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Friday,
January 21, 2000
The
long winter break is over and it still sucks to be back in school
again. The time away from the 'joint' really helped me retool
myself and regain a little perspective.
The
whole reason that I am a teacher is to be around and help kids.
However, I think that somewhere along the way, this idealistic
notion of being a helper and a teacher became perverted by the
vampire vultures that lurk and prey on thoughts and emotions.
They have created an environment where the aura of teaching has
been tarnished. There is too much focus on the FCAT tests. They
have placed so much emphasis on the FCAT that the kids have no
idea even what they are doing in school anymore. As an added
note, the children are thoroughly unprepared for a number of
portions of this test because it is impossible to cure their
culturally deficient schooling in one year's time. The principal's
career hangs in the balance over the outcome of the test scores,
so the teachers have to shoulder his burden by documenting a
mound of useless paperwork to provide evidence that the skills
tested on the FCAT are being taught in the classroom.
It
is midterm time. Even though I submitted my exam 10 days prior
to the first day of exams, they were not run off because of alleged
'format problems' which I believe basically means that they thought
they could get me to run off some tests. The official reason
given to me was that the test did not have FCAT style questions
and an answer grid on the test. Even though I don't teach my
students the 'skills' that they need on this stupid fucking test,
I was forced to attach an answer grid and come up with a non-relevant
reading passage. I attached both to the test and ran them on
the school's copier during my planning period because I'll be
a retarded fucking monkey's uncle if I'm going to pay for copies
out of my own pocket. Needless to say, the FCAT portion of the
test that the school required did not figure into the student's
final averages, because I refused to grade that section of the
test. So the lesson here is sometimes, it takes compliance to
pull the wool over someone's eyes.
Each
year, I put obviously false answers on the test. This year again,
it was no surprise to see that my students had selected my friends
as former presidents, supreme court justices and one child told
me that the song No Scrubs by TLC is our National Anthem. If
the student can rationalize and argue the answer, I'll give them
credit.
The
crazy crack head, bald headed, frothing at the mouth AP is back
to her normative fire in her ass routine. She recently yelled
at me for allegedly telling a security guard that she had done
nothing about a child being in the hallway. What I told the security
guard was that the child's action's had not been remedied. When
the little runt showed up at my door, I bullshitted and placated
her diminutive mind by telling her, 'On the contrary,' you had
taken very strong action, even though she really had not. However,
it was another case of miscommunication. She is so abrasive that
when she comes on the morning announcements the kids cringe and
tell me they wish she would shut it.
It
feels good to vent.
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Monday
January 24, 2000
It wouldn't be a perfect Monday unless I had an early morning
encounter with the Super Freak herself, but sure enough, she
showed up at my door, looking like something the cat pissed on,
bit on the ear, and then drug in. Her mere presence made me have
that vomit taste in my mouth from the early morning everything
bagel with cream cheese and decaf coffee experience. She comes
to my classroom and calls me outside to ask me why a student
was in my class the other day after she had suspended that student
for a day, two days prior. I wasn't sure I understood her question,
so I asked her, didn't she have to have a conference with the
parent prior to readmission? I specifically referred to the suspension
notice which stated, 'Parent must meet with AP prior to coming
back to school.' Naturally, as always, she avoided any responsibility
and insisted that the conference must take place with me. So
my response was, 'Well, why did you indicate that the conference
must be with you?' I guess she must think I am a member of the
psychic friends network and can read her puny mind, but nevertheless,
she HAD to have an encounter with me. I'm thinking that nobody
really likes this bitch and that maybe it would be best for the
school if she just admitted she needs help wiping her ass when
she shits, but then again, her shit doesn't stink.
I
must remember that it is the children that lighten up my day.
There were so many students who failed my test that it is kind
of hard to believe that I gave them all of the questions and
answers the day prior to the exam. Kids are being extremely lax
about following the rules at this stage in the year - often showing
up late to class, not turning in any work, and sticking up their
middle fingers during class saying 'fuck you' on a regular basis.
Yes, the children are the light of the classroom when they destroy
the books, throw trash over the balcony, write on desks and walls
things like, 'bicth' - I mean, they can't even spell the word
BITCH. These are the same kids who write 'I do not no' instead
of writing, 'I do not KNOW.'
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Wednesday,
January 26, 2000
The morning started off with a wonderful event - parent teacher
conferences. Usually, parents show up just to get their Welfare
forms signed so they can get their food stamps for the month.
Parents rarely take a real interest in what you are saying unless
you hold the form in front of them as you are talking. One parent
came in this morning and the dialogue went something like this:
"I'm here about my son Marvin. He keeps on telling his teachers
that I am dead. He is so stupid."
'Why is he doing that?,' I asked
"Because he is retarded!"
Hmmmm. At this point I refer the woman to the counselor downstairs
because I really can't help her.
The
next part of the day went well with children ripping up only
a few textbooks and taking a real interest in a picture of a
police officer frisking a suspect from behind. The inference
was plain; they wanted to know if the cop was fucking the guy
in the ass. During the reading of a fairly easy passage in which
one student struggled, the student was made fun of by the other
students. The student stood up at one point a threw a backpack
loaded with candy at another student and said, 'YOUR MAMA CAN'T
READ, BITCH,' and sat back down as if nothing happened. Several
students came by my door only to peek in the room to look at
the clock to determine precisely how long they had been out of
class. However, it was mostly a routine day, with the exception
of one thing - Midterm grades.
I
spent a lot of time averaging and curving the grades to benefit
the students. You only needed a 41 average to have a 'D' in my
class, so you would expect to have a lot of kids pass. This is
not the case at Shitsville, where learning comes after finding
your local crack source. Of course there is always the child
who will bitch about their grade even if they know damn well
that they haven't done shit all year. Only one more day left
until a teacher workday, and I just cant fucking wait. Only 18
more weeks of school left.
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Friday,
January 28, 2000
Today is a teacher's workday and I had earned a free day off,
so I decided to take it today. Workdays are pretty boring anyway
with lots of sitting around and reading the paper. Rarely is
it a day in which quality work gets done, unless you are really
behind on grading papers. Some teachers that I know just throw
away papers that they don't want to grade.
My
kids have been working in small groups over the last few days
and it is interesting to see how some people are so ready to
let me know that their group members aren't doing anything but
gossiping. However, the kids really enjoy working in groups and
I think that I will let them do this for a while because the
groups pretty much run themselves.
I
can't believe that the school year is halfway over. This year
has been pretty aggravating in so many ways. The administration
has been just awful. When I spoke recently to the union representative,
she told me that this administration really does need to be replaced
because she had heard so many unbelievable stories about it.
Either
way, I'm hoping that the rest of the year goes by quickly and
without incident, but somehow, I know that that is just wishful
thinking.
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