Saturday, August 12, 2006

The First Week of SChool

Oh-kay. So the name of the blog is no longer applicable, since my "vacation" is officially over now. But it will suffice for the next 9 months until the next "vacation" starts. I have now embarked on "My 8th Year of Teaching."

Ah, back to school time. The joy of mothers everywhere. Even before the official beginning, I knew that this year was going to be a doozy. There are just too many kids in my classes. And I don't mean that because I secretly hate my job and wish I could stay home with my sons. I mean there are really too many! In LATIN! Did someone forget to tell these kids that it is a dead language that no one speaks?! (oh, yeah. that was me. oops.) My largest class is weighing in at 31 darlings. And 8th graders no less. (Did I mention that I teach middle school??? Which means I'm certifiably crazy.) My second largest class has 29. Those are 6th graders. I have 147 children ages 11-13 that I see every. single. day. Can you imagine the migraine?

All week, I've been complaining to the head of my magnet program and the principal. No one has any suggestions on what to do. Why can't we hire another Latin teacher? No money for something so unimportant. It's not like it's a math class for stupid kids or something. That would certainly get some funding from the district. What's funny about that is, my class actually counts for high school credit. So we've got 31 "highly motivated" kids trying to learn a dead language and go to high school with a nice looking GPA. Riiiiiiight! What we actually have is a teacher losing her voice because she's yelling over 31 crazy teenagers! But finally, it took me, a certified crazy woman, to come up with a solution. See, there's another Latin teacher at our school. She has a class - THE SAME PERIOD- as my big class. Hmmm... anyone else see the possibilities here?

Can someone explain to me why the powers that be could not figure this out? Why someone with actual access to the numbers did not notice the disrepancy between 31 (me) and 7 (the other girl)? Why I had to suffer with 31 kids for four days? And why we would have to get parents permission to move their kid into a much smaller class? I, personally, would love my kid to be in a smaller class to learn a dead language. I mean, it's obvious. Right?

My other problem is with the parents of some 6th graders. I have two periods of the same class. One has 29 students, the other has 11. This is because we have two lunch periods. Some of the 29 kids originally were in the other class. But they couldn't have lunch with their friends. So their mommies and daddies called to complain. And they got moved. SO, these parents would rather have their little angel eat lunch with all their other snotty friends than get more individual attention from their teacher. Huh?

I just don't understand these parents. I understand that I teach in a magnet program at a school that NO ONE would choose to send their child to. I get that. But really people. It's not helping your kid much when it takes the teacher a month to learn their names because there's just too damn many kids in a classroom. It's also funny that my principal turns tail and runs every time a parent looks at him sideways. What a guy. I can't wait till the hub is done with Seminary and I can quit this gig for good.

As a side note, Colby's first week at big boy school went fine. No big, mean 5th graders beating him up. We did discover, however, that he will keep his mouth shut while walking down a hallway if you give him a marshmallow. Good to know.

5 comments:

Nikki said...

I had thought long and hard about becoming a teacher but decided against it (Seriously).

Reasons I will not be a teacher:

-No hazardous duty pay
-No bullet proof vests or other body armor is provided and would it be looked down upon if I wore it
-I would not be allowed to carry a weapon
-I hate other people's kids
-I hat the parents of other people's kids

LOL - not to far from the truth actually. LOL Good thing I decided against it huh. LOL

..(you can make fun of me now)

Christina_the_wench said...

Can I make fun of Nikki too? Well she SAID...

You teachers rock and are underpaid. I could never do what you do. Seriously. Someone would die.

Nikki said...

You most definately can NOT make fun of me....I'll tell the teacher on you.

Sayre said...

Wow! A Latin teacher!!!! My great-grandfather's second wife was a Latin teacher. We used to write letters to each other in Latin. I took it in highschool, back when you had to PAY people to take Latin. I did it because I love words - and Latin is a root language. Doesn't matter that no one speaks it. In fact, I'd love to learn Welsh, which has been a dying language that is being resuscitated!

Too bad you're not in Florida. We have some pretty strict class-size limits, voted into the constitution by the voters. The governor is trying to get it re-voted because he says the state can't afford it. My ass!

Speaking of asses.... dealing with that many kids might help you lose yours! I forget to eat when stressed out and it sounds like you will be spending quite a bit of time in that state.

WHen will you post your picture???? I've looked at a lot of backsides today, but haven't seen yours yet!

Man, these posts sound very strange if you don't know what's going on....

Mama C said...

Thanks for the support, ladies.

Nikki- You are right on. I wish I could wear bullet proof vests at the school where I work.

Christina- There are days when kids are thisclose to dying. Seriously.

Sayre- I loved words too. Now I teach Latin, and I don't like them too much. Oh, well. I rock at Jeopardy! I'll be showing my ass shortly.

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