The trip to Kansas was a stress-reliever in several ways:
1. I had 6.5 hours of Me-Time on Friday (& Sunday) to let things percolate in my cabeza.
2. Uberschool Drama took a backseat while I hung out with BabyGrape and His Peeps.
3. I got to see non-Metroplex scenery (i.e. farms, cows, corn).
4. I spent 2 hours in one of my all-time favorite stores on Sunday -- Gordman's.
Thanks to the miles of interstate, I achieved some perspective on Thursday's events. Let's discuss....
I'll admit I'm not always the easiest person to get along with. It's true in my personal life, and it's also true in my professional life.
I know this about myself, and knew that sharing the responsibilities of the credit-recovery lab with another teacher during this summer session was going to be a challenge. I had a conversation with myself about being flexible...non-bitchy...et cetera.
I was doing really well...I wasn't totally jazzed about the 100% Black & White Rule Enforcement Orientation of my partner, but I decided I could roll with it.
We had joined forces in our quest to clear up the mess left by the first session's teachers. We were doing fine...even splitting up the information gathering duties in the interest of efficiency.
Thursday, PAPartner and I decided we needed AdministrativeIntervention to figure out what had happened. I went to MyAPBuddy to talk to her about TheMess....PAPartner knew I was going....and why I was leaving my kiddos temporarily unsupervised.
And then, the fit hit the shan...
About 10 minutes later, MyAPBuddy and I were picking away at the mess....making slooooow progress.
PseudoGruffAP comes in and says, "Ms. H...you need to stay in your classroom. PAPartner is complaining about having to watch your kids."
As he's talking, I'm thinking "He's joking around. He's always giving me a hard time...this is the same old.....wait. He seems more serious than usual....is he serious.....WTF??!?! "
I don't remember the exact conversation that ensued...but I gathered that she had called him down there for something...and then used the opportunity to rat me out. I also gathered that he thinks she's a pain in the ass...and wasn't upset with me at all.
Still.
After we hammered out TheMess, I left that office PISSED.
That heifer ratted me out.
And I didn't do anything.
I go back to my class....and the vibe has most definitely shifted. These kids, who have given me zero problem allllll week, are now chatting and dinking around and not listening to my redirects.
My antennae went up when I told one kid to get to work, and he said, "I'm taking a break."
I said, "I'm gonna take a break!"
and he said..."Miss, you already did."
And then he and the dos amigos started cracking up.
2nd clue: I was grading McSneaky's packet, and asked him why part of it was such shoddy work.
McS: "I couldn't think because I didn't have my music to listen to."
Me: "Too bad. You know it's not allowed in here. You're lucky you had it as long as you did...until I figured out just how big a deal it is in this lab."
McS: "Miss. It's not like you're gonna get in trouble. PseudoGruffAP will just laugh like he did a while ago."
That's right folks. That heifer ratted me out in front of my students.
Fast forward THREE HOURS to the end of the school day....
PAPartner comes in and makes some snide comment to McSneaky about no more music.
I stick up for him, saying that he only listened to it the first day...and he's been good since.
PAPartner: *with smugdamn look* No he hasn't. He was doing it today. I called PseudoGruffAP on him. If he does it again, he's out.
At that point, my vision got all tunnelly...and there was a scritchy-scratchy sound around the edges.
I don't know. Maybe it's me. But I expect to be treated like a professional....since I am one.
*I rarely...rarely...leave my kids unsupervised.
*If I do, it's because I am relatively confident I can trust them.
*But I'm also willing to be held accountable if they do something stupid.
*I trust that, if they do something stupid, I'll find out. I don't assign a StudentSnitch.
*I also trust that, if another teacher takes it upon herself to "surveil" my class, I will be updated when I return.
*I also expect that I....that's me -- the top of the classroom org. chart--...will not have my authority usurped by another adult who has a preexisting grudge with one of my kids.
Luckily for her, I didn't have time to confront her after school Thursday.
After the trip to the Sunflower State, I was in a much calmer frame of mind this morning. Before school this morning, I confronted her about Thursday's chain of events.
I started by asking her what she said about me to the AP.
She claimed he asked her where I was.
She told him, "I don't know."
My thought bubble: " !@#%!^#$&%#%^&$%^&^%$ "
My response: "You did too know. I went down there to figure out the mess from first session."
I let her know that I didn't appreciate being left out of the loop for 3 hours and having to deal with the disobedient dynamic in the meantime.
Her Response: "I didn't say anything to the kids."
Me: "Maybe not, but they heard your conversation with the AP."
Her: "Oh."
Me: "You know, I'm a full-fledged teacher and have been here several years. I am quite capable of handling my classroom. I don't appreciate being treated like a student teacher."
Her: *pissy stare*
She never apologized. In fact, she acted like she was totally within her rights to do whatever the hell she pleased with my kids.....this chapped me, but students started entering, so I dropped the conversation. She tried to continue, but I shut her down. I may be hard to get along with, but I will not disrespect a colleague by confronting them in front of students.
I'm not naive. Nothing was 100% solved, but hopefully she's realized that this behavior is not going to fly with me. She may get away with this passive-aggressive crap with other people, but not this duck.
I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow.
I wish I'd bought that shirt I saw at the mall. I'd love to wear it tomorrow.
"People like you are why people like me need medication."
~quack