Another school year begins

I'm procrastinating right now. I have much to do before greeting my new students tomorrow, but I'm anxious and antsy. It's the normal condition of many teachers the day before school begins anew. This year I'm even more anxious than before. We spent the last week of professional development being given more papers, more forms, more binders than ever before. The amount of paperwork teachers already handle (without secretarial support, I might add!) is already unbearable. On top of that, we now have more data/information to keep track of. I honestly don't know how we're going to be able to do it effectively. I'm all for using data to drive instruction, but there has to be a better way to introduce and implement it. Every year teachers are expected to do more and more work. The average person has no idea what we are responsible for. I think people believe that, since they've sat in many classrooms, they know what teachers do. What teachers do in the course of a 90 minute lesson reflects hours and hours of preparation that no one ever sees. We do research, write lesson plans,prepare activities, create materials, photocopy, sort papers, present the lesson (to 30+ hormonal teenagers, many with social/emotional/intellectual challenges), correct papers, record grades and then start on the next lesson. Now we have to keep track of a binder full of data for each and every one of our 100+- students. When do we sleep? When do we spend time our loved ones? When do we unwind? I know I, personally, have to have "me time" in order to keep my sanity. I don't know how sane I'll remain this year with all the extra work.

Oh, and did I mention, teachers aren't getting cost of living raises this year. But, hey, that's okay. Dr. Alonso got his $29,000 bonus, so it's all good!

"Activist pierced by bullet, 'blessed' by God"

This is a headline on the Baltimore Sun's website. If "god" really existed and really "blessed" someone, I would think that he or she would have prevented the woman from being hit by the bullet in the first place. I'm waiting for the day when an injured person faces the cameras and says, "I blame god for causing me to be shot by that criminal!" How refreshing would that be?!

With all the churches in Baltimore, and all the self-proclaimed religious people, why aren't people looking around and saying, "Hmmm, maybe all this praying, singing and tithing to a mythical being isn't the way to go. Maybe we need to stop having prayer vigils and start doing something about crime. Maybe we need to have citizens' patrols, maybe we need to spend time with our young people, maybe we need to clean up the trash around our houses, maybe we need to take responsibility for our actions and be good role models, maybe we need to support our teachers and police officers, etc., etc.

I know who stole my bike!

Too bad there's nothing I can do about it. I came home from running errands on Friday and my next door neighbor called me over and told me he'd seen my bike. He said that a kid who lives around the corner on McHenry rode it right past our houses. He recognized it because it was attached to his fence for 3 weeks and it is an unusual color. Also, it's a woman's bike, which also makes it somewhat rare. I've been slinking through the alley and hanging out on the stoop in hopes of seeing it again, but no luck. He's either keeping it in the house or he sold it down on the Boulevard. I'm still watching, though. I have my trusty baseball bat. If I see him on it, I'd love to sneak up on him and smash one of the wheels with the bat and then tell him to call the police to report what I'd done. Fantasy, but it makes me feel a little better. I knew it had to have been stolen by someone from the neighborhood as my alley doesn't get much traffic from elsewhere. However, it makes me feel worse to know who took it and not be able to do anything about it.

It's my own damn fault!

A few weeks ago I "temporarily" left my bike in my yard. I'd been out of town with it and chained (cabled) it to my fence while I was unloading the car. It was so nice not to have it under-foot in my tiny house that I left it there with the intention of either bringing it in or getting a more substantial lock. Besides, I'm home a lot and my neighbor is home all the time. It was under my bedroom window and I was confident I'd hear anyone coming into the yard as the neighborhood cats always awaken me when they climb my fence. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!! The irony is that I bought the bike through a police auction and had it refurbished. I'd only ridden it once this year - when I was out of town - but I'd planned on ridding it this morning in lieu of going to the gym. More irony. Up until May I'd had another bike which I'd donated to my school for its bike trips with students. Now I have none!!! Guess I can take the annoying bike rack off my car.

So, if anyone sees a lavender women's Cannondale H300 tooling through Pigtown, let me know...