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!
Great to see you Marianne! Congratulations on the job. This break has definitely been much needed.
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.
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!!! 
Long time no see. Miss ya and congrats on the Drama gig!
^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.
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.
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.
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…
^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?
^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.
^ +4. It is money. You need QUALIFIED people for that job, not just the counselors that make the kids’ schedules. The counseling for refugees is something the school needs but doesn’t have…I totally agree.
Woooo! Break! This is also the last of my lead teaching (the most intense part of my student teaching, where I taught all of my mentor teacher’s classes for 10 weeks).
I had a very eventful day! Yesterday I kind of expressed some interest in going to China with this one teacher at my school, and on this trip I would teach Chinese teachers of English about English teaching. All expenses paid for a month! So her associate Ph.D friend from the university came and impromptu observed one of my classes and was very impressed. I think I’m going to China for free this summer!!!
Some silly things that happened today: I had to translate the word “testicles”, and I had to explain to a girl what “impotent” meant. The second thing was very embarrassing for both of us. These two things were actually completely separate events though. Weird.
I had a very eventful day! Yesterday I kind of expressed some interest in going to China with this one teacher at my school, and on this trip I would teach Chinese teachers of English about English teaching. All expenses paid for a month!
That sounds really cool except for the whole “Going to China” part. Maybe it’s me, but I’m kind of wary of countries that could easily keep you from leaving if they felt like it. Though I suppose that could be said of most countries…
Awesome Drew! Good for you!
Last week of school!!! Year 1 of teaching is almost at a close! Wahooo!!
Working summer school sucks. It’s only half day, but unfortunately it’s the early half.
A little over a week left of summer vacation. Smoke’m if ya got’em!
I stumbled upon this article and found it pretty humorous.
Let’s get this thread back up too! Currently teaching middle school social studies in Corona, of all places, Queens! 6th and 7th grade. I’m on my 2nd year here and I love it! Finally getting the hang of things and fulfilling my life’s purpose. I kinda ducked up being a drama teacher and that had me being worried and in shame for awhile but I’m back! Like a phoenix rising up from the ashes!
We have been in a blended learning model but now we are fully remote til December 7. How is everyone else fairing through this?!
It was interesting to read posts by my younger, much less jaded and cantankerous self. When I last posted here, I was at the start of my current job…the one that I had dreamed of getting, that I was going to retire from.
Currently, I am waiting to hear back from a prospective new employer, because my “dream job” is an ever-worsening nightmare of endless bullshit and stress. Very tough and painful choice to make, but I hope it is something I’ll look back on with gladness.
HI Katie May! I know right? I’ve been enjoying the memory lane of reading all my old posts from when I was.a budding adult/ recent college graduate. I already shattered my thought i was going to be at my dream job then it crashed and bruned but Im on a new course now and shit is good! Take care and glad to see ya round these parts again!