Here is my post about my next career goal

Last year I decided I wanted to be a special ed teacher because the ones I work with (not all of them, just the ones I have been working with) don't have to make lesson plans or copies, stay in the classroom the entire hour, or show up on time.

This year, my goal has changed. I want to be an assistant principal. You do not have to do anything apparently. Nothing is your fault or your responsibility and undermining teacher authority can be seen as a bonus.

A teacher left at Christmas due to pregnancy complications. I don't know who entered her grades but I found an obvious error for a girl I teach. I emailed the AP in charge of grades since I have no authority to change another teacher's grades but it was, as I said, obvious what the error was. (Since this AP is a blonde, no offense meant to the smart blondes out there, I explained the OBVIOUS error in a way my houseplant could understand it - without sarcasm, just with great detail). The AP emailed me back the the long term sub taking over the class will have to do the grade change.

Um, the student is no longer in the class as it is a new semester.

I filled out the form, got the other teacher to sign it, but the was the AP's job, not mine.

I wrote up the skipper from the other day. I documented everything.

Skipper comes into my room, loudly announcing to the world that I wrote her up for skipping when she wasn't there and the AP (another one) tore it up, saying I was lame.

I kept teaching and told the AP at the end of the day that the skipper played him. He replied that only I saw her.

Really. (Think Nanny McPhee voice).

I called the child's dad and told him all of this. He called the AP. Kid now has a write up. Dad knew the skipper skipped.

Another AP will give the kids candy when they get a discipline referral - or order pizza for them - and tell them how the teachers "try but they just don't get it."

Really.

And you wonder why the kids perform so poorly on tests? They are not listening to us - unless they are smart enough to figure out that the lame ones are the APs.

I asked the skipper if she knew how many credits she had. Six. She should have 18 at this point. Unless she gets her act in gear, she will not graduate until she is thirty. (exaggeration. She will not graduate and will have to get a GED unless she starts taking it more seriously)

I told her that I will help her succeed but that I will drag her kicking and screaming to graduation if I had to. We can do this in a civil, coordinated, easy collaboration - or we can do this the hard way. Her choice. (All said calmly and without rancor) And then I told her some of her options to get more credits. And she started being polite and had less of an attitude.

I do not talk to everyone this way, some you just have to.

I also had to tell another student that I was disappointed in what he was doing. If he wanted to waste his time, I was going to start working on getting him out of my class so he would stop wasting other people's time.

And I told a class of seniors that they knew how to behave in a class and what was expected of them as this doesn't change radically from one teacher to another. And that if they honestly didn't know how, there was no way I was going to be able to teach them how to behave as it was obviously beyond their ability to understand. And it worked.

I feel like I am wearing my attitude on my sleeve but I know I have reached the limit on what I will tolerate. If the APs will not back me up, then I will find what will work.

Maybe A doesn't stand for Assistant.

All they can do is fire me. Today - that doesn't sound so bad.