I'm in three classrooms instead of one this year, each for part of the day, on a schedule that changes slightly but significantly every day of the week. It bother me because I'm not good with transitions or processing new social data so it is making my beloved job much harder and less fun for me.
And I don't necessarily agree with the theory that this will help kids form more/broader positive connections, because while it does provide that opportunity, it means that kids who need to *bond* with someone consistently *there* during the day only have the one full-time adult in kindergarten, instead of one classroom teacher and one educational assistant (aka a teacher with a lesser degree requirement (not necessarily a lesser degree though) who doesn't get paid like one, not that teachers are paid more than beans anyway, but it's fewer beans).
Swapping around might work for people assigned to work one on one, but when it means we have to get to know 3 times the kids in 1/3 the time, it means those connections are not being supported as much.
More, it is indicative of the brokenness of hierarchical divisions in teaching staff between 'classified' and 'certified', since there have been a lot of indicators of thinking of people with my job title as less real or important - like giving us an 'office space' that turned out to be a room that per fire code cannot have furniture in it, and like putting our breaks at transitions from room to room without building in any additional time for the actual transition of papers, materials, and self from room to room. And a lovely meeting in which I was reminded to speak up significantly less in meetings but participate, go home on time but nonetheless keep spaces spotless, ask for help but also be independent, apply self-care to manage stress but don't be stressed at work, and think of working on these things as professional development *eyeroll*. Not that classroom teachers don't get that BS too, but, WOW. In fact, I speak up in meetings *less* than quite a few people - I'm just a statistical outlier ***for my job title*** because I speak up *at all* - and the mathematical incorrectness of this subjective impression of my air time bothers the hell out of me because it's so clearly indicative of the hierarchy of racial, gender, and economic privilege existing besides and on top of the already problematic hierarchy of job descriptions.
And it highlights my own underemployment, given my paper and actual qualifications, that I feel stuck on fixing.
So it's quite crummy, the whole schedule thing.
I'm going to devote a few minutes tonight to working on job hunt related things or at least thinking about them without panicking, but in some ways, the most annoying part is that I really really like my school and my job - so they had to go and make it less of what I like.
But doing my very best work under the circumstances is challenging, even though there are lots of bright spots - like being able to be in immersion Spanish for math, which is *already* helping polish my language skills. Nonetheless, I will do my best for the kids.
Whether or not that's the best for admin, insofar as THAT is feasible. Sometimes I hate not being able to tell *how* squeaky of a squeaky wheel I'm being, since that makes it hard to calibrate to get a productive response. Sometimes I love being a prismatic peg in a cubical hole since that means I see things other people miss and may even have the chance to advocate for a student or family. Usually it is both.
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dancing_serpent
(no subject)
Date: 2017-09-07 03:01 am (UTC)I'm in three classrooms instead of one this year, each for part of the day, on a schedule that changes slightly but significantly every day of the week. It bother me because I'm not good with transitions or processing new social data so it is making my beloved job much harder and less fun for me.
And I don't necessarily agree with the theory that this will help kids form more/broader positive connections, because while it does provide that opportunity, it means that kids who need to *bond* with someone consistently *there* during the day only have the one full-time adult in kindergarten, instead of one classroom teacher and one educational assistant (aka a teacher with a lesser degree requirement (not necessarily a lesser degree though) who doesn't get paid like one, not that teachers are paid more than beans anyway, but it's fewer beans).
Swapping around might work for people assigned to work one on one, but when it means we have to get to know 3 times the kids in 1/3 the time, it means those connections are not being supported as much.
More, it is indicative of the brokenness of hierarchical divisions in teaching staff between 'classified' and 'certified', since there have been a lot of indicators of thinking of people with my job title as less real or important - like giving us an 'office space' that turned out to be a room that per fire code cannot have furniture in it, and like putting our breaks at transitions from room to room without building in any additional time for the actual transition of papers, materials, and self from room to room. And a lovely meeting in which I was reminded to speak up significantly less in meetings but participate, go home on time but nonetheless keep spaces spotless, ask for help but also be independent, apply self-care to manage stress but don't be stressed at work, and think of working on these things as professional development *eyeroll*. Not that classroom teachers don't get that BS too, but, WOW. In fact, I speak up in meetings *less* than quite a few people - I'm just a statistical outlier ***for my job title*** because I speak up *at all* - and the mathematical incorrectness of this subjective impression of my air time bothers the hell out of me because it's so clearly indicative of the hierarchy of racial, gender, and economic privilege existing besides and on top of the already problematic hierarchy of job descriptions.
And it highlights my own underemployment, given my paper and actual qualifications, that I feel stuck on fixing.
So it's quite crummy, the whole schedule thing.
I'm going to devote a few minutes tonight to working on job hunt related things or at least thinking about them without panicking, but in some ways, the most annoying part is that I really really like my school and my job - so they had to go and make it less of what I like.
But doing my very best work under the circumstances is challenging, even though there are lots of bright spots - like being able to be in immersion Spanish for math, which is *already* helping polish my language skills. Nonetheless, I will do my best for the kids.
Whether or not that's the best for admin, insofar as THAT is feasible. Sometimes I hate not being able to tell *how* squeaky of a squeaky wheel I'm being, since that makes it hard to calibrate to get a productive response. Sometimes I love being a prismatic peg in a cubical hole since that means I see things other people miss and may even have the chance to advocate for a student or family. Usually it is both.