From The Trenches: Going Public Again
athom
About 11:30 am this morning, just as I was about to jump in the
shower before a day of grocery shopping and errand running, the phone
rang to inquire if I'd be able to substitute teach for the afternoon.
I was told that the teacher had suddenly gotten sick and needed to go
home. Since we really need the income right now, are in deep debt
due to market losses and having to live on savings for a year, I
said, sure, and told them I would be there as soon as I as could get
showered and dressed.
The "sick" teacher was still there when I arrived. Turns out she had
a very strange sickness, hopefully nothing contagious. I would call
it "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" after being assaulted by a
student. Nice of the school to grossly misrepresent the situation to
me. While the teacher was trying to scrape up lesson plans and
whatever she could for me to do with her kids for the rest of the day
she literally started to collapse. Other teachers came to her rescue
and walked her out as they pulled together some worksheet packets for
me to give the kids.
The class was quite obviously riled, very difficult to settle them
down for the rest of the afternoon. One young man started off
punching another student hard with a closed fist in the shoulder
while they were standing at the pencil sharpener. I sent him to the
office. Then another young man slapped another student hard, but
open-fisted, on the top of his head. Others ranged from just
bouncing off the walls, to angry and showing it any way they could.
I mean, what do you expect after what they had apparently witnessed?
The assistant principal came in early, after the first kid punched
another kid, and spent about 20 minutes trying to settle the class
down. And other teachers kept popping in on me to see if I needed
any help. However no one ever said a word to me about the assault.
About the time I had just about settled the class and they were
quietly working the assistant principal popped in to warn me that
they were going to have a fire drill. He supervised sending the kids
to their lockers to get jackets, because it was cold outside, and
showed me where I was to exit the building, what we were to do
outside. Yuppers. Just what we needed. You can imagine how easy it
was to settle them back down after all that!
Just another day in PS. Don't you all just wish that your kids were
there? If any of you are still thinking about sending your kids to
public school, please read this again. I still don't know exactly
what happened, but about the only learning that took place was that
some kids learned how to create a big scene at school, and others
followed suit and learned how to get plenty of negative attention.
There was a cop in the building when I arrived, but no one told me if
the kid who assaulted the teacher had used a weapon, or not. By the
way, I think I forgot to mention that this was a fourth grade class.
Cute little tykes!
From the trenches,
Norma
shower before a day of grocery shopping and errand running, the phone
rang to inquire if I'd be able to substitute teach for the afternoon.
I was told that the teacher had suddenly gotten sick and needed to go
home. Since we really need the income right now, are in deep debt
due to market losses and having to live on savings for a year, I
said, sure, and told them I would be there as soon as I as could get
showered and dressed.
The "sick" teacher was still there when I arrived. Turns out she had
a very strange sickness, hopefully nothing contagious. I would call
it "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" after being assaulted by a
student. Nice of the school to grossly misrepresent the situation to
me. While the teacher was trying to scrape up lesson plans and
whatever she could for me to do with her kids for the rest of the day
she literally started to collapse. Other teachers came to her rescue
and walked her out as they pulled together some worksheet packets for
me to give the kids.
The class was quite obviously riled, very difficult to settle them
down for the rest of the afternoon. One young man started off
punching another student hard with a closed fist in the shoulder
while they were standing at the pencil sharpener. I sent him to the
office. Then another young man slapped another student hard, but
open-fisted, on the top of his head. Others ranged from just
bouncing off the walls, to angry and showing it any way they could.
I mean, what do you expect after what they had apparently witnessed?
The assistant principal came in early, after the first kid punched
another kid, and spent about 20 minutes trying to settle the class
down. And other teachers kept popping in on me to see if I needed
any help. However no one ever said a word to me about the assault.
About the time I had just about settled the class and they were
quietly working the assistant principal popped in to warn me that
they were going to have a fire drill. He supervised sending the kids
to their lockers to get jackets, because it was cold outside, and
showed me where I was to exit the building, what we were to do
outside. Yuppers. Just what we needed. You can imagine how easy it
was to settle them back down after all that!
Just another day in PS. Don't you all just wish that your kids were
there? If any of you are still thinking about sending your kids to
public school, please read this again. I still don't know exactly
what happened, but about the only learning that took place was that
some kids learned how to create a big scene at school, and others
followed suit and learned how to get plenty of negative attention.
There was a cop in the building when I arrived, but no one told me if
the kid who assaulted the teacher had used a weapon, or not. By the
way, I think I forgot to mention that this was a fourth grade class.
Cute little tykes!
From the trenches,
Norma
[email protected]
In a message dated 3/14/03 2:48:14 PM, tessimal@... writes:
<< By the
way, I think I forgot to mention that this was a fourth grade class.
Cute little tykes! >>
Yikes! I had read the whole thing picturing fifteen year olds!
That will add a few more years to my resolution NOT to go back to teach no
matter how poor I might get! <g>
Sandra
<< By the
way, I think I forgot to mention that this was a fourth grade class.
