#nyc educators

Too bad there’s still Regents....

It was regarding how many absences I've taken. I just laughed - they can't be serious, can they? My first year, I came to school when I had the flu, when I was completely burnt out, while a blizzard was occurring, and even when I was concussed after a car accident. I had perfect attendance even though it almost killed me with the amount of stress I went through. My second year, I only took two sick days. Both of these days were in the month of June, looking into other opportunities. My third year, I was finally smart enough to realize my personal health came first. Unfortunately, this was also the year a lot of shitty things happened. My aunt (who I practically considered another grandmother) unexpectedly passed away. Then, I was in the hospital. Next, my grandfather died. All the while, I'm trying to stay afloat at school with admins strapping weights to my feet and telling me to keep going. It was the most difficult year I've had yet. Taking an appropriate amount of excused sick days for myself is understandable - unless you're the principal at my school. It's like all signs are pointing away from this place. I've gotta get out of here.

Anyone want to take bets on whether we have a snow day Tuesday?

"My instinct as your teacher, someone who loves you, is to turn our classroom into a space of self love. I want to ease your worried minds, as if being Black and Brown in this country wasn’t already hard enough. As if you haven’t already told me your one purpose in this world is to be Black and die. I want to tell you that you matter."

Walked into class and realized I'm teaching health to a 12-1-1 class. My syllabus and plans immediately had to change. Their parents are probably confused at what I sent home with their kids... I just wish I knew this before I walked into the room today. Anyways, anyone have any tips for teaching 12-1-1? I've observed in them before for my masters that I'm working on in special education, but the teacher really "watered down" the content to 1st or 2nd grade level. These students are 6th graders.... I currently don't have a course outline or anything... I only knew I was teaching health two days ago. Any help or feedback you could give would be fabulous!

This summer has been the best summer yet! Unfortunately, I believe part of that is from trying to stay away from all things school related. I just don't want to stress out over things I can't control, and with some of us going back to school already, I'm beginning to get the back to school blues... And I still have 2 weeks! I would love your input on some "bucket list" things I should do before school starts. I live about an hour train ride from NYC (where I'll be tonight and Sunday! :) ). So far, it's a lot of time at the beach and relaxing.