As teachers die (literally) ATRs are underutilized

Here's the latest masterpiece from the great Life in Limbo.  Read it and weep. 

I didn’t think they could squeeze any more out of us. I mean, my colleagues and I are maxed out paperwork-wise, class size-wise, and stress-wise. Seriously, we had one teacher die of a heart attack the first week of school, two teachers are out on medical leave due to anxiety, the teacher across the hall has stopped me twice in the hallway to ask me to watch her class so she can go throw up (no, it’s not pregnancy), the teacher on the right is having panic attacks every morning before homeroom and the teacher on my right was in the ER this past weekend diagnosed with Acute Anxiety Disorder and is getting a consult for anti-depressants this weekend. Also, a teacher down the hall left a few weeks ago, in an ambulance, because he was feeling dizzy and ill. Turned out his blood pressure was up to something insane, like 270/110 - he was in the hospital for three days. And that’s just on MY floor. 

Now, before I go any further, here’s a pop quiz (yes, I know it’s the weekend, but it’s only one question for full credit): 

How many teaching periods per week is considered a full schedule for an appointed teacher? 

Twenty-five you say? Hahahahahahahahaha!!! How 2005! 

Try thirty. 

I have thirty teaching periods per week as of this week. How did they do it, you ask? Allow me to explain. 

I came in to work this week to find a program of “small group instruction,” a Circular 6 Professional Assignment. I have no recollection of filling out a C-6 preference sheet, as required by our contract, but there it was anyway. 

Remember my last post, where I said we had vacancies in the building? One of them is an AIS (Academic Intervention Services) Reading position that, as of last week, has yet to be filled. This is a relevant fact, as you will soon see. 

Now, I teach a CTT (Collaborative Team Teaching) class, which means I have a homeroom, which, according to our contract, serves as my professional assignment, so I should not have gotten the C-6 assignment, right? RIGHT??? 

Wrong. I went to my principal who said that since it is a CTT, there are technically two people doing one job, so Mr. X, my co-teacher (whom I must say does a wonderful job of putting up with me and my compulsive board-washing), will be the homeroom teacher of record and I will report to my C-6 assigned “small group instruction.” So I was officially relieved of my homeroom duties, apparently. Fine. I hate collecting baby pictures and lunch forms anyway 

A New York City teacher provides academic intervention
to a small group of children.

So the period for this “duty” comes and I report to the room, and I realize that it is the room reserved for the AIS vacancy–it is not set up, many desks have been pilfered, graffiti has been applied to some of the furniture, there was debris everywhere and there was no chalk, earasers, etc. I had no roster of students, no materials, and no idea exactly WHAT I was supposed to do with this small group. So imagine my surprise when an ENTIRE class shows up for “small group instruction”! No section sheet, no roster, no materials, nothing. There were 21 students in my “small group,” all of whom were so used to not having a teacher this period (it’s been this way since September) that my chance of getting them to actually DO anything was slim to none. 

After this fiasco, I found out that the rest of the CTT teachers were subjected to the same treatment–one was given the homeroom exclusively, and the other pulled to cover a “small group” in this same room. We figured out that instead of HIRING one of the MANY READING ATRs that are currently members of the “School-of-the-Week Club,” they are using the C-6 assignment to avoid hiring a teacher and getting the five of us to teach what is, essentially, a sixth teaching period each day. 

Upon closer scrutiny, I discovered a few more oddities relating to my particular assignment: 

*On two consecutive days, it causes me to teach four periods in a row, a violation of the contract. 

*On two days, we have “voluntary” department meetings during our common prep time (as in, it’s voluntary, but you are still responsible for what happens if you don’t show up). On those two days, this C6 assignment leaves me with NO PREP at all, also a violation. 

*Twenty-one students is NOT a “small group” 

*I was never given a menu of C-6 choices from which to choose (I would NEVER choose more time in front of kids, LOL) 

*I was told by my Chapter Leader that I must have a lesson plan for this period, and that I can be observed in this setting. 

*I must keep track of what I do, and the kids change every day, so I just had my prep time cut by more than half (if you count the lost periods for department meetings, I only have three preps per week now) and was given an extra prep (the “small groups” are a different grade than the one I teach), and another 100 students to keep track of. 

I am considering chucking it all and joining a commune in Vermont. 

So, how was everyone else’s week? Me? I need a large glass of pinot grigio, which I will now pour. Any more of this, and I’ll have to start mainlining tequila.

