OKP Teachers (and stuff)

Non-Phish General
#55

I think there is minimal difference between a 45-min class and a 40-min class, but having 9 periods would have enabled me to take another AP class

Meh, I suppose but eight classes instead of seven is just that much more work. I don’t think the time matters but the sheer number of classes might. I never could bring myself to skip lunch, even if I often used it to do homework. I think I preferred just having that break in the middle of day…helps to unwind and all that. At the same time, I had a nice system where I used each class to do the previous classes’ homework.

In the long run the AP classes I took in HS saved me about half the tuition my last semester in college,

Wow, I don’t know if any of my AP classes, especially since my major had little to do with the AP classes I took.

#56

SInce this sentence is incomplete, I’ll guess you meant to say something like you didn’t think you’d get credit for any of the AP exams you took since …

Of the 7 AP exams I took, 3 of them were humanities and didn’t allow me to ‘skip’ actual classes. My Calc AB and BC only counted for one Calc class equivalent, but they gave me general humanities credit for the other one. So that’s a total of 4 humanities classes I got credit for, and we had an 8-humanities requirement at college. I generally took about 4-5 classes per semester, and by the time it was the last semester I only needed 2 more classes to graduate.

The whole point of AP classes was to skip out on the same courses in college. My HS didn’t offer a lot of AP classes (I think the only other 2 which were offered that I didnt take was Psychology and Comp Sci) but I loaded up on as many as I could.

If there was one more period in the day, I would have been able to take more potential AP classes. If you didnt want to, you were not required to fill up on the max number of classes. Most people in School had a few ‘free’ periods or study skills period.

#57

SInce this sentence is incomplete

Yeah, I meant to say I don’t know if any of my AP classes “counted” towards college credits. I don’t think I was able to skip anything. At best, my AP Calc course allowed me to crush it in the college Calc course I had to take since it was essentially the same material…but I still had to take the course. I had AP English but didn’t need any English-type courses in college anyway so those credits didn’t much matter. I can’t remember any others.

And in the end, it’s not like the AP courses were BAD, even if they didn’t transfer…it probably looks good on a college application and I probably learned more in them anyway.

#58

I remember my Newspaper class my senior year only met Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays we got out of school at 1:36, so on Wednesdays I was home before 1, which was too awesome.

#59

What is a “Newspaper” Class? We had a School Paper that was an after school activity, but we didn’t get credit for that.

#60

Wednesdays we got out of school at 1:36, so on Wednesdays I was home before 1, which was too awesome

Yeah, my school got rid of leaving early right before I got there. My brother had the same setup and left early a few days but they changed it where I’d have to give up lunch to do that which was dumb. Didn’t much matter as I didn’t have a car then anyway.

#61

We wrote the school paper. It was an elective class at my school and it met every other day during the 7th period, which was regular school time. I was editor-in-chief. That’s my big claim to fame from my high school days.

#62

^ Wow, sounds like your HS was good at giving students incentive for being a part of the School Newspaper. Credit as a class AND during the regular school day, taboot!

#63

Great thread idea. I know I’m late to the party and haven’t been around the OKP in a very long time but hello teachers and friends!

I’m currently in my first year teaching Drama in a middle school over here in Brooklyn. Its pretty great! Of course there are challenges. and I would say my biggest one is classroom management. I have 30 kids per class. My worst class is 2nd period and there are like 10 kids who are an absolute handful so I know that its going to be mostly a disaster, which kind of sucks. I also have to get better at calling their parents I think. I used to have all my classes out of their seats playing theater games a lot, but now I give them more seat stuff since it contains them more. I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but whatever…

I’m very lucky in that my principal is very supportive of the arts, and hoped one day to be an arts teacher herself but since there were so few positions she went on to be a principal. She is also our supervisor this year and even though she can be intimidating since she is the head honcho she is actually very awesome.

I just can’t wait for next year when I know what I’m doing more. I’ll also get to put on a full show next year assuming all funds are in order. But. yay! teaching is fun!!

#64

Gotta love snow days…have not been to work all week with Pres. day on Monday. Prob. be off tomorrow too. :thumbup:

#65

Ah yes! We are on February break this week and its glorious. Next week will probably be a slump at school, but then that week after is like a whole new life. At least this is how it went for me after X-mas break. I think we definitely need these breaks more than the kids!

