Damn It!

I’ve been teaching for awhile, 12 years full time teaching, six years part time before that.

I was at my last school ten years. Not meaning to sound cocky, but I kind of had it down. The systems within the school that is. The kids, the day to day stuff, it’s different everyday and that’s what keeps it interesting.

So, here I am at a new job in a different district. Trying to stay on top of things. However, somehow, things seemed to get the better of me last week. Nothing big, but a whole lot of little.

Like on Monday, while I was at a workshop, some kid grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the power cord to my ELMO. The sub had no idea who it was.

Then, a couple days later, while lined up outside my room to go to an assembly, one of my students spit over the rail at the kids down below. I was locking my door and didn’t see it happen. But she almost spit on an admin. Who told me about it. I thought I was doing well just to line them up this time. The first assembly I just released them to walk down because that is what we do in high school. I got schooled for that as well.

Then there was the email that I forgot to do my yard duty. Yard duty. Not something that has ever come up in my career before – a thing I thought ended at the elementary level. The memo about yard duty assignments was in my opening documents folder (there are like 40 gabillion memos and protocols there). I brought the whole kit and kaboodle home for a reread this weekend.

I have pass codes for programs. I think there are like six pass codes. I keep getting them mixed up.

Then, the clincher. The students were supposed to take a school wide computer based test and all I had to do was charge up my laptop cart. Which I did. Plugged both plugs in.

However, when I passed the laptops out to my class, with the help of the Vice Principal who was assisting me, the students all started complaining, “Miss!! My laptop is about to die. It’s almost out of battery.”

Fuck me.

The Vice Principal told me that we would have my students take the test on Monday.

Meanwhile, a techie type kid finds a switch on the side of the cart that can turn off the whole system. Apparently some ADHD dodohead kid flipped it. I never even knew the switch was there in the first place so the chances of my checking it were pretty much nill.

That afternoon at the faculty meeting, the data collection part, it was mentioned that the data for the first test would have to wait as one teacher did not get her kids tested.....

I worked this whole weekend. I’m coming in tomorrow wide eyed and ready for them. Interesting is one thing; looking and feeling like the village idiot is quite something else.