Mad Scientist makes Happy Teacher

 Recently my days as a teacher left me feeling a little - um - frazzled.  There's plenty to blame for the way I feel.  But if I'm honest I'd say a good deal of my frustration comes from the fact that I've been doing the same job for several years now and I'm too familiar with the things that should be fixed and can't be.  I'm guessing everyone pretty much has those experiences in their life, too.  You'd love to be able to do some task the efficient way, the way you know will work and will benefit you, or your company, but there's a reason you can't.  Maybe the boss is dead set against it.  Maybe it's not economically feasible.  Maybe you just don't have the time.  Anyway, I've become far too aware of the way I wish things were.  For instance, at the beginning of the school year I wish I had time for two important activities - planning the first few days of instruction, both alone and with grade level teams, and setting up my classroom.  When I do have to come in for my first contract day what do we do?  We sit in meetings where the administration tries to "motivate" us.  We go over test results that we already went over the spring before.  We listen to the new rules someone at the district thought up for us to have to follow.  We get maybe 1/2 day to work in our rooms.  It's disheartening, and most of all, totally predictable.  I know I could come in a week early and have that planning time.  I wouldn't get paid for it, though.  So I whine (usually just in my mind) about it.

This year I've been given the opportunity to make a change.  I was hired by my old principal, a person I greatly admire and work well with, to teach science all day long.  I'll be working with students kindergarten through fifth grade on a rotation, seeing each class twice a week for about an hour.  It's an extremely interesting idea and something our district hasn't tried before.  I'll be working with another teacher who will be doing essentially the same job with the other half of the school.  Together we have a chance to show the district what science specialists can accomplish in terms of raising test scores and contributing to excellent classroom climate.

I don't make a habit of writing about my work here, partly because I want to be careful about what I post about colleagues and students.  Also, my life is not all about work.  But my life has been a lot about science for a long time now.  When I'm not in school I'm reading newspaper articles about the latest scientific findings.  (Sometimes I argue out loud with the paper as I read.  Mike finds this hilarious.)  I look through science catalogs and think about ordering things.  I don't generally order them, though, because I don't really have a place to use them.  UNTIL NOW!  Ha!

So now I'm feeling a little more like I can do a couple more years in the classroom.  At least two and maybe three if things work out.  It gives me a chance to try something I love.  Besides, it'll be a while before I figure out what needs to be fixed that I can't do anything about. So I'm feeling a bit more like: