Well, i know i promised pictures, but i've been lazy and tired all the time. Moving into a new apartment and setting things up the way you like and getting all the creature comforts isn't easy...but i'm sure most of you know that. Also, sorry i've been so uncommunicative lately, but i will post more for sure.
So being back....
I'm actually back at the exact same elementary school as i was in last year. Funny how that works. Switch employers and end up right back where you started. It's going well though. I don't have an aweful coteacher or anything like that.
This week was lay down the law week with my 6th graders. This is my second year with the same class so i know them fairly well (not their names as there's too damn many of them) but their general personalities. But, since they've had me so long, they've grown too comfortable and think they can get away with all kinds of shit. So this week, i tightened the old belt and reigned them in so to speak. Hopefully it will have an impact and i think i'm kinda good at classroom control and the like.
The thing that sucks about this new/old/same/different job is the elementary school i work for. Under my contract with my University, i'm to receive no less than $35/hour of overtime pay beyonod the 20 contracted hours per week i teach. My elementary school didn't want to pay that much (they were willing to give me 25 which i was satisfied with) and therein lay a problem. Apparently because the school couldn't afford to pay me everything I'm entitled to, the extra classes they had planned for me got cancelled and now i get no extra money. So basically they can't afford to pay me enough so i don't get anything even if i'm willling.
It's ok though...finding out all the extra crap they want for 25, i'd probably be less than enthused at the prospect in retrospect.
I did get to meet up with a fellow SG member back in early March and had a great time then. It's nice to meet people who seem to be on a similar wavelength and appreciate some of the same stuff. Hopefully we'll do it again sometime.
The new apartment is working out well. I'm on the tenth floor of a highrise and my side faces a conderfully wooded area full of nesting Cranes or maybe Herons ( i don't know the difference). It's a great view. After spending a shit ton of money making this place comfortable, it finally feels like it's mine. I finally, finally, finally have decent bookshelves to put all my books on and get my media stuff organized! Hooray for me! I also went nutso this month and bought a 32 inch flat panel HDTV. Unfortunately, to get actual, nice HD programming, it would cost a freaking fortune so i don't think i'll be enjoying too much of that in the future.
Thee new coworkers are some pretty allright people too. At the beginning of the semester, one of my new coworkers got in a near fatal motorbike accident wherein he lost his spleen and a kidney. As horrifying a thought as this is, it was pretty rad seeing all my coworkers get together and raise over $1800 for his medical bills. The Texas hold em tournament we had to raise money was fun and at least i wasn't the first one knocked out (i was the second!)
That's just about all for now i think. I promise there will be some pics on the way, but now that i have a digicam, i take pics of just about every goddamn thing out there and i've got a couple hundred to sort through.
TTFN guys.
PS--why does SG insist on redesigning the site so damn often, changing our homepages and continually making the same damn changes we hated in the previous two redesigns?
So being back....
I'm actually back at the exact same elementary school as i was in last year. Funny how that works. Switch employers and end up right back where you started. It's going well though. I don't have an aweful coteacher or anything like that.
This week was lay down the law week with my 6th graders. This is my second year with the same class so i know them fairly well (not their names as there's too damn many of them) but their general personalities. But, since they've had me so long, they've grown too comfortable and think they can get away with all kinds of shit. So this week, i tightened the old belt and reigned them in so to speak. Hopefully it will have an impact and i think i'm kinda good at classroom control and the like.
The thing that sucks about this new/old/same/different job is the elementary school i work for. Under my contract with my University, i'm to receive no less than $35/hour of overtime pay beyonod the 20 contracted hours per week i teach. My elementary school didn't want to pay that much (they were willing to give me 25 which i was satisfied with) and therein lay a problem. Apparently because the school couldn't afford to pay me everything I'm entitled to, the extra classes they had planned for me got cancelled and now i get no extra money. So basically they can't afford to pay me enough so i don't get anything even if i'm willling.
It's ok though...finding out all the extra crap they want for 25, i'd probably be less than enthused at the prospect in retrospect.I did get to meet up with a fellow SG member back in early March and had a great time then. It's nice to meet people who seem to be on a similar wavelength and appreciate some of the same stuff. Hopefully we'll do it again sometime.
The new apartment is working out well. I'm on the tenth floor of a highrise and my side faces a conderfully wooded area full of nesting Cranes or maybe Herons ( i don't know the difference). It's a great view. After spending a shit ton of money making this place comfortable, it finally feels like it's mine. I finally, finally, finally have decent bookshelves to put all my books on and get my media stuff organized! Hooray for me! I also went nutso this month and bought a 32 inch flat panel HDTV. Unfortunately, to get actual, nice HD programming, it would cost a freaking fortune so i don't think i'll be enjoying too much of that in the future.
Thee new coworkers are some pretty allright people too. At the beginning of the semester, one of my new coworkers got in a near fatal motorbike accident wherein he lost his spleen and a kidney. As horrifying a thought as this is, it was pretty rad seeing all my coworkers get together and raise over $1800 for his medical bills. The Texas hold em tournament we had to raise money was fun and at least i wasn't the first one knocked out (i was the second!)
That's just about all for now i think. I promise there will be some pics on the way, but now that i have a digicam, i take pics of just about every goddamn thing out there and i've got a couple hundred to sort through.
TTFN guys.
PS--why does SG insist on redesigning the site so damn often, changing our homepages and continually making the same damn changes we hated in the previous two redesigns?
VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
pip:
So I'm confused, are you just staying forever, or until it's stops being an enjoyable challenge?
roethke:
Thanks! Hopefully something will come of this second chance thingy and I'm not just drumming up attention for nought.