Well I've been fired a lot.

[GloryofGreece]

Lets just say the chances that you'd actually meet a "teacher" that was non renewed or forced to resign etc. would be very unlikely. It kind of cracks me up when the "teacher's can't be fired" trope gets tossed around so much. Yea, yea we can and are fired/let go etc. At the end of the year you are evaluated and either "renewed" for another contracted year or not.

To my utter dismay I just got a letter of reprimand today about showing a "non approved" video in class. Deviating from the lesson plan and showing lack of judgement. What was the video you ask? Well lets just say it was an under 10 minute segment on school shootings/mass shooting in America. It was on network tv and there was of course no actual violence or curse words used etc. I decided to show it in hopes of opening up a discussion about trauma, crises, and the importance of talking about what you're going through with at least someone, anyone really. I never got through the entire 10 minute video b/c a kid (14 years old) told a passing teacher in the hallway that was why she was upset. My school had a lockdown earlier but nothing bad happened and the sheriff to their credit did everything correctly. The whole "situation" was a non situation. A student apparently made threatening remarks about other students in a broad sense on the bus ride to school. Hence the "lockdown". Within less than a day a parent complained by email to every possible person she could email and that was that.

Who knows how this will really play out. Will I be renewed in the Spring for the following school year? How much will this factor into any and all evaluations moving forward etc.? All unknown.

[TheReal_ND]

Dude. Shoot for the moon. Fuck the brass ring in "Rye in The Catcher" and fuck that jew who wrote it. If you are going to go out, go out in a blaze of glory and full automatic redpill your pupils.

[Martin Hash]

Keep us informed.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Tough environment to work in, if you’re not chugging the koolaid. Good luck bud.

[C-Mag]

Best of Luck GoG.

[Speaker to Animals]

Damn. That sucks. I can't imagine working in that environment at all.

[DBTrek]

Sorry to hear that GoG - why didn’t your union step in?

On the plus side - leftist-ass, perpetual-complaining, overcompensated, under performing, America-hating public education system ain’t no place for a white man anyway.

You’re a grown ass man who has to rely on a bunch of passive-aggressive, net zero, drama llamas to decide whether or not you can earn a living because you had the audacity to actually do your job and educate children. Now the Betty-nobodies who have shed neither a drop of blood nor sweat for anyone else in their lives will decide your fate. That whole system is fucked.

I know none of that matters to a guy who is facing down the holidays with their career precariously hanging by a thread. You’re a good guy in a bad situation. Just try to remember - in the long run it may not be the worst outcome if your career moves outside of the control of unaccountable bureaucrats.

Wishing the best for you.

[GloryofGreece]

Thank you to all that have posted for your support. I took a chance that I could post something unhistorical / philosophical but yet still serious and get some decent feedback, advice, or yes even support. Thank you again. Its appreciated.

Update: My intuition and gut tell me the Admin are just doing what the School Board told them to which is to speak to me, reprimand me, and apologize to the angry parent. The head Admin said not to worry too much about this and if it was used as part of an evaluation it would go under the category "Professionalism". My state is not a "union" state. I don't have reps or bargaining rights etc. A teacher has some what more protection from nonrenewing if they are under a "continuing contract" versus a "probationary contract". But that really just means a little more paperwork to recommend you for non renewal and it means that Administrators only have to formally observe you once a year instead of three times a year. I've got 3 and 1/2 more years here before I'm on a continuing contract. Anyway, ultimately the metric that matters most is "Student Academic Progress". And what they want to see is 70% or above on the end of the year standardized testing. Last year my classes totaled together were 74%ish and that is 6 total classes with roughly 150 students taught.

There are other categories you are evaluated on technically like, "Student Learning Environment, Instructional Planning, Instructional Delivery" etc. etc.

A teacher in my state basically is observed a few times and maybe a few "walk throughs" *(5-10 minutes max really) but the only ones that really count are formal observations that are suppose to be at least 50 minutes of class time a piece.

I've only had positive feedback the year and half that I've been here untill this but the head Admin is new to the position but was also here for years but really didn't know me. She didn't supervise my department etc.

I think something good happened today though. Well I know I felt better when I went to my school mailbox and there were over a dozen "thank you" notes from students this year all written by hand. I don't know if it was an assignment in another class or what exactly but it was nice and made me feel relieved. It was a more concrete validation of them actually saying they value me for whatever reasons, and a lot of them specifically mention me "caring" , "helping them" , or listening to them etc.

