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Post by birdnerd on Jul 27, 2010 6:52:16 GMT -5
I'm going into my 12th year of teaching. I've spent most of my career teaching 4th grade self-contained, which is teaching all subjects to 9-10 year olds. I got catastrophic burn-out a couple years ago because of the time requirements for preparing 5 subjects for 24 kids and grading a gazillion papers a week. I was doing 120+ hours per week on school work and just about went loony(er). I have a non-epileptic seizure disorder, and my seizure rate and severity went up. I can't take medications for it, so that made things much more interesting. When I tried to leave to leave the teaching world and return to the corporate world -- teaching is not my first career -- God slammed doors so hard the world rattled, and I ended up teaching 3rd graders language arts, science, and art in a different district. Then this past year, I was given an opportunity to move into a support position teaching gifted kids and English as a second language kids along with a couple sessions of remedial math. The administration changed at the school, and that position wasn't funded again. So... The good news is that I was shuffled into a 4th grade self-contained job. There's a stipulation in the contract that if a position is eliminated, the teacher who had that position can be sent on her merry way, too, so just having a job still is a beautiful thing. The not-so-good news is ... it's 4th grade self-contained again. Yeah, I've done it so the learning curve is minimal, but this is what I was doing when everything went the last time. Fortunately, I've got the (literally) 9-month headache that plagued me last year about figured out and dealt with. Turns out that was food allergies. Praise God that's under control again. The seizure rate is currently pretty low and the actual seizures are pretty minor. Here's hopin' that doesn't accelerate again. I know God doesn't give us more than we can handle, and I'm sure he put me in this gig for a reason, but this is definitely nothing I'm excited about.
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Post by beckyminor on Jul 27, 2010 8:48:19 GMT -5
Good to hear that you have sorted through the food allergies and that the seizures are at a low, birdnerd, but so sorry your job woes have been so stormy. I pray that you will be able to find a workable way to keep your workload reasonable, and the the Lord will help you find some joy in the teaching.
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Post by metalikhan on Jul 27, 2010 10:09:43 GMT -5
Food allergies and sensitivities can be a challenge. In my household, corn is the culprit for one person (and corn starch, corn flour, corn syrup, etc); and one of the canines is allergic to corn- and soy-based dog food. It really makes you look closely at what goes into food. You're probably becoming quite a label reader! I grew up in an era in which most grade schools were self-contained. Junior high school (7th & 8th grades back then) meant learning to go to different classes and having different teachers for each subject. LOL — almost culture shock! My grandmother was a teacher. In her day, she often taught the same students in consecutive years from 3rd to 6th grade; but she also had time for her many personal interests. And that was long before home computers. Have you tried seeking out some of those old, retired teachers who taught multi-discipline, self-contained classes? I know subjects are presented differently nowadays than they were back then; but some old-timers might be able to give you some tips or strategies for organizing and preparing. 120+ hour sounds way over the top for prep time. Even teachers need a personal life! Praying for you, birdnerd. It sounds like God wants you to stay in teaching. He is faithful and will provide what you need to do His will.
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Post by birdnerd on Jul 27, 2010 21:13:25 GMT -5
beckyminorThanks. The tricky bit is going to be keeping my priorities straight. Yes, I want to do a good job, and that takes a certain level of commitment, but I can't let it trash my health again. metalikhanMy food allergy/intolerance list is up to some 2-dozen things now, but hey ... my weight back up to a nearly normal level for my size and the headache is gone more than not and my seizure rate is normal-for-me. Works for me! I do a lot of label reading, even on things folks would consider harmless like flour or noodles. Incredible what has soy or sugar or eggs or milk in it these days. For the most part, I start with raw ingredients and make most of the things I use. Unfortunately, the government -- federal, state, and local -- dictates what teachers can and can't do more than ever before. The required paperwork is ridiculous, and those techniques once used by those retired teachers are now taboo. They're not "research based" or "best practices," and using them results in a bad yearly review and then in a non-renewed contract. A couple years ago, in a different district than the one I'm in now, the principal announced that anyone who still used the techniques of five years ago let alone 25 years ago either needed to get with the program or remember that the highway runs north and south. Pick a direction. That mindset seems to be typical. In fact, in Texas, most districts are going with a scripted curriculum called CSCOPE that changes every year or two so you can't just take a lesson prep for the current year, store it, and use it next year. This new-ish, constantly mutating curriculum is set up to keep pace with the government testing. So, I thought that maybe these more experienced teachers could clue me in on management or organization. Then I found out that they were floundering, too. What they used to do to manage a class doesn't work because the mindset of the children and parents isn't what it used to be. Children are assumed to be right, and the teacher is assumed to be an evil, mean psycho bent on the child's mental and physical destruction. Organization strategies don't work any more because the paperwork and prep loads are greater than before. Nevertheless, I learned as much as I could from as many of them as I could. I was able to incorporate some things. 120+ hours was utterly insane. When I taught 3rd LA/Sci/Art in the district I'm in now, that dropped to 80ish, which was better, but still nutty. I know God has it all sorted out, and I trust him to fill me in on the details as I need them.
