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An Elementary School Teacher in the Show Me State
Wow. I’m officially an old-timer. I believe that with only one exception I am the most senior classroom teacher in the entire school. The turnover at my school is very high and it’s amazing that in such a short time I’ve seen so many people come and go, but here I am.
This year will be very strange. All my colleagues are back to work setting up classrooms and sitting through endless PD sessions. I am not setting up my classroom and I’m sitting through endless daytime TV. Why? Because I am on maternity leave. My daughter Alice was born on June 21. I won’t be returning to work until October. It’s hard to let go and trust that my substitute will begin the year well, but I need to since this time with my child is precious and…
I learned in early October that I am pregnant and due in June! This is a much planned-for baby, although if my plans worked out perfectly I would be due in March or April in order to maximize maternity leave/summer vacation. Oh well, we’ll make it work. I was really worried about how I would…
read more »Whether you call it “tracking” or “ability grouping” I’m against it. Yet all too often it is what schools decide to do, usually in some kind of last ditch effort to make the school’s AYP. Too often it’s done in low-income schools despite research showing that tracking tends to disproportionately hurt Latino and African American…
read more »In the middle of week 2 things are going smoother than they ever have. We began curriculum this week and it makes each day go by so much faster. I actually feel like I run out of time in each lesson, and that’s a nice feeling. I know we are cramming in as much learning…
read more »When I really think that this is my 4th year at my school, it boggles my mind. I was thinking about all the teachers at my school and there are only 5 classroom teachers, 2 specials teachers, 2 coaches, 2 title 1 teachers and 1 support staff who have been there longer than I have.…
read more »I got a new classroom this year, and I must admit that I got downgraded big time. I’m in a classroom with no windows, about 2/3 of the size of my last room. I am in the front hallway, 2 doors past the office, so we get a lot of traffic walking past. I am…
read more »I’m trying to connect to another elementary school teacher who wants pen pals next year. I’ll have about 28 4th graders. I’d prefer for our pen pals to be between grades 3-5, but ideally 4th grade. If anybody out there wants in then please leave a message.
read more »My school will be starting the 2010-11 school year with a principal. I know absolutely nothing about her except for her name, and it’s not the worst case scenario I was so worried about. I literally screamed with joy when I learned this. I didn’t want to start the school year with uncertainty, I wanted…
read more »Year 3 ended with a whimper rather than a bang, as usual. I had an impromptu pizza party with the 10 students who showed up followed by a Michael Jackson dance party. I stayed after to clean up my classroom and hold parent teacher conferences. I had an all-time low turnout of 2. Two. Yes.…
read more »Today was field day, which basically just erupted into a giant water-war thanks to the assistant principal. There was a time when he and a few other teachers were standing on the roof of the school throwing water balloons down on the crowd of kids below. It was hysterical! He made a few rules which…
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