Good Lord, People!!! We had PD (which is really staff meeting) today, since it’s Wednesday. There is a training that all the teachers will be undergoing. Marzano, I think. It’s going to be at a different school — one that’s far away. They announced that they’ll get subs for us to take over our classrooms, so we can go. Isn’t that great????
So — Kindergarten and first go from 8 to 10. That’s great. They simply drive straight there and then come to work. Second and third go from 10:30 – 12:30. Not bad. Right after SFA. They’ll need to eat on the way back to school, but still. Fourth and fifth? We go from 1:30 – 3:30! We miss only one half-hour of class time, our after-school time which is the only time we can get anything done, and on top of that we have to be on duty an extra half hour than everyone else, since they all get to go home at 3! We have to do this every Monday for six weeks, starting 11/16! That after-school time is the closest we come to a planning period, since we have no specials. So while everyone else is getting a nice break from the classroom, we’re working overtime!
We were not happy, and one teacher suggested to the staff that either they pay us for that extra time or we rotate with the other grades. They acted like we sprouted horns, and couldn’t fathom what our objection was!
In the meantime, I may lose another child to ELD. He was listed as reclassified, but I’m sure that happened before he moved back to Mexico. There was no time for them to have been able to test him after he returned. He is so very low in everything that I asked. I want him tested (in language) because if he really is eligible for reclassification, then I need to know what else is going on with him instead! But they may just move him. They can do that with reclassified kids (reclassified as in no longer listed as an English Language Learner because they have allegedly reached a certain level of proficiency).
