Why am I here?

I ask myself this question all the time and often come up with different answers. Sometimes I feel like I am here to improve the lives of these kids and provide them with a better education than I feel I have had. Then I have to stop and ask myself being the self reflective person that I am, "Am I really doing enough?" Honestly, sometimes the answer to that question is no. The reality of the situation is that you cannot and never will be able to say that you did enough for the kids. If you truly care about what you are doing you are never satisfied and to quote TFA you are trying to "Continuously increase your own effectiveness."

Have you ever seen me teach?

In the ever present issues of back biting, mess, complaining, and "Let me throw someone else under the bus to mask my own short comings," today just seems fitting. If you have never observed a person teaching how can you fix your mouth to call someone a bad teacher? Not only that but then you go as far as to say that another teacher who once again you have never seen teach is better than me. Really? The funny thing about it is that the only evidence that you have were the scores of a poorly made and if I may say so myself unfair CBA exam given to the students. Really?

So with that being said let me share a few of the many names of Mr. Chachere:
"The Glory Hog"
"Wannabe Administrator"
"The smooth talker"
Among others

Might I mention that all of these names come from other adults who have traditionally shunned away anything that involved more work than what the already had to do during the regular teaching day.

Assault Charge is back!

Positive recognition for a job well done
"Mr. Chachere I just wanted to let you know that everyone that I talk to says that you are doing a great job. I know it does not seem like anyone notices your hard work sometimes but I wanted to let you know that we do and we have."

New Students = New Problems

• 4 weeks in I get a new student that does not speak a word of English and she is absent the next day.

New students = Same old problems

• How hard is it to add, subtract, multiply, and divide positive and negative integers and fractions

I miss my wife! ;(

My Daily Struggles

Yesterday: Office 2000! Really? Come on now North Forest!

Duty time has been changed to 7:00AM! This means that now i have to be at school earlier and I do not have time to prepare because duty runs until the first period bell rings.

Today: No printers in our classroom! Nowhere to submit copies, and all teachers have to use the two broken copy machines in the lounges! Really?

Oh yeah, and did I mention that there are about 5 to 7 more copiers in the building that are almost like brand new being used for the clerical staff. FML!

To Be Continued.......

Things are different this year

I never would have thought that being the only TFA at my school would mean that things would be soooooo different. It is sad how many people have lost that drive and passion that compelled me to join the Corp. Sometimes I wish and pray for at least one of my coworkers to be positive or allow me to problem solve with them, as opposed to them complaining and whining to me.

Things I want to forget about from last year!

1. Getting burned and missing 4 weeks of school.

2. Corporal Punishment - overused and primitive

3. Children having inappropriate dealings and relationships with adults.

4. My own lack of preparation at times.

5. Someone breaking into my house.

6. A tree falling on top of my car.

8. To be continued...