Teachers?

IreneAdler

Spring break starts next week--and I'm going to Disneyland! I'm coming from raining Oregon, so sometime tomorrow I need to find my shorts and figure out if they still fit!

alaskagrown

I miss Oregon. But.. maybe I'll get to go back there. I just got a pink slip! Damn budget cuts.

atomiclauren

^That is terrible ...but also could be the start of something new (in a sh*tty unexpected kind of way).

lisateachawa

Our spring break is at the end of April. I am ready for it now! I see a sick day coming on - hee hee

melzteach

This is my last day of spring break. We have state testing at the end of April...ugh...

anna_b1

"Back to life, back to reality..." Spring Break is over and now we officially have 59 teaching days left until our exams begin.

Yes, I'm counting...

atomiclauren

I saw this a while back but a friend posted this on FB (in light of all the crappy current and impending edu-cuts):

http://front.moveon.org/the-most-aggressive-defense-of-teachers-youll-hear-this-year/

humpalc

Hi all Elementary art teacher here - (lunch duty starts in 10 minutes, sigh)

Our spring break is this week - just Wed, Thurs, Fri this year, and we're on contract Tuesday until 7:30 PM for conferences - I am so in need of a break! The most exciting thing I have planned for my break is a trip to Trader Joe's

Hang in there everyone!!
Christy

kristinwalker

I was in the classroom for 6 years (middle school science) and now I work from home with parents who homeschool through a local charter school. I do have to say being at home is harder since I eat everything in sight. I used to just inform my students I had a strict diet and there may be times I am eating in class. They understood. I felt in the classroom I had a better handle on my eating than I do now because I was restricted to eating at certain times a day. I do have to say one thing I don't struggle with is eating waaayyyyy too much at dinner. I used to do this because I would feel famished. I found that Zone bars were great ways to get a quick 200-250 cals in between periods or quickly during warm ups or cool downs (beginning and end of classes). It helped me push my hunger aside. I also bought a 2.5 gal refillable water bottle at a local water store and refilled it every morning and brought it with me. I was able to hydrate easier. (You can buy one from the store pre-filled if you like that). The final thing that helped me lose weight between my babies was I found a group of teachers at the school to run with or work out with after school. Having two to three days a week to just rund and chit-chat really helped my stress and my sanity in the classroom. You may be surprised how many others there are at your school who are looking for the same thing. Put an e-mail out! But believe me the stress of in class teaching can wreak havoc on anyone's health!

kristinwalker

Spring break starts next week--and I'm going to Disneyland! I'm coming from raining Oregon, so sometime tomorrow I need to find my shorts and figure out if they still fit!

I'm in So Cal, check the weather for when you come it is raining today! =(

candycana

I'm on SPRING BREAK!!!! Wahoo! I'm going to try to up the miles walked per day. Instead of two, I'm going to aim for three or four. We'll see if my body can take it. Either that, or I'll drag out the bike. Yeah, that might be fun. The weather here in Florida is fantastic!

Meanwhile.....I have an interview next week! I took my daughter shopping with me yesterday so she could help me pick out a nice, professional, feminine suit to wear. I didn't even go to the women's department! When I started MFP i was buying 18W. Yesterday I bought a size 16 from the misses department! Wahoo!

So wish me luck. Next Wednesday, the 30th, I have an in-person interview to teach for Florida Virtual School! I'm going down the night before and praying I won't get lost driving in Orlando the next morning. I'll probably leave the hotel an hour before the interview! I'm so nervous, yet excited! I love teaching with technology! And to be able to work from home and have time to write as well! Wow. I mean, I know changing jobs is stressful in itself, but I'm ready for a change. Wish me luck!

lisateachawa

LJ0125 How many kids do you have in your class? Do you have an aide? I have 9 - 12 th graders in my classroom. I am also self contained. I have the MMI/Autism students. Lots of fun!

lisateachawa

I am working on my IEPs for next year and also getting ready for our state wide testing. I am having issues with a fellow teacher that is on permit and has no experience, yet thinks that they are an expert. When it rains, it pours! I will be glad when it is time for our spring break at the end of April. I need a break!

MisterDubs303

Think about it, do your administrators have this same problem? I know mine do not.

As a teacher, I ate 3/4 of my lunches at my desk while grading, planning, and relating to students. As an administrator, lunch rarely crossed my mind. And water? I was terrible at it. Your advice is good advice. It will be back to the classroom for me, and I'm going to do my best to level out the food, water, relaxation, and all the other factors that maintain good health.

atomiclauren

Budget cuts...the sh*ts hitting the fan - this is somewhat near me:

Just last week Eyewitness News learned 550 Katy ISD employees won't be coming back to work next year -- and this is just the beginning of the layoffs. The number of teachers given notice Wednesday was 350, according to Katy ISD spokesperson Steve Stanford. Approximately another 200 teachers have notified the district of their plans to resign or retire.