Cute little tykes! >>
Yikes! I had read the whole thing picturing fifteen year olds!
That will add a few more years to my resolution NOT to go back to teach no
matter how poor I might get! <g>
Sandra
athom
--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
However some of us unschooling moms choose to keep teaching now and
then to keep our credentials legit so that (in our state) we can do
portfolio assessments for other unschooling families. Here we must
be state certified to sign these pieces of paper. It also gives me
plenty of inside information to give families who are thinking about
home education, but not sure they want to try it.
I recommend that anyone who is thinking of sending their kids to
school and who can meet the requirements for subbing, do so. This is
especially good if you move around from school to school, to see lots
of variations. I guarantee that you will have no doubts about home
educating after a few such forays into public education. I don't do
it often, but enough to keep my credentials active, and enough to
pull us through when finances are thinner than usual.
Next week I start a contract job, so I won't be subbing anymore this
year, most likely. The contract job will give me another chapter in
my book, I am sure. I will be correcting proficiency tests from
various states around the country. Should be more new from the
trenches, though a different set of trenches, from this interesting
work experience.
Norma
> That will add a few more years to my resolution NOT to go back toteach no
> matter how poor I might get! <g>Sandra:
However some of us unschooling moms choose to keep teaching now and
then to keep our credentials legit so that (in our state) we can do
portfolio assessments for other unschooling families. Here we must
be state certified to sign these pieces of paper. It also gives me
plenty of inside information to give families who are thinking about
home education, but not sure they want to try it.
I recommend that anyone who is thinking of sending their kids to
school and who can meet the requirements for subbing, do so. This is
especially good if you move around from school to school, to see lots
of variations. I guarantee that you will have no doubts about home
educating after a few such forays into public education. I don't do
it often, but enough to keep my credentials active, and enough to
pull us through when finances are thinner than usual.
Next week I start a contract job, so I won't be subbing anymore this
year, most likely. The contract job will give me another chapter in
my book, I am sure. I will be correcting proficiency tests from
various states around the country. Should be more new from the
trenches, though a different set of trenches, from this interesting
work experience.
Norma
[email protected]
In a message dated 3/14/03 3:10:47 PM, tessimal@... writes:
<< However some of us unschooling moms choose to keep teaching now and
then to keep our credentials legit so that (in our state) we can do
portfolio assessments for other unschooling families. >>
I know. I've thought about teaching music if I go back. Not English.
Regardless of what's true and fair, nobody gets mad at the teacher if a kid
can't sing well. But if a 9th grade teacher gets a kid who can hardly read
and who hates the world and all humans in it (understandably so), at the end
of 9th grade their parents will be angry with the teacher because he hasn't
gone from 3rd grade reading level to 10th grade in his small sliver of that
year with 130 students. Too much pressure on English teachers. Too much
using English for the class in which such matters as insurance, annuals,
federal reporting forms, etc. are done because everybody has an English class.
And sometimes I get nearly nostalgic and think "I could do that. That was a
good thing to do."
Subbing has never been easy or civilized. I think that must be one of the
hardest jobs in the world.
Sandra
<< However some of us unschooling moms choose to keep teaching now and
then to keep our credentials legit so that (in our state) we can do
portfolio assessments for other unschooling families. >>
I know. I've thought about teaching music if I go back. Not English.
Regardless of what's true and fair, nobody gets mad at the teacher if a kid
can't sing well. But if a 9th grade teacher gets a kid who can hardly read
and who hates the world and all humans in it (understandably so), at the end
of 9th grade their parents will be angry with the teacher because he hasn't
gone from 3rd grade reading level to 10th grade in his small sliver of that
year with 130 students. Too much pressure on English teachers. Too much
using English for the class in which such matters as insurance, annuals,
federal reporting forms, etc. are done because everybody has an English class.
And sometimes I get nearly nostalgic and think "I could do that. That was a
good thing to do."
Subbing has never been easy or civilized. I think that must be one of the
hardest jobs in the world.
Sandra
athom
--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
<>Subbing has never been easy or civilized. I think that must be one
of the hardest jobs in the world.<>
But really interesting! Especially after 30 years of being away from
public schools. And especially from an unschooling mama's point of
view. I never fit in the first place, got fired a lot, rocked the
boat a lot, got in trouble for it. But everything looks very
different 30 unschooling years later, to be sure. I now know better
why I didn't fit, why I rocked the boat and got in trouble for it,
and I am happy to say I am proud of it!
Norma
Have a Nice Day!
OH MY WORD! I'm glad you shared that.
That sounds just awful. I couldn't believe it when you said it was 4th grade! Please tell me more. (You can write me privately since I know this list is for unschooling) litlrooh@...
My older two are planning to return to school next year, 9th and 6th grade. But to be quite honest, I really don't think they'll be there long.
All 3 of my kids are very anti-people telling them what to do...LOL (and I'm GLAD). All 3 of them say that school is stupid. They just want to "check it out".
