It has started. The midpoint is traversed. We are sliding down the other side of summer's hill, the return to school in sight, hoping the path is buttered with molasses.
I watched Freedom Writers the other night, ready to snark it up. (I couldn't finish the book. Her so-called underperforming freshman at the start of the book were moonbeams above my regular kids, not to mention that they did the work in the first place.)
There was plenty of "Pft!" material, but I was touched by what they did with getting Miep Gees to the school. Big kudos. Highly impressive.
That out of the way, here's my big snark:
There are already enough irritating "inspirational teacher movies" out there where the message seems to be this: "If your teacher really cares, s/he'll do extra extra work for you, especially if you resist it." Freedom Writers takes this portrayal to the next level. If your teacher really cares, s/he will work two extra part-time jobs to buy you stuff.
I want to have spelling bees next year, and I want to have little prizes, like maybe $5 gift cards, one per winner per class per quarter. (In other words, $100/year.) I already felt like I was biting some bullets to budget for that. (I can't use the school supply card, if we get it this year.) Now it just seems so rinky-dink compared to becoming a Marriott concierge and arranging banquets with the kids and Holocaust survivors. Sniff.
Or maybe USB drives. Those I might be able to pay for with the card. After all, the kids can use them in the computer lab. (Sorry, still thinking about my big spelling bee plans.)
Anyway, that's my big criticism. Oh, and also the way the character in the movie supposedly has four classes and 150 kids, but we only ever see one class, and that class has about 20-24 people in it. (Yes, I paused the TV more than once and counted desks. And goodie bags. And sparkling cider glasses. I was on it.)
But, I don't want to talk about the negative side of teaching for awhile, so that's all I'm going to say. Movies like this don't inspire me; they inspire non-teachers to say stuff like, "If you just connect with the kids and make it interesting for them, you won't have any problems." (Well, duh. It's like Neil Gaiman says when people try to tell him about their idea for a book. Getting the idea is not the hard part.)
Anyway, in the vein of unreasonable sacrifices, I've decided to get a proper mobile phone (I typed that instead of "cell phone" just for Mike and his foreign sensibilities), for the sake of the children.
I almost never need to call anyone, see? I don't like chatting on the phone. I did that enough in my younger years... I did it a lot. (Decades later, and I'm still not in a place to anecdotally discuss the dread of the phone bill.)
So now I have a prepaid Virgin Mobile phone in case of emergencies. I top it up with $10 every 45 days, per VM's requirements. That works out to a little under $7/month as "communication insurance." It's been a couple of years since I used the phone with any regularity, so I have about $150 just sitting in the account.
Mike boggles that there doesn't seem to be a "real" prepaid phone service here, where you just pay for what you need as you need it, no topping-up, no expiring minutes or cards, no continuation fees, just buy minutes and use them as needed. Like Skype.
Skype is what I use at home, and I really like it. I have an incoming line for $6/month, and I buy credit as needed. Two cents a minute! Including international!
Of course, then I have to switch to Mike's computer (the mic port seems to be shot on mine), and it's hard to pace around with a headset on (ponying up for a Skype phone seems an unnecessary expense), and sometimes doing other stuff on the computer is risky, just in case one app freezes up and affects Skype.
Not a big deal for one of my rare conversations, but I wouldn't want to deal with it daily.
Daily phone calls - that's what I see in my future this coming school year.
Last year I complained about how some of the disciplinary figures in our school got cranky if you didn't show you'd called home about a problem first. The four big problems with this criticism are as follows:
- A disrespectful/disruptive student needs to be removed from the learning environment immediately; putting up with it until you can call home weakens your authority and is a disservice to anyone trying to learn in that class period.
- Many of the phone numbers listed in the student records are disconnected. (And the students themselves just make crap up if you ask them directly.)
- Many of the parents don't speak English. (I can read and write a fair bit of Spanish, but I'm tone deaf or something - seriously - and I can't pronounce foreign languages well. I think it's also the reason I can't sing. Really - someone will try to teach me how to say something and it's like I'm saying "duck" to their "elephant." It's not a matter of nuance; apparently I'm not even close.)
