Yes, back in the saddle again. Not literally, of course as I don't own, nor wish to own a horse. But back to blogging. I've been gone way too long. So long that I can't find my earlier blogs. So I guess this is start-over time.
When I last blogged I was teaching at an elementary school near my home. Close enough even, that had I wished, I could have walked to and from each day. That has since changed. One of the downsides to the state budget woes is changes in the classrooms. The enrollment at my school kept dropping as a result of the massive foreclosures in the area. Low enrollment equals teachers moved to other schools. In all, nine of us were transplanted. Of the nine, four were from my grade level.
I was one of the lucky ones...so I thought. I got to choose which school to go to and I chose one four miles from my home. I had heard good things about the site and had been there as a reporter when it first opened and was dedicated. I figured this was a good omen. In fact I was as cheerful as I could be leaving the only school I had taught at and where both my kids attended.
Since I didn't find out where I was to go or what grade level until the day before the last day of school, I was only partially packed when the movers came the following morning at 9 am. As a result, I had to move myself. Fortunately, I have two strong teens, and strong teen friends with pick-ups. When I got to my new school, my classroom wasn't ready for me - the teacher in there was frantically trying to move her stuff as we ALL were in the same boat. I made arrangements to stack my stuff along one wall.
By the end of the day all my stuff was in the new classroom, haphazardly stacked. I was told I couldn't come in over the summer break, and I couldn't get my keys until the start of the new school year either. On my drive home from my new site I cried for the first time since this all started.
The school year ended up being the worst I've had as a teacher. Unruly students, not knowing where everything was in my classroom, lack of grade level direction and collaboration from the start. A student that hurt other students deliberately, a student that clearly needed to be in special education, and 21 of 25 students whose home language was not English. No sense of belonging, no sense of working together and clear feelings that my boss disliked me. UGH!
I decided I couldn't do another year like that even if it meant moving to another school site.
I approached my boss in March and asked for a grade level change for this year. Fortunately he was receptive and I was able to request 2 or 3, but would take anything except K. The school year wound down and in the last couple of weeks I was offered a 3/4 combo class, which I accepted before the words were completely out of my boss' mouth.
So...like the Queen of England I had an annus horibilius, but survived.
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