Late Post...

Dark Cloud...

Depression hurts, man.

Some days I just don’t want to…

Breathe deep and enjoy.

Irish Yums!

Golden chocolates.

Foil wrapped Leprechaun coins.

Mouth melting goodness.

Ninth Classroom...

I bounced from school-to-school for a while before landing…

I was placed in a pull-out position where I would work with English Language Learners…

They were new to the country and new to the school…

A lot of the students were true beginners unable to associate phoneme to letter…

It was a lot of work, considering I only see them twice a week for half an hour at most…

Hybrid classes…come to school two days…go virtual three…

Except they don’t show up and do no work…

Fortunately, I’m not a ‘real’ teacher yet…

They only get some additional language support from me…completely homework free.

Of if they needed to talk…I was always willing to listen.

The Pandemic is hard on all of us…

Forget your standards and your deadlines…

Let children be children…

Praxis Haiku

Evil Praxis test

Consuming all of my time

I want to sleep now

Hug...?

Hug hug hug hug hug

You’re my favorite teacher

No, no please don’t leave!

Looking up...

Breakthrough finally

Happiness can be real now

I have a new job.

Sixth Classroom...

Three weeks just sitting in a library watching ELLs take the ACCESS test…

Oh great, Corona.

I’m banned from the school and go home.

Now, the school shuts down and the children seldom show.

I sit in my bedroom talking to the walls on Zoom.

YouTube stories…picture books and animations on environmental and wildlife conservation…

Stories lead to class discussions and simple assignments.

The edTPA is not going to happen.

Thankfully I don’t need it for institutional backing once I finally graduate.

Virtual classrooms where students are constantly interrupted by poor internet or having to watch younger siblings.

These kids are learning nothing yet being passed onto the next grade.

It’s such a disservice…

Fifth Classroom...

I was in a library at night.

It was just me and thirty-five adults and the occasional handful of kids.

China, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Brazil, Mexico, Columbia, Haiti, and more…

Different cultures, different educational backgrounds, different English language speaking abilities…

These were my students.

I taught them English, having to provide my students with different activities and materials in order to best work with their level of competence.

I taught them American culture not for the sake of seamless integration into America but so they would better understand the strange customs of their new home.

If they failed to secure a babysitter then I assigned a book report.

Advanced students helped lower students read and write a brief summary.

I supplied children with toys, drawing tools, and entertainment while we waited.

I did this for two years before going to grad school for TESOL…

Oops!

Background check needed before certification can go through…

Guess what I forgot to do during winter break?

Yup.

So my K-6 general education certification is pending until the background check I had done last week is cleared.

This, sadly, has cost me a couple of job opportunities…

But hey, as long as parents continue to act worse than their children in my state, I should be in a position in no time!  Seriously.  ‘I can’t stand to see my kid in my mask’ is just code for ‘I’m tired of hearing my kid whine about masks and I don’t want to wear one myself so here I am protesting my family’s right to get terminally ill.

The fact that America ever made it to become a first-world country much less a world power is still a mystery to me…

I love my country but I hate the spineless, cowardly, selfish, greedy people who run it.

Eleventh Classroom...

It’s been a year…

Still AroAce…

Still a teacher…

Still barely sane…

I went from being a ‘traveling ESL teacher’ to a paraprofessional at a Montessori school. I am not impressed.  Oh sure, Montessori is a wonderful learning philosophy but it is not for everyone.  It is certainly not for a teacher with ADHD that struggles with hyperfocus.  The individualized lessons given are often at the cost of classroom management or vice versa.

The parents who send their kids to a Montessori school do so in lieu of seeking out professional help for their unique or troubled child.  I have TWELVE out of twenty-six students who are either obviously ADHD or obviously Autistic to some degree.  Two have IEPs and the rest are ‘busy kids’ in their parents’ eyes.

This is a challenge that I have no problem with.  I LOVE my students.

BUT I am not thrilled with their parents…

‘I want to focus on this pregnancy’…Yeah, but while you’re doing that you could LAY in bed and work with your son on his letter sounds.

‘My parents are in a motel getting their act together’…AKA, drug addicts.

‘My mom says that this rule is dumb’…Sorry, it’s a SCHOOL rule.  No sweets.

The only thing worse than the parents is how this school is run…

The double standards and obvious favoritism is what REALLY pisses me off.

I do my job, I get yelled at by THREE different people.

Someone else DOESN’T do their job and they get praised…wonderful.

Oh yeah, and we have FOUR Montessori teachers out of FORTY.