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day
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SHS....
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Ok so we had orientation for new teachers at SB SHS today...
we sat around for the first hour or so listening to the deputy principals tell us the usual about yard duties, form classes, timetables and bell times etc... all standard
then we got onto the class management strategies that the school has in place - like how to have a kid removed from class for misbehaviour etc etc. This went for an hour or so, then they said that "no really the kids here at SB are actually lovely and pleasant..." uhuh - after a HOUR of explaining the discipline policy... yep, lovely I'm sure. They're also big on locking rooms and cupboards etc and we all got keys to our areas. We hardly locked anything at Como... lovely kids at SB, yep, just dandy...
Ok so we get outa there and it's off to the respective faculties so as to get an office spot, find resources, find the class rooms that you're in and so on.... this is where things started to go a little south for me...
Basically, SB has a 'middle school' system which means that subject areas are grouped by type not subject. So for instance Language other than English - LOTE (Indonesian, French etc), English (Literature etc) and Social Studies are grouped into a larger faculty called "Humanities". Teachers then work in Learning teams where they share common classes for say, english/social studies and so teachers can work togethrr and share common themes and the like
well that's the theory... in practise teachers still focus on their subject area and only occasionally share ideas etc because the curriculum have been developed WITHOUT the middle school concept in mind and so 90% of the time there's no overlap.... great. Como gave that idea up 4 years ago but SB is still plugging along with it...
Additionally, because the subject areas share offcie space and resources, whichever teaching are has the numbers in staff, they usually get the bigger share and say in what happens. In SB's case this is english.
As a result there are english resources, novels, books and assorted crap EVERYWHERE! They have a storeroom the size of a classroom devoted to just their stuff and they're spilling out into any sort of corner they can fill.
So what sort of resources do *I* get?...!!
Not much.
*I* get about 3/4 of a shelf of fairly old textbooks and assorted junk and a big pile of maps chucked in a corner. The other Social studies teachers seem to think this is ok... I don't. It sucks. There is NOTHING approaching a class set of anything and frankly it's damm lucky that being a reasonably mobile teacher over the years I've gotten a supply of files, worksheets and assorted texts that I've collected for myself so I can be largely self sufficient if I need to. Believe me I need too at this school!...
Added to this, I'm THE geography guy there. I do it all for year 11 and 12. THEN I get get told that last year SB really crashed and burned in the end of yr 12 final exams as a whole and that therefore I should expect to be moderated (reviewed by the edu deptfor areas of fault) this year! Great!!! - for something I wasn't there for!!!Brilliant! At least they *should* take into account that I'm new to the school and that it wasn't me that crashed and burned as a teacher.
So back to the resources. I ask if I can spend some money and buy some books etc that I've used at Como etc - at least 15 or so of each for the year 11 and 12's. I get this big vague 'yeeeessss.... but we have hardly any money' which I can guess already means No...BECAUSE ITS ALL BEEN SPENT ON THE FRACKING ENGLISH DEPT HASN'T IT!!!?? - go on tell it wasn't...! They also tell me that my COMPULSORY EDU DEPT REQUIRED excursions for yr 11 and 12 geog may have to be curtailed because of lack of money... ermmm, sorry? whgich bit of compulsory excursion do you fail to understand? It's an integral part of the course assessment!!?...?!!
So I spent 90% of this afternoon going through culture shock of being at this place for a full year and digging out whatever books I could find as they were scattered all over the storeroom. The most I found of any one type of book was 17 yr 9 landscapes texts and 5 yr 12 texts. All the rest are singles or 2 at best.
I then tackled the maps and sorted them all out into their locations and areas and then put them back properly into some semblance of order in the map drawer (which is broken btw.. only 4.5 of the 6 drawers work..!) We have lots of maps at least... yay, wow, stop, let me compose myself in my excitement...
So, to teach year 9 Soc Studies, yr 10 social studies and both yr 11 and yr 12 geography to tertiary admissions level, I have exactly 3/4 of a shelf of crap and cabinet full of maps.
So to computers! They have a dedicated computer lab which unlike Como does not have permanent classes booked into it. That's a plus at least. But I get told it books out very quickly (duh... maybe because there's bugger all else to use besides the net!?..) so get in first or else!
Now all this started to get to me after a while and eventually the Principal noticed (she's new too to the school and admitted she's going 'bloody hell...' quite often as well just now) and we had a chat in her office. That was nice. She said that I was to just do my best and lean on contacts that I have at Como etc if I can for resources and the like. At least it looks like she won't blame me if I screw up the yr 12's this year (well not too much unless I really, knowingly screw it up)
So today I effectively descended to the 5th ring of teacher hell (haven't me the kids yet so I dunno if I'll get to the 7th ring) and only have 200 more work days until my contract at this school ends. December 9th, yeah! *circles it on his calendar*
A few small pluses...?
I currently on have 4 classes including 2 senior year classes (11 & 12's) which equals a 80% teaching load, yet I'm getting paid for 100% This won't last as they'll eventaully have to find me something else to to cover the gap otherwise my pay'll be docked. Chances are though this might not be for some weeks until the enrolments and class sizes settle down so I'll enjoy it while I can. I will refuse to settle for docked pay though as my contract says full time 100% load... it's up to them to solve that problem. Chances are I'll just get library duties or a sport class to supervise.... *crosses fingers and touches wood*
Now, to meet the kids on Wednesday... stay tuned for episode 2!
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AUTHOR OF THIS MESSAGE
Little green man
MESSAGE TIMESTAMP
27 january 2006, 13:24:23
AUTHOR'S IP LOGGED
210.50.25.24
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