I kind of abandoned you, didn't I? Sorry about that? I guess I have been busy, but it is finally summer break!
So, things with British Boyfriend are good. We ended up moving in together (he moved in with me) and this has been mostly positive. We'll see what happens. Still no work visa/job (don't worry, he still actually has money and is paying for half my mortgage, etc). He has an appointment tomorrow that will hopefully help the process because it is taking forever!
My job situation is a little crazy right now. On the last week of school I was called in and told that I would be changing positions at school, which means a new team, new department team, new grade level, new subject. I will now be teaching seventh grade writing instead of eighth grade reading. I am somewhat pissed about this, but I am getting over it. The reason for this switch was because of other people's jobs getting cut due to budget cuts and then that led to a bunch of moving around--long story short, this other guy has better test scores than me and they want to keep him in eighth grade reading (because reading and math are most important for AYP, federal government crap). The problem is that he was on a team with sixty kids that had no SPED or ELL kids. This means he has all completely average kids. I am on a team with 150+ kids with the most SPED/ELL kids in the school. This means that I have a lot of kids who struggle with passing a reading test! Every other teacher on my team also had the lowest test scores this year and last year, so it was not just me, it was all of the kids in all of the subjects. We actually did the math for all of the different teams in the school for the reading scores, and we were all within the 85% range if we took out our SPED/ELL kids. So basically I was punished for something somewhat beyond my control...the plus side is that I will only have one test (not three rounds) and I will be working on a team with my BFF Olivia and on a department team with another close friend. I think my new team will be fun, but I will miss my old one a lot--other than the one new person we had this year who was horrible. I love my other teammates, especially the math, science and social studies teachers.
So anyway, I was upset, but I will make it work. There were other people who lost their jobs entirely, so I am grateful to have my job. There are supposed to be even more cuts before next school year, which could possibly result in me losing my job depending on how they do it. I have seven years at that school and I could lose my job?!?! That's how badly the economy is affecting schools. So if you are worried about the state of public education, you should contact your state senator and urge him/her to pass the Keep Our Educators Working Act. This would actually ensure that I keep my job, so it's pretty important.
My student teacher ended up getting a job in New Orleans at a charter school. I am happy for her, but after she got her job it seemed like she kind of went down hill as far as commitment at our school. I was disappointed. She ended up missing an important field trip and some other days because she was not feeling well. I understand being sick but on a day when you already have a group planned for you on the field trip? That is something that teachers just can't do. She also left our other field trip early, etc...anyway, hopefully she will figure out how difficult it will make it for her if she takes time off every time she feels bad. Overall I had a good experience with her being in my classroom, but I don't know if I want another student teacher anytime soon. It is intense having someone around all the time. There are lots of good things about it, but it is difficult too.
What else? I went to my brother's wedding and everyone met British Boyfriend for the first time. It was a great time, and people seemed to like him! I got to drink and dance with both of my sisters! Yay!
Oh, I ran my first 5K! I did have to take a short walk break because I hadn't realized the course was hilly and I had not practiced on hills at all! I had so much fun, though, and accomplished a goal I never thought I would accomplish. I will do at least one more because my goal is to do the whole thing without a walking break. It was amazing because even in high school I never ran the mile the whole way. I only recently started running very often, and I just can't believe I did it. I am not going to get crazy and try to do a half marathon though. I think running isn't really my thing, I just wanted to prove to myself I could do something like that.
I don't really have any big plans this summer. I have been working on getting my new classroom put together and trying not to be angry about all the crap left behind that I had to clear out! Hopefully after one more day working there it will be better. I also need to work on figuring out what I am teaching next year. My friend invited me over to give me stuff and help me since she teaches the same subject, so I am going to take her up on the offer. There are some things I do like about teaching writing, so hopefully it will work out okay!
The whole thing with the being punished for test scores brings to light how scary it is for teachers being judged based on test scores for pay. Within our school we have teams with just ELL kids, teams with highest level ELL and SPED, teams with no ELL and SPED, and teams with second higher level ELL and SPED. So within our school alone it is difficult to judge teachers by their test scores because we are comparing apples and oranges based on how they sort the kids. Not to mention a huge amount of kids on free/reduced lunch, which means a lower socioeconomic level. I LOVE working with ELL and SPED kids, and what really pisses me off is that they came up with a growth target (say a kid's test scores are multiple years behind grade level--if they grow a certain amount but don't meet, the growth target says that they count as meeting since they had so much ground to make up). However, that growth target doesn't count for AYP. So...basically, it doesn't matter how hard I work or the kid works or how many points they gain unless they pass the test. Anyway, merit pay means a lot of teachers will not want to work in impoverished areas because a lot of the kids realistically won't pass the test...great.
