So I am eight weeks into my third year of teaching professionally. I am one of those people who forgets that he has a blog so I don't really know where to begin. To quote one of our security officers, "same shit, different dog."
I am starting to act more and more like a cross between Dr House and Colonel Slade of Scent of a Woman fame. The sad thing is that I think I am actually developing a tolerance to bullshit that is rivalled only by my newfound tolerance to alchool.
I just celebrated my 28th birthday. It was the longest day of the week teaching wise and I also have a persistant cold. But it was nice to reflect on my life and to realize that this year will be decisive, and that one way or another, I will probably be moving on.
Several of the students are acting different this year. The student who once dropped out (I wrote about chasing him down my first year) didnt show up until October. Another student I work a lot with lost his house in the flood and is living with his grandmother because his dad is drinking again. One of the seniors is pregnat and about to get married because she was kicked out of the house.
we had are first pep rally yesterday. It was going very well until the lapdances. Then all hell broke loose. Never have lap dances at a school assembly, and yes obviously the people who planned the assembly had no idea what they were doing
I feel more weathered and experienced, but I dont really feel any smarter. I am trying to read more, last year I just got so tired that all I would do was watch tv shows I was only half interested in or sporting events that I didnt care at all for the teams. I lost my drive to excell and was ok with being profficent. now I had a little panic attack: do I have a career?
Progress means that at least I am actively thinking about it.
Another Unwelcome Surprise
Over the summer I had a lot of plans for the soccer team. Last year we won our conference title, we had two guys make the all city team, and I was nominated for CPS coach of the year in soccer. Over the summer I called guys to make sure that they were working out and keeping in touch with the other guys and playing.
Then in July our athletic director/head basketball coach quit because he was tired of the executive director. There are conflicting stories about how much money he was asking for, but he is someone who has always been very helpful and has my respect. He was also the teacher of the year the year before.
The new athletic director has extensive expierience managing bars, but none with athletics. He reminds me of Rasputin, someone who when you first meet him something inside your recoils. You are convinced that he is trying to sell you something and he gets closer and closer to you until he is touching youand smiling...and then an hour later will scream at you and say something was your fault.
His rise has been meteroic. He went from watching the in-school detention room to "Associate Director of Student Affairs". Not bad for having no expierience and no college degree. he has also convinced that executive director to pump almost ten grand into his room to set up a technology center and a counseling office.
My best friend in teaching also applied for the athletic director job, but he only has 6 years coaching experience in four different sports, an administrative degree and four years as a college athlete under his belt so they turned him down.
So anyway I carry on and come into ACE for the first day of practice. I show up, the kids show up, and the new athletic director shows up. He didn't know that the first day of soccer was today, and said that the executive director need to see me right away. So I go inside and another teacher runs practice.
The executive director made me wait for an hour in her office. The secratary later told me that she was just keeping me waiting. Then she called me in and told me that I was replaced as the head soccer coach. I asked why and she told me the reason was that I was not hispanic and she felt the coach needed to be a hispanic role model, and that many of the minority teachers had left ACE Tech and so there needed to be more minorities in leadership roles.
I was so surprised that I could not respond. I asked her if she had any complaint or problem with me and she said no.
I briefly said:
1. I have a lot of respect for all the cultures on my soccer team, including excellent relationships with the parents involved. I speak spanish and have always enjoyed the respect of the soccer community.
2. I was trying to make sure that all different ethinciities partiicapted ont eh scoocer team and tried to open the team up to white and black atheltes too.
3. I was nominated for soccer coach of the year. I had a clean program with no elligabilty issues.
4. Are you serious?
The conversation lasted only a couple minutes and then she said that she had to go to a meeting.
And just that simple, just that arbitry, the thing I love the most about my job was taken from me. For no reason. For no reedeming purpose.
Then in July our athletic director/head basketball coach quit because he was tired of the executive director. There are conflicting stories about how much money he was asking for, but he is someone who has always been very helpful and has my respect. He was also the teacher of the year the year before.
The new athletic director has extensive expierience managing bars, but none with athletics. He reminds me of Rasputin, someone who when you first meet him something inside your recoils. You are convinced that he is trying to sell you something and he gets closer and closer to you until he is touching youand smiling...and then an hour later will scream at you and say something was your fault.
His rise has been meteroic. He went from watching the in-school detention room to "Associate Director of Student Affairs". Not bad for having no expierience and no college degree. he has also convinced that executive director to pump almost ten grand into his room to set up a technology center and a counseling office.
My best friend in teaching also applied for the athletic director job, but he only has 6 years coaching experience in four different sports, an administrative degree and four years as a college athlete under his belt so they turned him down.
So anyway I carry on and come into ACE for the first day of practice. I show up, the kids show up, and the new athletic director shows up. He didn't know that the first day of soccer was today, and said that the executive director need to see me right away. So I go inside and another teacher runs practice.
The executive director made me wait for an hour in her office. The secratary later told me that she was just keeping me waiting. Then she called me in and told me that I was replaced as the head soccer coach. I asked why and she told me the reason was that I was not hispanic and she felt the coach needed to be a hispanic role model, and that many of the minority teachers had left ACE Tech and so there needed to be more minorities in leadership roles.
I was so surprised that I could not respond. I asked her if she had any complaint or problem with me and she said no.
I briefly said:
1. I have a lot of respect for all the cultures on my soccer team, including excellent relationships with the parents involved. I speak spanish and have always enjoyed the respect of the soccer community.
2. I was trying to make sure that all different ethinciities partiicapted ont eh scoocer team and tried to open the team up to white and black atheltes too.
3. I was nominated for soccer coach of the year. I had a clean program with no elligabilty issues.
4. Are you serious?
The conversation lasted only a couple minutes and then she said that she had to go to a meeting.
And just that simple, just that arbitry, the thing I love the most about my job was taken from me. For no reason. For no reedeming purpose.
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