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Post by morganlbusse on Jul 28, 2010 7:19:20 GMT -5
Wow, so sorry to hear about your teaching and health. Praying for strength and wisdom for you in this upcoming year.
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Post by birdnerd on Jul 28, 2010 17:25:24 GMT -5
Thanks. I'm gonna need it. O.o I met with the principal today. Since my position radically changed at the last minute -- or nearly so -- she wanted to give me some QnA time, which was nice. She's more into a team concept and is hoping that grade level teams will divide and conquer the planning and prep. In other words, one teacher preps science, one gets social studies, one gets LA, and one gets math. Then we all have a big confab and swap pieces. Also, for the most part, she's game to let the team decide as many details as possible, rather than dictating from above. The gov't restrictions are still there, but it seems there will be fewer specifically from her. The principal appears to be into paperwork reduction, also a very nice detail. My team will be 1 returning 4th grade teacher, who's pretty laid back and low-key but dedicated; one teacher who was a long-term sub when another 4th grade teacher had to be hospitalized for several months; a brand-new, fresh-out-of-college teacher with lots of bright ideas and even more questions; and ... me. I know the first two, and they're pretty easy to work with. The newbie, per the principal, is a friendly sort, too. It may not be what I had in mind, but after talking to the principal this morning, I don't think it's going to be the nightmare of 3 years ago, either. ... and who knows, maybe my own writing career will blast off in time for next year.
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Post by newburydave on Aug 8, 2010 19:59:26 GMT -5
Praying for you Sis,
SGD dave
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Post by birdnerd on Aug 9, 2010 6:45:04 GMT -5
I appreciate it.
I'm off to a CSCOPE training today, and there's another one on Friday. Watching dust settle is often more interesting than these trainings, but I often keep one ear on the presenter and use the time to plan stuff or draw cartoons about teaching. (I post them on my blog! Whoot!)
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Post by beckyminor on Aug 14, 2010 8:30:57 GMT -5
Hooray for doodling...it's a great sanity preservative.
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Post by birdnerd on Aug 15, 2010 6:16:58 GMT -5
Isn't it, though?
Next week starts the big district Rah-rah ... where we all come together as a big, happy district and get trained on the same stuff. I get my GT update to maintain that certification, so that's nice.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Aug 16, 2010 6:52:43 GMT -5
I've had a lot of teacher friends in this area, and I can understand what you mean. The start of school always results in their sudden absence from all social events. These restrictions and such are what take the joy out of teaching and makes me glad that I was homeschooled(In Louisiana).
Prayers are going your way, BirdNerd, may God bless you and yours, and rest assured that you are right where He wants you.
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Post by birdnerd on Aug 16, 2010 7:14:40 GMT -5
Thanks. I appreciate it. Things get the distant side of busy this time of year... not as busy as TAKS time, but ... O.o
God has it all worked out. Some days it's hard not knowing the details, but that's just one of the ways he finds to ask, "Do you trust me? Really?"
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Post by tris on Aug 18, 2010 14:02:13 GMT -5
Birdnerd, I think you'll find Cscope a lot easier to work with... Ideally, the lesson plans are already laid out and you just pick them up and use them. It means less prep time for you. There is some built in flexibility in that you can add projects, information or activities to "customize" the lesson plan instead of just going with the structured plan.
The main emphasis of Cscope is to get all the teachers statewide on the same plan so that any child moving from Town A to Town B doesn't miss out on important classroom segments and fail the TAKS.
A very wise high school teacher told my husband one time "you don't have to grade every paper."
Praying you have a tremendous year and that you give yourself the freedom to relax in the evenings.
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Post by birdnerd on Aug 18, 2010 18:00:02 GMT -5
Appreciate it.
I understand what CSCOPE's intention is, and it's not a bad idea, but it's still a lot of prep when I have to make 22 sets of 30-odd cards for one 45-minute lesson ... and there are multiple repeats of that scenario in one unit. When CSCOPE came into being I went from working a 12-14 hour day 5 days a week and a few hours on Saturday morning to working 20 hours a day 6 days a week with very minimal breaks for food. Part of that was the district I was in. Part of that was CSCOPE, which in that year still had catastrophic errors. I think they've fixed most of the errors now.
Fortunately, the district I'm in doesn't require the exemplar lessons be followed verbatim, so if I can come up with another way to use things I already have and still get the same rigor and complexity, life is still good.
The amount of paper-grading varies per district, too, I'm finding. The one I was in 3 years ago required that any paper the children were required to write on and turn in had to be graded and given detailed feedback. My current district is not that psycho. Typically, I pick 2 papers per subject per week to score for a total of 12 per kid per week. The rest I spot-check. Essays take the longest to score, not surprisingly.
The tricky bit for me is time management. I'll have to find a balance between doing a good job and working harder than I need to.
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