Welcome Back Kotter

"So....you remember when I stopped being a walker?" a student asked me.  She was referring to something that happened last spring, as if it had just happened.  

"Yup." I responded.  

"So, I didn't know we were moving.  I had to take the bus and while it was pulling away, I saw you, I saw all of you walking away without me."

I had no idea that would make her sad.  When she said moving, she was talking about going to the women and children homeless shelter in Atlanta.  There aren't a lot of them, so I actually know where she was.  This eternally optimistic child told me last spring that even though the bus ride was long, she thought the city lights of Atlanta were beautiful.  

"Look at this."  she instructed, showing me a blingy necklace that said "TAURUS".

"It's my zodiac sign.  I got to go to the mall last weekend."

I smiled.

"Taurus are good people."

The internet has been restored to my trailer.  After seven weeks and three classroom moves, my classroom trailer is almost fully functioning.  I still can't hear the school announcements or the fire alarm, or enter the building without running all the way around to the front because the key card thing doesn't work, but my mood soared when I finally got internet.  The phone works, too, but I was good with it never working again.  I am not sure what you call this syndrome, the one where you get treated like such crap that you appreciate a dry piece of bread instead of the full dinner that they owe you.  

I actually think the lessons I design are pretty good.  Not having the internet impacted my activities.  After using up all my hotspot data, my students and I took to roaming around the school, trying to get inside because the key card doesn't work in the back of the school and to search for a wifi signal.  We joked that our next step would be just to pile in my car and sit in the McDonald's parking lot, using their wifi.  

I started hiding out in random places in the building, trying to get my planning and paperwork done with the internet access I needed.  It sucked because my files and reference materials were in the trailer and no matter where I went, I was constantly interrupted.  By my students.  By teachers.  By this awful chair by the copier that pinched my fingers really hard whenever I tried to skootch up.  My only productive day was sitting with one of the custodians in my pinchy chair while he ate some kind of Lean Cuisine and watched Netflix on his phone and I got some plans done.  

"Hey.  I've been wanting to talk to you.  You come in my classroom a lot, and get kids."

I looked at the little boy while I tried to get some work done in the library.

"My mom's Puerto Rican.  My dad's Black.  I live with my grandmother.  I don't see too much of my parents, haven't seen my dad in eight years.  This school, I don't know, I'm not sure if I like it.  A lot of yelling."

"I'm sorry to hear that.  But it is really nice to meet you.  Hopefully I'll see you again soon."

I turned back to my computer.  

Around a third of my students this year are brand new.  They have brought an array of, I don't know, issues.  Three of them have never been to school before, though they should be in first and second grade.  One has been periodically removed from school by her parents, missing both second and fifth grade.  Another clearly has a cognitive issue and steals compulsively.  She has physically attacked one of her teachers, twice.  One of my kindergartners rolls on the floor under the table the rest of us are sitting at, scratching my ankles.  Another kindergartner just randomly screams.  A third appears to not be school age, but he keeps coming anyway.  Everyone keeps complaining about my new third grader that spits at everyone in the cafeteria.  I saw one of the "never been to school before" kids pick up a Capri Sun off the floor and try to drink it.  My "never been to school" first grader crashes into walls with snot all over his face.  

"Hi...."  a little girl said while sidling up to me in the library while I tried to work.
"I think I have ADHD.  I wanted to talk to you.  I just have a lot of anxiety....."  she continued.  
"Well, if this is something that really concerns you, ask your parents to take you to the pediatrician.  They can figure it out!"  I said, patting her hand.
"So... what do you do here?"  she asked.
"I teach English to kids that speak other languages."
She looked at me blankly.  I guess she thought I did something else.  

I have about ten more students on my overall roster than I did last year. I also have a new boss.  I am not even sure how to tactfully describe this.  I'll just say, I got a bit of a dressing down for my "communication".  For not telling my new boss that I needed a schedule.  Which of the students are in the ESOL program.  For not scheduling our new part-time ESOL teacher their instructional hours.  Things that are really basic components of said person's job and honestly, things that I neither want to do or am authorized to do.  My students are also usually clustered in one classroom, by grade level.  Now, they are sprinkled throughout the school in around thirteen different classrooms.  I haven't had a planning period in weeks.  

"How was I to know that you did not have a schedule?  I have seen you with children." she informed me, leaning in to my face.

"Well, I wasn't going to just sit here for six weeks, doing nothing."  I responded. 

My bad.  Really, my bad.  It's hard to explain the problems I am having on the job but the bottom line is, I am not training an administrator.  Their job is basically the same at whatever crap-ass school they go to in the district.  I am upset that I am stretched so thin that I don't feel like I am serving my students in the best way that they need.  And they need.  They need a lot.