school

Sunday, August 26, 2007

last day of summer

on this, my last “official” day of summer (i’ve actually been working for a while now but school starts tomorrow), i’m just sitting at home trying to prep for tomorrow and the week’s activities.  meaning mostly, i’m sitting at my computer saying that i’m getting my syllabus done, when in actuality i am watching tv and playing games. 

it sure is hard to break the summer habits and get in to ‘work mode’...  perhaps it’d be easier if i set aside an office area in my house where i would go to get work done, which would be not in my bedroom and not on the couch in front of the tv =)

on another note, i think i found a potential roommate.  she is checking out another apartment tomorrow morning and then she should call me after that to let me know her decision.  and if she doesn’t want it i’ve had two other inquiries… hopefully that works out.

i have plans to watch superbad tonight… now… on to making my syllabus - i WILL be done before i do anything else tonight!

Posted by kgrp on 08/26 at 04:22 PM
school • Permalink

Thursday, August 16, 2007

i only have to teach 3 classes this year

only three classes.  and they’re all algebra 1.  so i only have one class to prepare for…

but how could i only have 3 classes?  when a typical day has 6 periods in it?  well… you see, those poor kids have me for 2 periods at a time!

yup.

periods 1 & 2 have the same kids, then period 3 meets me only once right before early lunch at 10:20 am, aka kimi’s breakfast time.  then i have periods 4 & 5 with the same kids.  technically, then i have period 6 “free” in order to prepare for the next day, and do my grading and recording, etc, but that’s when i will be spending my time with the volleyball team.

i don’t know what or how i will be teaching to those poor students who have me twice in a row, but i will have to figure out 2 hours worth of math to do every day!  wow… but that also means i will have only 3 classes of students to grades, so i won’t have 150 students to keep track of… weird.  but it also means that i will have students who will need the extra help, so basically i will have a classroom full of students who don’t like math taking math 2 times in a row… quite the challenge to live up to, but i’m hoping i can make it interesting enough for them to learn so that they can finish their requirements to graduate.  eeek!

anyways, it’s good to finally know my schedule =) that means i can start planning for the year now!

Posted by kgrp on 08/16 at 09:17 PM
school • (0) leave a note • Permalink

Friday, July 13, 2007

coaching the yellowjackets

so on monday colton offered me a job teaching math at the high school.  and on tuesday, they called me back and asked me to coach their varsity volleyball team.  i had said i was interested, and i wanted to do jv or the freshman team, or be the assistant coach, or something like that. 

but no, they offered me the head coach position!  of varsity!  they want me to be in charge of the program cuz i’m staff!!!

so now i’m head coach!!!


it’s amazing!!  when i first thought about not going back to grove, i couldn’t imagine it.... and i was dreading going to another school… and then as i was trying to find a place that i would be happy at, i visited colton hs and told my mom that if i got hired there to teach math and one class of volleyball, it would be the ideal “upgrade” from my then-current position at grove.  it would be a wayyyy bigger school, yes, but i would get the chance to know some students on a more personal level because of being more involved.  i could also potentially teach less classes and have less prep-work, instead of teaching 4 different math classes, a physics, an elective, and doing counseling/mentoring during lunch, all while planning and fundraising for a winterim.  and so i while on the phone with my mom, i realized that changing schools could give me the opportunity to teach the same class of math four or five times a day and the opportunity to be involved with the volleyball team.  and if i could be teaching algebra 2, then it would be all students who chose to be in that class, instead of teaching one that was required for graduation.  less stress, more time, and more pay all rolled into one =)

and so when i got offered the job on monday, i accepted, but that was it… just teaching math.  coolio.

then when they called me back on tuesday, i was a little bit apprehensive about taking the job, since it’s a big responsibility, but it is definitely a positive.  and i accepted again.

now, if they could only assign me to teach algebra 2, i will have the “ideal” job that i described to my mom. 

God has definitely been blessing me!

Posted by kgrp on 07/13 at 11:39 AM
school • (6) leave a note • Permalink

Thursday, June 21, 2007

grove graduation 2007

just a few pictures from last week’s graduation… yeah i know this post is late… but here are some pics from the last real event at that school

max (who’s going away to boot camp next week) and matt

jade and johnie

keigm, darryl, and trenton

dr. ian dinmore, bree, and mike playing ‘pomp and circumstance’

after the ceremony
celeste, traci, madison, and megan with jemma joining the bmc with her brand new red headband =)

kim with her son joey

mallory, lorraine, and shelby - visiting from last year’s grad class

i don’t know these students cuz they’re from before my time at grove but they’re math and engineering majors coming back to visit mike

sarah and vanessa

christy and chris

with celeste

grant and ellie

Posted by kgrp on 06/21 at 01:15 PM
photo • school • Permalink

Monday, May 21, 2007

jill is graduating with her MFT

and we celebrated in style by going to grad nite 07!

