Here it is, my first week after setting the goal of blogging every weekend for myself and I nearly broke it already! Yes, I am already coming up with excuses and procrastinating and all that other nonsense we warn our students about falling prey to in life. However, as I am sure many of you are aware, it’s pretty easy to fall prey to those traps when you are feeling a little down. I was very excited about returning to my students and my classroom, but this first week back for Teachers appeared to have the opposite effect that TSI had on my enthusiasm. Where my time at TSI energized and inspired me, this week at District PD tried its best to put me in poor spirits.
I can think of two causes for this change in my outlook on the school year and the majority of this weekend has been spent trying to shake it off. The first was that on Monday, after a few words from our superintendent, the entire district spent the morning receiving professional development on Active Shooter scenarios, fortifying the classroom, and how to handle traumatic injury. I don’t know about anyone reading this, but I am of the mindset that your first day of school sets the tone for the rest of the year. And while technically we started the morning with this:
The bulk of the time was spent on this:
Which makes that the event I leave work thinking about that day. And, I understand, this is the sick reality we live in these days and it is better to be prepared. However, I disagree that this should be the activity we do on DAY ONE of reporting back to school. It made me uncomfortable and not in the good TSI ‘getting me to stretch myself’ kind of way. It made me uncomfortable in the ‘I could lose my life doing this job where I just wanted to help people and be a better person’ kind of way. Was there not a way to put this training off to later in the week? Let us get acclimated, excited, and celebratory before you go throwing the wet blanket on us. I think this may be the first year where we didn’t start the District-wide meeting with a recognition of who was new to the district, who was here for x amount of years, and who was possibly retiring. Why didn’t we talk about THAT?
The second aspect about this past week that I believe got me down was that the entire English Department was sent to a special professional development on Wednesday and Thursday (it was called R.I.S.E and I already forgot what it stands for as an acronym). We had been given a heads up on this prior to summer break and that it was something that could not be avoided: it was mandated and it was the only viable time for us to receive this training. However, by mandated I mean that the state requires secondary teachers to be made ‘aware’ of this program and by ‘viable time’ I mean it felt like a complete waste of it because it was predominately geared toward 3-6 grade teachers.
It was frustrating and felt rather pointless, perhaps because I didn’t feel like there was ever a moment where I felt “Aha! Even though this is elementary, I can use this in my classroom!” Those of us in the English Department were not able to work with our building colleagues for this? Why? If our state only requires us to “be aware” of it, then couldn’t we just receive a condensed version of the professional development? The other wrench in the plan was that on the second day of this PD they decided to “mix us up” and didn’t let us sit with our building-groups. I get this is a strategy we use on our students all the time to improve their attention and behavior, but I just hate when tactics like that are used against us!
I said there were only two aspects that soured my mood this week, but I supposed technically there is a glaring third element that tried to throw off my groove. Prior to learning about the R.I.S.E mandate, we were told that there was a new law for Arkansas schools: Act 911.
A new law states elementary and secondary schools shall display a framed picture or poster of “In God We Trust” above an American flag in their libraries and classrooms. Act 911 states they either have to be donated from a private organization or purchased with funds made available through voluntary contributions to the local school boards or the Building Authority Division of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. (KARK.com)
I am still unsure how this particular law slipped its way into the law books, I don’t remember it receiving any coverage at all, but I am honestly a little appalled by it to say the least. Did I pick up a poster? Yes. Am I regretting not taking a stand against it now? Also yes. I am very aware that this is our motto, but what purpose does having these up serve exactly?
And there were other things that I am sure contributed to my decline in enthusiasm, but I want to put them behind me now. Here we are, the Sunday before the students return, so now is the time to rally and really get myself pumped up for the new year. I have some great ideas, some great support, and great resources to pull from this year. I even had some of those ideas in the car this week while I was driving home from these lack luster days. For example, I had the idea to use Native American Creation myths to get the kids thinking about our classroom rules and procedures (since typically myths exist to teach rules and such of a given culture). I also had some new ideas occur to me on teaching AP Language and rhetorical analysis. It is things like this that I need to focus on, not that other stuff!
Also, while my classroom is not as “da bomb” as my teacher neighbor’s, Steadham, it is still pretty warm and inviting if I do say so myself. Mostly because of my concentration of rugs and lamps. I’m pretty satisfied with it and I hope my students enjoy it as well.
And just like that, it’s time to wrap up. I think this is going to be an excellent seventh year!
Teacher Captain's (B)log 