They just don't like you, kid.

That was the advice I got from a friend of mine today when I was talking about my job. I was trying to puzzle out what exactly the reasoning would be behind my bosses setting up an environment that made me hate going to work. I was pointing out all the reasons why people would be lucky to have me in their employment and trying to comprehend why I now have TWO negative letters in my file after 5 years of glowing reviews and a spotless reputation.

I know it doesn't sound like the most encouraging advice, but it is freeing in a way. They don't like me. Ok. And I said to my friend, "But everybody likes me." Certainly, my bosses always have. And he asked if I honestly expected to go through life batting 100%. Well... yes.

I'm tenured, so there's not a whole lot they can do about not liking me. They can put nasty little memos in my mailbox. They can be snarky with me. But that's about it. I'm leaving in June. I'd leave before the Spring term, but there are kids that would be without a math teacher for half a year, and I don't want to do that. And we discussed passive-aggressive, mildly amusing things to do in retaliation, but that's not really my style.

I have 5 1/2 more months to go. About 110 more days.

Why teachers cry on Sundays and Holidays...

I don't hate my job.

I have to keep saying that aloud to myself. It's true, but it's easy to forget. I don't know any teachers who sleep well on Sunday nights. I don't know any teachers who sleep for pretty much all of Labor Day weekend. And for those of us who go back to work tomorrow... well...

I don't hate my job. I don't hate my job. I don't hate my job.

Once I am in my classroom with my students, it will be easy to remember. I enjoy teenagers. They're fun. I enjoy teaching math. It's fun. The New York City Department of Education... well... they're less fun.

I fully expect to walk into work tomorrow and find a memo in my mailbox that suggests that I make sure that I re-do my bulletin board before the end of the week, because the current bulletin board is from last year. Now, for those of you that are remembering little posters with kittens that said, "Hang In There" on the bulletin boards, that's unacceptable. Every bulletin board needs to have student work on it. (But it should be interesting... they're not really interested in worksheets of math problems) And the work should be graded according to a rubric which also needs to be posted. And it needs to have the name of the class and the name of the teacher and it should be "visually interesting".

That's no problem. I recognize that someone in an office somewhere has decided that updated bulletin boards help students learn. I'm sure that that's true. I'm sure I should focus on the bulletin board instead of on undiagnosed learning disabilities, troubled home lives, pressure to join gangs, spotty educational histories or inconsistent attendance. And I will attempt to do an assignment with my students that can be handed in by Thursday, so that I can grade it late into the night and get to school early on Friday to post it on my bulletin board.

Just a couple of itty-bitty hitches. First, I'm not going to have many students tomorrow. Whenever we have a week that starts on Wednesday, the students and their parents consider it optional. Second, I will probably be asked to cover a class tomorrow for a teacher who is not back from vacation yet. This will make photocopying an assignment.... tricky. Third, our photocopier will not be working tomorrow morning, and probably neither will the printer in the teachers' lounge. They weren't working when we left for break, and I doubt that they've gotten them fixed since.

So.... let me sum up. I need to have a project which can be completed in under an hour, that demonstrates mathematical ability and is visually interesting and can be assigned without giving kids a copy of anything written. I also need a rubric for the project that takes me less than a minute to complete so that I can grade 90 of them (assuming all the kids do the work) preferably in under 2 hours. It would be great, by the way, if the project pertained to sketching sine and cosine curves or solving systems of linear equations, because Regents exams are coming up January 22, and my students aren't ready for them.

I don't hate my job.

Great Movie!

I went to the movies today. One of the coolest parts of my job is when I get to go to free stuff that I want to go to but wouldn't spend the money on because I chaperone. I've seen shows at Lincoln Center through this great program Open Stages and museums like the Intrepid and an exhibit on slavery at the New York Historical Society, but I think I like the movies best. We saw Hotel Rwanda when it came out and today we went and saw Kite Runner. Now, I know that most people would not consider going on a subway with fifty 15-17 year-olds to the movies fun, but it is.

The cool thing about it is that we take them to movies they wouldn't see. They're subtitled. They have human rights themes. They're long. But my students get movies. When we take them to see plays, it's different. Movies are what they're used to. And it's really cool to take them somewhere that they like to go, like the movies and show them ideas that they're not used to. And they were totally into it today. We laughed, we cried, we ate popcorn. And my students cheered when the main character stood up to his father-in-law about the class system in Afghanistan. And they're ready to go back to school tomorrow and learn more and read more and do more.

I love it when they get stuff.

To Begin with...

I'm gonna do it. I'm going to actually start blogging. I don't know if I've just gotten carried away with admiration for my big sister's fabulous food blog (Shazam in the Kitchen) or because my procrastination has reached new levels, but here I go...

I had an amazing group of kids suprise the heck out of me today. I coach a police athletic league team of 12 - 16 year old girls. It's a learning league, so it's filled with girls who are not on their school basketball teams. We practice and play a game once a week. There are ten girls on the team and everybody gets equal playing time and it's fun. My team wears gold uniforms so we call ourselves THE SHOCK (like Detroit's WNBA team).So I only had six girls show up today. Then my center fouled out in the third quarter and all the others had to play the rest of the game with no subs. They played their butts off. They were smart and aggressive and hustled their little patooties up and down the court. The game went into overtime and we WON!
16-15. It was so cool.

I was going to post this new recipe I tried, but it just wasn't that good, so instead, I figure I'll recommend this book I just finished. It's non-fiction, which is unusual for me, but really interesting and a pretty quick read. It's called Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, by Atul Gawande. I learned a bunch about eradicating polio and cystic fibrosis.

Three more teaching days until Thanksgiving break! Must go grade.