I.T. to Teacher

I just got my unofficial TExES score for Math/Physics in the email. I passed! I got 276 points out of 300. That's 92%. I needed 70% to pass.

One test down. One more test and a whole school year to go before I'm certified.

Jimmy Fast asked what I'll be teaching, and I see I mentioned it about 10 posts ago, but wasn't very descriptive. (How's this for customer service)

I'll be teaching Pre-AP Physics, AP Physics B, and AP Physics C. AP Physics C is calculus based physics. Pre-AP will also be taught by a second teacher, and we'll be doing the same-class-different-teacher kind of thing. We'll give the same handouts, tests, and homework on the same schedule. The other teacher has taught it before so she'll be a big help getting me ready for the year. There was an AP Physics B class last year, and that teacher said she'll be getting me some of her stuff, but they haven't taught AP Physics C before. So not only will I be learning to teach, and learning to teach AP, but I'll be developing an AP course myself (with help, of course). It's a good thing I've done all this before, I just have to spray some WD-40 up my nose to get that part of my brain all nice and lubricated again. I hope I hit the right part the first time; I might not get a second chance.

I am now officially a government employee!

So I signed my contract today, got lots of paperwork for benefits, and found out that my July is now full. Here's how July looks.

5-9: Travel to Chicago to start moving stuff down here.
10-14: AP conference at Texas A&M.
17-22: District training for first year teachers like me.
26-28: District training for teachers new to the district.
August 2: Report to school.

That puts hitches in several plans, and should have my head exploding with info by the time school starts.

There were several first year teachers at this contract signing today. Two were fresh from college, and one other was formerly a lawyer. The lawyer had gotten fed up with law and decided to become a teacher. What a touching story. Someone should make a movie of her life. Just change "lawyer" to "IT geek", and "her" to "me", and we'll make millions! I was talking to one of the new teachers about the job, and she said something to the effect of, "Good job, good pay, good benefits, what's not to like?" Some of you will be wondering at the "good pay" part of that. Just wait; I plan to address that soon.

I just got back the wedding of a couple of college friends. While there I saw a number of people I haven't seen in a while. Several of them are teachers. When they found out I'll be teaching AP my first year I was called many things; the tamest of which is "you bastard." I'd print the others, but, with the exception of the "Shocker" post, this is a family blog.

I was given a warning about the AP conference I'll be attending in a couple of weeks. Apparently, they take 15 minutes of material and take 3 hours to teach it. Ugh, I can't wait. I guess I'll be brushing up my mad Sudoku skillz.

I though I had seen the last of stupid powerpoint presentations when I left the corporate world. Well, I was told that faculty meetings typically have a powerpoint presentation which is printed out and given to you, AND, if that wasn't bad enough, is then read to you. If I could get a firm grasp on my hair I'd pull it out! Three of my pet peeves at once!

Please, for everyone's sake, if you ever have to give a powerpoint presentation:

1. Don't read the slides to me. I'm a big boy; I learned how to read a long time ago.
2. If you have my email address, don't print the slideshow. I'm a big boy; if I want it on paper I can click "print."
3. Come up with a better way of giving your presentation. Technology should be used to enhance your presentation, not be the presentation. If you aren't a necessary part of the presentation then don't present it, email it.

Anyway, everyone had good advice, thinks I'll be a good teacher, and thinks I'll have fun teaching. I'll find out soon enough.

I went to a one day Pre AP conference thing for science teachers. I came away with a big notebook full of stuff that should be useful, and a couple of eyes opened after interacting with public school teachers. Keep in mind that my only experience with public school teachers so far has been my freshman year in high school. Not much to go on.

My "lab partner" for this was a middle school Integrated Physics and Chemistry teacher. I emphasize Chemistry. One of our labs had us measuring the volume of water in a graduated cylinder. Not hard, right? This IPC teacher poured the water in until the line where the water touched the side of the cylinder was at 100. What's wrong with this picture? If you answered, "Aren't you supposed to measure liquid volumes from the apex of the meniscus" you'd be right. Many of you probably remember this from high school, even if you haven't used it since then. I commented to my partner that she needed to add a little more water because we needed to measure from the bottom of the meniscus. She didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. She added a couple of drops (clearly not enough, if she understood) and asked, "How's that?" Ugh, I ended up adding the water myself.

