a new year

Oh no. 

I fell in to the worst new teacher trap: giving up on a half-hearted, though well-intentioned, attempt at intellectualism and communicating with the outside world! 

Instead, here I stand (lie in bed), year two, having lost over half of my original special education cohort last summer.  And there's so much to say.  And I'm going to re-start this to say it all.

Second worst new teacher trap: (I still am a new teacher, even if a 2nd year-er seems "veteran" in this crazy system): Putting things off due to tiredness.  Alas, I think this trap is one that we can't avoid as every day our bodies feel an exhaustion that seems to have no end in sight.  Tiredness becomes an incurable, internal invasive species for teachers in the District of Columbia Public School system. 

RIF, etc

It is almost impossible to know what to write at this time.  

My thoughts go out to all the teachers who were RIF'ed.  Certainly the manner in which this news was delivered to you, at minimum, was inappropriate; the measures taken to "assure your transition" inadequate.  

My school got pretty lucky. 

 

I feel like I am living in the middle of an era that national public schools will examine for a long time to come.  I feel like I am living out the nightmare of being stretched from all angles, when all I want to do is teach kids using resources like this.

But things are never that easy, and there's nothing like working in DCPS to prove that to you day after day.

Everyone is high stress, high tension.  Everyone.  Our staff meetings feel corporate. We have to meet AYP this year (though who doesn't?), so everything is all about business... but is our business approach a good match for the emotionally-charged jobs and lives we lead?