Anyway today the actual Superintendent was talking with the Faculty throughout the day during their planning periods. After he was done I went up to him and apologized for the incident and the parent's email that im sure he read. He thanked me for it and seemed receptive and ok with it overall. I had those letters in my hand *(not knowing I'd talk to him really) and he told me to mail him copies of them to his office and to show my head Admin. He also said he'd talk to her that Idk I guess that I spoke with him.

I'm feeling better than I was yesterday overall. I am hopeful and think after I get a formal observation over with I'll actually have a better idea of where this could be headed down the line i.e. end of the year renewal. Basically if he isn't too critical of my lesson and teaching ability under observation and in writing I don't think he';ll move to put me on an improvement plan or non renewal. Who knows really. I've had a lot of things happen in my "career" that were punitive, unpredictable and illogical. I'm going to take the chance now to buckle down and get my classroom squared away. Get more focused on actually teaching and having better classroom management. These things will help my day go by more productively and less stressful anyway.

[heydaralon]

Thank you to all that have posted for your support. I took a chance that I could post something unhistorical / philosophical but yet still serious and get some decent feedback, advice, or yes even support. Thank you again. Its appreciated.

Update: My intuition and gut tell me the Admin are just doing what the School Board told them to which is to speak to me, reprimand me, and apologize to the angry parent. The head Admin said not to worry too much about this and if it was used as part of an evaluation it would go under the category "Professionalism". My state is not a "union" state. I don't have reps or bargaining rights etc. A teacher has some what more protection from nonrenewing if they are under a "continuing contract" versus a "probationary contract". But that really just means a little more paperwork to recommend you for non renewal and it means that Administrators only have to formally observe you once a year instead of three times a year. I've got 3 and 1/2 more years here before I'm on a continuing contract. Anyway, ultimately the metric that matters most is "Student Academic Progress". And what they want to see is 70% or above on the end of the year standardized testing. Last year my classes totaled together were 74%ish and that is 6 total classes with roughly 150 students taught.

There are other categories you are evaluated on technically like, "Student Learning Environment, Instructional Planning, Instructional Delivery" etc. etc.

A teacher in my state basically is observed a few times and maybe a few "walk throughs" *(5-10 minutes max really) but the only ones that really count are formal observations that are suppose to be at least 50 minutes of class time a piece.

I've only had positive feedback the year and half that I've been here untill this but the head Admin is new to the position but was also here for years but really didn't know me. She didn't supervise my department etc.

I think something good happened today though. Well I know I felt better when I went to my school mailbox and there were over a dozen "thank you" notes from students this year all written by hand. I don't know if it was an assignment in another class or what exactly but it was nice and made me feel relieved. It was a more concrete validation of them actually saying they value me for whatever reasons, and a lot of them specifically mention me "caring" , "helping them" , or listening to them etc.

Anyway today the actual Superintendent was talking with the Faculty throughout the day during their planning periods. After he was done I went up to him and apologized for the incident and the parent's email that im sure he read. He thanked me for it and seemed receptive and ok with it overall. I had those letters in my hand *(not knowing I'd talk to him really) and he told me to mail him copies of them to his office and to show my head Admin. He also said he'd talk to her that Idk I guess that I spoke with him.

I'm feeling better than I was yesterday overall. I am hopeful and think after I get a formal observation over with I'll actually have a better idea of where this could be headed down the line i.e. end of the year renewal. Basically if he isn't too critical of my lesson and teaching ability under observation and in writing I don't think he';ll move to put me on an improvement plan or non renewal. Who knows really. I've had a lot of things happen in my "career" that were punitive, unpredictable and illogical. I'm going to take the chance now to buckle down and get my classroom squared away. Get more focused on actually teaching and having better classroom management. These things will help my day go by more productively and less stressful anyway.

Fuck those pussy ass students, parents, and administrators that decided to bring this up to you. This is why our country is going to shit. It also explains why our colleges are such a joke. We coddle these pussies and encourage their vaginal behavior in every aspect of life. Its fucking pathetic. God this whole incident makes me angry. Worst case scenario, if you lost your job, do you have any ideas about what career you would want to enter into? You should look into teaching private schools. More money+less govt interference. You've got experience teaching now, so if you lose your job, this may be an opportunity for you to make some more money. I'm really sorry man.

[GloryofGreece]

Thank you to all that have posted for your support. I took a chance that I could post something unhistorical / philosophical but yet still serious and get some decent feedback, advice, or yes even support. Thank you again. Its appreciated.

