Thursday, October 22, 2009

Random Thoughts My JDHTEACH

I have a bunch of randomness here.
Update about the child I referenced in my previous post. He is having one of those days today. We have no other choice but to shut the door when he is like that. I am now convinced this is not where this kid needs to be. He can’t be learning anything in this setting. Same goes for the other students in that class with him.
Jack has been doing very well handling his feelings. He still can push it but he is so much better. He sees the anger lady for a second time next week. He is looking forward to it.
I am not sure “anger lady” is the best name for her. What about the “worry lady”. That is really what she works with Jack on. How to handle his worries.
Jack is a worrier. I wish we could get him to be less of a worrier but then again he has had to face some serious situations in his 8 short years.
Jack passed his Math Benchmark….he made a 70. Man did we pump him up. Especially since the class average was not that great.
Jacks teacher makes me shake my head sometimes but I have to give her props when she deserves it. We are seeing evidence that the two other teachers are doing things differently than Jacks teacher. We have recently found out through our connections that the other two teachers have been together for many years and they don’t exactly go out of their way to help anyone new to the team. So Jack has a teacher who is in a new grade level and a new school and she is having to survive on her own. THAT….pisses me off. I HATE teachers that do that.
Obviously the principal is either unaware of this or he does not want to rock the boat.
There was a teacher at Tracey’s campus last year that was “untouchable” The principal left that grade level alone because she did not want to rock the boat.
As an administrator I don’t get this line of thinking. If you asked the teachers who worked for me I would confidently tell you they felt I valued their opinion when making decisions as to what I thought was best for kids. That does not mean they always liked my decision but they had to respect it. If something goes wrong it’s my job that is on the line. So I can’t have teachers personalities effect my decision making. Having two teachers run together and leave the other one out to dry is unacceptable and I would address it immediately.
When I got my principal job I had a group of teachers that were in my office almost daily that summer. Most of them were there to honestly help me get settled but some were there to kiss butt and to figure me out as far as what type of person I was going to be. I remember one teacher who was very vocal about how things are here at JDHTEACH Intermediate and she sure let me know how important she was to how things run. She forgot one important detail. I don’t care. Sure enough on her first walk through she was horrible. We agreed to reschedule and do it again. She sucked again and I let her know about it. We scheduled it AGAIN and it sucked again. I told her I was going to send her to classroom management classes. You would have thought I suggested she got caught stealing. She was “offended”. I told her I really did not care that she was offended. My job was to make her the best teacher she could be and to do what is best for kids. She hinted that if I was not careful she would resign. This was Friday morning. I told her I needed her resignation on my desk by 8:00 Monday morning.
Everyone was shocked that I got rid of her when others have tried.
My ship …. My rules…..if you think you can do better go get you a degree and get a job….you are in luck ….many universities offer a masters in education administration.

In other news…. The Halloween costume party we had last Saturday was a very big success. Loved all of the costumes. Everyone really got into it. We already have plans for next year.
I am seriously thinking about doing a FALL tree this year. It’s like a Christmas tree only it’s decorated in fall items…ribbons orange and gold and pumpkins ….. just thinking.
Anyone ever done a Fall Tree? I saw one the other day and it was really a beautiful tree.

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