Teachers Have Plenty of Free Time

School has started. I realized I'm a busy bee. In fact, on the first day of school they listed all of my duties. Not exactly sure when I'm expected to teach. Honestly, I really have less pressure on me than most teachers. I don't teach a core class so I don't affect our school performance score and other NCLB things. I do, however, make the school look good, so that is where my pressure lies.

These are my duties at school:

• Web Site Coordinator
  
• Awards Day Coordinator
  
• Graphic Design Coordinator
  
• Public Relations Coordinator (which includes submitting stories to the local news media and our own cable access channel, plus designing and editing the parent newsletter
  
• Marquee Operator
  
• Assistant Boys Basketball Coach
  

This doesn't include just being a teacher. I don't get off at 2:30. I don't really get holidays (basketball plays every holiday except Labor Day and Easter). And because I'm a professional, don't think I take the entire summer off.

I don't really get paid a lot either. That doesn't matter. I do it because the kids at my school deserve for me to do a lot of the stuff I do. Until I get kids of my own, it will be that way. The only problem is if I do all that stuff, when do I have time to find someone to have kids with?

The Start is Near

School starts in a week. I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to it or not.

I am, unexpectedly, enjoying preparing for this year. My classes are coming together. I’m getting the Digital Graphics class ready. I’ve updated the schools webpage.

My desire to coach basketball is diminishing. I really want to be a good teacher. I want to concentrate on teaching this year, but the struggle of finding time for both my class and basketball will continue. To most, it would seem not like a struggle. The class work would come first. However, basketball just eats time. Think about it: waiting for kids to be picked up after practice, practicing on weekend’s b/c you have to share the gym with everyone else, and the worst time eater – bus rides. When you are riding 40 minutes to play somewhere during winter, you can’t really grade papers. Actually, I have very few papers to grade because of what I teach. I have to be in my classroom to grade due the fact I teach digital graphics. Printing is expensive and the waste of paper is not something my liberal leanings can abide. Plus, part of me wants to return to school to earn my degree in Educational Leadership (educationese at its worst…it’s an Administration Degree). Basketball obstructs that desire because we play on so many different nights of the week.

Summer Slowdown

I would write more but July is the slow month for me. I don't have much to report. I did write all my lesson plans for Computer Literacy. I'm almost done with my Desktop Publishing class. I just got a book in that should help be do my digital graphics class the way i want to. The problem with that last class is that I have to realize anything I teach will be more than most high school students will get since it isn't taught at most schools.

A Tale of Two Trainings

I went to two trainings in the last two weeks. One was good; one made me die a little inside.

In my last post, I talked about how I was going to a computer training. I made a couple of predictions of how it would go. I was right. We spent 20 minutes on turning the computer on and off. We spent another 20 on how to make a favorite in IE. Now, if this training was filled with people like my mom, I wouldn't have complained. I would have offered to help. But this training was filled with people that have no excuse for they should be some sort of expert at using a computer. It makes me sick to think of how little their students know because of them. Again, there is no excuse. I have a friend who teaches social studies even though her major was English. She always complains that she is not good at Social Studies because it's not her major. Now, I'm not going to argue that she could teach English better because that is what she feels more comfortable. No, she's a teacher. Which means we can safely assume she can read and process information. Since the textbooks are written in English I'm doubly sure she can do this. But think about it, she's using her lack of training as an excuse for not doing a good job. Give me a break! If you are a teacher, shouldn't you be able to teach anything? And if the subject matter is difficult, shouldn't you be able to teach yourself? Ah...

Well, the second training I went to was on Senior Projects. We are a Senior Project High school. I came away actually inspired from this confrence. I realized that for all the faults my school has when we stack up again schools from all over the nation, we do pretty well. We just need to have more faculty involvement for Senior Project I feel. That will come.

