Paul's Infrequently Updated Blog

Okay it has been almost a year but I am back to blogging. In the past year, another school year went by and a new school year is about to begin. The friends that I have that are teachers all seem to be excited to be going back to school but I am dreading the start of the new school year. It will be another year of BS.

I sometimes have trouble putting a finger on what bothers me but I think the main issue is that, being a teacher, you are expected to please EVERYONE. Of course, this is impossible so, no matter how hard you try, you are going to end up pissing somebody off. Students want good grades and don’t like it when they don’t get the grades they want. Parents whine when you flunk their child and then, when they don’t like what you tell them, they complain about you to the administration. I ABSOLUTELY hate this. Often you get called down there and the parent always makes the situation out to be a bigger event than what it really is. The final group is the administration and even other teachers who always seem to find something to nit-pick about.

The other issue is the nonsense about test scores. You have to have decent test scores or your job is on the line. Trouble is that students come in all types and sometimes you might get more of one kind than another. This can affect scores and no matter what you do as a teacher this will not change. This issue is often not taken into account at the end of the year when the administration looks at test scores.

The final issue with teaching is that I simply don’t like having to deal with people. I am a naturally introverted person so getting up in front of a large group of people is never comfortable for me. Dealing with one person or small groups is okay but getting up in front of 25-30 people is always difficult. At the end of the day, I don’t see myself being a teacher for 30 or 40 years but right now I am trying to figure out what sort of career I would enjoy and be good at. I have been looking at career options but I am finding the whole thing frustrating and difficult. In the mean time the new academic year looms……………..

As you know, about a month ago I spent an hour or so using touch up paint on the car and removing the rust spots. Turns out that I should not of bothered. Monday night while driving home from the foot doctor a deer jumped out in front of the car. We hit it and in the process smashed the front bumper, grill, and hood. Most of the work I did was a waste because all that stuff I worked on now has to be replaced.

I had a “wonderful” week at work. First, I get observed by my department head. Normally I don’t mind but this woman always finds something to bitch about. Its funny how in my last two teaching jobs I got good ratings and was thought of as a good teacher yet here I have people talking behind my back and the departmental head whining about everything. The good thing is that I do not have the follow up meeting til Monday so I have not heard the latest moan from her yet.

The second thing to happen was that sometime this week I accidentally checked a student as tardy on the computer instead of absent. All hell breaks loose because I put the check mark in the right column instead of the left. First, I get a warning while I am checking the mail in the mailroom. Next, I get a phone call from the attendance office and then I get an email from said office. Finally, I get a phone call, memo, and email from an Assistant Principal warning me not to do it again.

What pisses me off is that I have been at that school a year and this is the first time this has happened. Instead of been treated like the honest mistake that it was, I have to hear it from four different people a grand total of six times.

I have more to look foward to on Monaday when I have my formal observation. At one time I would have been really worried and stressed about this but this time it does not bother me. I do not see this as a long term position anymore so why stress out?

Not much going on around here. During the weekend we had a huge rain storm that dumped 9 inches of rain on this area. We live in a little townhouse at the bottom of a hill and when it rains all the water flows down the hill, across the parking lot straight down the steps that lead to our townhouse. Of course the water flows past our front door so when it rains if you want to go out you have wade through ankle deep water. You just have to love this place…..NOT!!!!!!!

Today I finally got around to using the touch up paint on the car. Our little Hyundai Accent is five years old and there was a little rust starting to appear on the hood. I gently scraped off the rust and applied a little of the paint. I also applied the paint to the front edge of the hood. I was worried about making a mess of the car but I did pretty good and you cannot really tell that the car has been touched up

Anyway, on Monday Irene will take our little car to the garage for a service. My only concern is that it will cost a lot of money because about a week after we got back from Tanzania the engine check light came on. Hopefully it will be nothing to serious.

Overall our Accent has been a great little car. People often say Hyundai cars are crap but our car has been very good. No major problems in five years and it gets good gas mileage. I often hear about people complaining about the price of gas. What do these people drive? Big SUVs or Hummers!!! These people have no right to complain. Get a car that gets good gas mileage and stop complaining!! If you lived in Europe you might have something to complain about since gas can be $6 to $8 per gallon.