I Am Your Plan Break: My 37 years as a Public School "Specials" Teacher

THE ONE WHERE MY PRINCIPAL CUT MY JOB 1999-2000: *Wichita Public Schools: Lewis Open Magnet K-5 Library 1999-2000 School Year Photo I returned to work in August not enjoying my current school. I taught my weekly classes but had to be available to be a substitute SRS Reading instructor if necessary. My substituting happened frequently. The only thing that had made this all manageable was the introduction of Library automation to the Wichita Public Schools. I remember having 4th and 5th grade Library Lunch helpers that helped me in the Library. One of the fun things I allowed the kids to do was to remove the green and white library checkout cards from the books and throw them into the air as they were no longer needed. The automation system we used was WEB CAT and it was the best technological advance of my career. It allowed me to keep better track of the students' books and simply made things easier. This was NECESSARY for me because I had little if any time beyond my contractual ...

THE ONE WHERE MY STUDENTS CALLED ME NATALIE 1998-1999: *Wichita Public Schools: Lewis Open Magnet K-5 Library 1998-99  School Year Photo Lewis Open Magnet allowed the students to call the staff by their first names. The staff members referred to the students as their friends. I think that the rooms were combined and that each room had two teachers for two different grade levels. I also believe it was the first time in my career that I experienced all day Kindergarten. So when the Kindergarten/First Grade class came to the Library only half of them came with one of the teachers, while the other teacher remained behind with the other half of the class. Lewis was a small school with only two sections per grade level. It was challenging for me to come up with Library lessons that suited the combined grade levels of Kindergarten/First and Second/Third. Fourth/Fifth wasn’t as big of a problem.  I initially liked my Principal. He was in his first year as an Administrator. His family...