tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post7751586050629181932..comments2023-03-28T07:48:59.459-04:00Comments on NYC ATR: An ATR teacher ponders weekly reassignmentNYC ATRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17780916909427584188noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-63262824037045822942012-07-24T11:43:40.387-04:002012-07-24T11:43:40.387-04:00Working as an ATR requires different skills and st...Working as an ATR requires different skills and strategies than the ones we hone as regularly assigned classroom teachers. Weekly rotation is very challenging, especially for an old dog like me. Compared to the weekly rotation experience, regular classroom assignments begin to look a lot easier. I think all teachers should be rotated in and out of classrooms on a weekly basis, from the ninth grade and onwards. Why not? Kids get sick of having the same teacher all year and they don't learn more from getting stuck with a teacher whose teaching style is incompatible with their learning style. At least on rotation, all students get a chance to sample different teaching styles. If the curriculum maps were better organized, what difference would it make if the course were taught by Teacher A for a week and Teacher B for the next. After all, ours is not to question why, as subordinates, aren't we expected to do our best, in exchange for a pay check? Teachers "enable" students by making them dependent on our personalities. It's all part of the commodity dependence that schools foster in our culture. A little independent and self-reliance thinking couldn't hurt, n'est-pas?David Hedgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11923088946149179511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-13604427898235306532012-05-19T15:37:56.225-04:002012-05-19T15:37:56.225-04:00Going for a new license is an option, but you go b...Going for a new license is an option, but you go back on probation (two years, though). On probation you start seniority on the bottom, and only after completion do you get the pevious license's seniority added on. Lots of things to juggle in the air....Riggs152https://www.blogger.com/profile/01660135282955941206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-87027206692214672052011-12-26T23:13:25.504-05:002011-12-26T23:13:25.504-05:00Did not read all the comments, sorry....HR connect...Did not read all the comments, sorry....HR connect states that we ATRs are assigned schools based on needs, regardless of the distance from our homes. Bull, sometimes I was assigned to schools 2-3 hours with traffic, sometimes 4-5 based on the weather, but the board of Ed does not care. There are many schools close to my home in need of teachers, yet i have to pass them daily to commute to ones that has no need for me since there were no teacher absences......yes, they are trying to break us, but I spent too many years, unlike other professions, educating myself, and at tenting workshops to move on to another profession. I am not an ATR because of something I did, but because of something the city failed to do.....Queens ATRnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-42216107895079548532011-11-13T20:09:28.312-05:002011-11-13T20:09:28.312-05:00I feel so awful about this whole thing. I am still...I feel so awful about this whole thing. I am still at my school, but have net a number of wonderful people over the past few weeks who would be an asset in any school. The kicker is that they have mostly been from "shortage" areas: math, Science, Foreign Language and ESL. How is this possible? They also have a number of years under their belts. No one will hire them b/c of their salary.I tried to transfer this past year and as soon as they asked about my years (which is on the resume) I got the bum's rush off the phone. My fear is that these ATRs will be sold down the river for our next raise. I will never vote for an increase at the cost of their jobs. I fear that I am in the minority with that line of thinking.Eng214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-61914568407664630752011-10-14T13:44:32.446-04:002011-10-14T13:44:32.446-04:00This teacher represents most of us. We cannot fin...This teacher represents most of us. We cannot find a new position because of our salaries. In the meantime the doe is hiring new teachers when the old ones cannot find jobs. This does not make any sense.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-63321914493159283052011-10-10T08:37:53.212-04:002011-10-10T08:37:53.212-04:00Be very careful. Some of those responding to these...Be very careful. Some of those responding to these posts might be working for Bloomberg. I wouldn't be surprized if some blogs are set up by them either.TeaMaQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00192025494544466859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-678710083723540322011-09-01T13:15:04.975-04:002011-09-01T13:15:04.975-04:00I worry that they will fire all the ATRs....did yo...I worry that they will fire all the ATRs....did you ever consider going for a different licensesassysuenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-92184702098461215482011-09-01T02:04:37.251-04:002011-09-01T02:04:37.251-04:00Thanks for all the support. To all the new ATRs, I...Thanks for all the support. To all the new ATRs, I say, WELCOME TO PURGATORY.