Photo credits: 

a)https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Rn7UXcirPSbe5L5Ke3i4gUXwP1RLWdKKUl149K3QdS7ySyJ6qXYRSvPm7wL_Id0h-BBsZQXdhU3wOmtoLQ0Xqi3vAHBUHFNsUbp8NlpS4PmoRysKDzz7ATo1WfSMc1-YqkMU8WCgExM/s320/causes_panic_attacks_anxiety_attacks.jpg

b) http://www.flemingc.on.ca/Media/Gallery/Sutherland/img/Lecture-Hall-2.jpg

A former ATR teacher ponders a descent back into Purgatory

Here's the latest from Life in Limbo.  Her earliest writings for NYCATR described her life in ATR Purgatory.  This September, she arose from the dead to accept a regular teaching assignment.  

Call me crazy (everyone else does), but I am starting to regret this and it’s not even October.

Eons ago, back at the end of August, I was relieved to be offered a permanent position that was both relatively close to home and which also allowed me to stay under my Literacy license, which is where my tenure is. It is a Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) position, and I share the four major subjects with another teacher in the room, and I was told that the class would contain between 25 and 28 students. Not bad, I thought. So I took it, thankful that I was going to be spared the ordeal of becoming a member of the "School-of-the-Week Club."

Then the pile-on began. The faculty handbook of my school includes a list of about 20 items that MUST be prominently posted in the classroom visible to ALL students all the time. Things like a poster of the breakdown of the Reading/Writing Workshop. And the complete list of the Common Core Standards in ALL subjects. A poster of classroom procedures (at front and center in the room). A poster of entry procedures (near the entrance door). A poster of exit procedures (near the exit door). Miscellaneous blank graphic organizers. The school oath. The Pledge of Allegiance (they don’t know it by 8th grade, apparently). List of acceptable uniform items. Rubrics for every subject. 

The list doesn’t stop and I found myself scrambling to find a working printer and computer to print out all this stuff because my classroom contains NO technology whatsoever. No computers, no printers, nothing. Forget about a SMART Board, LOL! I have a non-working mounted TV and a pull-down screen. And the waiting list for the one projector/laptop cart for the whole floor is already a month long. And all this HAD to be done by the END of the day on September 9 – and the administration was starting the walkthroughs as we were dismissing the students that day. I wonder about all the purpose of this – why do the kids need the Common Core Standards up in their faces all day? I mean, aren’t the standards and Reading Workshop components for ME? As if the reason this school’s scores dropped like rocks last year was because the graphic organizer with the Workshop Model wasn’t big enough? And think of all the time that was wasted as I chased my tail trying to print out and post yet another piece of pretty bull**** on the wall. And on top if it all, I was cited on the “Learning Environment Checklist” because some of my pretty bull**** didn’t look like everyone else’s pretty bull**** which makes the school look "inconsistent," and also because some of my pretty bull**** was done by hand, and not by computer (mind you, I have PERFECT handwriting – just like those cards we used to hang across the front of the classroom back in the day). I guess “NO EXCUSES” even applies to technology that you don’t have. Maybe one of these days I can type it on my cell phone and print out of my butt. But not today.

I have been given a flash drive containing pacing calendars, curriculum maps (a couple of which start in November, not September) and the 181-page faculty handbook and told to "take it home and print it all out."  I have already been required to attend three mandatory meetings during my "duty-free" lunch period and have had both "Inquiry Team" meetings last over 20 minutes beyond the end of the day, making me late picking up my son from a weekly appointment he has. During these inquiry team meetings, we are usually given some kind of ARIS-related BS task to do on the laptops. The catch? The laptops rarely work properly with everyone logging on at the same time, so "inquiry" time is usually spent rebooting and pushing random buttons on the laptop and the new assignment, (due by the "close of business tomorrow") ends up being added to the pile-on we must miraculously complete. 

The best happened on Friday. I was in my room on a prep toward the end of the day and a student comes in with a clipboard and a little stack of neon colored papers. She says that the AP wants everyone to sign for one of these slips. The sign-up sheet only says that I received it, so I sign and take the slip. I read it and got really pissed. It said to be sure that you log on and check your DOE e-mail frequently during the weekends for "important information and updates" and that "twice a day is the expected minimum." WTH? Sorry, but I really try to FORGET about work on the weekends so I can enjoy my family a little. As far as I know, I am not required to check e-mail AT ALL on weekends, let alone twice a day. This is on top of the fact that I ALREADY receive text messages from my administrators at 10:30 at night telling me to check my e-mail before bed.

And how is my union responding to all this? 

The silence is deafening.