All throughout this class I was seated in the front of the room. I'm normally a mid-back of the room kind of guy, but I figured that teachers are always harping on "sit closer; fill it the empty chairs" so I shouldn't jump to the back. Well, that wasn't the only thing I thought teachers did.

The teachers who were seated in the back of the room spent a lot of the time talking. Sometimes to the point that I was having trouble hearing the instructor. Whatever happened to teachers telling kids to stop talking? Is this a case of "while the kids are away the teachers will play?"

One lab we were supposed to do silently. This was because we had to figure something out without talking about it. How hard is it to get a classroom full of teachers to shut up for a couple of minutes? Apparently, very.

When we came back from a break one of the teachers was talking on his cell phone. This would have been fine if he had stopped talking once the class started, but he didn't. He talked on the phone for several minutes after the instructor started talking again. Eventually, he ended the call with "I have to go now," in a loud whisper. Again, don't teachers keep students from talking on phones during class?

Based on this experience and your comments to an earlier post of mine I'm expecting many surprises once I start working.

Edit: Talk about bad. Who measures water in a graduated calendar.

It's good to know that all of my hard work hasn't been in vain. I've already gotten a 5% raise! That's enough to pay for the ACP I'm in. Sweet.

I got a call yesterday from the school district asking me to come to their next new teacher orientation on the 27th. I'll be doing a variety of things there, but the most important one is signing my contract. When I asked if I'd be signing the contract at the orientation I was told yes, but they considered our verbal agreement to be binding. I guess I've been hired for a while, then. This crazy world of education; I come from the world where nothing is final until it is in writing and signed.

I had 5 hours to take my test this morning; I used 2 of them. Some people would consider that a bad sign, but I take standardized tests quickly and I feel I did pretty well. I'm being cautiously optimistic about it. I'll be able to see my score online on June 30. I'm hoping it will be a good birthday present.

I was surprised by the number of people taking tests today. There were probably 700 people there. I figured it would be a few dozen, or maybe 100, but I was very wrong. There were a couple of dozen in my testing room; one room of nearly 30 total.

I've found, and will elaborate in a future post about a conference I attended last week, that teachers don't follow directions any better than high school students. I thought they would be better than the students since they tend to complain about how bad students are at following directions. However, despite repeated admonitions not to get in the entrance line early or until the line was shorter the line kept growing and growing. People tried to go through the "express lane" (the one you went in if you didn't have a purse to be searched or cell phone to check) with bags and kids. Did they think they were going to check their kid at the property reclamation table, or did they think their kid would be perfectly silent for 5 hours. I think there's a reason they're forbidden from the testing site.

The private school I applied to, the one that was going to decide by May 1, finally decided on a physics teacher. I got my rejection letter in the mail yesterday. No big deal, I would have had to reject them if they had offered me the job.

I did realize that this is the first time I was turned down for a job. Not bad; I'm 28 and only now am I getting my first "Let's just be friends" letter from a company.

On the more promising job front, I got a call from the principal of the school where I'm most likely to be teaching next year...

Ok, I really need to name this school. Hmmm, something random, something anonymous, something fake (no need to confuse anyone). Aha! I've got it. How about Arlen High School from King of the Hill. Sound good?

BILL: Yep.
DALE: Yep.
HANK: Yep.
BOOMHAUER: M-hm.

On the more promising job front, I got a call from the principal of Arlen High School (much better) who told me how to get signed up for the AP summer seminars. She also told me that it took her daughter 3 tries to pass this math/physics test that I'm taking next weekend. Her daughter didn't have the physics background I do, but she just wanted to let me know. I asked if it is a deal breaker if I don't pass the test this first time. She said she didn't think they could offer me a contract if I didn't pass it (since there's not another test date before school starts), but she didn't sound sure. I've talked to other teachers who say that schools hire teachers before they've passed the test because you're not certified until after your first year of teaching (if you're doing it the way I am). I checked my ACP info and it only says that many school districts may not consider you for a job until you pass the test. We'll see what happens.

Things will probably be pretty slow around here until June 10. I've been spending a lot of time studying, and will be doing much of the same for the next week.