<br /><br />I think the naysayers are in denial. In an economy like this, everyone is scared for thei own livelihood. In order to keep the fear from immobilizing them, they muse rationalize that the ATRs must DESERVE what they get, that the ones who cannot find jobs are "lazy" or "weak", etc. What they do not realize is that no one will have their backs when they end up in the ATR.<br /><br />Plus, this is America, and kicking people when they are down has become the American way. Hooray for me, screw everyone else!Life in Limbonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-8528119371593817802011-08-31T17:35:40.875-04:002011-08-31T17:35:40.875-04:00Why are the "anonymous" comments so nast...Why are the "anonymous" comments so nasty?? Quitting is NOT an option if you have a family support and it is not so easy to just go across the bridge to Newark....what fools you sound like! As for Life in Limbo, I can commiserate with you! I just found out YESTERDAY that I would be an ATR! My first thought was "Who is going to drive my daughter to school in the morning". How sad that we are treated so poorly and have no rights despite having taught for a number of years. It is so sad and frustrating!sassysuenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-88827409216254944622011-08-31T16:10:41.555-04:002011-08-31T16:10:41.555-04:00I just spoke to someone from the UFT and she told ...I just spoke to someone from the UFT and she told me that we will be place until Oct 9th in one school then we will be sent to different schools every week! Since I was just informed of my new ATR position yesterday I am not even eligible to look on the job site because I guess my papers haven't gone through yet!sassysuenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-82201119760810053112011-08-31T08:48:26.776-04:002011-08-31T08:48:26.776-04:00To Anonymous, 8/31/11 8:05 AM--
NYCATR has writte...To Anonymous, 8/31/11 8:05 AM--<br /><br />NYCATR has written several posts on the issue of weekly reassignment; see the following 2 posts in particular:<br />a) http://nycatr.blogspot.com/2011/08/nitty-gritty-details-of-atr-deployment.html<br />b) http://nycatr.blogspot.com/2011/08/low-down-on-nitty-gritty-of-atr.html<br /><br />The "letter of the law" of the new agreement definitely says that an ATR teacher may be shifted from school to school on a weekly basis. What really is going to happen is anyone's guess.<br /><br />The report I've heard so far is that all ATR teachers have received placements for the beginning of the school year, and that they will not be reassigned (if at all) until October 9.NYC ATRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17780916909427584188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-62540904735335796202011-08-31T08:05:49.882-04:002011-08-31T08:05:49.882-04:00Also, do we have to be shifted around week to week...Also, do we have to be shifted around week to week? How does this work?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-4692689303238017512011-08-31T08:04:54.202-04:002011-08-31T08:04:54.202-04:00It is so true that principals are trying to cut wh...It is so true that principals are trying to cut whatever senior teachers they can to save money. Schools aren't about the best education for the students anymore....principals don't care who they hire as long as they are a cheap new teacher. I was told YESTERDAY that I would not have a program this coming school year and I am now an ATR. I consider myself a good teacher...but unfortunately I happen to be in a license area which is highly expendable...so confused.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-68907755914885835202011-08-30T04:47:59.880-04:002011-08-30T04:47:59.880-04:00Anonymous, please give respect to those in the tea...Anonymous, please give respect to those in the teaching profession who got you where you are now. Imagine for a moment your favorite teacher...now imagine him/her being targetted for termination by a principal on a power trip, or one who wishes to fill his school with teachers of his/her own ethnicity, and so falsifies documents, evaluations, observations etc in order to compile a paper trail that can be used as evidence in court...now imagine that favorite teacher of yours who never had a negative rating before his/her current principal's subjective ones, defending him/herself in court at a termination hearing, fighting to keep a license, fighting to keep health benefits, family security, retirement, pride. Then when that corrupt system manipulates your favorite teacher's career (that included the mandatory masters degree), and turns it into a day to day assignment with no foundation, no consistency, no security, then tell us teachers about fairness and entitlement to complain.