All Cert Up and Feeling Bored

I get to go to an education training this week. Pinch me quick! I’m stoked. High-fiv…nah, I hate that crap. I hate how people who have never met my kids or taught in the same geographical region as I do try to tell me how to teach. It’s all bullshit. Sorry for the profanity, dear reader(s), but sometime I like to call a spade a spade. This one will probably be worse. It’s computer training for the IC3 certification.

Don’t get me wrong, it will be nice to have another certification. I also think this class will be good for most teachers that attend. Not me. I’m already an A+ Certified Computer Technician, which IC3 lists as a more advanced certification. Hopefully, I will learn just one thing. The last two computer trainings I went to I had the same wish. Maybe, this one will come through to me.

I know I seem cocky, but should I be cocky about what I teach. While we might not be advanced experts like college professors, teachers should be a low level expert on their subject matter. I know, and you probably do to too, too many teachers who can teach but have no clue what it is they are teaching. They can give you methods galore, but not facts, figures or theories. It’s like have a large vocabulary with nothing important to say. I do hope most of the teachers who attend this training are of my mindset, so maybe they can teach us some more advanced topics beyond copying and pasting (which is one of the benchmarks for the IC3).

The other thing that I’m worried about is that teachers are the worst students. You usually have three groups. First is the quiet group. I like this group. Second is my group. This is the group that will be good but bored but also can’t hide their utter contempt for the third group. The ones that have no idea of what they are doing and worse don’t know how to articulate that to the trainer. Then when they think they know something they try to go ahead, make a mistake and have no clue how to get back to where the rest of the class is.

Also, I don’t have time for this. I just installed the Adobe CS3 master collection. Now, if they would have sent me to that training for certification, well, I would be so happy.

Helping Out

Our school does core exams which are basically district made midterms and finals. One of my friends was in charge of the World Geography exam while another was in charge of the civics exam. Well, today they found out the way they were doing it was not the way they were supposed to do it. So, instead of doing my work, because they are electives, I'm pitching in and helping rewrite the World Geography exam. The thing i hate most about teaching is your bosses are former teachers. I know it's my profession, but sometimes they irk the crap out of me.

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Now playing: Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers
via FoxyTunes

Taken for Granted

Yesterday, I was starting to get overwhelmed. I know what you are thinking, it’s the summer and you are feeling overwhelmed? I thought teachers don’t do anything over the summer? A good teacher will be as busy in the summer than in the school year. It’s time to review, evaluate, and adjust.

In my case, it’s more difficult. I have 5 different preps and four of my lessons became obsolete. Partially, because we are getting new, professional level software; partially, because I’ve learned more about my subjects. As stated in a previous post, I was never taught what I am teaching. So I have to learn it all. I’m not complaining; in fact, I love learning this stuff. It’s just the amount that I have to learn at the level I want to learn it. I could easily have my kids learn FrontPage or Publisher and have them create websites and desktop publishing products from them. However, anyone can do those things using those products. Plus, those products don’t allow you total control which is a problem to someone who actually knows what they are doing. They are great programs for the home user. I want my kids to think of computer commercial art as a possible career.

Well, I decided to take yesterday off. I bought a book on The Replacements, my favorite band of all time. After basketball, a friend and I went to eat and then went watch Ironman. Both good choices.

Today, I woke up to some good news. My marketing class is eligible for a grant of $5000 dollars. I received the grant but I had some trouble with it. If you have ever written a grant, you know you have to allocate all the money and spend it as you said you would. Well, I had it done down to almost the penny. Then it happened. Everything I purchased was on sale. If this were my money, I would be ecstatic. But I ended up saving over 1000 dollars. To make matters worse, I was doing this will limited amount of time. Last year’s grant was due June 1; this year it was due April 15. I figured this out the week before Easter vacation. I was able to get everything in time for my final report. I then received an email saying I could spend it on paper. This is a great thing for my class. But when I went shopping, you got it; I got most of the stuff half priced. So, I spent more. My car actually got lower from all the paper. Today, I get an email from the grant committee. They actually said of all the grant proposals mine was the best and they want to use it as an example of how to write a proposal. HA! Smoke and mirrors, my friend, smoke and mirrors.