#66

Great to see you Marianne! Congratulations on the job. This break has definitely been much needed.

#67

It’s cute seeing the teachers being as giddy about snow days as everyone else. I think they’ve been cancelling school left and right here locally since it’s been like 10 degrees or lower every day this week.

Which makes me wonder why they close the schools…all I see at every school bus stops is a series of cars with parents letting their kids sit in them while they wait for the bus. It’s not like these kids wait outside anyway. Does anyone even send their kid alone to the bus stop anymore?..Eh, I guess they do in the city.

#68

Gotta love the Polish right!?
No school for me on Monday because of Casimir Pulaski Day!

Don’t no about him? Not many do. Chicago is the only place that gets the day off anymore.

The home stretch is coming my fellow teachers! Think summer!

P.S.: Hey Marianne!!! :wave: Long time no see. Miss ya and congrats on the Drama gig!

#69

^We have a statue and a meat market for Pulaski here in Utica and there is a Pulaski, NY up near Oswego, but I didn’t know much about him until I just read up. Never knew there was a whole day for him.

#70

If I lived in Hamtramck (Vanna, can I buy a vowel?) I’d probably have school off, but not where I live. We get Jewish holidays off, and the regular breaks which tend to be timed with the Christian calendar anyway. Hamtramck is a city that’s basically within Detroit, and it used to have a huge Polish population, but it has since been more inundated with immigrants from Egypt, Iraq, and Syria as well as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Bhutan. Great food there because the restaurants are real authentic. The immigration and recipes are recent, and they cater to people who are used to the real deal.

Student teaching ends May 1st! Teaching all of my mentor teacher’s classes ends April 3. Let’s do it OKP!!!

In other news…I have this one kid who is causing me extra issues lately. He’s a refugee from the same village my family immigrated from (Thanks, ISIS). It’s called Tel Keppe, and I don’t know if part of that is that he expects special treatment or what from me, but we’re just not getting along. Of course it is other issues he has that become my issues. Such as…

I’m dealing directly with the results of insurgency in Iraq. I have a lot of Assyrian Iraqi Christians. Many are refugees. These psychos over there have robbed this kid of a chance to learn in his native language, live in his own country, live happily with friends and family under Iraqi sky. It makes him angry. It makes me angry, but I try to turn that into patience, compassion and empathy, otherwise I’m just angry and it sits there. I just have to remind myself…he’s someones kid…someone loves him…he’s someone’s treasure (let’s bury him)…someone is waiting for him at home.

#71

Maybe this kid needs to be reminded about how he could be dead back in his home country … or worse. Coming to America is probably the BEST thing that can happen to a kid like this, but ofc he is too myopic / immature to realize it.

BTW … a few posts up regarding Pulaski … he’s got a bridge / road named after him called the Pulaski Skyway. It’s the part of Route 1 & 9 that connects parts of NJ to the Holland Tunnel. They are renovating it for the next couple of years and the NYC-bound side is closed.

Drove on Pulaski Skyway back from NYC the other weekend when it was snowing. Kinda sketchy conditions but made it safe and sound.

#72

but ofc he is too myopic / immature to realize it.

That’s just it there. Sounds like the kid’s just angry. Life hasn’t been fair to him and when this happens to young folks, they lash out. He may have seen stuff that we can only dream about. That’s part of why I think it’s so hard to change the mindset in those countries…living like that can mess you up and your thinking. I’m sure he’s acting out like any kid. Sadly, the teachers have to deal with it…

#73

^3

Don’t understand the school/district. If you have refugees/immigrants from war torn areas, why hasn’t the school begun a special counseling effort to help these people deal with their anger, fears, displacement, etc?

You recognize their issues and you’re an ST. Why haven’t some of the other tenured teachers sought the admin support for these kids? Even the kids in your class from these areas that seem to be less of a problem may not be dealing with what happened to them. They may be repressing these emotions for any number of reasons.

Sounds like some pretty specific type of counseling is required here, and you shouldn’t be required to handle this on your own, Drew. If there isn’t a special program for these kids, maybe you can initiate things. Might alienate your administrators, but who needs the help here, them, or these kids?

#74

^It’s probably the same issue as usual…money. You have to pay extra folks to counsel and I’m sure many schools can’t justify the money. In the end, it’s probably the teachers who have to take it on themselves to become the counselors themselves. And I’m sure there’s many who just don’t have the time for it. A slippery slope.