#14: Scrambling for Voice, Choice, and Agency
Tired and Powerless and Organized Crime
If you missed a couple of episodes, the best way to binge read Scrambling for Voice, Choice, and Agency is to use the Table of Contents links to previous posts.
Episode #14
From: Chance
re: How ridiculous is this??
To: Kerry sent - Gmail at 6:15 AM
Hi Kerry—
You are correct. In the light of day, I can see that my idea of involving the kids in my argument with Stan about test prep booklets is really dumb.
Last night, I was feeling really tired and powerless.
What do you think about going to the union rep and telling her that I hate being supervised by someone from the district office who has never spent a single day teaching in a classroom?
When they added the option of people from the district office supervising borderline second year teachers, never in my wildest dreams did I think that they were talking about me. Borderline? Everything about last year was a huge success.
Did you hear what Bill Bennett said about teacher unions when he was Secretary of Education under Reagan? He said that they were the worst force in America except for organized crime……and that it was a close call.
Teacher unions and organized crime?!? What a horrible comparison. Is he saying that teachers are in the Mafia?!?
I just heard him say it again on the news the other night. I guess he has somehow been redeemed from the time he had to be fired from his job in education because of his horrible racist remarks…or perhaps people have simply forgotten that he lost millions of dollars in Las Vegas because of gambling.
I wonder how he would feel about being supervised by someone like Stan….
When someone tries to change your teaching and your classroom, and they have no idea what they are talking about, the union is the teacher’s friend.
Thanks for talking me down off the ceiling…
Chance
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From: Kerry
re: How ridiculous is this??
To: Chance sent - Gmail 6:38 AM
Hi Chance—
Have you considered going to your principal?
When are you free to get together and talk about your options?
Kerry
Katy - I'm curious why you chose to make these two cousins...any particular reason?
That is such a good question. When I started writing, I knew that I wanted one teacher to be experienced and the other one to be a new, probationary teacher. I put them at different schools and teaching at different grade levels. I needed something that tied them together that wasn’t a professional mentoring situation. One day, I was out on a walk, and it hit me. COUSINS! They have known each other since they were kids, but they aren’t siblings. The next question is: How did I name them? Anyone interested in that story?