jueves, septiembre 01, 2005

 

goodbye bliss, hello bitchery!

ahh, you knew it wouldn't last...

let me be frank: fuck this required overtime bullshit. i work my ASS off. i spent three weeks of my summer at trainings. i spent another three weeks IN my classroom before the year even began getting it ready... spending my own money all summer long to give my kids a warm, inviting learning environment. no, the green apple magnetic word wall and happy fabric aren't necessary for their learning, but it makes them happy to be there, this i know for certain.

N-E-WAYZ, as my old middle school students would say, i put in hundreds of extra hours over the summer, before and after school, and on weekends. lucky for my principal i'm young, single, and willing. but i've been asked to attend countless trainings and meetings since school began... for example, an all-day weekend training. i was given notice that i should attend the day before the training at 3 pm. ridiculous. and today i was chastised for leaving a last-minute meeting early because i had scheduled a doctor appointment a MONTH before. i was also chastised for planning on missing another training. apparently i need to give advance notice when i can't attend things, but the administration is under no circumstances expected to do the same in regard to notifying me about aforementioned things. what a lovely double standard.

so in addition to messing with any and all appointments in my personal life, i am --of COURSE-- not getting paid overtime. and i'm slowly realizing that i put in a whole fucking lot of VOLUNTARY overtime. that's fine. but this supposedly REQUIRED-yet-FREE overtime is BULLSHIT. what other professional field gets away with this shit?

i talked to a high school teacher friend about this (correction: vented) and apparently it's the same situation there with meetings out the ass and back-to-school nights. maybe it's just my district? is this normal? if so, why the HELL haven't more teachers made a stink? we know we're grossly underpaid as it is... c'mon now!

there's also some petty bullshit i learned about tonight... if the AP deems it necessary to mention it to me, expect more bitchery in the coming weeks. blah! thank god for labor day!

Comments:
So, just because I am curious, is your school expecting new students from the Katrina evacuees?
 
Sorry to hear about that :( I was asleep and didn't hear my phone. I'll call you laters. Sadly, I think everyone does that crap to us. No one cares about the nights we stay at school until 7 or 8pm, but some will jump down your throat about these things that you cannot control.
 
It's like that EVERYWHERE!! I've learned NOT to volunteer, it's either part of my hours/contract, or it's overtime and paid for... NO MORE "FREEBIES"!!

Take care, the school year is just beginning and so is your teaching career. You'll be fine : )

Cuidate!
 
Same here - unless of course you are in athletics and then you get a stipend because this is Texas and we all know education is just a vehicle for football.

Had we a union things would much different. Librarians on my library list serv are astonishd that we haven't and even more astonished at the demands placed on us. And will we get a union - yeah, about the same time as pigs fly.
 
I think it's the same every where, but at least in states that allow teacher unions (I'm told Texas doesn't), the teachers have some power to keep these things in check. Makes me want to bitch slap the people who go around saying "Teachers have it so great, they just work till 3 and get summers off." They have no clue.
 
You should be paid to go for extra training. In NYC, they do, and I still decline all offers.

No one to blame for voluntary overtime, unfortunately, but yourself. I'm guilty too, sometimes.
 
MP: no Katrina evacuees so far, although a couple miles away from school we've got a few thousand people from LA so it might happen.

Las demás: Yup, it sucks. As I stated in my post, i'm well aware that i do plenty of voluntary overtime and i don't regret it nor will i stop spending the extra time necessary for me to have my classroom and lessons the way i want them. My beef here is that i'm being ordered, for all intents and purposes, to put in unpaid overtime on a regular basis, and said overtime doesn't do a whole lot for me professionally while wasting a lot of my personal time. And the irony is that a union does in fact exist in my district. I'm not a member since dues are ridiculously high, but i do have memberships in statewide organizations like TCTA and ATPE. I should probably email someone, this shiznit ain't right!
 
Yea, unfortunately I'll have to echo the others and say this crap goes on everywhere. We have unions out here (which have taken their power way out of control, IMO), but this still happens (minus the training days). I am required to attend all meetings and faculty events, but I don't get paid for them because I'm paid hourly (the nature of adult ed) and will only be paid for the hours I am scheduled to teach. It blows big time. BUT, it has helped me in my quest for saying "NO."
 
Yes, I feel your pain. Even at my wonderful independent school, we had "back to school night" (meet and greet with parents) that lasted until after 9 pm. Okay, pull out the cot and see ya in the morning! I hope the parents didn't get the wrong impression of me when I half-forgot my prepared speech and started slurring words. I had been up since 6 am, for goodness sake!

Cheer up. We're all in it together...
 
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