I’m Trying...

Summer School...

Summer school starts now.

I already adore kids.

Mischievous ones.

Welcome one and all <3

WRITING WEDNESDAYS

TEACHER SATURDAYS

Breaking News!

There is a young boy at my school.  I have no idea what he has been through for the past several months.  All I know is that his grandfather now has custody of a two-year-old, a four-year-old, and a six-year-old (my student).  These kids haven’t been in school since it shut down back in March of 2020.  Grandpa owns his own company…a small one-person kind of company.  He can’t afford to feed and clothe these kids. Mercifully this little guy has a decent coat and sneakers.

My school provided a backpack.

His other teacher provided school supplies.

I bought him masks and hand sanitizer.  His teacher showed me a picture of him with a messy faced grin as he ate his breakfast. One of the masks I got him hung just under his chin.  It was dark blue with stars and rocket ships.  I’m so happy I could put a smile on this boy’s face!

Now if only I could get him to like reading…

Depression...

It’s hard to keep your head above the water when you’re drowning in your own tears...  Take that, former me who wrote horrible Goth poetry! 

Nothing ever changes...

Bureaucracy is a tumor on society’s ass that will never go away…

Government…fueled by greed and money…one of the worst necessary evils…

All I wanted from Biden was student loan forgiveness for my admittedly incomplete education.  Did I get my diploma?  Yes.

Did I graduate feeling confident and ready?  No.

My student teaching was interrupted by Corona.

This may not seem like such a big thing to you…

But when you have anxiety and are faced with a new experience, a new challenge, a new career…  It is terrifying to feel ill prepared.

Teaching well behaved adults who want to learn English is one thing but teaching children who are a million times more hyper, sociable, and sneaky than you are is an entirely different matter.  I am happy to say that I am finally on the right track to becoming a teacher…hopefully a GOOD teacher.  But at the same time, I am very disheartened that it took so long and I had to jump through so many rings of fire to do so.  You’d think that someone at some point in the educational food chain would know how to organize things better…streamline the process.  Make things easier.

No.

First I get told that I need to have three different certifications…

Then I’m told that the school district that just hired me needs me to do yet another background check…

I’m working in the same State!  Why do I need to get another background check when I just got one done last month?!

Chocolate

Chocolate is love.

A filling is optional.

Peanut butter though.

Tree Genocide...

Shadows forest love.

Verdant protection from light.

Stop killing them please.

Certification Pending...

This is such a depressing thing to see when you have studied for what essentially amounts to three months straight.

Sadly, I only have myself to blame considering I let my background check slip. Now I have to get in touch with people to have my work email unlocked.

It has been a long and winding road already…

No one at grad school said anything about additional certification…

The program was geared towards preparing student to teach adults, not kids.

Then again, when I asked the ‘teaching career’ guru if I should get certified in general education or special education…she said ‘no’.

Do yourself a favor, if you are going to specialize in ESL, special education, or any other area…go for additional certification in general education. There are more special education jobs than there are ESL (in my State, anyway) and there is WAY more general education jobs than there are both ESL and special education combined.

Get it while you are still in college!

It will open up three times as many doors for you!

Start in general education, get that experience, then work towards the subject or kinds of students you actually want to teach.

Get your foot in the door!

Okay, I am Mad…

As a teacher, my discipline is lacking…

So long as the students respect each other and do their work I’m fine with some of their shenanigans.

But

I

Do

Not

Tolerate

Bullying

Unfortunately, I failed one of my students…figuratively, not literally…

She has an IEP…

She struggles in math…

Theory says that I should pair her with a more capable student…

Theory neglects to say that I should make sure that the ‘capable’ student will HELP her instead of insulting her intelligence to her face.

She has been a no-show at summer school for a full week…

Gee, I wonder why…

The only time this was brought to my attention was when my ‘capable’ student insulted her intelligence in front of the whole class…

She hasn’t been back since, and no, she’s not on vacation.

Now, I am a new teacher so if there’s a ‘sixth sense’ that one develops after years of practice I have yet to develop it.

I am also VERY hard on myself.

I feel as though I have neglected to protect and empower her…

I can only hope that things improve for her as she repeats 3rd grade next year…

I’m so sorry sweetheart…

Contaminated Gifts...

Booger cookies are

A very thoughtful gift, dear

I think I’ll pass.