Wow. I can't believe more than a whole month has passed since I last blogged. Actually I can. Life has been INSANE lately.
I have officially adjusted to the transition of being the sole teacher responsible for all English and Literature instruction for nearly 130 students. I have worked out a schedule that seems to be working well for everyone. We set aside Mondays and most of our class time on Tuesdays focusing on spelling, grammar, or writing, and then the rest of the week we focus on literature. The kids seem to enjoy and appreciate the structure and knowing what to expect. I appreciate the structure and that it keeps me in check with making sure I cover what is necessary for the year.
I guess a big stressor has been the fact that these kids are now having English/Literature instruction for 2.5 hours less each week, and I still have to try to cover the same amount of information. I know that I am only one person and it would be horribly unrealistic of my principal to expect me to do more than I am, but I just can't help but feel the pressure to work like a machine to get things done. I think the other thing is that at my old school I got used to teaching 2-hour block periods, and now my classes are only 50-minutes long and I always feel like I never got everything accomplished I set out to do.
The biggest issue I have had to deal with since the transition would most definitely have to do with the literature grades. Our literature teacher left somewhat abruptly (in my opinion considering I had only a couple days notice) and she didn't necessarily communicate much to me before she left. The worst part was that she had left some grades either not graded, or students had not turned the assignments in. I had absolutely NO way of knowing what the situation was regarding some of those grades. Not only was there confusion regarding some of the grades, but this teacher hadn't even set up the grade book at this point! I had to go in and enter all the grades for all assignments for every student, and that definitely took quite a chunk of time for me to do!
The wost part of the whole situation came two weeks ago when the quarter finished and I had parent/teacher conferences. I had SEVERAL parents come to me yelling at me and demanding that I change the grades from this other teacher. They didn't even care to listen to my side of the story that I had no idea what the situation was regarding those missing and/or ungraded assignments and that all I did was type in the grades. I had nothing to do with their previous assignments and I can't just slap a grade on an assignment when I had no idea what the assignment was and no clue what the parameters were regarding how the teacher was grading the assignment. I was not the least bit responsible for any sort of issue regarding those grades, but they didn't care to hear it. It was ridiculous. And horrible. I didn't deserve to be talked to like that. I didn't do anything to deserve that, and that is what upset me so much. I went home that night and cried my eyes out. It was horrible.
I ended up meeting with my principal regarding this issue and we came up with a plan. I told her that I didn't care what the end result was; just that parents needed to know that grades will not be questioned or changed next quarter, and that I had NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS SITUATION! We sat down and wrote a letter to the middle school parents regarding the issue and I made sure I would be completely absolved from any connection to the grades from the previous teacher. After a couple attempts at various solutions, we felt it was best to excuse students from the assignments that were questionable. Personally, I feel that all 1st quarter grades are a joke. Kids got excused for assignments they didn't turn in and kids got excused for assignments that didn't get graded by their other teacher, but I had no way of knowing the difference between the two.
I've spent the past two weeks dealing with that issue. I'm just glad to be at a point to put it behind me. It's been ridiculous.
Here's what else has happened in the past month:
We got a new kitten, Chloe. She is absolutely precious, and the girls love playing with her.
We had our first ultrasound at the beginning of this month, and baby looks quite healthy and right on schedule! A nice profile picture of head, arm, and possibly thumb sucking.
...and here HE is! Couldn't quite miss that one!
We are all very excited about the news and the girls are definitely excited to be having a little brother. We are going to name him Robert Bradley in honor of his two grandfathers. Robert after Jason's dad who died just two months before we got married, and Bradley, of course, after my dad who is, thankfully, still with us. I'm feeling Robbie move more and more each day. Considering this is THE only thing I remotely like about being pregnant, I am quite happy to be feeling him move around. I just hope and pray he continues to grow and stay healthy and be the blessing we all know he will be.
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