sad about leaving

So I am sad about leaving Madison.

Madison was a great place to feel like you were making a difference. The students really needed good teachers. The environment did not support good teachers at all. The office lady have you evil looks each time you wanted paper. There was no air. The principal only cared about make himself look good and not working hard. The majority of the  school board were on the board for the power. They lacked education, some had criminal records, and they really hated the teachers. The teachers were the lowest paid in Oakland county before the school board imposed more cuts. When a new class or new special education room was put in, it was just a room with kids and a teacher. No books, no syllabus and curriculum. Best practices were constantly ignored.

And what happens to a teacher in that environment is stressful. Most fight with best intentions for awhile. Then the real separation happens. Most give up. They care about the students and will do the best then can to teaching them, but the fighting and going the extra mile are burned out of them like red hot iron pokers put to your eyeballs. And it does hurt the teachers that much.
Some see the poor standards and bad examples around them as a license to adopt what ever moral standard they want. They come in after the bell rings. On a day they forget lesson plans, they bring in the driver's ed test answer key and let the kids just look at that during class. They text in class and talk about inappropriate things like how much Zanic they used.
Some bail. Good teacher that cannot stand the environment and are lucky enough to have a way out bail. That's me. I feel survivor's guilt about it.
It's rare the great teacher who stays without being corrupted by their surrounding. Those are the amazing teachers. One of the things I learned at Madison is that it is easy to have high standards when everyone around you does. The true test is how high are your standards when they do not have to be. True moral character comes from do the right thing in a vacuum of morality not in a church.

So I don't want to retype everything so here's an email I sent to my friend Elise who left Madison to teach in China. I'll make my blogging notes in black.

Hi ____

Work is going really well. I am overwhelmed learning the technology and the curriculum. We use dropbox, webinars, conference calls, BrianPop, Discovery Streaming, other web games and sites, and a school software called Connexus. It’s a lot of tech to learn. Wow when I listed it out like that is it a lot to learn. I have added another tab to my password spread sheet. I am still learning when we use each piece. Then I teach all subjects seventh and eighth grade. They have textbooks, novels, activity books, lesson manuals and answer keys that I have to read through so I know what the parent is teaching the child.  But I don’t have to create anything. Right now I do phone calls to parents to make sure they are in the registration process. Then I answer all my emails about problems. Then I learn the curriculum.

Working at home is different too. I can work for a couple of hours then run the kids to a friends house. When I have meetings then are done through conference calls or webinars. We are still working out code words for when we will be using webcams so we know our hair and makeup need to be done. I am starting to get the new rhythm of working at home. I keep realizing how much better this will be for my own kids. The phone calls are fun. It's like having conference with the parents all the time. I worry about the self discipline working at home will require. I don't want to gain more weight because the kitchen is always there. I don't want my looks to go to hell. but yet I am enjoying working in yoga pants and a hoodie right now. 

Next year the program will be high school. In March the Michigan laws capping cyber school expire. I can see this having a big future.

So have you had your first day of school? I think you are teaching middle school math, right? Is the math that different?

I hope Joseph starts enjoying his school better.

Take care!
Julie 

Ha ! I just spelled checked this entry. There are seven words that the spell thinks are wrong but they are right they are just techie words like webinar. Opps! there's another one "techie". That's one thing I love about this job! 

So we went through the PD. I am starting to setup my home office. One of things that surprised me is - if you setup an office in your basement, You have to consider the cell phone. I only get one bar int he basement but I get all five on the ground floor.
It looks like my role will be

• grading papers
• monitoring student progress
• interacting weekly with each student
• interacting biweekly with learning guides
• ?????

I am lookng forward to this new style of teaching. I am a pack rat by nature. I have been getting rid of tons of stuff. Throwing out, donating and selling on Craiglist all materials that do not fit my current position. I think my willingness to clear out this other stuff means that I am happy with my current position.
I feel like I have so much more energy. I weight has really been lifted. I am positive and energized for the next stage of my life. I say life instead of career because this is a life change. It will not just impact my classroom but my family and my perceptions.

It's official

The origianl date of this post was august 2012.


So it's official. I let my friend at my old high school know that I am leaving the school. I am going to be a teacher at an on line K-8 school. I am leaving the classroom for a different type of teaching. I am really nervous but I want to take the chance.
I am leaving a failing school. I have made some great friends there but the pay, administration and board of education were just horrible.   The community does not support education and the resources are so small. My own kids go to a school that is ranked above 90% in the state ranking. The school I worked at was rated 11%. I never realized the truth of how disadvantaged those kids are. Schools are not equal. Communities are not equal.

I am worried about:

• leaving the classroom
• working at home /will i get fat/ will i go stir crazy
• will this kill my career
• will this school continue

I'll check back with this list later.