It's been quite some time since I've been able to add to/edit this blog.  I've wanted to but continually forget password, login name, etc.

So for now...let's just say that I've been officially "retired" from public school teaching since the end of school year 2022.  The circumstances of that retirement are full of drama but let's just say that those who "retired" me meant it for evil but God meant it for good!  The district I was working for - or at least one or two administrators - don't like  headstrong people, especially when their long-standing experience and expertise flies in the face of the latest "paradigm."

I have several pet peeves:

1. The term Moving Forward

2. The term Paradigm Shift

3. People with Pet Peeves

 

When I was finishing my undergraduate degree (finally) I had a wonderful Elementary Music Education Professor who had won awards all over and was highly regarded as one of if not the best Elementary Music expert on the planet.  If you could pass muster with her, you were set to go.  My first position out of college was with a local school district who shall remain, for now, nameless.  This was the first year that all of the Elementary Music teachers were certified in K - 12 music teaching.  The lady I replaced had little if any formal teaching credential.  

They (admin, kinder teachers) hated me.  I wasn't supposed to be teaching, I was just supposed to have the children sing cute little songs by rote - to education involved.

I had one of my colleagues come and observe me so I could find out what I was doing wrong.  She said, "Mrs. Blank was loved but she didn't teach those kids anything."  She  told me I was doing it right but that since I wasn't doing that to which they were accustomed, they were going to hate me.  I showed my principal the state standards for music and I told him, Mr. Blank, these are the state standards for music.  I'm supposed to be teaching to these standards.  He replied, "Those aren't Blank District standards."

 

Bear in mind, I had been teaching informally for twenty years as an avocation prior to completing my music degree.  I wasn't some green kid who just fell off the truck  I also got some good education at Bear Down Music College.

So, I was encouraged by my college at Blank District to inquire at another local district about employment there.  It turns out they were desperate for a band director at a west side middle school.  Their desperation was my ticket.  They 8th grade kids were pretty angry since their fave teacher had left after the first week of school and they  had already run off several subs.  The seventh grade class had about half great kids and half troublemakers...only there to disrupt.  The sixth graders didn't know any different so there were the easiest.   It took some convincing but I finally got the principal to remove the troublemakers from seventh grade but the eight graders were going to remain a challenge.  I was so fortunate, however, that the well respected "leader" of the eighth grade band decided that I was OK since I had challenged them to give my their worst if they wanted but I was not going to leave them, as had their fave teacher and several others.  She once stood up in class during one particularly nasty "get it off their chest" session and told the class, "You're just mad at Miss G for leaving and you're taking it out on Mr. Crawford!"  The room became deathly quiet.  They knew she was right.  Things improved greatly after that and we wound up with a pretty successful year.  

I stayed there for a total of eight years then -  due to a racist principal who had taken over several years prior I was asked to take over another school not too far away.  Still west side.  I tougher school in which to build a band but, since I was at that school only for the full day instead of traveling all over the students and I became pretty close after some first year "adjusting."

I was able to teach my way, without much interference.  Due to some political cahootinizing the entire admin and staff were fired from that school.  The details are gory but it involved a district level assistant superintendent manipulating test results to make it appear as if the school was "failing."  Another elementary administrator wanted out building for a K8 school and was going to stop at nothing to make that happen.  It was ugly.

I left the district for a private school for a year.  That had it's really good points and it's really bad points.  I will not cast shade here - it would be inappropriate.

During that year I had taken the High School Marching Band to the Eastern Arizona College Marching competition where the student earned a Superior rating.  I had a great conversation with one of the judges following the awards ceremony.  TB.

When I left the private school I was looking for a position when I applied at an east side district and discovered during the interview that one of the interviewers was the same gentleman I had met at the Marching Competition.  They called me two hours later and offered me the position.  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for but there was room to advance to where I wanted to be.  My principal was the type who said, "Do you know what to do?"  I said yes.  He replied, "Then go do it and let me know if you need anything.'

That lasted for just over ten years until I got covid and was misquoted as having said, "Covid is a hoax" when in fact what I had said, while trying to get the students to make more room between them, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we need to be more careful, Covid is NO HOAX."  The elementary principal with whom I clearly had become cross wise use that as here opportunity to lie to the board who voted to dismiss me from my position.  When I made it clear to the HR rep that I was not going to take it lying down (pun intended since I has home in bed with Covid when he called) they relented and said I could resign at the end of the school year.  Since I would have enough points to officially retire I decided that was my best course of action.  Bear in mind, I was technically on administrative leave so i was paid full salary, with benefits for the remainder of the school year which was about eight months.  

The reason I mentioned earlier that, while they meant it for evil but God meant if for good was that it was during this time that I had to move my folks into assisted living, sell their house, arrange all of their finances (which were deplorable) and arrange for all of their medical care.  The "idle" time I had was needed to deal with all of the responsibilities I now had in front of me.

So...I've made a long story even longer; but the bottom line is that God Is Good and He totally had my back then as he does now.