I came home the other day and started singing the old Alice Cooper song, "School's Out for Summer!" Which indeed it is. And for the first time in the twenty-first century, I'm not working this summer, which will be nice. I still have a lot of unpacking and arranging to do in the house, and I'll be at a summer math workshop in a couple of weeks, but overall it's a pretty laid ack summer, which I really need. I'll also have a little time to actually update this blog, so I'll have a few posts this summer about how the year went and what I'm looking forward to next year (ooh, that still feels so good to say). But right this minute, I have to get showered and get ready for my day.

Yes, it's been a while. And it will be another while, as teaching comes before blogging. As there's only about a month left in the school year, it's getting busy. But I do hope to at least have a nice long year-end wrap-up post not long after that. But I have some excellent news that I want to share with you now.

I've just signed my first ever contract renewal!

Yes, I'll be back here next year. This time it looks like I'll be teaching Geometry (again) and Algebra 2, as opposed to the Algebra 1 I taught this year. But I hope I get a chance to tell you more over the summer once I have a better idea of what's happening.

Okay, yeah, I owe you all a nice long update post. But I've been pretty busy lately, so this little column will have to do for now. It's a piece I shared with some of my students on Inauguration Day, as it says so much not only about our new president, but it also says a lot about why I became a teacher in the first place and why I stay in the job now, despite all of the problems I've had actually getting a job.

I know, I know, it's been a very long time since I've posted. I'm sure my fellow teachers, at least, will forgive me, however. They know how busy a teacher's life really is, and can empathize. The first thing I want to say I'm thankful for, then, is Thanksgiving break! It allows me a couple of days to just catch my breath and relax before jumping back into things on Monday. I'm further grateful that my sister had to work yesterday (the day itself), so that our family is having the actual Thanksgiving dinner today. This allowed us to not worry about traveling across the state on Wednesday evening, and we could take our time and do it by daylight on Thursday. (I'm further thankful that this has been a pretty mild winter so far, and we didn't have to deal with snow or any other messy weather crossing the passes.)

Now that we have those immediate and preliminary thanks out of the way, let's get to what's really important, which is also my oh-so-subtle way of updating my readers on how the new job has been going.

• I am thankful for a supportive family that is happy to see me get what I've been wanting for so long. I am especially thankful for my wife, who agreed to make this big jump with me.
  
• Speaking of my wife, I am thankful for the excellent medical benefits I now have, which give her the opportunity to get some of the help she has needed for so long. I am also thankful that I can — and will soon — go in and get a check-up and some badly needed dental work.
  
• I am thankful for our new house, and that we now live in a community that is much more affordable than the one we left. While it's going to be a very long time before we can pay off our debts, at least we're no longer losing money, and can start some modest savings.
  
• I am thankful that I am now working in a small district. It's a lot easier to get stuff done here, I suspect, than it would iin some of the larger districts that I used to work in.
  
• I am thankful for a wonderful, supportive staff who can swoop in and help me out when I am floundering, or answer any of the dumb questions I have.
  
• I am thankful for a terrific principal who has the time and patience to help me out, and continually reminds me of what I am doing right instead of focusing on everything I'm doing wrong (I obsess about those enough already). He recently gave me my latest evaluation, and on a scale of 1 (needs a lot of help) to 4 (an expert), it came back almost all 3s, with a couple of 4s and some 2s, which he pointed out I'm already taking steps to improve on.
  
• I am thankful for my students, who are fun to work with and teach. Despite some of the "new teacher" syndrome, I really feel like I am building some good relations and trust with many of them. I especially liked having one student who would check up on me before she started basketball practice while I was working late this week grading tests and preparing the final first semester grades. Her sense of humor was a much needed break and grounding in the real world.
  
• I am thankful for the other math teacher who is retiring at the end of this year, because that pretty much ensures that I will have a job here next year no matter what. However, I'm also thankful for the strong indications already that they want to keep me on anyway, to give me that job stability that I have needed for so long.
  
