Wow....almost a year to date.....

....since my last post!

All in all my year has not been a great one. I went back in the classroom teaching American History and propmtly remembered why I had left 4 years ago to teach gifted! Much as the rest of the education world in Florida, these kids could care less about history. We have hammered into their brains for so long now that the only important measurement of their learning takes place in the Spring with FCAT and since history isn't on the "TEST", it is not important. Politicians in Tallahassee are moving to make history a non core subject so that class caps don't have to be met in those classes in the fall, so all I can say is grrrr. Of course, a society ignorant of the past and unable to think historically is a good thing for politicians. That way they can feed them any line and it will be taken hook, line, and sinker. This is all thanks to a new governor who, through his actions and words, must depise education.

Oh and I can't forget that my pay will soon be tied to the little darlings test taking skills in subjects I am not totally responsible for teaching them....when they come to school and manage to actually bring supplies like pencil and paper that is. I also can't leave out the fact that all protections I might have had in the classroom from overbearing and abusive administration has been removed. And lastly, it is always great for my emotional well-being to hear and read the venom spewed out by the public against education and teachers. Some mornings I look closely in the mirror to make sure I didn't sprout horns overnight because I certainly feel like that is how I am being treated. Yet, I go to work each day and smile, hand out paper and pencil, stay after "quitting time" to grade papers and plan lessons, and then come home and do it some more. Somewhere in there I also provide support for the girl cutting herself and the boy beating his mom, the kid facing major and life-altering surgery, and my peers new to the profession. It's easy to say to yourself "If I had known then, what I know now....". I feel like we are under fire from all sides and there's no place to take cover to catch our balance. How long will the "perks" of teaching continue to keep the bad stuff at bay?

The reaction we mostly get even though we work hard to provide interactive and meaningful lessons......