Main » October 2005
October 23, 2005
School politics and continuing colon problems
Last week we had our science department meeting to 'get input' on switching 9th grade Biology and 10th grade Physical Science for future years. I spoke up forcefully against the change, citing the following:
1) There was no compelling reason to make this change.
2) This change would throw the department into chaos, forcing some Biology teachers next year to teach Physical Science and visa versa. Several teachers might have to take additional coursework in order to be certified in physical science. One or two Chemistry teachers might even need to switch over to Physical Science as well. Who knows what shifts we may need to accomplish this task?
3) The 9th grade academy, which I fought against, was instituted in order to isolate the 9th graders and allow them time to mature. This switch would further mix the classes with both 9th and 10th grade students when 9th grade honors level Biology students (who remain on the 9th grade track) dropped into the regular level in the 10th grade by making a "C" or below in class. This would defeat the administration's main argument for originally forming the 9th grade academy.
4) We don't even have a decent Physical Science book chosen. Our current book would be horrible for 9th grade students and we are taking it on faith that an excellent book could be found that would meet the needs of 9th grade students.
On a different note, the weekend went ok. We adopted out 3 rescued cats at Goliath and Bebe's World. I took a comfortable seat which I actually used a little, but by the end of the day my colon was spasming and I left there doubled over. I took a prednisone when I returned home, but it was still a rough night. I have an appointment at a gastroenterologist Wednesday and hopefully over the next weeks they can determine the trouble. From my own research I think it will prove to be Crohn's Disease, diverticulitis, or carcinoma. I'm hoping that whatever they find will be easily treatable, but with the stress level so high lately at school I have doubts that will happen. The stress does seem to be making a huge impact upon symptoms now and it's a daily battle to teach. The rosacea is still acting up but is almost an afterthought lately with the other health problem. Oh well, what will come will come and there's not a lot I can do about it except try to get treatment.
If anyone out there is thinking of becoming a teacher, PLEASE read my posts and consider carefully what you are getting into before making this decision! Teaching is enjoyable and very rewarding but the increasing noneducational garbage ruins what could be an excellent profession. The stress can take years from your life and wreck your health. In the current educational climate I would not recommend this as a profession unless I truly hated the person and I don't dislike anyone enough at this point in my life to wish this upon them.
Posted by Ken Albin at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2005
More flushing and colitis as an encore!
It's been a rough week. The colitis has remained inspite of antibiotics, prednisone, and a restrictive diet. I have an appointment next Wednesday with a gastroenterologist and will probably have a colonoscopy soon afterwards. With this came a huge flushing episode that I am still trying to deal with through creams and medication.
I'm doing the best I can to hang in there and teach each day. Sometimes I have to sit down because of the pain. It's a little scary not knowing for sure the cause of the lower abdominal pain. In the past it always went away with a few days of treatment but this time is different. Things like colon cancer cross my mind now. Well, I can only do the best I can and let the rest take care of itself. I'm just so tired of feeling bad and fighting all of this without any improvement. At least the heart has stabilized for now so I don't have that to worry about.
Posted by Ken Albin at 07:11 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
Struggling With Colitis
I've been home for two days with a nasty colitis attack that hit suddenly, doubling me over in pain. It probably started in part due to the stress level at school. I've been on prednisone and antibiotics and felt well enough today to return to teaching. Though nothing out of the ordinary happened at school, I suppose the general stress has caused a relapse and I'm back about where I was two days ago. Hopefully it will improve enough so I can go back and finish up the week tomorrow. It is an inservice day and the workshops should be easier to tolerate. I plan on taking it slow and easy tomorrow since I need to get well enough to help out with the cat adoptions Saturday.
Posted by Ken Albin at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2005
Just a hamster on the treadmill of life
My every moment is planned out in advance at school. The bells control not only the students' lives but my own. I race to finish the next task and there is yet another task after that one. I don't even have time to go to the restroom during the school day. The endless meetings, the mundane tasks, and the insipid banter in the hallway bore me to tears. I am locked into the school pattern and like any good robot I must carry on.
Posted by Ken Albin at 05:34 PM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2005
Cumulative Effects of Stress on Rosacea
I crashed healthwise this weekend after the nightmare of a week I've had. Fortunately the cat rescue group was not scheduled to show animals so I was able to pull the covers up and hide. I got a good 9 hours sleep Saturday. When I woke up Sunday the flushing was much better. My back is also feeling somewhat better and my heart has been doing ok today. A residual nervousness and a headache are all that remains of the previous week. Next week is another matter. We give the PSAT test Wednesday to our homerooms. Monday at 8 AM I go in for training.
