Main » March 2005
March 29, 2005
My limit has officially been reached!!
Well, last Friday I finally 'crashed and burned'. I woke up at 2 AM with colitis, a problem I have had off and on since I've been teaching. It's another one of those stress-related things, along with the acid reflux and rosacea. Anyway, the Lomotrin and Equilactin did little to help. At 6 AM I was still doubled over with cramps and bloody diarrhea (love those graphic C.S.I. phrases). I knew I was not going to be able to go in, so my wife took lesson plans in. A couple of days later a coworker called and informed me that they did not hire the requested substitute. Our school is located 20 miles out of town so many of the subs do not want to sub there. My classes were farmed out to various teachers so I doubt that any of the work I sent in was done.
More happiness came during the weekend. Due probably to my run down condition I came down with a rather severe sinus infection. I spent Monday morning at the doctor with a room full of hacking, wheezing miserable people. So today I'm just lying around with another migraine waiting for the antibiotic and Maxalt (for migraines)to work. This is our Spring Break week here so at least I don't have to miss any more school.
The ironic thing is that the rosacea flushing has all but disappeared. I'll take any good news at this point.
Regarding stress, it causes more than 1/2 of all teacher absences indirectly through initiating various health problems. I've tried all types of stress relievers to no avail in the long run. Each year I make a resolution to not let myself get into stress mode, but I think the entire school conspires against me. Some teachers and administrators seem to only be happy when everyone around them is stressed out. Last year when my principal asked what is the most important thing our school needs to work, I said stress relief. He seemed very surprised to hear this. I'm not sure what planet he has been living on, but a quick look around campus and the high stress level is obvious in the interactions between teachers and students/administrators. I still don't have a solution for this, but I'm still staggering across the finish line at the end of the year.
Posted by at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2005
More school politics fun
Well, I knew the lack of flushing was too good to be true. The last two days stress has flared up the old symptoms (pun intended!). My face has been beet red and very hot. I've gone back to moisturizing heavily at night and have doubled the clonidine taken each day. I'm still taking borage oil and am spraying my face each day with chamomile extract. The skin has quieted down a little, but I have a long ways to go before beating the symptoms back totally.
Here is the stress part. I found out that I have been tentatively signed up next year to teach 4 regular Biology classes and 4 honors Biology classes. I requested Anatomy/Physiology but the registrar gave these classes to another instructor who did not even ask for them. I don't mind the Biology classes but not having an upper grade level science course means that I will probably have to leave the room I have been in for 6 years and move into a portable classroom. My current room is perfect for biological courses, with great lab space and plenty of electricity and running water. If I trade rooms with the other instructor I will be in a portable that is sitting on moldy standing water. This room's air conditioner doesn't work half of the time (great for rosacea!). The water pipes leak. The room acoustics make speaking come out as a hollow boom. There is almost no room for supplies or specimens. I warned everyone about the necessity of properly setting up classrooms of this type but they cut so many corners when building them that the rooms are nothing like the plans I submitted. Additionally 1/2 of the supplies I requested for the portables were not ordered. It is a nightmare to teach Biology in these rooms, so you can see the reason for the high stress level.
I wrote the chairman of the science department and cc'ed copies to all of the administrators. That afternoon the chairman was in one of the assistant principal's office discussing how to defuse my request for a department meeting to discuss our lack of decision-making input
in teaching assignments and the inequity of assignments in some cases. In an earlier email he stated to us that we would have to teach an equal mixture of upper and lower level classes to be fair. Why is it then that one of the chemistry teachers will be teaching all top level classes and another chemistry teacher will be getting all general chemistry classes? They apparently did not take our sheets requesting assignments into consideration to any great degree.
I got an email from the assistant principal that stated A) these were tentative assignments and B) I had input through submitting a request sheet. What a crock! I believe they do not want to give up the power of personally assigning teachers because they can use it to reward those who suck up and support them and punish those who 'rock the boat'.
I responded with an email to her, with copies for the entire science department. In it I suggested that the registrar could tell us the number of slots to be filled for each course. We could then sit down as a department and divide these classes among ourselves. This would allow us to be fair concerning class loads and levels as well as taking into consideration our individual talents and desires. Since this will mean they can't manipulate the classes I'm sure that I will be called into the office soon and pressure put upon me to be quiet. That's the way things work around here and why most teachers here just go with the flow and keep the lowest profile they can. I just couldn't sit there and smile while this was happening. I'm probably tilting at windmills, but sometimes one has to speak up. The kids deserve a good room environment and the portables are horrible classrooms. My students deserve better than that.
Posted by at 04:27 PM | Comments (3)
March 17, 2005
Milestone?
