Fidgety: Packing it All Up

June 16, 2008

Packing it All Up

As the school year draws to a close, my elementary school colleagues are busy sweating out their end of the school year rituals. No other job offers the yearly benefit of closure and paid vacation; Time to regroup and then to begin anew. Before the joys and freedom of summer can happen, however, a teacher must digest their final helping of last minute demands(abuses), pressure(threats) and anxiety(fear of imperfection). Meeting deadlines(rushing), planning graduations(grin and bear it), budget meetings(more cuts and layoffs), attending award ceremonies(keep smiling), teacher luncheons(not another one), retirement collections(I don't even know her!), reorganization(favoritism at is' best), rating sheets(the final blow), shuffling articulation cards(those poor kids) and the honorary passing of the file cans(whew, you made it).

It is a time to ponder many questions- Should I extend a kindness to the next teacher and complete the file cards or leave the cards for her to fill out in September? Should I run away? Should I turn in my real classroom keys, or -uh just the ones that are useless to me and anyone else who finds them? Should I leave up the backing or rip it down? Should I run away? Should I pack it up or just cover it? Will I have to move my classroom? Will I have a classroom? Will my stuff still be here in September? What should I do with these?( We may never be able to get 'these' again.)-And in the end, nothing ever gets thrown out. The senior teachers have been packing it up since the beginning of March and the newbies are scrambling for closet space while learning the true value of a clean empty carton (They never take advice). Pack Rats we are, always will be. Let's not forget the dreadful thought of having your classroom used for summer school...The thought of unknowns granted free reign of your room and the opportunity to take, use and destroy everything you've worked so hard to maintain.
The trials of teaching. I can't say that I miss them. Although I do miss some of my colleagues, my present situation has taught me who my real friends are. I am grateful to be away from the toxicity of an unfair administration and the daily injustices I've beared witness to. I am grateful to have removed the rose colored glasses and clearly see through the facade that our country calls Public Education.

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Origin of The Rubber Room...(From Rubberroommovie.com)

Exact specifics as to when, why and how The Rubber Room came into being are next to impossible to come by, although wild speculation abounds. The likelihood is that, rather than being consciously created by any one person or group, The Rubber Room slowly but surely developed over a period of years through a process of trial and error, whereby teachers deemed unfit to remain in the classroom where "reassigned" to the nearest empty and available administrative space.
The term "The Rubber Room" appears nowhere in the formal legislative code governing New York City schools. When a New York City educator is sent to The Rubber Room, that educator is not openly or specifically told that he or she will be going to a place called "The Rubber Room". Moreover, if you telephoned an official in the New York City school system and asked for directions to "The Rubber Room", you may very well likely receive a response, possibly masked in faux confusion, telling you that there is no such place called "The Rubber Room". Nevertheless, "the room" undoubtedly exists and, because it has no official name, those three provocative and inflammatory words, "The Rubber Room", make up the default epithet by which it has come to be known, even by high-ranking school officials, many of whom find the phrase distasteful.
The exact meaning behind the words "The Rubber Room" is a topic of hot debate, particularly for occupants of The Rubber Room itself, some arguing that it is a reference to a padded room where mentally ill patients are placed, others proposing it is a room where once normal people are slowly and steadily driven crazy, still others believing it to be simply a generic allusion to a prison cell. There are even some -- more than one might initially suspect -- who claim to have been present during the exact moment when the phrase was coined, or even to have coined it themselves. Aside from etymological differences, however, almost everyone agrees that "The Rubber Room" is a pejorative term used to describe a room where New York City teachers are sent, usually involuntarily, to sit idle day after day while still collecting their salaries, often for months and sometimes for years at a time.
Over the years, many have made efforts to eradicate The Rubber Room entirely. For example, in March 2002, then Chancellor Harold Levy vowed to close The Rubber Room after becoming frustrated with a particular case, and in January 2004 Randi Weingarten, UFT President, called for an unconditional end to all of New York's Rubber Rooms. Despite best efforts, however, "the room" remains. http://www.rubberroommovie.com/

Do not believe...

Do not believe because you read it in a book,
Do not believe because you saw it on television,
Do not believe because science says so,
Do not believe because a famous person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person believes it,
Do not believe because your best friend believes it,
Do not believe because everyone else believes it,
Do not believe because others have believed it for a thousand years,
Do not believe because you've heard it many times before,
Do not believe because you are told you must,
Do not believe because others expect you to,
Do not believe because it gets you accepted
Do not believe because it will make your parents happy,
Do not believe because it will get you noticed,
Do not believe because you want to believe,
Do not believe because you can't afford not to,
Do not believe because it helps you cope,
Do not believe because you'd go mad if you didn't,
Do not believe because you must believe something
Do not believe because there's nothing else to believe,
Do not believe because it feels good to believe,
Do not believe because it makes sense,
Do not believe because your eyes tell you it is so,
Do not believe because it is your own experience,
Do not believe because it feels true,
Do not believe because you know it is true,
Do not believe any of this, Believe only that you are,
And do not even believe that,
For that is beyond belief.

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