Time!

I should write this one in all caps because I want to scream! I was halfway through my newest entry when I pressed some random key on my brand new laptop and caused my entire entry to disappear without hope of recovery. How ironic that the theme of this entry is about my use of time and how I don't have enough considering how much I need to accomplish by a particular time...and the obstacles I encounter! Well, I guess I just found a much shorter way to say what I just typed in 15 minutes!

Long story short: 2 1/2 weeks left in a 9 week semester. I am 4 weeks behind in my pacing plan. The district says I should have been able to teach what I have taught so far much faster. I say I am moving as quickly as is possible considering all of the non-curricular issues that impact the speed at which my students can learn. Here's an example:

For the first time ever in teaching at my school, I received my teaching schedule and rosters the Friday before school began the following Wednesday. (They were given to us on the first day of school previously, which makes pre-planning a challenge.) I was so excited at the possibility that I would know some important information about my students from the beginning, instead of having to uncover it all myself. So, I went to the main campus and requested all of the data about all of my students from the Student Information office - the keepers of the database. Since I am off-campus, I wrote on my request that they call or email me when the reports were ready. The one time I was on main campus I stopped back by several times to check, but the office was closed every time, so I left a note asking them to call or email me. Two weeks ago I received an email from an English teacher on the main campus informing me that my reports were ready and that I should pick them up. My first reaction was "Why is she letting me know? She's an English teacher, not a Student Information office staffer!" But then people and their job assignments are the only things at my school that changes quickly, so I thought maybe she had changed her assignment. Turns out she has simply been in that office looking for some work for her and she dug into a pile of reports in the "out" basket and saw my request (with an inch of reports clipped to it) and my note at the top asking to be contacted. She saw the date and, since she's a supportive colleague, she asked the staff why no one had contacted me. When it became clear that she wasn't getting through to them in trying to get them to actually contact me, or at least make some effort to put the report in my mailbox in the main office, she sent me the email. I picked up my reports at her home that evening. Since my previous dealings with the head of that office had been constructive and pleasant, I sent him an email outlining the situation and asking him to contact me....and I still have had no response. When I followed up with the English teacher, she told me that he'd been promoted to the central district office the day after I picked up the report and no one has filled his position.

At this point you might be thinking, I don't see how this has to do with you being so far behind in your pacing! Well it does, since I didn't receive any information on my students academic skill levels, English-learner status, Special Education needs, behavioral record, health issues or home lives, I had to uncover as much of that as I could on my own, which takes a lot of time, creativity and effort. In addition, I have to teach basic math because so many of my students do not know how to calculate an average or a percentage. I also have to teach basic science concepts because so many of my students simply don't know them. I also have to teach them all of the class rituals and routines, stuff that makes the class move more predictably, smoothly and quickly as we go along. And I can't teach these things just once and expect them to get it. We have a high absence rate, so I have to re-teach to catch all of those who missed it the first time and to remind all of those who need to hear it again for it to sink in.

Rats! I have a lot more to tell you, but....I'm out of time! My alarm clock just went off and I need to get ready for work. Not surprisingly I don't want to risk being late. More later...when I have time!