Saturday, March 15th

My rough work week is at an end. I really need to get my act together. This past week, somehow, I managed to make it through the week on 3 to 4 hours of sleep for most of the 5 days. On Monday, an announcement was made that report cards were due the next day. Even though the announcement was the first and only one about report cards, I knew report cards would be due eventually, so I should have had my act together and had them done already. But since I didn't, I was up late getting them done. Result. From my professional side, I am Mr. Has it together and organized. however, those of you reading this blog, know the real story. My report cards were handed in on time, while other teachers handed theirs in late (or not at all).

Next up was the progress report that I had said that I would be doing on a regular basis. I always put it off until the load was too daunting. On Tuesday night, I spent going through the mounds of papers, doing a bit of last minute corrections for the sets that were not completed. Those (papers) not even started, I did not touch.

Finally, Wednesday night, I was up typing in the grades in a grading program. Since I've learned about grading programs, I've been reluctant to have a P/T conference with only a report card to talk about. Having something to show how the grades were decided, (I think) makes a big difference. So by 6AM (I woke up from my return home crash about 1:50AM), I completed my progress report. Since Thursday is a half day, my plan was to use the morning to do some last minute up dating to the students portfolios. Unfortunately, Admin had other plans. About 8:15AM, an announcement was made that upper grade teachers (that included me) would be in the library meeting and planning a pacing calendar for the month of March. Yes, this month that is just about over. So, each upper grade class was assigned an out of classroom teacher to cover our classes. I was assigned the school librarian, a very, nice grandmotherly lady. I spent the next 45 minutes getting my class, my students, and my materials for 3 lessons that I was not planning to do. Then, I spent the next 2 hours in the library with the other upper grade teachers. 11PM the meeting was finished and the students were in the cafeteria eating lunch for an early dismissal. To be honest, I was a bit annoyed that I spent about 45 minutes setting up, and the librarian didn't do anything I left for her. But......she complained to me that there were problems with their behavior. Having done the substituting thing for a while, I respect and understand the need for flexibility on the classroom teacher's part, and the understanding that the lesson plans and materials left usually aren't left with the sub in mind. I always tell any sub (or coverage) coming in to feel free to adapt, change, or do what fits your teaching style. As a sub, I hated when the classroom teacher left lessons scribbled on scratch paper, school paper towel etc.... Students as a rule aren't going to stay on task for sub with an assignment like "students can update their portfolio for a 45 minute period". Or, "students should edit their writing assignment for the 45 minute writing period. Etc... So, I can understand if the librarian had something that she was comfortable doing. Problem? She had nothing. She keep them reading independently and responding for the 2 hours. Then complained about their behavior. When I subbed, I had my granny cart full of assignments and activities for any grade K-6. I knew the key to my survival was to keep them busy. Sorry, I got sidetracked.

Anyway, since my P/T conference morning was a meeting, I had no time to get the things done that I wanted. No one's fault but my own. So, during lunch, I had to do some last minute preparation.

The P/T conferences went very nicely. However, it was an almost total waste of time. I got a lot of "things will be different" speeches, but the very next day, the same behavior, and the same "I don't care attitude". One of the nicest kids (I've never written about him here, so he doesn't even have a nickname), was doing the same disgusting "look and me" attention-getting actions. At the beginning of the school year, this boy would end every sentence with "yes or no sir". I pulled him aside and asked him if his mother spoke to him about the conversation I had with her about him probably being held over in the 3rd grade if he did not improve. He told me yes. I asked him if he was sure. He said yes. I said than either he wasn't listening or he did not care, which was it. He said he didn't care. It wasn't the nasty shout of "I DON'T CARE", but the more pensive(after a moment of thought) low "I don't care. Wow. Sorry, sidetracked again. P/T conferences were suppose to be finished by 8:00PM, but 7:55 (while other teachers were locking up and leaving, two of my parents came, so I stayed to talk to those parents. I ended up getting home about 9:30PM.

Friday was the day after P/T conference. I think about 6 to 8 teachers were absent. I was worried that I would be receiving students, but luckily, subs were available for each of the absentees. One of my students' aunt has a small part-time business making dinners, so I bought the BBQ spareribs dinner ($13). The dinner came with red rice, collared greens, candy yams, corn bread, and potato salad. Since I had paid for my school lunch in advance, I put my dinner in the refrigerator until later. Friday is my easy day, and I was fortunately, it turned out to be a (relatively) easy day. Unfortunately, having spent most of the work week on 3 or 4 hours of sleep took its toll. I was too tired to leave, and too tired to do anything productive. I finally left the building with Ms. Across the Hall a little bit after 7PM. Normally, I walk her to the train station even though, I normally go in the opposite direction. Today Ms. ATH decided to visit her sister, she was going to take the bus. I was planning to walk her to the bus stop, but when she told me her sister only lived about "5 city blocks away on the east side". I told her she could walk in the time she would spend waiting for the bus. I misunderstood the distance. East side meant wayyyy on the east side. The distance I thought would take me 15 minutes, actually took us about 40 or 45 minutes. Usually, I don't walk at a strolling pace. I've been told that I am a fast walker. Anyway, when we walked past the MN train station, I realized that I could just take the MN from there instead of taking the bus back to the west side, and when I realized that the train was about arrived in about 5 minutes, I am sorry to say I politely backed out of walking Ms. ATH to her sister's place(3/4 of the way). Unfortunately, chivalry is dead. I was more interested in not missing the train instead of walking a lady home. The next train was about a 40 minute wait. Sorry about that.

I arrived home about 8:45PM. After reheating my dinner, I was going to go online for a while, but the Internet was moving at a snail's pace. From the music I could hear through the floor, walls, and ceiling, I think a lot of people were home Friday night. Besides, I fell asleep in a matter of minutes. I woke up about 11PM and decided to call it a night. I was in bed about 11:20PM.

Completion Date - Saturday, March 15, 2006 11:09AM
Post Date - Wednesday, March 26, 2008 8:05PM