Real Life Issues, Real Talk

Posted by saintheartwing 6 years ago

 

Okay. I am going to get absolutely honest and blunt.

You may remember I was on probation at work. Well it's gotten worse. You see, as part of probation, I'm given much less leeway than other instructional assistants/paraprofessionals or teachers at the job. I'm not allowed to use my phone, to doodle, to read, even if a student is working at a vocational place, like in a garage and hard at work on a car and doesn't need to be distracted by someone over their shoulder. I'm not permitted to really speak out against students I'm not currently with either. For example. I had wanted to get into a conversation with one of the students. He, however, reacted very negatively to my trying to join in, basically thinking I was butting in and kind of yelling at me. I got in trouble for that, and I got in trouble for telling a female student she shouldn't really whack or bop one of the teachers/IA's on the arm. She basically told me mind your own business, and my response was "Well don't whack people on the arm". I got in trouble for that too.

Now granted, the school is for at-risk students and for special education students. But the problem is that 1. I see other teachers and IAs enjoying books or checking their phones every now and then, AND right in front of teachers who have criticized me for when I do it and 2. At a meeting among teachers, their advice for dealing with more rambunctious and assertive students...including the one I had told not to whack people's arm...was to be assertive! To not let them walk all over you! Show you won't stand for "any of their crap", that you ain't "havin' that". And I just stared at one of the teachers I'd been working with, looking mortified, and thinking "I got in TROUBLE for just telling a student not to hit people on the arm and you guys are saying to be MORE assertive to these students"?! How is that fair?!?

So I've gotten my hours slashed. I'm not working next week, and I'm totally stressed out. My lack of a steady job now, my lack of insurance, all of this is stressing me out beyond belief. So please bear with me. I've got a LOT on my plate right now.