A Letter to My Family

I emailed the following letter to everyone in my family, but just in case they don't read it in their emails, I thought I would post it here too. Anyone can read it, but just to clarify, I wrote it to my brothers and sisters

Dearest Family,

I am taking it upon myself to inform you all of some very important business.

First, I have no idea whose name I drew for Christmas, so I would appreciate someone emailing me to tell me. Thank you.

Second, as you are probably aware, I'm in the process of beginning to put together calendar pictures. If you have certain pictures that are perfect for the calendar, please email them to me or post them on blogs, facebook, etc. I will be looking through you blogs and such for pictures, so warn me if there are any there that you don't want used. Also, I'm just going to put this out there... Because of the difficulty of getting pictures of some people, please don't be offended if you are not found on a page on the calendar! I will do my best, but it seems like some people just find themselves behind the camera more than in front of it. Again, if you are not pictured on one page, please do not think that it is because I don't love you, because I DO!

Third, I love Disneyland. You all know that. I got to go to Disneyland this October with my friends, and it was so fun to see the park all decorated for the Halloween holiday. I didn't know that Disneyland could be so fun for the holidays. I probably shouldn't have gone in October, because now I have the desire to see Disneyland during every holiday! I was seriously considering just getting on a plane and spending a few days down there myself for Christmas, when my friends invited me to go with them. Now, I have a Season Pass, so all it would cost is airplane, hotel, food, and transportation once there. It really is a good deal for the trip. I was excited to go, especially because they have snow that falls on Main Street. How magical is that?!? I told my friends that I couldn't go with them this time.

This brings me to my final point of business. I WANT EVERYONE HERE FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! I know that everyone is struggling, and that people do want to come if it can work out, but I would like to help this happen. I figure that I would have spent about $500 going to Disneyland. To show you how much I love you, I turned down the trip to Disneyland because I would rather spend my Christmas with you guys than with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I want a magical Christmas whether it is in Disneyland or home with the family, and I'm willing to pay at least $500 to have that happen. What I am saying is that I want to help you guys come for Christmas. I HATE the thought of having another year here by ourselves. Christmas in Utah is so fun! It snows, Santa comes, Stephie is here, it snows... I know $500 is not a lot of money, but if it makes my Christmas magical by getting you here, than it would be the best $500 I ever spent. This is literally all I want for Christmas this year. I already told Mom and Dad that I don't want presents, and that they can use the money they would have spent on me to help get you here.

Will this work? I don't want you saying you won't take my money. I don't look at this as charity or a hand out. I want you here for purely selfish reasons. This is giving myself Christmas. I know that we could wait another year or two, but these kids are growing up! This will be our 4th Christmas in Utah. Can we please spend it together?

Have I used enough guilt tripping now? Please let me know what you think. I am really serious about the $500 and no presents thing. Call me, email me, have a meeting with me in person... :) What can I do to help bring us together this year?

I don't know what else to say. I love you guys so much! I hope to see you soon!!!

Love,

Stephanie

The many duties of a teacher...

I have said before how many things a teacher is required to do in one day, but today I think it is time that I revisit this topic. I am happy to to do the things that will help my students learn, and I am open to constructive criticism, but sometimes I wonder if people realize how much they are expecting teachers to do!

My principal is constantly sending out reminder emails that teachers need to be in the hallways during passing period. I understand the need to have people monitoring students, but if every teacher is out in the hall, who is monitoring their classrooms? I try to stand at my door, but often students will come up to me and ask what they missed from the previous day, or if they can get their missing work, or if I have a band aid, or that they can't find their textbook, or... The list could go on. As much as being able to be in 2 or even 3 places at one time would be helpful, I have yet to determine how it is to be done.

Teachers are supposed to come up with plans to help their failing students. My plan to help failing students is to teach them, give them assignments, and expect them to turn in their work ON TIME, listen when being taught, study at home, and ask questions when they don't understand. This is MY plan. I want to know what THEIR plan is. My class is really not that hard. There is no reason that ANYONE should fail my class, yet I still have students that do. However those students are the ones who turn NOTHING in! So, when my principal asks me what my plan is for helping my failing students, is it okay for me to ask to see their plan first? After all, it is THEIR grade that we are talking about...NOT mine.

Teachers are supposed to teach the state core. The state core for Geography covers general physical geography and human geography of the planet as well as the 200+ countries in the world. I am expected to teach this in one year in a 45 minute class each day. The teaching and learning activities need to be innovative and engaging, but able to be made up at home for those students who are constantly absent or in In-School-Suspension. There needs to be at least 3 smooth transitions in the class, and make sure that you assess student learning while you go. You must move quickly through the material, yet accommodate those students who can't read or write a complete sentence and need extra time to understand the concepts.

Teachers must make all the accommodations for students that have certain IEPs. These accommodations include: sitting near the teacher, sitting in the front, sitting away from distractions, sitting next to a positive role model, having a teacher outline for the notes, having extra time to finish assignments, not grading for spelling, not grading on neatness, and having tests read aloud. If there is only one student in class with these accommodations, the teacher considers herself extremely blessed. Most of the time, she struggles with meeting each accommodation. There are only so many seats in the front, and only so many next to the teacher. Try reading aloud a test and making sure no one else in the room is cheating. Teachers will wonder if the counselors who help to write these accommodations have ever been in a real classroom! You try sitting someone in a seat with no distractions in a 9th Grade Geography classroom. That seat does not exist!

Finally, the icing on the cake for me today is that teachers need to make sure their room is all picked up before the custodians get there. Forget the fact that you have had 230 students in and out of your room all day, by 10 minutes after school gets out your floor needs to look like it has been vacuumed. The custodians have many rooms to clean, and if your room is messy and takes too long to clean, they will tell your principal who will then tell you that you need to have the students clean up at the end of class. I'm sorry. I thought that telling them to throw all of their garbage on the floor at the end of class was acceptable! (Sarcasm - for those of you who can't tell through this written word.) I tell my students to clean the floor, but there is only so much that can be done. Heaven forbid the custodian might have to spend 5 minutes in my room vacuuming. I know, it is asking a lot. If they leave a vacuum in my room, I could vacuum in between classes... oh wait, I'm supposed to be in the hallway. Then I could vacuum during the last 5 minutes of class... oh wait, I'm supposed to teach to the bell and keep students engaged; not to mention I only have 45 minutes to begin with to cover the material. Well, I guess I could vacuum my room after school. I don't need to use that time to plan and grade, and de-frazzle myself from a day of teaching. If vacuuming my room would help the custodians not have to do so much, then maybe that is what needs to be done. I mean, shampooing the carpet in the hallways each week, and waxing the floors every other week, and sterilizing the lockers each night is really important stuff. I'd hate for them to have to waste time emptying my garbage and vacuuming my floor.

Yes, teachers have a lot of things to do. In between all of these fun activities we have meetings and parent conferences, grading and planning, but is it strange to say that I am still glad that I became a teacher? Crazy as it is, there is a smile on my face as I hear my 6th period boys calling down the hallway, "We're coming Miss Kay! Don't worry Miss Kay! We're almost there Miss Kay!" Or when a student that was failing decides to stay after school for a couple of hours to get some work done, and is then able to pass with a C-? How about the student that failed my first test and got an A on the next one? These are the moments that make all of the other JUNK that teachers have to do worth it. I think that maybe people should just be a little more specific in writing a teacher's job description, because it is a lot more than just teaching.