Well it is a new school year, so there is plenty to rant about already. Sadly, the realities of my life take precedence over the inanities of the political climate. Once upon a time, I was the first to argue for or against a political candidate, now, I am afraid, that the United States cannot handle 'change' and will settle for 'maverick.'
Alas, I digress.
It is the second Monday of the new school year and a day off. WHAT? You cry, a day off so soon.
Yes, the first of our 5 snow days was used because the remnants of Ike knocked out power in the district in which I teach. To be fair, Ike knocked out power down the street from me also, but we didn't lose power. (In another, equally bizarre case, we never lost power in the 2003 Northeast outage either.)
Perhaps I needed this day, however. It has become glaringly obvious that my district believes my teammates and I to be miracle workers.
We have many wonderful students...and an equal number of weirder than weird odd ducks whose ideosyncrasies know no rival. Add to the mix the no-one-else-wants-this-child-with-this behavior-problem. as well as 15 IEP students and 30+ students receiving Math or ELA academic intervention services.
We are decorating our hallway and making a 6 foot (or bigger) Statue of Liberty...you know...send us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.......
New York State, in a move calculated to help with obesity, has mandated physical education classes 5 days a week for K-3rd graders, totalling 120 minutes a week. So, my district, in an effort to not lose any 'academic time' removed recess from the student day. No more free play, no more unstructured time....instead, physical education classes. We are assured that social time will take place. Social time and unstructured time are not the same thing, and both are needed for kids to process new information, according to the brain research class I took this summer.
I wish I could home school.
Labels: brain research, new school year, physical education, recess, snow day, teaching rant
