black reflective screen as a mirror to goof at the kids behind him. The one behind me says "Mrs. G, is that a dinosour tattoo on your neck" "anything is possible" "why did you get it" "Ask me when you have free time" And we took notes until 3:05.
3:05 Mrs. WW passes out a crossword. I quickly solve the clues ( I know this shizznit) and then break the word bank down into choices. My low function kids will have to choose from three options instead of 30. I quickly mark up their worksheets with my new method. The bell dismisses school at 3:21
3:22 I wait at the south east corner of the school for my four year old to be delivered. He gets picked up most days by my friend, AT's boyfriend. Her four year old is in the same preschool. The kids show up. I run upstairs and grab the printed materials for the meeting for CT. And go back out to wait for my oldest. His school dismissed at 3:15 and is a block away, he should be here by now. . . . and now . . . . and definitely now.
3:35 I drop Noah at AT's classroom. "please" "ok, but I leave at four" "Isaiah should be here any time" I wander down to the office. And find the E9 teacher. The one who's class CT is failing. No sign of CT, who wasn't at school today, or anyone else. I use the office phone to first call the middle school. Isaiah wasn't kept after and isn't answering an all call. Then I call CT's mom. Yes, they are on the way now. Great. I grab the English teacher, Mrs. M and the journalism teacher, Mrs. Twitchy, and the Nutrition teacher (a class she's not failing) Mrs. tasty. We go to the conference room. As I come around the corner I see a very familiar pair of converse shoes going up the stairs.
"Isaiah, is that you" "yeah, I was . . . " "I don't care, go get your brother from Mrs. AT and get your ass home" I cussed at my son in front of three teachers. I don't rock at all. We go in. School psych comes in. Coordinator comes in. My regional coordinator Hsquared, comes in. Mom and CT come in. Principal comes in.
3:45 commence meeting. I have to introduce folks. I haven't eaten all day. I look at my regional coordinator and draw a fucking blank. He's a nice man. If it bugs him, I can't tell. We talk options. Do you want a whole new IEP? No, I brought the one from the old school. Ok, that one had no coverage for math, which is her strong point. Only language arts was specified. Any other assistance she gets is a coincidence at this point.
WE talk turkey, we can adopt a new IEP, we can rearange her whole schedule, or we can leave things as they are. I put a lot of leg work into making sure we could move her schedule. Then the principal talks. Says some things that annoy me because we did what the documentation said to do. But what ever. He's also MRS. Volleyball's husband and has surely had his ear bent by BM1. He basically announces that we not gonna change a damn thing. Lays the whole issue with the student, (who really should be asking for help and not turning in unfinished work). I get to continue to monitor her progress and can pull her in for extra math tutoring after school or during seminar.
All the documentation I ran around getting. Nada. Stuck it in a drawer. May pull it out later. Or not.
I have three papers I need the principal to sign. And when I stepped out of the meeting at 4:30, he was not in the building.
4:35 My classroom. File this, set that here so I remember to have it signed, copied, and sent on to the main office. AB's IEP still needs goals. LC's ten day notice needs sent out, three days ago. At 4:50 I remember that I still need to pay my utility bill.
5:04 I get to the city offices. They are locked and dark. Shit. Damn. I know that's due.
5:10 I get to the sight of Gideon's after school program. They don't unlock the doors until 5:15. Then we adults stand in a loose line and wait for our kid to be released to us. Gideon sees me and has to tell the door minder that he sees me three times before the man lets him go.
5:25 we get home. I am so hungry I can't form a coherent sentence. I growl at Isaiah for being so late (he was talking to some people) and put water on to boil. Watch some news on hulu. Play some goofy songs on youtube for the little dudes. They love the one about smoking with dinosaurs. We pretends its cigarettes. I'm probably going to parent hell for showing it to them.
The water boils. In go noodles and frozen peas. Cheese packet and tuna get mixed into cream of chicken concentrate. The noodles are tender. Drained, they and the peas go into the cheesey soup. Its tuna casserole. ITs awful to look at and probably tastes horrible. But I'm starving and eat it so fast my tummy cramps.
The boys eat it and pb&j. We do books, baths, beds. Its now 8:16. I still need to check my email, write those goals on the IEP, start another IEP for LC, read a chapter for my online class, complete paperwork for my evaluation, fold some laundry and run the dishwasher before I go to bed. I do not guarantee that all that will actually happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment