Jaded
Louisville is a booming place today. As I pulled up to my building this afternoon, I received a text alert that one of the east end high school was on lockdown. (I can think of few things more aggravating than being put on lockdown right before the dismissal bells rings.) I shrugged it off and was happy that our school has made it through the school without a lockdown incident. (Knock on wood.) About an hour ago, I received another text alert that explosives had been found in the southwest corner of the county. I shrugged it off again, since I’m in the southeast corner. Just a few minutes ago, I received a third text alert that there had been an explosion at a plant in the west end. I shrugged that one off, too, since it seems like there is always something or someone getting blown up in that section of town. I don’t necessarily like it that I’ve become this jaded to the news, but I guess it was inevitable given that I’ve always been somewhat of a news junkie.

Left Behind
I’m part of a 6th grade team. The team consists of three other teachers and 90 or so children. Testing has been over for over a week, and there are exactly 16 instructional days left in the 2010-2011 school year. At the beginning of this school year, I thought that most of these kids were cute, sweet, intelligent, and all the good things that parents want teachers to think of their children. At this point of the year, I find most of them barely tolerable, and there are a few I can hardly stand to look at or listen to. There. I said it, and I own it.

Today, the team went on a field trip to Gattiland. I’ve known for months that this trip was coming, and I’ve known for months that I would be sick of the screaming, running, jumping, back-talking, sneaking around and middle school drama associated with this particular group of kiddos. I volunteered to stay back with the kids who couldn’t go on the field trip. I knew that the group of kids who weren’t allowed to go on the field trip wouldn’t be a picnic, but I decided that at least they would be in a controlled environment. I knew that this controlled environment would save me the hassle of trying to block out the ringing arcade sounds while listening to a child complain that someone had taken their tokens, or the panic of not getting the right number on the bus count only to discover that someone had decided to take another bus back to the school.

Are you sure you don’t want to go? My teammates were concerned that I was missing out on some great event. I didn’t mind a bit. I had 20 kids who had plenty of classwork, reading books, and drawing paper. One of these days, these young teachers will figure it out.

Still Waiting
I applied for my transfer to state agency and special schools over a month ago. At the same time, I applied to teach summer school at a state agency school. They ( whoever “they” are) have until June 15 to accept my application and interview me for a transfer. There are about 110 teachers in my building. 58 of these teachers have applied for transfers.

I will probably be contacted by the last week of school if I’ve been accepted for a summer school position. Last year, I taught at a school for children who had either been perpetrators or victims of sexual abuse. A few had committed other felonies. My working conditions were the best I’ve ever had. I had access to plenty of materials and had an assistant. Security was all over the place. In addition, it was good for me to stay busy over the summer. My fingers are crossed that my name gets pulled again this year. If not, I guess I will be hanging out at the pool during the week and hanging out at the lake on the weekends.