My youngest who is 7 spent a day with her friend and they "did school". Actually what they did sounded really fun aned I thought she'd come home and say "I wish *you* would do that". But my daughter said she didn't really enjoy it because she didn't really want to do it but the friend told her she HAS to.
Kristen
That sounds just awful. I couldn't believe it when you said it was 4th grade! Please tell me more. (You can write me privately since I know this list is for unschooling) litlrooh@...
My older two are planning to return to school next year, 9th and 6th grade. But to be quite honest, I really don't think they'll be there long.
All 3 of my kids are very anti-people telling them what to do...LOL (and I'm GLAD). All 3 of them say that school is stupid. They just want to "check it out".
My youngest who is 7 spent a day with her friend and they "did school". Actually what they did sounded really fun aned I thought she'd come home and say "I wish *you* would do that". But my daughter said she didn't really enjoy it because she didn't really want to do it but the friend told her she HAS to.
Kristen
----- Original Message -----
From: athom
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 4:47 PM
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] From The Trenches: Going Public Again
About 11:30 am this morning, just as I was about to jump in the
shower before a day of grocery shopping and errand running, the phone
rang to inquire if I'd be able to substitute teach for the afternoon.
I was told that the teacher had suddenly gotten sick and needed to go
home. Since we really need the income right now, are in deep debt
due to market losses and having to live on savings for a year, I
said, sure, and told them I would be there as soon as I as could get
showered and dressed.
The "sick" teacher was still there when I arrived. Turns out she had
a very strange sickness, hopefully nothing contagious. I would call
it "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" after being assaulted by a
student. Nice of the school to grossly misrepresent the situation to
me. While the teacher was trying to scrape up lesson plans and
whatever she could for me to do with her kids for the rest of the day
she literally started to collapse. Other teachers came to her rescue
and walked her out as they pulled together some worksheet packets for
me to give the kids.
The class was quite obviously riled, very difficult to settle them
down for the rest of the afternoon. One young man started off
punching another student hard with a closed fist in the shoulder
while they were standing at the pencil sharpener. I sent him to the
office. Then another young man slapped another student hard, but
open-fisted, on the top of his head. Others ranged from just
bouncing off the walls, to angry and showing it any way they could.
I mean, what do you expect after what they had apparently witnessed?
The assistant principal came in early, after the first kid punched
another kid, and spent about 20 minutes trying to settle the class
down. And other teachers kept popping in on me to see if I needed
any help. However no one ever said a word to me about the assault.
About the time I had just about settled the class and they were
quietly working the assistant principal popped in to warn me that
they were going to have a fire drill. He supervised sending the kids
to their lockers to get jackets, because it was cold outside, and
showed me where I was to exit the building, what we were to do
outside. Yuppers. Just what we needed. You can imagine how easy it
was to settle them back down after all that!
Just another day in PS. Don't you all just wish that your kids were
there? If any of you are still thinking about sending your kids to
public school, please read this again. I still don't know exactly
what happened, but about the only learning that took place was that
some kids learned how to create a big scene at school, and others
followed suit and learned how to get plenty of negative attention.
There was a cop in the building when I arrived, but no one told me if
the kid who assaulted the teacher had used a weapon, or not. By the
way, I think I forgot to mention that this was a fourth grade class.
Cute little tykes!
From the trenches,
Norma
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
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Dawn Ackroyd
ME TOO!!! I taught for a few years and was not very happy at all. I
taught at a couple of different private schools and at each one got in
trouble for things like putting things on the wall children had written
that had spelling mistakes, or letting my class get a little too noisy
while working on projects. I hated it. I did find a good fit after a
while - but now that I learn about homeschooling and unschooling, I too
understand why I had such a hard time with some of those places.
-----Original Message-----
From: athom [mailto:tessimal@...]
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 3:39 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Re: From The Trenches: Going Public Again
taught at a couple of different private schools and at each one got in
trouble for things like putting things on the wall children had written
that had spelling mistakes, or letting my class get a little too noisy
while working on projects. I hated it. I did find a good fit after a
while - but now that I learn about homeschooling and unschooling, I too
understand why I had such a hard time with some of those places.
-----Original Message-----
From: athom [mailto:tessimal@...]
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 3:39 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Re: From The Trenches: Going Public Again
--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
<>Subbing has never been easy or civilized. I think that must be one
of the hardest jobs in the world.<>
But really interesting! Especially after 30 years of being away from
public schools. And especially from an unschooling mama's point of
view. I never fit in the first place, got fired a lot, rocked the
boat a lot, got in trouble for it. But everything looks very
different 30 unschooling years later, to be sure. I now know better
why I didn't fit, why I rocked the boat and got in trouble for it,
and I am happy to say I am proud of it!
Norma
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
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If you have questions, concerns or problems with this list, please email
the moderator, Joyce Fetteroll (fetteroll@...), or the list
owner, Helen Hegener (HEM-Editor@...).
To unsubscribe from this group, click on the following link or address
an email to:
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]