<br />There is a historic negative campaign against teachers in this country, starting with the way teachers in those one room school houses, if they wanted a job, had to be female, unmarried, childless and poor, all the way to qualified and vilified teachers languishing, under guard, in Rubber Rooms. Anonymous, like a student in detention hall, maybe it is best you keep your mouth shut.Teacher Under Attacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-74002401259796189652011-08-23T08:17:33.522-04:002011-08-23T08:17:33.522-04:00Talent, experience, and skills are all against you...Talent, experience, and skills are all against you in the current NYC system: the better you are, the longer you are in a position, the more likely you will be excessed with the new budgeting rules. With limited resources principals have no choice but to cut where they can and they can excess senior teachers. No principal is going to hire an expensive senior teacher when they can get a much cheaper, younger teacher who may be not quite as good but may be "good enough". It is the younger teachers who do not understand that they too will be expensive one day. Please don't be fooled, everyone is expendable no matter how results oriented, talented, dedicated, and sucessful you are in the classroom. Money talks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-90513562671914040682011-08-13T21:06:07.286-04:002011-08-13T21:06:07.286-04:00Life in Limbo, stop listening to 'anonymous...Life in Limbo, stop listening to 'anonymous' person's analysis of your situation. Anonymous is too darn chicken and coward to show his/her face...why bother listening? This person IS NOT WORTH HAVING A CONVERSATION OVER, a complete waste of time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-61302503311328912682011-08-12T18:02:20.358-04:002011-08-12T18:02:20.358-04:00Whichever genius or geniuses is/are writing hurtfu...Whichever genius or geniuses is/are writing hurtful nonsense about this woman's plight: Why?<br /><br />Teachers were the first group or class of people to be the target of the new era's class warfare. They have been suffering greatly--some dead, and some seriously ill--as a result of the systematic attack on the ability of the populace to recognize tyranny and resist it.<br /><br />No human who doesn't have uber bucks (hundreds of millions of dollars, billions) is going to get out of this in one piece if we do not change it.<br /><br />That includes whomever snipes at some of the most unselfish, hard working laborers out there: our teachers. It would behoove you to educate yourself and unite with all of us who are suffering under growing and quite malevolent oppression.Sarinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-80917852617740331092011-08-10T08:23:13.446-04:002011-08-10T08:23:13.446-04:00Part of the problem I think people have with under...Part of the problem I think people have with understanding the ins and outs of ATRs (such as the fact that they are not "laid off." As the DOE shifts student demographics and opens and closes schools, staffing needs in particular schools change. Teachers are excessed by seniority, not talent. In addition, because the DOE changed how schools pay for teachers, many principals are gun shy about hiring any ATR with more than a year or two in the system when they can't afford books. <br /><br />The newest weekly rotation is meant to scare principals into hiring the ATRs they would let teach without being on their payroll. The principals knew they were good, they also knew they didn't have to pay for them if they were an ATR. I am an ATR and was told at an interview that the school would hire me except for the number of years I have in the system. I understand what the city is doing. I just think, as with most things, they didn't think this plan through - the same way they didn't think things through when they changed the budgeting rules or created the ATR situation in the first place.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-49720035664282372522011-08-04T17:36:19.899-04:002011-08-04T17:36:19.899-04:00Dear Anonymous,
