Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," not looking for any trouble on a beautiful spring evening! I'm just back from watching the j.v. baseball game at my school. It was very touching when my students smiled and waved at me as they waltzed around the bases, time after time. Yes, it was a rout. Go Tech!
I lost my last contract as a writer in 2005, and so I wandered into a thicket called teaching. If you haven't tried teaching, let me just say that there's a lot more to it than you'd think if you watched Welcome Back, Kotter. It wasn't like I transitioned from writing to, say, editing ... or medical transcription ... or anything involving typing. Oh no, I did a complete and utter career change. And for a long time it seemed to me I didn't have the chops to pull it off.
Yesterday the principal came into my room, shook my hand, and confirmed that I have been hired for the 2012-13 school year. This means that I have tenure.
And Chris Christie, if you mess with my tenure, so help me I'll buy every Hershey bar in the state ... starting in Trenton and moving through the wealthiest neighborhoods first.
I want to be a good teacher. I want to see my students succeed. I also want to abide by our U.S. Constitution. Ergo, when I go to school, the bored gods stay home.
I have pledged allegiance to the flag at the Vo-Tech more than 600 times. Never once have I said, "Under God." God does not belong in public schools. And if he doesn't belong, then Mannanan Mac Lir will have to stay outside too.
I feel very strongly about this. If I have Christian students who write religious papers or express religious opinions, I encourage them to be proud of their faith. But offer mine up for inspection? BAAAAMP! Not even if I taught World Religions. Which thankfully I don't.
So, here's to a public school teacher, earning enough to be self-sufficient ... finally ... at age ... oh, snap, never mind!
Don't forget to pick up your copy of my husband's nonfiction book, Like Any Normal Day. If you go to his site, he'll tell you a story ain't got no moral.
http://www.markkramjr.com/
11 comments:
Congratulations on reaching tenure! May the young minds you warp go on to become the free-thinkers this world desperately needs.
Congratulations on reaching tenure!
and, I'm sorry, but what does Chris Christie have to do with Hershey bars?
I still believe the Cane hanging on the easle made teaching much easier and students more attentive.
If I had to apply a cane, I would not teach. And both my daughters would either be illiterate or home-schooled.
Eighty years back when I commenced school the cane was rarely used. this was simply because those who were dumb enough to test it were reluctant to try again.
Order prevailed in the classroom, teachers were not abused as is the case in todays schools.
Thank you for your reply to my prev comment.
Hurray, and many many blessings for your Tenure!
You are an awesome teacher, indeed, so it was no contest, I'm sure.
I'm so proud of you..really really proud of you..so's the Goddess.
Vest ... how old are you? What year were you born? Wow!
This may seem counter-intuitive, but at the school where I teach, most of the students come from one of the worst cities in America, but they are respectful. I've talked to them about it. School is the only place they feel safe. They can't even walk outside their homes. If I had a cane, I would never need it.
Friday July 16 1926.. Ok.
Today I marched in the Aussie ***Anzac day celebrations, local march, not in Sydney.I ache all over.
***like veterans day.
The cane was the approved method for maintaining good order among students until more forward thinking people like yourself came along, although I personally disliked the system being a frequent user.
Awesome to the max, Vest! Happy Anzac Day! Did you have a biscuit?
Yes, the liquid type.
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