• I am thankful for the Friday afternoon staff trainings, which are going to allow me to renew my certificate again much more easily than last time.
  
• I am thankful for the math curriculum we are using. It's well organized and pretty straightforward for a still-not-quite-sure-what-he's-doing teacher to use. It also doesn't pile too much onto students at once, and the homework has lots of built-in review, instead of focusing on just the current topic. I am further thankful for the support and resources that the publishers put up on the web for not only teachers, but also students and parents. In case you're interested, by the way, go take a look at www.cpm.org.
  

I will not go so far as to say it's all peaches and cream. I'm still putting in long days, and even doing some work over the weekends, to stay on top of things and one step ahead. I also have one class that has quite a few disruptive students who are making it hard for me to teach and the rest of the students to learn, but again I have some help there and some new things I'm going to try. I'm still paranoid that this is all going to be whisked out from under me, but that's gradually becoming quieter, and my confidence is growing. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not substituting, and I need to take a much longer look down the road, both with my students this year and my career. But in general, I feel really good about being here and doing what I do, and I'm starting to look forward to what's coming up.

Labels: new job

Hi, everybody. Yes, I finally have a free, relaxing weekend to catch up on some blogging, a few other things (I finally got a haircut today, for example), and to finally feel settled in. With the exception of a truckload my parents are bringing over tomorrow, all of our stuff is here in our new house now, so all we have to do is figure out what to do with it all.

So, teaching. How's it going, Eric, I can hear you ask. I'll be honest, it's mixed. There are times where I feel I am doing a good job and things are progressing as well as can be expected. That's my rational, logical side talking. There are other times — often in the same day — where my paranoid side is panicking that they're going to fire me any day now. After some of the experiences in my last contracted job (the year of the strike), I'm afraid the paranoid side wins out a lot. Every time the principal or a colleague comes in, things go well and I get good feedback. The principal even gave me one of his "Superb Teaching" notes. But now that the students have been here for a few weeks and that start-of-the-year honeymoon phase is over, I also see the struggles I'm having getting ideas across, conveying my expectations, and how indifferent a lot of the students are to it. How can I help students who don't even want to put in an effort? What can I do for students who are taking a class for a second, or even third, time? This is a good curriculum that's well laid out and doesn't make unreasonable demands on a student's time, so it shouldn't be that hard to do the work. Oh, well, I'll keep plugging along and see if I can make a positive impact. I know I have the support of my colleagues and administration, however, which is something I'm not used to, so I feel pretty sure that at least it's going to work out all right in the end.

Further complicating matters, my room is too small, and too many of the cabinets are still filled with science equipment. I have nowhere to put my own stuff or what I need to teach with, and the students are crammed in a bit. (At least my algebra class no longer has forty students. They found a place for the middle school students.) I've also run out of books, but more students keep coming in as well. This school has a large migrant student population, so I can see that this is going to become a problem soon.

On the lighter side, Homecoming is this coming week, and as one of the junior class advisers, I have a few duties to perform. I have plans for costumes for most of the week, and I get to see the town's Homecoming parade for the first time. Laura and I are also going to the football game, and I'll probably be at the volleyball game as well.

Anything else I need to add? What do you want to know about this new job? Go ahead and ask in the comments. I'll see if I can get a chance to answer them later.

Labels: new job

School starts tomorrow morning in the Bellevue School District. It sounds like the board actually wanted to settle and start, unlike a certain district I worked in a few years ago.

Labels: strike

I really should be working on grades and some other paperwork, but I thought I'd take a quick moment to let you know that yes, the job is underway, and I feel like I'm settling in now. Oh, sure, there's a lot of stuff to do still, but I'll eventually get around to it, I suspect. Meantime, we finally got into the new house a couple of days ago, so we have that whole moving-and-settling-in process to deal with. But the good news is, it's finally starting to feel real. I'll have a few more details when (if) I ever get a chance to finally catch my breath and can get a free weekend without having to go back to the other end of the state (where I am right now, and will be again next weekend, as the movers are coming then).