- Many of the parents are at work during school hours.
The last one is my hang-up. I see that someone is a maid in a casino, and I worry they're going to get into trouble for a personal call at work, or are going to be far too busy to properly talk, so I don't want to call workplaces unless I can quote a cuss word from their lovely young'un.
And I don't want to call them in the evening, at home, because 1) I don't want the kids to have my personal Skype number on the caller ID (if it shows up - not sure with Skype), and 2) in the evening, I just want to forget about the day's woes. If I'm assertive at all, it's to light candles with the prayer that little so-and-so will be absent tomorrow.
Also, sometimes the calls do nothing. Or I have to deal with bullying parents. Or whiny parents. And I hang up the phone thinking, "Fuck you all - I shouldn't have to do this. Your kid should come to class prepared to work, or at least to pretend to work."
Okay, enough of that, before I talk myself out of the Latest Greatest Plan. The one where I decide that I can't change the administration, so I guess I will change me, and hope to hit a long-term payoff.
I'm going to get a proper mobile phone. I'm going to call parents every time I'm disrespected. I'm going to call parents every time someone is an obnoxious ass.
I'm going to give kids the number so they can feel loved and reassured. (I have three Honors classes next year; I may regret this.)
I'm going to make a script and fumble my way through the Spanish. I'm going to interrupt people at work, even if they sound pissed off. Maybe I'll make a script in English, too.
I'm going to call on my personal time from home. I'm going to document every call and have the log handy at all times so I can list those calls on the referral. (I already document calls pretty extensively, actually - I'm not a total n00b.) I'm going to send all kids without a working phone number straight to the admin office to "fix the clerical problem."
I'm going to suck it up and put up with crap and give up even more of my personal time plus mar it with grumpy tasks. And I'm going to pay a monthly fee to do it.
Now, I wanted to use this rousing decision to buy an iPhone. Or something similar. I admit it. I was even justifying the expense of an iPhone because, hey, it's really like buying an iPod and getting a phone thrown in, right? And of course I need an iPod (that is not the iPod I share with Mike) because, uh, I would work out more if I had an iPod. And listen to more audio books and improve my mind. Yes. There you go.
Except, after looking at the cost of the plans associated with the iPhone and the Infinity, and thinking about my real needs, and bristling at the idea of two-year contracts in a world where so much can change in two years, I had to look elsewhere.
Although, maybe if I bought the iPhone, AT&T would like to donate half-price service for the good of public education? Yeah? Maybe? Hello? AT&T?
I ended up on one of those comparison sites, and after grumbling through most of the prices, I noticed that Virgin Mobile has a $25/month plan with 200 regular minutes, 500 nighttime minutes, and nights start at 7pm, not 9pm like most places).
Okay, it's not the greatest plan, no. But get this - I can use the $150 already in my Virgin Mobile account to pay for it. And pay for the phone! (My current phone sucks.)
Furthermore, no contracts. And if I find myself needing more minutes (oh god, let's hope not), I can upgrade or downgrade plans with just a few clicks. Extra minutes are only 20 cents.
And, of course, I can ditch the old minute-to-minute plan where I was paying $7/mo. So it's really, like, $18/mo. Paid for with money that is otherwise just going to sit there!
OH, and since it's the same VM account, it's going to be the same phone number. The same Texas phone number. Those students/parents without good LD plans might think twice before calling on any old whim.
(And-and-and-AND, I can check my email on it and thus be notified right away when free show tickets come up. Nice. And if I need the internet on my phone? I can just buy a day pass for a buck. Or a month pass for $5. And the phone has a camera! It will be like traveling to 2003!)
I should be jazzed about my new plan to become Mr. Hand. Hooray for gritting my teeth and taking the suckiest part of work home during my personal time! However, what I'm really pleased about is getting to use up that VM balance and get a shiny red phone.
Whatever it takes. The slide to August begins!
(But, AT&T, I'm still open to negotiation, ya know?)
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