Work

You have long read about how I hate my job. Yesterday was a prime example why.

A student brought a tool to school that had a knife on it. It was a camping tool that also contains a pair of pliers, a can opener and a screwdriver. The student was not using the tool as a weapon but because of the knife, I consider it a weapon. I'm sorry if it had just been the knife, it would have been a weapon but add pliers and it's fine.

I asked the guidance counselor, the vice principal, my team leader, the members of my teaching team and the Principal's secretary what I was supposed to do. They all told me to talk to the principal. I could not get in touch with her yesterday at all. I tried to find her several times and let her secretary know that I was looking for her.

She wasn't very happy about the fact that I was talking to her the next day and not the day of but I honestly tried. She said that she would take care of it.

I know that this means that she is going to sweep the whole thing under the rug. When a student brings any weapon to school, we must call the police and the student is suspended. I know that this is not going to happen. I really don't want to get this student in trouble but every time something is treated in this same manner, the kids receive the message that they can do whatever they want.

I wrote earlier this week how I was finished with my report cards. Yesterday I went into work and found that my grade sheets were missing. The report card is on the computer so it is safe but the place where I write all of the children's scores and thus the justification for the grades has disappeared. I know that one of the students stole it. I know exactly where I put it the day before when I left and it's not there. It was in the top, middle drawer of my desk.

A few students have come up and told me that they think it is so and so but the fact is that none of them seemed to have any idea of where the papers have gone. I told them today that we will have to retake all of the tests from the last nine weeks again. I'm not really going to do that but I'm going to bring in a fat stack of papers and tell them that here are the tests.

I had a fist fight in my classroom today. Usually when the students fight it's pushing. Pushing to the point where someone flies several feet away and gets hurt by hitting something. Today a boy punched a girl in the face. She screamed and then punched him in the back three times before I grabbed the boy and removed him.

I called the office while I was still holding the boy and they told me that they would inform the office. The principal actually came down and talked to each of them. I'm sorry but they need more than a talking too. I don't usually write the kids up for pushing if no one is hurt and the issue is resolved within seconds and both parties are cool and not going to go back at it the second I turn around. This happens 95% of the time. But punching a person in the face is a BIG step above that and again, I think that something more needs to be done.

I talked to the school guidance counselor yesterday about a student in my class that has repeatedly said that he hates his life and is going to kill himself. I do not think that he is actually going to do anything about it but I do not feel that it would be responsible for me to not talk to other adults at the school about it. I told the counselor his name and her answer was, "Well, you know his family history right?" Now I think that that it's very important to know the history. It gives us great clues into the children's lives but you can't ignore the fact that a third grader has repeatedly said that he is going to kill himself and brush it off because he's had a hard life. At least that's not what you should do but pretty much what she is going to do.

This district also has a different evaluation system than the other one I did well on. This one you fill out on your own and then the principal fills out the rest. I talked to my principal about mine today. She said that I am in the satisfactory range and she wants me to work on two things, classroom management and my classroom.

Now classroom management was the thing that they vice principal just brought up the other day and now the principal is saying things. I've never had a problem with regular classroom management. Their problem is that student get in fights and I write those students up. They have a problem with the fact that students storm out of my room and leave the building because I make them do classwork and I call the office about that. I don't know how to make them stop fighting or getting so angry that they run away. I'd love to know but I just don't.

This school's philosophy seems to be that if the student is in the room, there isn't really a problem. When a student runs away they bring them back, make them apologize and then everything is supposed to be OK. The kids know that they can do pretty much whatever they want and that I can't really do more then tell the office or tell their parents. Neither of these strategies has worked.

They have detention lunch with me as a punishment. It started out as silent lunch where they just sat and ate but that wasn't enough of a deterrent. Now they have work detail. They have less time to eat and then they have to clean. Yesterday they scrubbed tables, today they scrubbed floors. We will do windows on Monday if we have too.

Even physical labor doesn't deter them. I really don't know what else to do. I've done all the basic things like praise the kids that are doing well, counting backwards from five as a sign that it's time to listen, which is the school's signal, not my own, I meet with parents, all children have a daily planner that goes home everyday and I mark about their behavior and some children are on individual behavior plans. I just want them to tell me what they want me to do because I'm lost.

The other thing she had a problem with was my classroom. She thinks that it needs to be more inviting to the children. I'm sorry, I think it is. There are several areas in the classroom that are set up to work in groups. The students desks are set in a giant U shape so everyone can be seen. I don't have a lot of their work up but usually I have at least one piece from each of them. I'd hang up more but I'm not allowed to do the fun artsy projects and I get tired of celebrating the 60% that they are getting on their math tests. "Yeah!!! You got a D."

I have a fish tank with a Spongebob pineapple house inside, three large carpets that make it comfortable to sit on the floor. I have a big table at the back of the room that several of us can work at at the same time. I have a smaller table where two or three people can sit and work. I have a computer station where three computers are set up. I have two cozy chairs with a newspaper rack in between them. It's a kid friendly room.

I know that I haven't always kept a clean room and God knows that there has been many times that things have fallen off of my desk it's so crazy stacked with things but I have been so good about all of that this year. I keep my room clean everyday. I actually clean it everyday either in the morning if I had meetings the day before or in the afternoon before I do home. I even dust the counters (occasionally)! My desk is also so clean and I keep lots of papers organized in the filling cabinet. Most of my friends would never know it was my desk except for the few toys and the name tag that clearly says Mrs. Mylastname.

I swear it's like she's picking the two things that would drive me the most batty!!!!!!!

Deep breath. Deep breath.

The worst part of coming back other than all the other stuff is the fact that the one student that I'm sure is being abused has probably disappeared. Sometimes it happens that they just move away during vacation. I haven't seen her since December 15th and the kids are saying that she's gone. I'm going to call the house if she's not back on Monday.

If she is gone, it will bother me for the rest of my life. I will always wonder what happened to her and what might have been different if she hadn't left. I know that I can't save her but I'll wonder.
So that's what's going on at work. I'm sure you enjoyed the really long story. :P