Germs are the Devil

So, one of the downfalls of being a kindergarten teacher? You're exposed to SO many yucky germs and are susceptible to getting sick. Case in point...

I was sick back in December and saw a doctor. She determined I had bronchitis and gave me a breathing treatment and a round of antibiotics for the ear infection that I had also incurred. After taking the medication, I thought I had gotten better and actually felt relatively decent through the holiday season.

However, last week (Wednesday, to be exact) I felt myself getting sick again. I managed to get myself through the rest of the week (and a formal observation that I had with my principal on Friday) but I didn't have the time over the weekend to nurse myself back to health - I was working at my part-time job - and I think that's what did me in.

I woke up Monday feeling terrible but decided to tough it out and go to work. Low and behold, I didn't make it past 9:30 that morning. I asked my principal to go home and I've been in bed or parked on my sofa ever since.

I went into the doctor on Tuesday and she sent me to the hospital to get chest x-rays, thinking that it could be pneumonia. On top of that, she gave me a steroidal shot to "kick start" my immune system along with another breathing treatment and an aggressive antibiotics and medication treatment - five different medications in all!

It's been horrible. I hate being sick and being away from my classroom and the kids. But I know this comes as a warning - that I need to slow and take care of myself and not work myself to death with two jobs and school. So my doctor gave me a medical leave of absence until next week so that I can fully recover.

Although I don't mind all the extra rest I've been getting, the antibiotics that I was put on are incredibly strong and make me sick to my stomach. I just want to be better already!

So forgive me if I have been lagging on the posts...I will try to get back into the swing of things soon. Till then...

Movie Review: Won't Back Down

As I was sitting at home this evening, lounging on my sofa in front of my TV, and relishing in the fact that I don’t have to tutor tomorrow, I decided to peruse the current Pay Per View listings. Low and behold, Won’t Back Down had an early release and since I’d heard mixed reviews about it, decided to see what it was about. (It’s a “teacher movie” and I’m a teacher…can you blame me?)

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie scene, Won’t Back Down was a movie that was released back in September that met disappointing box-office numbers and even worse reviews. Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight and Mona Lisa Smile) and Viola Davis (The Help and Eat Pray Love), Wont’ Back Down tells the story of two determined parents that will fight against all odds to get their children the education they believe they deserve. Set at an inner city school in Pittsburg, the movie chronicles the challenges of Gyllenhaal’s character – a single mother, working two jobs in order to provide for her third grader – whose attempts to get her failing child into a different classroom and school fall on deft ears. Along the way she meets Davis’ character – a third grade teacher at her child’s elementary school – who is also searching for an alternative school choice for her young son. The two women band together in an effort to get both parents and teachers alike on board and ready to take on the teacher’s union and the dissenting school board.

Photo courtesy of Walden Media

The movie’s premise is based on parent trigger laws – laws that enable parents to change the administration and staffing of failing and under-performing schools and essentially “take over” the school in question. (Prior to this film, I knew very little about such laws but after reading more about them after watching this movie, found out that my home state, California, was the first state to pass such legislation back in 2010.)

Overall, I thought the movie was moving and I applauded the tenacity and drive of the two main characters. Fully aware that Walden Media’s major backer is a money man who’s pro-school reform, I thought the movie touched on some relevant topics that I, as a teacher, face on a daily basis – teacher union bureaucracy, the pitfalls of teacher tenure (i.e. protecting bad teachers), and parent/teacher collaboration…or lack thereof. Although the film wasn’t all “union bashing,” they made one point very clear: teacher unions are failing both the teachers they serve and the students and families that ultimately employ them (because without the families and students, teachers wouldn’t have jobs).

Photo courtesy of Walden Media

I just wish that more parents were like the two depicted in the film. I’m lucky if I get ¼ of my families in for Back to School Night or Open House…let alone a parent who wants to consistently volunteer and help out in my classroom. Many parents are uneducated – especially when it comes to special education – and they aren’t sure how to help their child, which does them a huge disservice when the student is not getting an education fit for them. And God forbid that the school district or administrators would actually give them information that might help them! Yet, I risk my job security when I attempt to do what is in the best interest of the child.

Schools are failing and, unfortunately, one teacher speaking her mind is not going to move mountains. Schools do need change – desperately – but it needs to be strategic, district-wide, explicit and it needs to start with the men and women who are in positions of leadership and power.