Update: My intuition and gut tell me the Admin are just doing what the School Board told them to which is to speak to me, reprimand me, and apologize to the angry parent. The head Admin said not to worry too much about this and if it was used as part of an evaluation it would go under the category "Professionalism". My state is not a "union" state. I don't have reps or bargaining rights etc. A teacher has some what more protection from nonrenewing if they are under a "continuing contract" versus a "probationary contract". But that really just means a little more paperwork to recommend you for non renewal and it means that Administrators only have to formally observe you once a year instead of three times a year. I've got 3 and 1/2 more years here before I'm on a continuing contract. Anyway, ultimately the metric that matters most is "Student Academic Progress". And what they want to see is 70% or above on the end of the year standardized testing. Last year my classes totaled together were 74%ish and that is 6 total classes with roughly 150 students taught.

There are other categories you are evaluated on technically like, "Student Learning Environment, Instructional Planning, Instructional Delivery" etc. etc.

A teacher in my state basically is observed a few times and maybe a few "walk throughs" *(5-10 minutes max really) but the only ones that really count are formal observations that are suppose to be at least 50 minutes of class time a piece.

I've only had positive feedback the year and half that I've been here untill this but the head Admin is new to the position but was also here for years but really didn't know me. She didn't supervise my department etc.

I think something good happened today though. Well I know I felt better when I went to my school mailbox and there were over a dozen "thank you" notes from students this year all written by hand. I don't know if it was an assignment in another class or what exactly but it was nice and made me feel relieved. It was a more concrete validation of them actually saying they value me for whatever reasons, and a lot of them specifically mention me "caring" , "helping them" , or listening to them etc.

Anyway today the actual Superintendent was talking with the Faculty throughout the day during their planning periods. After he was done I went up to him and apologized for the incident and the parent's email that im sure he read. He thanked me for it and seemed receptive and ok with it overall. I had those letters in my hand *(not knowing I'd talk to him really) and he told me to mail him copies of them to his office and to show my head Admin. He also said he'd talk to her that Idk I guess that I spoke with him.

I'm feeling better than I was yesterday overall. I am hopeful and think after I get a formal observation over with I'll actually have a better idea of where this could be headed down the line i.e. end of the year renewal. Basically if he isn't too critical of my lesson and teaching ability under observation and in writing I don't think he';ll move to put me on an improvement plan or non renewal. Who knows really. I've had a lot of things happen in my "career" that were punitive, unpredictable and illogical. I'm going to take the chance now to buckle down and get my classroom squared away. Get more focused on actually teaching and having better classroom management. These things will help my day go by more productively and less stressful anyway.

Fuck those pussy ass students, parents, and administrators that decided to bring this up to you. This is why our country is going to shit. It also explains why our colleges are such a joke. We coddle these pussies and encourage their vaginal behavior in every aspect of life. Its fucking pathetic. God this whole incident makes me angry. Worst case scenario, if you lost your job, do you have any ideas about what career you would want to enter into? You should look into teaching private schools. More money+less govt interference. You've got experience teaching now, so if you lose your job, this may be an opportunity for you to make some more money. I'm really sorry man.

I've had to find a new or different teaching gig 5 times in 10 years. All for different specific reasons. Most were because I was non renewed for reasons other than competence or teaching ability. Usually not getting a long well with hallway teachers/"team teachers" at the Middle school level. This gig is finally at the high school level and in the best district ive worked in. Not saying that much because I've mostly worked in poor areas. But nonetheless I like the county, I like where its located geographically and family proximity etc. I love the fact that its still a semi rural area and I like the aesthetics of it as well.

Long story shorter I've looked into altogether different employment. Its not easy or barely possible for me really. I sent out over a 100 applications in state and local entry level government jobs and got two interviews no offers. I tried to get hired and went through the application process to be a paid fire fighter. I was called up for an actual interview (last step before they offer to send you to the academy) but I was under contract as a teacher somewhere by the time they called back and I couldn't quit to go to the Academy. In hindsight maybe I should have wen to that interview. What's done is done.

I would like to do therapy/counseling type work if I had to do something else. I can see myself being effective at it in general. I cannot see going to graduate school to get certified though. The other "option" is becoming a priest but the Catholic Church does not allow married men to be priest. So idk.

I will be spending more time and effort looking for a job if things get squirly around work after Winter Break. Ill have to wait and see how the above plays out though. I'm going to be observed soon I know. Ill let yall know how that goes. It should be some what telling how the rest of my school year will be at least from a paperwork standpoint.