Been over a month since my last post. Life here always seems to have some curveball coming, and after several fastballs high and tight (chin music), the big round curve gets a swing and miss most times. Baseball season has started, hence the metaphors.
We have started the 4th quarter in the school schedule recently. Students were given an extra 25 hours of absences allowed after their vociferous complaints. That seems to be the way it goes: complain loud enough, and the students get what they want. Many teachers have said that they have only 2 or 3 students show up on a given day. Two told me they haven't had any show up for 2 weeks. Yet, when the students do eventually show up 45 minutes late without pen or book, they start up with "teacher present teacher", followed 5 minutes later by "teacher when finished teacher". Thankfully I haven't had that on my side, but the other department is rife with it.
Turns out we only have about 4 weeks left of dedicated teaching left in the semester; there is a week of review after that, and then a week for finals. Everything finishes by the end of May, and then we have 2 to 3 weeks of sitting around clocking in and out until mid June. In preparation for weeks of boredom otherwise, I enrolled in an online course for quality management statistics, to prep for an official certification in this area upon my contract completion.
Nowadays I am also looking at the possibility of a PhD in Curriculum Development or Educational Policy, and I would like to do it in my hometown. My house is there, and so logistically it would present fewer difficulties than taking courses in yet another city. I am interested in researching tipping points in education reform; that is, what small changes in school/learning settings create disproportionately significant outcomes. Married with a quality management certification, hoping that will open a few more doors vocationally in the future.
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