I saw three of my colleagues in tears today. It's like a dream is dying, the dream of a cutting edge urban school english department working together to change the world. I hope we're overreacting.
I got cut from my job early in favor of working tomorrow, and I met up with a few of them for drinks at Thirsty Dog. It felt good to debrief. We had to admit that the new dh did have a calming presence, and maybe she should be given some benefit of the doubt right now. But the shock that someone could take such a boneheaded approach to the first meeting of new department isn't wearing off.
I've rarely felt this stressed out in my teaching career. It feels like a hurricane is beginning to blow through the department that will tear what we've been doing apart.
I'm also exhausted, which exacerbates the feeling of stress. So I think I'm going to go to bed right now and wait for the new day to come tomorrow.
A Poem For Sunday
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“2047 Grace Street” by Christian Wiman: But the world is more often refuge
than evidence, comfort and covert for the flinching will, rather than the
sharp ...
14 minutes ago
4 comments:
what a difficult spot to be in.
Go re-read your post about Bobby's birthday...and maybe that can be a beacon. It can make things easier to bear if you can remember why you're doing it in the first place.
(some PA Dutch Apple cake might not hurt, either :-) )
Perhaps you need to quietly go to this new dh and tell her about the disheartening moral drop in the school staff that she has caused. Then politely tell her how hard everyone has already worked on the curriculum, and perhaps it should be tweaked, not overhauled(and not on an effing Saturday because the teacher's have lives). Also, tell her that a good staff at an inner city school is difficult to assemble and retain, and perhaps performing emergency teacher hiring in the middle of the school year would not look good for her up at North Avenue.
Don't take crap, because if you do she will make your life a living heck.
ZC and Cham - thanks for the advice. I'll take it.
as someone who has recently been involved in "professional developing" BCPSS teachers (and having no teaching experience myself) i empathize with the stupidity of it all. take cham's advice about the dh.
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