All About Kimberly

Sailing Along the Life of Single Parenthood

Tag Archives: Education

Easy Hours & Summer Vacations

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a million times – those are just two of the great “advantages” to being a teacher you’ll hear non teachers say that don’t have an understanding or appreciation of the job of a good teacher.  Don’t get me wrong.  I know some 7:30 to 3:30 teachers that do not work at home or give up any of their non required hours.   But as I conclude my Saturday (where I’m working for free because debate coach does NOT have a stiped or pay of any kind), I reflect on the hard work of a teacher.

We’ll just look at the last week for an example:

Sunday: Spent 3 hours grading papers and another 1 working on lesson plans.  Then spent another hour on some activities for my extracurricular students (debate and computer apps).

Monday: Arrived at school at 7:10 am, taught all day, after school tutorials until 5:45 pm

Tuesday: Left house at 6:30 so I could vote on the way to work, taught all day, tutorials until 4, debate practice until 6:15

Wednesday: Arrive at school at 7:00, taught all day, tutorials until 4, computer application practice until 5:00

Thursday: Arrive at school at 6:50, teach until 9:30 when the nurse comes to tell me Cameron is sick.  Bring Cameron home and doctor her, go BACK to school for debate practice after school until 5:15.

Friday: Arrive at school at 7:30 (yes, we slept in a little), teach all day, tutorials after school (can you beleive these kids are here on a Friday?) until 4:30 when I insist on going home.

Saturday: Arrive at school at 6:30, travel to debate meet where I spend the day, arrive back to school at 4:00.  This is a very short day for a debate meet as it’s the only meet that doesn’t require us to leave by 6 and not get home until after 6.

And remember, this is only my SCHOOL schedule….I’m also a single mom to two girls…..so also mixed in all of that is the grading of papers in the evenings, cooking supper, doing laundry, helping with Cameron’s homework, and all the other fun responsibilities of life…..

Yes…..I do have June, July and part of August that are “vacations,” but even during that time, I am making plans for the upcoming year and going to teacher training inservices…….Oh, and though many don’t realize it, yes…I’m off for those 2 1/2 months….WITHOUT PAY!  I am only paid for the days I do work each year.  Not the others.  I’m not complaining….I knew it was part of the deal (and by the way I LOVE teaching), but I think it’s a common misconception that those are paid vacation days.

Schools in 1958 v 2008

 

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack. 

  • 1958 – Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack 
  • 2008 – School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.  

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school. 

  • 1958 – Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies. 
  • 2008 – Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.  

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students. 

  • 1958 – Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again. 
  • 2008 – Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.  

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt. 

  • 1958 – Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman. 
  • 2008 – Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has affair with psychologist.  

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school. 

  • 1958 – Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock. 
  • 2008 – Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.  

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English. 

  • 1958 – Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college. 
  • 2008 – Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.  

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed. 

  • 1958 – Ants die. 
  • 2008 – BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.  

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him. 

  • 1958 – In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing. 
  • 2008 – Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

 

Calling All Mom’s To Action

I’m a big believer in donating to charity – in any ways we can.  I try to make a continous effort to find ways that we (my family and my classes) can contribute to causes that benefit the less fortunate.  Being a teacher, I’m really excited about this latest organization I found.  I wanted to share this with you since so many of you are Moms (and some are even teachers).

DonorsChoose.org is a organization that allows classroom teachers to register for items they need in their classrooms to be more effective teachers and assist their students in learning.  After they are registered, DonorsChoose.org promotes their need and takes pledges to help pay for the item.  While you could choose to support a teacher and purchase the entire item they are requesting, you can also make donations as small as $5.

I’ve picked three English/Language Arts teachers from a various of grade levels from elementary to high school who are looking to promote reading amongst their students, and I’m hoping you will help me help them.  I’ve created a group at DonorsChoose called Mom’s Encouraging Reading. If you have it in your heart, please pledge to help at least one of these teachers.  As a teacher, I can tell you that school budgets are getting smaller and smaller and the price of tools we’d like to utilize are increasing rapidly.  Sometimes it’s amazing how just one new set of books or one piece of tehnology can change the dynamics in a classroom and make students more eager to learn.

If you have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews in school, browse around DonorsChoose and you may just find teachers from their schools requesting help.

“I Don’t Understand”

How do many times do we, as teachers, here this in the classroom? And how many times do we as mom’s hear this as we help our children with their homework? For me, I’ve heard it so many times in the last 8 years that I just hate that phrase.

For those that live in larger cities, tutoring is fairly easy to come by and a lot more reasonably priced than for those of us that live in rural areas where high quality tutors are few and far between.  While browsing the web and watching TV today, I’ve come across the Tutor company – Club Z.  With the importance now put on state wide standardized tests, it’s more and more important that our students understand the lessons they are learning at school.  This year my oldest daughter will take her last set of state standardized tests (TAKS here in Texas).  To graduate from high school, she must pass all 4 tests (English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies).  My youngest is a third grader, and she will take the TAKS for the first time this year.  She is the one I am nervous about.  She must pass the Reading TAKS test this year to move on to the 4th grade. And while I know she’s fully capable of taking the test, she gets very nervous.  So I’m monitoring her closely this year and also doing some looking around to have a list of tutoring ideas on hand if she starts to show need for it immediately.

I’m not sure that Club Z is available in our area, but it does look like a great opportunity.  If anyone has any other ideas for finding a service for me to have ready if the need arises, please let me know.

Getting Started with A New Business

I have been playing with two ideas, and I want to get serious about at least one of them before Christmas.  I would like to either start a business idea I have been tossing around in my head or start back and work on my master’s degree.  I have gathered a good bit of information on master’s programs that will be at least mostly available online and will start going through that soon to see if I can find a way to do it financially and time/energy wise in the near future (I’d love to start in January), but I am still in the very beginning stages of looking into starting the business idea I have.

One factor (maybe the biggest) in both of these options is the financial obligations that they will require. I have got an idea of about how much it would cost to start this business so tonight while I can not sleep anyways I have started looking at small business loans. I would not consider a loan of any kind except for it would not take that much of a commitment financially, and if I do decide to go back to school, money will be tight. So a small loan seems like a possible idea. Merchant Advisors is one site that has proven helpful so far in my research. They specialize in sba loans, but do not limit themselves to this. They try to help out in many facets of the business world including credit card processing, check processing, cash advances, and ACH processing. I have created two folders in my bookmarks – one for school and one for starting a business, and merchant Advisors is a site that I have added to my favorites.  If you have a small business, you may want to check them out too.