Tuesday one of our assistant principals has scheduled a meeting with the science department to 'discuss' the switching of Biology with Physical Science in the sequence of courses. It still makes no sense because they want to keep Biology I Honors at the 9th grade level. What happens when someone in Biology Honors does poorly and drops into standard courses the following year? They will be out of sequence. In true educational tradition I'm sure this will not deter those who are pushing for the change. The sad thing about this is that the real reason for the change is that two of the new Biology teachers can't deal with their large classes in portables and they hope that a little more maturity will make their job easier. I suspect that part of the problem is that they are not very adept at teaching. The rest can be blamed on the stupidity of those who decided to cram 34 kids into a tiny portable. Whatever the reason, the result will probably be a complete shuffling of rooms and a lot more work for some of the teachers (including moi!). Four and a half more years and I can leave this type of silliness behind. I will miss the teaching but not the rest of the garbage.
Posted by Ken Albin at 07:27 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2005
The blasted flushing is back
I knew the lull was too good to be true. Yesterday I woke up to scarlet patches on both cheeks. The trigger is probably the extreme exhaustion I've faced at this end of the school term. I am so tired now that I stumble over words when giving lectures and often forget what I am talking about. When I come home I feed the pets and then collapse for a couple of hours. I've tried the usual creams but so far they have had minimal effect. Tonight I made a new infusion of chamomile and applied that twice. The redness has decreased about 50% from this treatment but I know that the only long term fix is several days of rest and I'm not due for a vacation day for about six more weeks. The stress at school has been tremendous lately with the usual hassles of teaching. Today I gave a midterm exam to one class. Suddenly I heard a dripping noise. One of my students had wet his pants and desk. He said that he didn't want to ask to go to the restroom during the test because he was afraid I would give him a zero on the exam. I told him that I would have happily sent him out if he had told me it was an emergency. I sent him to the restroom to clean up where he promptly threw up. After going to the nurse he returned for his books to check out. When questioned, he said that he had not felt well all day. Surprise! What a day. Sometimes I feel more like a nursemaid than a teacher.
We had a science department meeting this morning in which we discussed the possibility of moving the Biology classes to 10th grade and the physical science classes to 9th grade. I pointed out that with our 9th grade academy being in portables in the rear this would mean that a number of teachers would need to move out to the portables for one year and than back to the main building the following year when they taught 10th grade Biology. I then asked for the rationale behind this switch and was told that the 9th grade students were not mature enough to handle Biology. This gem came from a new teacher who is in one of the portables. My own view is that portables are a lousy environment to have any science class in. I stated this before the portables were put in and assigned to the 9th grade but my opinion was ignored. I'm not sure if this teacher said this because he is trying to get out of the portables or if he actually believes what he is saying. I do know that my 9th grade students have always done well in Biology. Of course I'm not in a portable! Another problem with the portable classrooms is that the administration did not stick to the 24 student limit we suggested during the design of the classrooms. These portables were built for a maximum of 24 students for labs and lectures but some of them are now crammed with 32-34 students. I've taught that number of students in a portable before and I can state with certainty that labs under those conditions are a safety hazzard and a nightmare to conduct. No wonder this teacher is having difficulty in teaching his students. Our department is so fragmented and demoralized this year that we can't present a united front to the administration and demand quality conditions for our science classes. This is exactly what they intended when they split up the department by giving us separate lunches and putting us in several isolated areas of the school. I don't even see most of the other science teachers during the day. We also have a couple of new teachers who seem to enjoying kissing up to the administration and shafting their fellow teachers at every opportunity. This has further fragmented the formerly close relationships we shared here. I have never seen the morale as low as it is now. I'm basically resigned to being screwed over in some way in the future. Probably this will be in the form of a move to the portables or a reassignment to some other position. We have been an "A" school with the Florida FCAT test for 6 years so we are obviously doing too good of a job. Changes have to be made so we will sink to the same level of mediocrity as the other schools. This will give the administration complete control over us. They can then proceed to beat us over the head with our declining student scores when they actually helped to cause this fiasco by supporting these few idiots who want a change but are really clueless why the change is necessary. I am disgusted by the stupidity and lack of foresight in planning that some educators have. Our administration loves to see this type of strife among the science department staff. They are afraid of us when we band together and ask for things the kids need in order to have a quality education. This fragmentation lets them have the control they crave and can't seem to acquire by competent and intelligent leadership. Do I sound just a little bitter? You bet your ass I am! I'm also mad as hell.
Posted by Ken Albin at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