actually, i had to chaperone my seniors and i dragged jill (see her brand new blog here) with me so that i could run around disneyland with someone… we got there on thursday night (may 17) and stayed till friday morning 6am, so we got to run around the park for 6 hours free, since we were chaperones!

we mostly ran around acting like we were seniors though =)

taking goofy pictures

actually, goofy is in this pic =)

hahaha… aren’t these stuffed animals so cute?  pluto’s the funniest, just one big orange circle… i love it!

i didn’t want to brave the 2hr line to get on space mountain, but i rode star tours, drove through autopia, visited the haunted mansion, rode the pirates of the caribbean, survived the teacups (and alice in wonderland) did the big thunder mountain railroad twice, and of course, rode the matterhorn.  we had free breakfast in the chaperone lounge, and it was just an all ‘round fun experience....

yay for grad nite!  and yay for being chaperones! 

Posted by kgrp on 05/21 at 10:38 PM
photo • school • Permalink

Monday, May 14, 2007

done with BTSA!

ohmygosh i am done with BTSA, aka beginning teacher state accreditation, aka a big expensive pain in the butt hoop that CA teachers have to jump through.

i mean, after paying $8000 to UCR to get my credential and my masters, i then got a teaching job, and found out i only have my preliminary credential.  in order to clear a credential (aka stop jumping through hoops), beginning teachers need to do a two year program.  TWO YEAR PROGRAM.  get this - it costs $8000 per year to go through this program.

oh, and what does this program consist of?  well, since i was at ucr, we were the test pilot for the program.  which means that this two year program is a series of online forms that is EXACTLY WORD FOR WORD the same online program colloquium i did for my masters.  so basically, i just paid $16,000 over the last two years to mimic what i had completed in one year at UCR.  interesting how the state of california gets you, eh?  not only are beginning teachers on the bottom rung of the pay scale, we have the most expenses.  such as the $60 to get fingerprinted to work in a district (which i had to pay twice in my district because apparently they need a new set of fingerprints when you become a teacher, because the substitute teacher fingerprints somehow aren’t good enough).  oh, and there were about 50 teachers at that meeting today, which means that for my district alone BTSA earned/cost $400,000.  crazy, right?

at any rate, i’ll stop complaining about the busywork they add to the life of a beginning teacher trying to prepare for the classroom every day not needing extra work to do and just proclaim loudly that I AM FINALLY DONE WITH BTSA!!!!

my two years are over, and i’m a free woman! =) now just two more classes i need to take before they clear my credential!

DONE WITH BTSA!

can you tell how happy i am? =)

Posted by kgrp on 05/14 at 05:49 PM
school • (0) leave a note • Permalink

Thursday, April 05, 2007

teacher-student dilemma

recently i’ve discovered the education wonks, a blog that reports on teacher-student interaction that makes the news.

this particular post hits home, if only because i have a student who has mooned an entire class and thinks it’s her right to be at that school and no one can do anything about it.  it hits home because i understand the position of the school, and i applaud their guts in standing up for common decency and not letting any student get away with anything.  the message that they are sending is loud and clear - they will not tolerate this behavior.  it’s a message i wish our school could send our students.

the student who is suing the school?  breaking the rules and acting inappropriately in class somehow gains him the right to sue the school?  the sad thing is, i’m scared he might win.  and the students will continue acting in whichever way they want because the law protects them from being disciplined. 

how are teachers and schools supposed to enforce their rules when there are so many laws protecting the students?  you can’t even fail a student who comes to class with no intention of taking notes and/or participating if you don’t provide a pencil and paper for him everyday, since he has a right to a -free- education.  failing him would be a violation of his rights because you did not provide the pencil and paper to make it “free”.  in my opinion he should have to work for his free education (and by work i mean try - take notes, participate, attend every day, etc) but we are expected to spoon feed it to them because it is their right to learn without spending any money (or time or effort, it seems). 

not all the students are that way, and i have a great bunch.  it’s just that when our hands are tied and we for whatever reason cannot enforce our own rules, we create an environment that allows the students to say, “boooyah! look what i did!  what are you going to do about it?!?!?  i’m gonna call my mom!” and then their parents come in and argue and save them from their own consequences.

and yes, that has happened before.

may the school win the lawsuit.

Posted by kgrp on 04/05 at 10:37 AM
school • (3) leave a note • Permalink
Page 2 of 6 pages  <  1 2 3 4 >  Last »