Labels: moving, new job

I know all of my loyal readers are anxious to hear about the start of school, but that's going to have to wait. This morning, I want to comment on this story, the first teacher's strike in our state since the one I was involved in four years ago. Again, this looks like a clueless school board not realizing what they've stepped into. The Bellevue teachers authorized a strike back in June, before school even let out, but from what I hear, the board only started negotiating a few days ago. It sounds to me like the big issue is micromanaging teachers, insisting that they use a centralized curriculum handed to them via computer. There is no wiggle room to take into account individual student or class needs or abilities. In other words, the central office doesn't trust the teachers to do the job they've been doing all along. I thank my lucky stars that I'm currently in a district with a lot of community support on all sides, and that for the first time in my career I've started the year on time and without incident. I wish I was in a position to help out the Bellevue teachers, as I was the beneficiary of much help from other teachers when I was on strike. But Laura and I are still negotiating those last few steps to getting our new house and dealing with the old one, and so I'll just have to pay it forward another time. Considering how close the district I subbed in the most last year also came to a strike this year, I can't help but wonder if this one is a harbinger of what's to come if the state doesn't start taking its job to fully fund education more seriously.

Labels: strike

At last, my new job started today. True, I've been doing stuff with my new colleagues for the past week or so, and setting up the room and such, but this was the first official day of the school year, and the first day with students. Yikes! It actually went pretty well, the kids are great to work with (so far), and I seem to have been warmly welcomed. Of course, most of what I taught was just about the new discipline system to my Advisory section — and due to a mix-up, that turned out to be only six freshmen.

I also got to be part of the junior class meeting, as I somehow took it upon myself to be one of the class advisers. I thought it was a way of becoming part of my new community, but of course after I signed up was when I learned that the juniors were responsible for the prom. Eek! Still, once I got back to our old house, I was able to sincerely ask Laura, "Dear, will you go with me to the prom?" I think she's now amused by the idea that I'm taking her to the prom well after we were both in high school. (For the record, we didn't meet until we were both in college. Also, this will be a big improvement over my original prom, as my then-girlfriend dumped me two days after the prom, and I suspect she kept it going long enough just to go.) While I was at it, I also asked her to the Homecoming football game, too, which is coming up in only a month now.

On the new house front, we may FINALLY be there this week! I'm signing some papers after work tomorrow. Laura is coming out Thursday morning to sign them (while I'm at work), and if all goes well, we may get cleared on Friday and we can start moving in over the long weekend — but without hot water (the gas can't be hooked up until after the weekend and someone is there) or the bulk of our furniture (moving day is now officially September 13!). And there's also all of the new appliances we need to figure out how to buy. If all doesn't go well, we can probably move in first thing next week. If all goes badly...no, best not to think along those lines.

But this is a teaching blog, yes? Today, with no true home to go to and a lot still to do, I ended up staying over three hours later, but I accomplished a lot and, while I'm not quite there yet, I'm pretty much ready for the first day of full classes tomorrow. Three sections of geometry, and one of first year algebra. That last one worries me, because as it stands right now, I think I have thirty-nine students in a classroom big enough for only about thirty, and seating right now for only twenty-four! But my principal assures me that we will get it worked out. So I get to trek in early tomorrow, gather a few more supplies and get a few more things done, and then...Well, I don't know, actually. Tune in next time to find out!

Labels: moving, new job

I'm back in the old home for a few days. Things are progressing well, but I still have a lot to do here this weekend, too. I'm driving back over early Monday morning to finish arranging and decorating my classroom, and I may actually be ready, and still have a chance for some (but not much) relaxing this weekend.

On the house front, it finally looks like we may be nearing the end of the tunnel, but it's still a pretty small light. Everything is lined up now except the escrow, but they're going to take five business days. With next Monday being a holiday, it looks like we won't be able to close until September 2 at the earliest. Oh, yay, another week in a hotel for me.

Labels: moving, new job