Without going into too much detail, I’ve been doing a stipend-paid extra-duty role for a few years now, and I’m considering hanging it up.

It’s a support role that sort of fell into my lap. It’s a position where there are times where I don’t feel like I’m really making much of a difference, but at the same time people would notice if I WASN’T there doing things behind the scenes.

When the previous person in this position retired, I was called up and asked if I would want it. The head honcho knew I had experience and know-how from a similar role that I had previously stepped away from. This new one was for a much bigger time commitment than my previous role, but it also came with a good paycheck, averaging out hourly to about what I make in my actual teaching role (if not a little bit more).

There are SOME parts of the extra-duty role I enjoy: mainly a social aspect of it. There are other parts where it is draining.

Spouse tries to encourage me to stick with it whenever I bring it up, citing that I seem to enjoy it and that the money is nice. But the nights I am gone are really hard on them and the kids.

I’m just torn. On the one hand, a little extra money from the stipend is nice. But on the other hand, I don’t think we would be hurting without it. In the somewhat similar position a few years ago that I stepped away from, the time WAS the major issue.

My oldest is starting elementary school next year and I need to start touring the local elementary schools to decide where to send her. I live in southwest United States. I have been doing the hooked on phonics program, piano lessons, and reading for 45 minutes to an hour every night to my child for the past three years, preparing her for school. We have no television in the house (other than mine in my bedroom) and no iPads either. I will continue to supplement her education at home through reading, but I also wants her to have a good school. I am curious what would a teacher look for in a school if it were their own child? What questions would you ask on the tours?

Just a little something to entertain your brain and sense of humor!

Can we PLEASE normalize crows, direct instruction, and independent work again? Not everything needs to be a damn social event.

Maybe I’m just old fashioned but I miss when desks were in rows, kids faced the front, and it was harder for them to sit there and talk to each other all class. I’m so tired of everything having to be collaborative. Turn and talks, group work, partner discussions, you name it. Why does EVERYTHING have to involve students talking to each other? What’s wrong with sitting down and listening to the teacher, and doing some independent work…?

My school is supposedly an “IB school,” which is honestly hilarious considering roughly half our students have been failing the state assessments for at least five years, and our behavior problems are through the roof. But sure, let’s take a bunch of kids who already can’t stop talking, put them in groups, and encourage them to talk even more. I’m sure they’re all discussing the lesson and not what happened at lunch.

And God forbid an administrator walks in and sees kids sitting quietly, actually doing their work. Suddenly, we’re not engaging students enough.

I’m not against collaboration entirely. It has its place. But not every damn lesson needs a turn and talk or group activity. Some of these kids can barely handle sitting next to their friends without getting off task.

This year, admin made it very clear that all material and curriculum outside the official accepted curriculum is forbidden. Teachers-Pay-Teachers was expressly forbidden.
However, I'm new to the district's language arts curriculum and there are some problems with it.
For example, our pacing guide says I should teach about point of view, but then requires the students to study folktales from the anthology. At the same time, our spelling words come from a completely different unit entirely, so the spelling pattern comes from a different story and isn't supported in the current weekly text. Neither does the grammar, which comes from yet another unit. The writing topic is about opinions. To follow the framework and pacing guide, I'd have to have four teacher editions out at one time.

The other teachers in my grade level all have years of experience with this curriculum, and have augmented it with lots of TPT materials. They use these outside materials to cover gaps in the assigned curriculum. They know the standards so well they can just "wing it" if needed.

Meanwhile I'm spending three to four hours a week cross-referencing the pacing guide with the standards guide and the framework just trying to figure out *what* I'm supposed to teach the next week while frantically work out what to teach *this* week. As a result, I start each week completely unprepared.

The new admin has noticed my difficulty and has attempted to "help". I'm often asked what the other teachers are doing. I can't answer that question without tattling on my colleagues. I've brought this problem to my grade level teachers, who say they don't care if they get caught, because the curriculum is ineffective and what they've been using for years is helping students be successful. They've also offered to help by sharing their materials.

If I accept their help and use TPT or their other forbidden materials, it's a big risk. If students are not successful, that's what admin will point to as the reason. Admin is watching me closely. I can't explain why the other teachers are doing well without exposing them, and I value their friendship and support more than the admin.

Meanwhile, my students not successful because I'm doing what admin requires. What should I do?