1) You are right that Life in Li...Dear Anonymous, <br /><br />1) You are right that Life in Limbo isn't entitled "to sit around and get paid for doing nothing." If you had read her previous post <br />(http://nycatr.blogspot.com/2011/07/life-in-limbo-random-musings-from-atr.html) you would have known that she has been working the entire time since she was "excessed." She worked one year in an elementary school, and a second year in a middle school. Her job? TEACHING.<br />2) You are also correct that "the idea that anyone should get paid indefinitely after a layoff is what is patently unfair." Just one little problem: Life in Limbo was not laid off. She was excessed by one particular school in a system that has approximately 1,000 schools. What is patently unfair (not to mention fiscally irresponsible)is that the leaders of that system could not make the most of her talents in one of those 1,000 schools. Instead, they chose to waste their money by using LIL as li'l more than a glorified per-diem substitute.NYC ATRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17780916909427584188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-47910617726710702132011-08-04T16:52:21.990-04:002011-08-04T16:52:21.990-04:00Maybe LIL is a great teacher. Maybe she has done e...Maybe LIL is a great teacher. Maybe she has done everything in her power to get a new job. That doesn't mean she is entitled to sit around and get paid for doing nothing (or for a job search, if that's how she is spending her time). That doesn't mean she gets to call the shots on the terms of her employment. <br /><br />It sounds like the new ATR rules will be really inconvenient for her family. But this economy is really inconvenient for a lot of families and this blog post is utterly ridiculous in its sense of entitlement. Lots of well qualified hard-working people are out work. It isn't fair. But c'mon! In most jobs when you get laid off you get some severance, and some unemployment insurance and that's it. The idea that anyone should get paid indefinitely after a layoff is what is patently unfair. If LIL doesn't like the new terms than she can quit, and consider the ATR payments she's received so far as her severance package.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-74319542970391488602011-08-03T10:53:32.196-04:002011-08-03T10:53:32.196-04:00Life in Limbo, I wouldn't bother even taking t...Life in Limbo, I wouldn't bother even taking the time of day to listen to some anonymous reader who leaves comments.<br />The fact that this person wishes to be 'anonymous' and not show his/her face says it all, being cowardly and afraid to stand up for him/herself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-54927589674960117002011-08-03T10:10:40.897-04:002011-08-03T10:10:40.897-04:00Sheesh, Anon 12:00, make assumptions much? Amazing...Sheesh, Anon 12:00, make assumptions much? Amazing how you know everything about my by reading one brief blog post. Have you considered a career as a psychic?<br /><br />And, no, I don't think you're sorry at all (at least not in the way you wrote it). I think your comment is an example of the lack of empathy that has taken over this society - whenever anyone falls on hard times, they must "deserve" it in some way. After all, the system is completely fair and just all the time. Right?Life in Limbonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-81355082733757158902011-08-03T00:00:58.941-04:002011-08-03T00:00:58.941-04:00I'm sorry...don't mean to sound harsh, but...I'm sorry...don't mean to sound harsh, but if you were employable - motivated, skilled, accountable, results-oriented, and licensed in an area of need, you would have a placement already. The economy is trying to tell you something you aren't accepting. So are the principals who won't hire you, abd the other principals or APs who won't recommend you. Please, instead of blaming the system and everyone else, face these realities. The truth is that ATRs are so blessed to have full salary and benefits for essentially hanging on to a system that can't figure out how to make use of their scant skills and even more scarce willingness to actually work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-44129453463597205062011-08-02T23:08:23.829-04:002011-08-02T23:08:23.829-04:00People who chose a career that they feel passionat...People who chose a career that they feel passionate about should not 'feel like they need to quit' because the system is trying to break them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5370300591508959460.post-36234861036860844282011-08-02T22:41:12.621-04:002011-08-02T22:41:12.621-04:00In response to Anonymous, I say the following:
a) ...In response to Anonymous, I say the following:<br />a) Unlike you, "the ATR" has a name, which is Life in Limbo.<br />b) If you had read Life in Limbo's previous post on this blog (http://nycatr.blogspot.com/2011/07/life-in-limbo-random-musings-from-atr.html) you would know that she has invested considerable effort into finding a new position, to no avail. In the meantime, she is spending a bit of her summer vacation time "writing this blog"; if you consider that to be a waste of time, why did you bother to read her post?<br />c) Ms. Limbo would prefer not to find a new line of work because she has already spent years gaining qualifications and experience in her chosen profession.<br />d) Of course she CAN quit her job, just like you can quit yours. The question is, why should she be aggravated to the point of quitting when her employer has plenty of work to be done and she has always done commendable work?NYC ATRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17780916909427584188noreply@blogger.com