Teaching High School

Sharing a Room

A bit of a problem here, and it's a problem I've been having all year:

How can I tell a colleague that she needs to leave when I am in that room to teach?

Parting Gifts

When I left the building last June, they gave me a parting gift. I'd seen such practice done previously with other folks who took positions in other buildings of the district and always thought it kind of strange. (This does not include gifts for those folks who retired.) Over the years, people have received nice platters from Williams-Sonoma, crystal vases, and earrings. The gift I received is not worth mentioning.

So I find out another teacher is leaving my previous building this Friday, of her own volition, to do something she wants to do outside of school. I was asked, very casually, not in any way to suggest I must or that I should, but mentioned in a reply email to a querry I sent, whether I wanted to contribute to the gift certificate to a day spa. I know I do not and will not.

I'm wondering from those of you who read this site: Are such practices done in your work environment? Whether you work in a school or not is irrevelant.

The Truth Comes Out

Or: How I Got This Gig at the High School

Last May my then principal informed me (the day before such things can be told contractually, naturally) (oh, please do sense bitterness and irritation in this post) that I would be teaching at the high school. Thankfully it wasnt to be the high school to which my then current students would be attending (thats another story for another day), it would be a different high school within the district. They needed me to teach German at this high school (one of two majors; my other is in English) since the woman who had been teaching German there wanted to expand her other language program. I was under the impression that she didnt have a major nor a minor in German. I was also under the impression that at the other junior highs in the district there would be a German class in the fall, and since mine wouldnt, I was the best candidate.

My union rep informed me that nothing could be done. I lamented that I had been the yearbook advisor for the last five years and the department chair for the last two years at the junior high, and shouldnt that count for something? Not so. I was needed elsewhere, and I would go. I wrote a well received memo to my current colleagues about it the following day and distributed it to them the next day. Many were perplexed; many more were saddened to see this happen. As often happens on a staff of 35 when you have been there for eight years, you become close with each other.

At the end of the year union party, I came to learn that another teacher, with less seniority than myself and the same degree, would not be teaching German in the fall either. And AND!!!-- she had put in for a transfer request in the spring. She knew nothing of the position that I would have in the fall. I was enraged. I had my life turned upside down without my permission, and this other teacher wanted, actually wanted, to have hers turned upside down.

Than came the kicker from my former principal: In the end of the year newsletter, she wrote about staff changes. Here is a summary of what she wrote:

Mrs. Y. will be retiring this year. She has worked (blahblahblah) for (blahblahblah). Also retiring is Mrs. C. She has worked (blahblahblah) for (blahblahblah). Mrs. S. will be working at (blank) High School next year. Mrs. H. will be taking a position at (blank) Elementary next year. Miss Gemini is being transferred to (blank) High School next fall.

I had many, many staff members approach me on that subtle English language difference, from fellow English colleagues to folks in the Math and Science departments to staff who were on leave due to various reasons. (Note: Not that teachers of Math or Science cant tell the difference, its just that they have some history in that building of putting out typos and such in memos and emails. Not that thats a crime, but I think you understand. Or at least I hope.)

Fast forward to this school year in the high school. I came to find out the woman who didnt want to teach German is actually a native speaker of German but just didnt want to teach it anymore. I was also told that another teacher went to the principal of the high school and told him that a teacher shouldnt be forced to teach something s/he really doesnt want to teach. She did not realize, of course, the disruption this could make to someone elses life. The staff at the high school had been led to believe this was a transfer I requested. When they realize differently, it comes as a shock and they are apologetic, but they also know the ways of the district.

So here I am, a month in at the high school, and its fine. Not great, not terrible, but fine. I do have more time built into the school day in which to work than I did at junior high, and almost twice as much time to eat lunch. But I miss my friends at junior high. Ive seen two of the three really great friends already and been on the phone with the other and sent email, but its not the same. Seeing them every day, having time between classes to talk, figuring out what to do on pay day Friday I miss all of that. Moving from room to room to room to room to room all day does not give me time in which to make those connections. So thank goodness for email and phones.

The P(r)ep Assembly and The Paper Issue

So today was the first pep assembly at a school with three times as many students as I'm used to. No student I had contact with had any interest in going; many wanted me to write them a pass to be excused. Apparently there had been an alternate venue in years past for students to go who did not care to attend the forced prep pep assembly. I imagine though that this became such a popular place that they had to stop offering it.

For whatever patriotic or showcasing reason, the National Anthem was sung first by senior members of the choir. It took a few moments for the crowd to quiet down. What surprised me (and maybe it shouldn't surprise me so much) were the students who remained seated during the singing. In the junior high I had been at, no one would have dared done such a thing. Maybe they are just more sheep like. Maybe these high school students are rebeling against the standard of order that states one must stand at such a time. I wonder though if they would do the same at a United States sporting event.

Afterward, exiting was chaotic. There are two double doors out. All students plowed down the bleachers only to wait in a large crowd to pass through the door. Students could be hurt and trampled with so much pushing. Well, until it happens, the exiting ridiculousness will ensue. Fun.

On to the Paper Issue. I teach in four different classrooms during my five class hour day. I have a workspace a foot shorter than my arm span at which to keep my materials in the teachers' workroom. I carry a backpack with me to each class which includes any texts and materials for each class, along with a mini office inside: pens, overhead and dry erase markers, paper clips, scissors, mini stapler, band-aids, etc. I refuse to carry reams of lined paper with me. (I have been issued a cart on which to store these same materials, but the passing time and physical area of the halls are not sufficient to manuever it around.)

In three different rooms in the last two days, there has been no paper. I cannot go in to the drawers in two of those rooms due to the teacher who uses that room five hours a day locking them. The third room just didn't have any. So when I needed my students to do some written work, a number of them were kind enough to share their own personal supplies of paper from home with others around them. This is (obviously) frustrating to me.

In two of the four rooms I share, I have been in the district longer than the teacher who has the room for five hours. That matters little to The Establishment. I have been looked at with disdain by one of these teachers when I inquired whether I could leave a few extra copies of texts, a dictionary, and some paper on a table in that room. So I didn't even bother to ask the other teachers if I could do the same in thier rooms. These folks are much too teritorial and they seemingly refuse to believe that they have been infringed upon in such a way by me (when in fact, I really had nothing to do with the room assingnments.)

Oh, and for the record: Of the 130 or so teachers in the building, about a third of them must be in two different rooms during the day, and of those about a third are in another (for a total of three rooms), and of those, two teachers travel to four different classrooms, one being myself.

I welcome the time when a parent calls to complain, "Why didn't my child have access to paper for your assignment?" because then I can say, "Well... " and go into some of the things I've mentioned here with a recommendation that they please talk to the building administration and the superintendent.