seangriffen
New member
so.. where to begin.
this is an actual case of life screwing me around in a way i didn't expect. i need to try to make the story complete so you'll understand, but i don't want to ramble, so forgive me; i'm doing my best.
here in california, we have educational standards for each class which is being taught. at the district which recently hired me, they have adopted a special state program (forced to by law because of poor test scores) called SAIT (scholastic assistance and intervention training, i think).
the SAIT program involves the entire math department from my school collaborating to assemble a 9th-grade algebra I class along with a supplementary course they call "math explorations." the idea is that an algebra teacher would have three sections af algebra I, PRECEDED by two sections of math explorations, in which the weakest algebra students get an additional hour's reinforcement.
the nice thing about this is it's very prescribed and very collaborative. not only do we all teach the same topics the same day, but we share lesson plans, tests, and materials. it's a way of distributing the teaching job more evenly between teachers, which gives people new to this particular district (me) and this particular school's reputedly TERRIBLE students (something i haven't had to deal with as a teacher yet) a great deal of comfort through the ability to tap into the experiences of others as needed.
i was hired to help build this new algebra I curriculum and then to follow through by teaching it. i've spent the entire past week both finishing up the summer quarter in grad school AND collaborating on the algebra I curriculum.
then, the twist: the math department chair pulls me aside during our collaboration meeting and says, "there's been a schedule change which impacts you. you will be teaching nothing but geometry and algebra 2."
so what does that mean? more freedom, more responsibility, more chance to fail, less help from the department in this new and apparently hostile environment.
here's the best part: there are ten days before i begin instruction, and since i was hired for algebra I, they gave me the text and all the materials before we started building the curriculum.
i still haven't even met my textbooks. i have NO FUCKING CLUE what i'll actually be teaching in a week. i spent all last week building the lessons from days 1 to 65 for algebra I teachers to teach. i could have spent that time familiarizing myself with my own courses and prepping for that.
now i will have two days (friday and saturday of next week) to prepare four weeks worth of lessons for two COMPLETELY different classes taught out of two books i still haven't even seen.
word the fuck up.
or, word to them for fucking me up.
~ dan ~
this is an actual case of life screwing me around in a way i didn't expect. i need to try to make the story complete so you'll understand, but i don't want to ramble, so forgive me; i'm doing my best.
here in california, we have educational standards for each class which is being taught. at the district which recently hired me, they have adopted a special state program (forced to by law because of poor test scores) called SAIT (scholastic assistance and intervention training, i think).
the SAIT program involves the entire math department from my school collaborating to assemble a 9th-grade algebra I class along with a supplementary course they call "math explorations." the idea is that an algebra teacher would have three sections af algebra I, PRECEDED by two sections of math explorations, in which the weakest algebra students get an additional hour's reinforcement.
the nice thing about this is it's very prescribed and very collaborative. not only do we all teach the same topics the same day, but we share lesson plans, tests, and materials. it's a way of distributing the teaching job more evenly between teachers, which gives people new to this particular district (me) and this particular school's reputedly TERRIBLE students (something i haven't had to deal with as a teacher yet) a great deal of comfort through the ability to tap into the experiences of others as needed.
i was hired to help build this new algebra I curriculum and then to follow through by teaching it. i've spent the entire past week both finishing up the summer quarter in grad school AND collaborating on the algebra I curriculum.
then, the twist: the math department chair pulls me aside during our collaboration meeting and says, "there's been a schedule change which impacts you. you will be teaching nothing but geometry and algebra 2."
so what does that mean? more freedom, more responsibility, more chance to fail, less help from the department in this new and apparently hostile environment.
here's the best part: there are ten days before i begin instruction, and since i was hired for algebra I, they gave me the text and all the materials before we started building the curriculum.
i still haven't even met my textbooks. i have NO FUCKING CLUE what i'll actually be teaching in a week. i spent all last week building the lessons from days 1 to 65 for algebra I teachers to teach. i could have spent that time familiarizing myself with my own courses and prepping for that.
now i will have two days (friday and saturday of next week) to prepare four weeks worth of lessons for two COMPLETELY different classes taught out of two books i still haven't even seen.
word the fuck up.
or, word to them for fucking me up.
~ dan ~
