It Was My Mom Texting Me

This is the second time I have confiscated Tina's cell phone during choir practice. She had a toothache and was texting on her phone. At first she said it was the oragel she was holding in her hand.

I said: How about what's in your pocket? MissD always knows.
She said: It was my mom.
I said: I don't care if it was God. You should not be using your cell phone during class. And God wouldn't be texting you because he knows you have class.

Lucky me, they all decided not to sing.
A student: We don't like what you said. It was stupid. What if it's an emergency?
I said: Then you would be allowed to use your cell phone.
Student: How do we know if we don't check?
I said: You shouldn't check, but if there is an emergency here, then you would be allowed to use it. Also, if you don't feel well enough to be in class, Tina, then you should let me know and the nurse needs to know so that you can be released.
Student: We don't like what you said. It was stupid.
I said: I apologize if I offended you. I was emphasizing that it doesn't matter who it is. There are proper chanels to go through and the office should know what is going on.

I also pulled Tina aside to explain this to her again. As an adult I have classes during which I do not use my cell phone because it is rude to do so. When I asked if she understood, she nodded yes.

Perhaps I will take the time tomorrow to explain what constitutes an emergency situation at school that would allow the use of cell phones, but from my understanding, an emergency is a campuswide event like Columbine, VA Tech, 9/11, lockdown, flood, fire or campus closure.

The real problem came after school when the one of the Secretary 1 was being honored for classified employee of the year. She locked everything up before she left and a retired lady is subbing for because she knows how things run. She doesn't have a key. The Secretary 2 is out taking care of her son who needed surgery on a broken foot. The result, the phone was locked up. The parent was irate.

I don't pay for my daughter to have a cell phone for it to be locked up all night. I'm going to the district office to complain. Teachers shouldn't say those things.

Whatever. Bring it. I'll be filing a rebuttal. When I told a friend on the custodial staff what happened he said, Amen. God wouldn't be texting you in the middle of class.

Tough Cookies

I have a student who has been suffering from a severe case of apathy in one of my choir classes. She hasn't sung a note in a least a month. I gave out a letter reminding them about the concert.

Keisha: What if my parents don't care?
MissD: That's really sad.
Keisha: They usually just throw this stuff away in the trash.
MissD: Really? Well, then it's a letter for you.
Keisha: What if I don't care?
MissD: Tough cookies. You're still responsible.

I walked away. What can you do as a teacher when some students won't be taught?

That Nigerian guy told us that one time it rained so hard he didn't know how he would get to school--it meant that he would be either swimming in puddles or dragging himself through mud for two miles to get to school. His teacher showed up that day and carried him. He WANTED to go to school. He wanted to go so much that he would have dragged his crumpled body over two miles of puddles and mud to get to school.

You can lead horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

Some students are more like mules. You can neither lead them to water or make them drink.

10 Things I Hate About You

A letter to the Former Choir Teacher

1. I hate you for taking a full time choir position and dismantling it to teach piano so you didn’t have to perform as much.

2. I hate you for taking all of your piano music. You left me in a panic right before school started. I had to go through a lot of hoops to get books.

3. I hate you for taking keyboards with you. I’m sure they were yours and all, but I didn’t have enough to start the year.

4. I hate you for using parents and children as messengers to the school and the district to try to get your job back.

5. I hate you for writing letters to the newspaper to make all your woes public.

6. I hate you for messing with kids’ minds by posting your salary on the wall in your office and telling them that you were leaving for money. They feel abandoned.

7. I hate you because the mess you left made it impossible for me to make things work.

8. I hate you because the kids all decided they couldn’t sing when you left. I didn’t have the choir program I heard about.

9. I hate you because the community was still on your side. Nothing I did was good enough.

10. I hate you because the accompanist you had for years retired when you left. I’ve ended up with a rotator cuff tear from all the practice I had to do to keep up.

11. I hate you for not leaving a list of performances or community contacts. The district told me you said you would. (oops, I hate you more than I thought!)


