The title of this post is what a student told me today after he finished his first high school exam. He’s right, if he’s not prepared. Finals can be hard for teachers, too, especially when it sometimes feels as though I’m one of the few giving them. Here’s my list of complaints (sorry, but this site [...]

Back in September I posted about how my principal canceled Open House without informing the staff first, so we were bombarded with complaints and questions but didn’t know how to answer them. It was a PR nightmare, and we are still paying the price in lost support. Well, disaster may strike twice. A parent asked the principal [...]

The district agreed to help us bring down class sizes for freshmen and sophomores from 31-32 to 28, which would be great. This would mean a lowering of students per day of 15-20 students for some of the English teachers. 140 students a day sounds much better to me than 160. Just for perspective, when [...]

During an assembly last week a high school student threw a pencil at the back of a teacher’s head but missed. The student had just received news he didn’t like and chucked the pencil. The vice-principal removed him from this teacher’s class, but the receiving teacher did not know why the student was added, and [...]

I stumbled upon a piece of information from a fellow colleague that our finals schedule may be changed despite finals being a couple weeks away. I guess a meeting for department heads is scheduled for tomorrow to discuss the issue. The rationale for the change is that “a few” teachers are not following the schedule [...]

I’m not teaching as well as I should want to right now. I’m just going to throw out my frustrations in a venting session and call it good. Catharsis time. 1. My classes are just too large! My smallest class has thirty kids, and all of my courses are literature and writing courses. I’m getting [...]

I almost forgot to mention an interesting tidbit. My department head spoke with the local theatre company who is performing Romeo and Juliet and received an opportunity to have a special performance for all of our 600 freshmen students who read the play during the Spring. We have the funding for the tickets but not for substitute teachers and ...

This week the leadership team drove me to leave the school at exactly 3:15. Normally I don't get frustrated enough to feel like I had to escape the windowless confines of the school, but this time I'd had it and needed a release. First, we had a documented case of MRSA. A student in the school had it, but no one was notified until after the fact. ...

I've mentioned the Boss Lady and my avoidance of her, so I guess I should explain my feelings. We're very different people, and we approach the same issues from opposing viewpoints. Here are my (biased?) perceptions based on my observations and experiences. First, I believe high school students and staff should be given trust until that trust is ...