This sucks!

I was told today that my teaching contract with the school I'm at is NOT being renewed for the 2009-2010 school year because I am "too negative, never telling parents what their child does right, only what they do wrong. Parents are concerned that their child has had a negative experience in your class this year." I only know of 1 parent that wasn't happy with something that I said and that's because her son took what I said and completely twisted it. This parent took her kid out of my class in January and other than that, I don't know of ANY complaints against me that are reguarding me being negative. I did have 1 parent that was upset about an assignment, but his kid is still in my math class and we seem to have no worries now that things have gone through the proper channels.

My principal told me once (less than a month ago) that "I'd really like to talk to you about positive presentation, because I just really feel like that's key." And in 1 email she said, "Remember to stay positive." Other than that, nothing else has been said to me. Everything in my evaluations went smooth and the areas I was told to work on, I have to the best of my ability.

I really feel like I'm being lied to. One of the teachers that helped interview candidates to fill positions we knew were being left said that the principal offered 2 girls jobs and NEITHER one has graduated from college yet. Today my principal let 3 out of the 4 people she called into her office go. All 3 of us have our teaching licenses and none of us are first year teachers. The 1 teacher she did renew a contract for is an ARL teacher. Don't get me wrong, she's fabulous & I was planning to put Samantha in her class next year. I just think something's wrong when 3 certified, non first year teachers are fired and a first year ARL teacher is given a renewed contract.

At this point I just feel really upset. I have put absolutely EVERYTHING into this job. I have missed a lot of my daughter's kindergarten experience, my son's first preschool experience and my other son's first year of life. I think I've gone above and beyond what I've been asked to do. I'm the (volunteer) teacher advisor for the student newspaper and I'm on Community Council -volunteer AGAIN- (both of which are extracurricular with no extra pay). I'm at school at 7:30 am and my contract says I don't need to be there until 8:00. I didn't leave until at least 6 pm every day before Trav started working in WY and I don't leave until at least 4:15 pm since then and my contract says I only have to stay until 4 pm. I just really feel like maybe teaching isn't going to be worth it. I put my heart and soul into my job and this is the thanks I get (twice now for those of you who know my history). I keep asking myself "Why do this to yourself again?"

On the bright side: Travis avoided getting laid off this week when Halliburton did their first round of layoffs!

Have a better week than ME!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Ahh!

Here's how my conversation with Travis went earlier today.

"Oh yea, I was going to tell you..."

"What?"

"Caleb pulled himself up to the TV last night and stood there for a minute before he fell on his face."

"What?!"

Well, this has been a busy week for that boy! Learned to crawl on all fours on Monday, got his tooth all the way through on Tuesday, and pulled himself into a standing position and held it on Thursday! Any bets on how quick he learns to run? ;)

Growing fast...

Well, Caleb's stubborn tooth finally came in on Tuesday. Yay! I hope that means that the rest will come quickly and we will be on our merry way to the next phase of life! Teething is the worse! And to top it off, he's been teeth since he came out (I'm not even joking on this one).
And, the even bigger news - he now crawls on his knees like a regular big boy! How sad! :(
Since it's nearly midnight on a school night I will have to post pictures this weekend, but I wanted to share the news!

New pix

We went to kiddie kandids yesterday. CUTEST pictures I think I've ever gotten!
Go see!
http://mystudio.kiddiekandids.com/viewinvite.aspx?c=034041697BVVH7MME

Go vote for Caleb!

So I entered a picture of Caleb in a photo contest. Go to this link: https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index.aspx?referid=EmailFriends&p=1303442&x=.JPG
& vote for his pic. It brings up a bunch of offers so just click skip or pass on all of them. It also sends you a confirmation email that you must click on that link to confirm your vote. When you bring that up it brings up the offers again. Just click the skip or pass again & eventually you get to the end where you can look at all the other pictures that have been entered!
Thanks for your vote!

Caleb's new trick!

Watch closely & you'll get to see Caleb's newest tongue trick...it's pretty dang cute if I do say so myself!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Misc.

Well, the good news is that I got my computer back without having to buy a new one. The even better news is that everything was still on my hard drive! Including pictures!!
The boys go in for tubes tomorrow at 6:30 am. That should be a bucket of fun! This is Nash's 3rd go 'round & Caleb's 1st. I think (not wishing) Caleb will get them 3 times as well since that's what Sam had too & Caleb has had the most and the worst ear infections & he's getting his tubes the youngest!

Not my month with computers...

So, I think I mentioned a bit ago about how my macbook (school laptop) totally crashed during the week before grades/report cards were due. Well, this weekend, my home computer decided to follow suit. Friday and Saturday when I tried to turn it on, the screen just went to power save automatically. So, on Saturday I took my computer into Computer Wise. The guy told me it was "either the motherboard or a bad video card." For those not so savvy with techie talk - crashed motherboard = buy new computer. Yes, I was sad. Not surprised though because my home computer is six years old. Well, after several phone calls today I have been told: the battery on the motherboard went out = $5, 2 new sticks of RAM = $5/each, 1 hr of labor = about $80, new case for external hard drive (bought Sept. 07 and it only worked for a month) = $40 but it gave it to me for $29.99 b/c it was their case on it that was bad (should've taken it in a year and a half ago while it was still under warranty!!!) = Grand Total just under $200. Oh goody! At least it wasn't a whole new computer! Bad side = they had to reformat my hard drive so I lost about a floppy disk worth of data (including some pix that I didn't have backed up yet :( ). Oh well, I guess it could have been a lot worse!! Hope you're having better luck than me in the technology department!!

Thankful Thursday

Thanks Aliyah for reminding me to do this!

I am thankful for the infectious laugh of my children & their endless wonder at the little things in life.

I am thankful for a mother that will pick up my children in a moments notice.

I am thankful for Laura who will keep my boys longer at a moments notice!

I am thankful for my dad who is willing to go to bat for me even if it might be a losing battle.

I am thankful for my husband who refuses to give up.

I am thankful for tax refunds!

I am thankful for the BEST ENT EVER!

I am thankful for ear tubes (one week to go!!)

I am thankful for family & friends that are caring & patient.

And, I guess I'm thankful for TJ the BFE -- he really is kinda cool. ;)

Mr. Happy

I don't know if this video has sound or not because my speakers are on the blitz. I just wanted to show you what an infectious laugh this child has! Let me know if you can hear any sound or not!