THE END IS HERE....

...of my vacation, that is. I must warn you, this post is going to be a whine fest. I don't usually whine too much (do I?), but I really have to get this off my chest, cause you know, it's not good to keep things in, and far being from me to do something that is not good....(not buying it either, uh?). Anyway, in all its wisdom, my district decided to line its school year with that of the local high school district, which starts in one week. Great, since the high school district begins and ends before we usually do, this next year we also should end sooner, right? Wrooong! We don't end  at the end of May like the big kids, that would make too much sense, instead we end a whole two days earlier. We do have three weeks for Christmas and two for Spring break, but I'd much rather have a longer summer.

Ok, now for the real whining (you thought I was done?). Thanks to all the big mess that happened last year with the principal from hell, I was moved to another school, which in and of itself would have been just fine, except they also changed my subject, so now instead of teaching science - my true love - I have to teach history, which is so far away from anything even resembling love, it's not even funny. Just because I can teach both, it doesn't mean I want to teach social studies, I really really don't. I don't just like science, I totally dig it, I dig it so much I read science textbooks for fun (I know, I'm sick...). When I'm online, I'm usually on some science website reading articles etc., I watch the science channel, Discovery channel, National Geographic, you name it, on a regular basis. I feel at my ease talking about the major organs of the human body as well as the big bang theory (not the show), which is not the case with the revolutionary war, the French and Indian wars, the Civil war etc. World history I can almost muster, but I don't get to teach that cause 8th grade is U.S. history...oh joy!

Don't get me wrong, I think American history is very interesting, very relevant and thankfully, unlike that of other countries, but it's just not what I'm into. So, this year I plan on doing a lot of whining about this, in the hopes that somebody might get tired enough to move any of the science teachers from any of the middle schools. What I think is actually messed up is the fact that there are people currently teaching science, who do not have the proper qualifications for it, in other words, are not 'highly qualified', like that stupid NCLB law says. Most of them are elementary teachers to whom the district gave a 'temporary limited permit' to teach science, when there was a big need for science teachers a few years back. Now, those people, whose permits should only be renewed once, are still teaching science, while people like me, with all the requirements etc., have to suck it up and teach history. 

Well, if things don't change this year, it looks like I'll be going back to high school. For now though, a little more whining is in order.........

Trucking Italian style....