Just a short note as my feet hurt and I am going to relax in the tub awhile. We continued studying the circulatory system with the cat in Anatomy. In Biology we are wrapping up a chapter on sponges, jellyfish, flatwoms, etc... We watched 2 short videos on these that seemed to keep the kids' interest. I did send one of my 'usual suspect' girls to the office for chronic talking most of the class period. This makes the 4th visit for her.
Tomorrow is a milestone, my 50th birthday! I don't having too many living relatives left to celebrate it, so no plans for anything special here. I did get a cute card from my sister.
Our new adopted feral cat is really doing well. Freddie runs up to me constantly for petting now. The other cats are so jealous! I try to pet them all equally but with 6 cats that's a lot of petting.
The rosacea is the same, with minimal flushing. I hope it stays this way for a long time.
Posted by at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2005
Frustration
I took 2 days off due to migraines. Basically I reached emotional saturation and just crashed. Now I am back in class right now finishing up 4 days (!) of FCAT testing. The only thing more useless and boring than proctoring this test is taking it. It has totally wrecked the week's teaching schedule here. Lord protect us from politicians and other state administrators who come up with a helpful idea.
The rosacea has been doing well lately. This is probably due to the mild weather here. Stress has usually been a big trigger for flushing in the past, so I'm not sure why the flushing hasn't been out of control. Hey, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth!
I've talked about how scattered we all are in the science department here. It has really had a negative effect on morale. We used to band together as a department during rough times. Now we don't even see much of each other anymore. Speaking of not seeing others, I managed to tick off one of the Chemistry teachers at lunch. I made some humorous remarks regarding her being a newbie. For some reason probably not even connected with that, she threw a screaming fit. It's getting to the point here that you can't joke, can't make small talk, and can't say anything that might be construed as politically/socially incorrect. I have stopped eating with the few remaining science teachers who try to eat together. It is just not much fun here. All they do is gripe and take themselves extremely seriously. I have to walk on eggshells now to avoid offending anyone. It's like some of the science teachers have a broomstick shoved up where the sun don't shine. I don't think the working environment can get much worse here. It is times like these that make me ask why I ever wanted to become an instructor. I had an offer from Kentucky Fried Chicken to fly around the country doing bacterial quality assurance testing at their stores. Even with the travel that is starting to look great. It's a shame I am near the end of my career now and don't have time to start over. I need 5 more years and I can collect full retirement. Ah yes, retirement!!
Posted by at 07:26 AM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2005
FCAT testing and Albin s**ks!
It was a very sleepy day here. The Florida version of the "mother of all tests", the FCAT, was started. We blew half of the day with this lame example of accountability. A test like this is fine for teachers who don't know what they are doing. The preparation for a test of this type forces those teachers to at least teach a few of the basic concepts students need in life. For the rest of us, it is a pain in the rear that forces us to waste time on that handful of concepts instead of creatively broadening the students' knowledge and teaching them how to use higher thought concepts. Thanks, Jeb Bush! We are falling into a state of mediocrity where the worst schools improve a little and the rest of us are crippled with a test that lacks many of the important concepts in science needed by college-bound students. I can't speak for the other disciplines covered by this test but a number of my coworkers in other fields aggree that this is a poor assessment tool due to its focus upon only a few concepts in each area. A dirty little secret is that the "A" school teachers each get around $900 each for this "success". I would gladly give up our "A" label and the money if I could regain the teaching time lost by this farce.
Changing the subject, Friday one of my Biology students left a gift on his desk. Along with a number of stars, crosses, and circles he drew in ink, he added the lovely statement "Albin s**ks". I figured he must have been proud of this artwork so I called home and shared his exploits with mom. She was very defensive at first, but since this student sits in an assigned seat and I cleaned the desk before the class there wasn't too much too discuss. He brought in a letter of apology and his parents came down on him hard at home due to their own embarassment. It's wonderful being a teacher and having the respect of your students. In case you are curious, he was ticked off with me because he came in late without a pass and I gave him an unexcused tardy. This kid has an "A" average in class and is one of the few students who actually tries in that Biology class. My advice for anyone contemplating a career as a teacher is to avoid the profession if you want to be loved and appreciated. It doesn't happen often at the high school level.
The rosacea is fair so far this week. I am a little dry and pink in the face, but nothing I can't deal with. I've been trying a macadamian nut oil blend in the bath along with the usual Eucerin moisturizer and cremes.
That's all for now. As you can probably tell from the post, my stress level is off the chart so I am going to play guitar for an hour or so. Off to the world of Queen and the Eagles now.
Posted by at 05:41 PM | Comments (5)