Katy ISD is facing a $50 million budget shortfall due to spending cuts in the state budget.

:grumble:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8072121&rss=rss-ktrk-article-8072121

atomiclauren

...more budget cut bliss:

Budget cuts in the state's largest school district means some schools may be shutting down. HISD has a big budget shortfall to account for. It's already discussed laying off teachers and today, it will consider a plan to shut down or merge 17 schools.

Just this week, HISD announced their latest numbers for teacher layoffs. Budget cuts mean 567 teacher positions so far have been eliminated. Add to that 163 teachers not renewed because of performance and the number is up to 730 teachers gone starting next year.

..buuuuuut:

If HISD closed every one of those schools, it would save about $10 million, nowhere near what is needed to cover the $63 million budget gap.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8072185&rss=rss-ktrk-article-8072185

:sick:

alaskagrown

This is a fascinating graphic of the federal budget. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/01/us/budget.html

Look at the education budget. Then mouse over it to see how much of that is "Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education." Compare that visually to our defense budget or even, say, the budget for border security or crop insurance.

Eye-opening.

lisateachawa

Started Spring Break today at 4pm (finsihed faculty senate at 3:30pm - unplugged everything and locked the door and ran to the car. Yay - I've been waiting months for this.

anna_b1

How wonderful Lisa!!! What a good time to get yourself "recharged".

Enjoy every moment!!! (I laugh at the visual of you shutting everything down and sprinting to your car!)

littlewitchuk

Hi all, I'm an ICT teacher in an English secondary school. I tend to spend most of the time on my feet but there's always biscuits and donuts around and I have a mega sweet tooth. Also after the lesson plans and marking are done I've been too tired in the evening to workout

Heidi1987

Hello

I'm a Religious Education teacher in a high school. I find that as others have mentioned there are always so many cakes etc around. our head of dept is lovely and always brings cakes, sweets, chocolate etc in for us all the time!
I find that I am so exhusted by the time i get home, i just do have the energy to workout, but i really need to start and force myself to do it!

littlewitchuk

I think thats the only way forcing yourself, my mum has agreed to come round twice a week to do zumba on the xbox kinect with me and I scuba dive on a friday night

lottee1000

Yay teachers! The only ones who know what it's like!!
I guess I'm luckier than most on here because I can go to the loo whenever I like, have at least 20mins at lunch totally free and have another break built into the day, so eating and drinking at appropriate times isn't difficult.
But man am I tired when I get home! Take today- up at 5.45, leave for school at 6.30, teach/generally be busy from 7.15 to 5pm, home, eat dinner, slump on sofa. Motivation to do any exercise=none. However, I have gone over on my calories today (by 123, damn the cookies in the staff room!), so really should go. Oh, and have bought some marking home with me. Gah!
Rant over...

lottee1000

Just read that back- remembered what I wanted to write!!! The only way I can make myself exercise in the evening after school is to organise it beforehand- by signing up for a class, or meeting a friend at the gym, for example. That way, I'm letting someone else down, and that's far less easy to do than shrug it off if you're the only one who'll know!

moncheririley

I'm an high school art teacher...and now I will pick up some elementary classes, too. The elementary teacher is retiring partially. It is a fast and crazy wild ride with these high schoolers!

oh ya! ...and the teacher resource room is ridiculous and very perilous for those trying to eat better...Krispy Kremes were sold about 4 times this year! I succumbed last week...watch out world!

alaskagrown

4-day weekend starts tomorrow. My district has this holiday called, "In Lieu of Lincoln's Day." Weird.

lisateachawa

hope you enjoy the long weekend!

When is your school done for the year? My school has the kids till June 8th, and we go a couple of extra days to get everthing packed up and unplugged. We had 7 snow days to make up - or we would be finishing the beginning of June.

alaskagrown

Ugh. Mine isn't over til June 17th.

lisateachawa

when do you start? We started on Aug. 23rd this year - and will start on Aug 18 in the fall. Pretty soon we will be year round!:ohwell:

anna_b1

I'm a highschool Resource teacher. Our students begin their exams on June 16th and end on June 23rd. Teachers are in until pretty much the end of June with staff meetings and "stuff". We're off until September 7th though (although we may have 1 day in school at the start of September before the kids come back)

I can hardly wait for the summer. Our admin team isn't that strong and the school is feeling it so we're all just waiting and hoping there is a major shift in the leadership.