I hate because you’re so manipulative and just plain hateful. This whole year has been unfair to me. I’m a good teacher and didn’t have a chance to let that show because of all you did. I’m sorry you didn’t get everything you wanted and that you ended up not being as happy as you thought you would be, but did you have to tear my life apart in the process? Or did you forget that there might be a real human being at the other end of your war with the district? I’m just starting out in my career, hoping to make a difference in kids’ lives. Just like you, I wanted to work near where I grew up. Did you stop and think that you might really be hurting someone like me? I hate you because it’s so obvious you didn’t! (Is that 13?)

I think you’re too selfish to care. I’ve kept my mouth shut and tried to be polite, but I really, really hate you. And you can have your job back if you can get it. I don’t think the district will hire you back because you’ve put people there through a lot of grief. They hate you too.

Hatefully Yours,
Miss D

Wits End

It's no secret that it's hard to replace a choir teacher that was there for 10 years, even if they weren't very popular. But the teacher I replaced was very popular... and that makes it way worse.

Today's classes were really awful. I decided to talk to the pricipal because I was at the point of tears. The position I have now isn't the position I was sold and things have been going on a downhill slide. My accompanist is, quite frankly, a major source of discouragement to me. She said, I can tell you right now, if I were the teacher, they wouldn't be acting like this. Well, that's interesting, she's perfectly capapble of writing a referral or disciplining the kids and they still act the same way in front of her.

I told the pricipal at the high school that the way things are going right now, I don't think that we will be able to have a concert. I have no support from the community. Every time I have called home people tell me there wasn't a problem until I came along. If i can suspend kids from class and get to the ones that really do want to work, we might still be able to have a concert. But quite frankly, the counselors have torn this program to shreds by putting kids in the class that don't want it for the sake of numbers. Why would you give me kids that don't want to sing and don't want to be there and then blame me that it's not going well? I tried to kick kids out, but I wasn't allowed to. Now I've got them saying they have their quinceanera or other family opbligations or work and they won't be there. I need major support to make this concert happen, but its not fair to me to have to put on crap in front of the community. I'm a good teacher, but I haven't had a chance to let that show.

Then I found out what that other teacher had really done. He had slowly dismantled the full time choir program to the point where he was mainly teaching piano so that he wouldn't have so many performances. I wasnt' ready to teach piano. I've done it, but it's been so hard. He wrote nasty letters saying he was forced out of his job that were published in community newspapers. He burned every bridge there was to burn. He wanted more money--more of a stipend than anyone else plus a salary increase. He let the superintendent of schools have it. He took all of his piano music with him. He didn't leave me a list of community contacts or upcoming concerts. He's used parents and students as messengers to let the administration know that he wanted his job back in November. Most people don't do these kinds of things when they leave a job.

I've been keeping it all in and trying to stay out of trouble as much as possible. But I've been getting all of the blame. I've had to sit through bad reviews that sent me home crying and wondering if I should even continue teaching. Everyone else is going to be fine. The principal is retiring, the community will move on, the school will still be there next year, the Board of Education will still be there.

I'm the one who has been hit the hardest. I'mthe one who had gone home crying after bad reviews. I'm the one with a torn rotator cuff. I'm the one who has to look for a new job next year and I have nothing I can show for that. I'm the one wondering if I should even teach anymore.

Texting isn't all fun and games

Every kid seems to have a cell phone. Mainly they are texting each other. They ought to have phones that are text only just for teens and tweens. Texting is so pervasive that I have started to joke with my students, Next time I'll text you. Then you'll have it. to alleviate the constant questions of Where are we? What page? Huh? or to let them know it's time to start class.

But sometimes texting can be serious. Why would a mother text her 12 year old child to let her know that her grandmother has passed away??? I didn't have that child in my class, but some of my students ended up walking that child to class and were late to my class. I was upset because these students have a little bit of a lateness problem, and about half my class was late that day. Honestly though, I appreciate that they were so sensitive to another child's pain. That level of sympathy doesn't often happen with junior high kids.

Maybe my parents were different. They would have waited until I got home so they could hug me and console me. Heck, even the miltary is different. They would never text you to let you know that someone special had died. They send someone to your house to express their sympathies. A text message has no regard for where you are or what you are doing. What a crushing blow to a child. Some parents just don't think and we teachers are left to pick up the pieces.