msunrullieone

thanks Drew!

Ok, specifically, in the districts I have taught in, which were specifically located in the coastal plains area of Texas and south Texas, ACP candidates were not considered highly qualified. YMMV I have seen job applicants leave in tears when their alt cert resumes are put in a separate stack during job fairs with hundreds of applicants. Maybe they've passed their TeXes before they've set foot in a classroom, but they aren't considered fully certified until their first year of teaching internship is completed and they are recommended to SBEC for full certification?! I am speaking from my experience sitting on the hiring committee at the District level. It was very sad to me to see so many high-caliber people who weren't getting a second look---I won't serve on that committee again because it was too stressful! Landing the first 'internship' teaching job is difficult in my area because in the cases I've seen, the principal has to deal with an ACP mentor for the first year. The ACP candidate is on a temporary certification initially. Of course, they probably do things differently in other places. Again, I'm only speaking of my experience in my specific area of Texas, I wish the OP the best because there is always room for someone with a passion for teaching--no matter how they initially obtained their certification.

Just be careful if you get into an alternative certification course for teaching. Research their job placement rate before sending them your money. In my area, there is a glut of teachers and not many teaching jobs. A lot of career changers think they can "always teach", and join the ACP programs. They still have to secure a job in order to complete the program internship. With NCLB, schools have to have 'Highly Qualified' teachers. Generally, an alt cert candidate on an internship would not be considered highly qualified, and the school would have to send out letters to all parents letting them know their kid is not being taught by a qualified teacher for that year. Most districts would rather not go that way unless they absolutely have to. My district hired 32 teachers this year, and received 2100 applications for those jobs. I was on a hiring committee and there were so many talented people applying for jobs. I'm really not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but keep your eyes open!

"Dad" attended a Judas Priest concert that night instead of trying to find his kid. He is also schizophrenic per local news interview tonight.

Federal law does not mandate 'inclusion' in schools; it does require the child with the disability to be educated in the least restrictive environment to the maximum extent appropriate with nondisabled peers. Depending on the child's individual needs, that setting may or may not be inclusion in the gen ed classroom. The dog might actually work harder than some of the whackadoodle assistants I've had in the past!

Well, it was better today. We had our room clean-up day and then we were treated to a nice lunch by the PTC. I'm still blown away by that lady though. My principal told me not to worry about it--I just feel so badly about my student. I think I handled things ok--I wish my other kids wouldn't have heard her cuss. But....they're going into 5th grade now, so they've probably heard it before. I learned the importance of CYA from a veteran teacher my first year of teaching. She taught me a lot but I'll always remember her telling me that the "CYA folder" would come in handy sometime in the future.

Last day of school today...yay! One of my students earned an 89 semester grade which is a B+. Had a parent go whacko about it because it was not an A. Why was it not an A? Well because the grades earned over the semester averaged an 89. She screams, "I should have been told if my DD wasn't getting a F*#%@in A". Nice, right in front of a group of 9 year olds. Well, msunrullieone has her stuff together. Let me pull DD's folder. Why here is a progress report with your husband's signature on it...showing the grade 3 weeks ago. Here is a printout of Gradespeed with the parent login documentation dates with the grades at that time. Here is the child's weekly folder with parental signatures for the past year. Here is a copy of the email sent to me with my reply on the extra credit work...which your daughter never did! She then had the nerve to tell me that I should have known better than to communicate with her husband (who lives in the same house) because HE forgets to tell her things! So its still my fault according to her. What am I supposed to do? Call Lifetime Network to stage a freakin' intervention for the entire family? As she stormed off with her poor kid in tears, she said she was going to the School Board about me because she was going to have my job. Take it, witch. Grrrr

Grading expectations and late policies should have been sent home and returned with a parent's signature. If my students have an excused absence, the clock starts ticking when they return to class. No work submitted is graded as follows: Late work 1 day = automatic 20 points off. 2 days= 25 points off. After that = 0. I teach 4th graders and they are well aware of the rules. I heard some excuses at the beginning of the year, but by mid-September they knew it didn't matter if the dog ate it, or baby bro puked on it. They needed to redo it and they did! If she was getting As for 90% of the work, a 0 for a 10% assignment should not have thrown her to an F. Are you positive she was getting As prior to this assignment? Kids start to do some squirrely things in middle school. (I have a 5th grader myself) I'd question how the assignments are weighted. If there is an online parent portal, such as Gradespeed, the assignment weights will be detailed there. IMHO, sounds like DD knew she had to redo the assignment but got caught up in summeritis. Now that it's coming back to bite her, suddenly the communication is becoming a bit murky.

Chiropractic care has worked for me. I've had chronic back/neck pain due to injuries. I go to the chiro every couple of months just to get realigned. Definitely has helped me. Hope you feel better soon!

Is it wrong that this makes me laugh hysterically? Seriously, this is getting insane. It would be more funny if I weren't living here. Don't they think people will start making runs on the stores and stop showing up at work, or sending kids to school? And forgive my typo in the original post---I mean to say "expect" not suspect, I was talking and typing. What station was saying this? I didn't watch the news this morning.

It hits close to home I guess, when it literally is close to home.

They just closed down the entire school district for a week where that kid goes to school.

Jennifer Aniston

Wow, what posturing Governor Good Hair is doing today.

They've shown me nothin' but love.