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Sep. 1st, 2006 08:39 am
Aww, now I feel all gushy inside!
I'm in my prep period, creating lesson plans for substitutes. Yay.
Anyway... there's been some grief with the district losing my application paperwork, and HR being buttheads about how my position is filled, and while I've been assured it means little, I've been a bit nervous about it all. What it boils down to is that the FT position rec is frozen by HR for some reason, so I was hired by the district as a substitute, and as soon as HR releases the job, I'll sign a FT contract. In the meantime, the sub office has lost my papers, then found them--but my fingerprint clearance, which I did three weeks ago, still hasn't come through yet. Which is crazy.
Long story short, I've felt a little "up in the air" about my job because all of this, added to my frustrations with my students, has made me realize why so many teachers quit in the first couple of years (which is not to say that non-educational companies run any better; I've worked in several that didn't).
So today, I'm sitting here working. I've left my door open because I want students to realize I meant it when I said they can come talk to me any time. And several did; among them students who have given me grief almost every day since school started--and they were nice, and made it clear they appreciate my presence in their lives. I was called "Mr. J" by a student who, until yesterday, never had a kind word to say about anything I've done.
Of course, that doesn't mean he isn't going to hate on me again tomorrow, but I can live with that. Like I tell them: I'm not here to be their friend, but to be their teacher. But that doesn't mean I can't like them, and I do. Even the ones who give me trouble.
THEN, not fifteen minutes ago, a knock comes on my now-closed door (the kids are in 1st period), and it's the Assistant Principal, who tells me that she understands I'm upset with the District, but that I shouldn't worry: "You're here to stay," she said. She told me that these kids have a hard time with change, and part of why they've been so awful was because they no longer expect any teacher to stay long. The seniors have seen three school sites and four rounds of teachers in their time here. But now they're starting to realize I'm here for good, and that I do give a damn about them, so they're thawing out and starting to do their work.
And it's been made clear to me that while I've made some mistakes, the administration is convinced they chose well, and that I shouldn't worry about my future here unless I do something astronomically dumb.
And you know what? That feels nice.
Anyway... there's been some grief with the district losing my application paperwork, and HR being buttheads about how my position is filled, and while I've been assured it means little, I've been a bit nervous about it all. What it boils down to is that the FT position rec is frozen by HR for some reason, so I was hired by the district as a substitute, and as soon as HR releases the job, I'll sign a FT contract. In the meantime, the sub office has lost my papers, then found them--but my fingerprint clearance, which I did three weeks ago, still hasn't come through yet. Which is crazy.
Long story short, I've felt a little "up in the air" about my job because all of this, added to my frustrations with my students, has made me realize why so many teachers quit in the first couple of years (which is not to say that non-educational companies run any better; I've worked in several that didn't).
So today, I'm sitting here working. I've left my door open because I want students to realize I meant it when I said they can come talk to me any time. And several did; among them students who have given me grief almost every day since school started--and they were nice, and made it clear they appreciate my presence in their lives. I was called "Mr. J" by a student who, until yesterday, never had a kind word to say about anything I've done.
Of course, that doesn't mean he isn't going to hate on me again tomorrow, but I can live with that. Like I tell them: I'm not here to be their friend, but to be their teacher. But that doesn't mean I can't like them, and I do. Even the ones who give me trouble.
THEN, not fifteen minutes ago, a knock comes on my now-closed door (the kids are in 1st period), and it's the Assistant Principal, who tells me that she understands I'm upset with the District, but that I shouldn't worry: "You're here to stay," she said. She told me that these kids have a hard time with change, and part of why they've been so awful was because they no longer expect any teacher to stay long. The seniors have seen three school sites and four rounds of teachers in their time here. But now they're starting to realize I'm here for good, and that I do give a damn about them, so they're thawing out and starting to do their work.
And it's been made clear to me that while I've made some mistakes, the administration is convinced they chose well, and that I shouldn't worry about my future here unless I do something astronomically dumb.
And you know what? That feels nice.