I used to teach in a tough school, a really tough one. The school was one of the first one closed when the city started doing that to bad schools years ago. We taught with locked doors and avoided certain stairwells between classes. Kids were often found with weapons and more than one fire was started during a fire drill. (Our kids liked the real thing.)
In spite of it all, I loved that school. I loved the kids and I loved the teachers I worked with. I only left because of its distance from my house. Having two babies, I needed to be close to home, available for emergencies. I also did not have time to travel.
Packemin HS was a country club in comparison. I felt that the first minute I stepped in to interview with the principal. I thought, surely I had found the perfect place and was thrilled to be hired on the spot.
Unfortunately, my happiness did not last long. The teachers were not as friendly as the ones I had worked with in my previous school and although no one was mean, I just felt out of place. And then the reason for my unhappiness hit me--NO ONE TALKED DIRTY! I'm not talking about sexual harassment or pornography dirty, I'm talking about innocent flirtations, sentences with double meanings and a few off color jokes. In the few years I stopped working to be a full time mom, things changed. Political correctness was the new thing and everyone worried about saying the wrong thing and being brought up on charges.
It took me a long time, but I found my crew, the group as warped and sick as I am. I found the group I can have my dirty conversations with and not worry about anything. I finally found myself at home at Packemin.
In spite of it all, I loved that school. I loved the kids and I loved the teachers I worked with. I only left because of its distance from my house. Having two babies, I needed to be close to home, available for emergencies. I also did not have time to travel.
Packemin HS was a country club in comparison. I felt that the first minute I stepped in to interview with the principal. I thought, surely I had found the perfect place and was thrilled to be hired on the spot.
Unfortunately, my happiness did not last long. The teachers were not as friendly as the ones I had worked with in my previous school and although no one was mean, I just felt out of place. And then the reason for my unhappiness hit me--NO ONE TALKED DIRTY! I'm not talking about sexual harassment or pornography dirty, I'm talking about innocent flirtations, sentences with double meanings and a few off color jokes. In the few years I stopped working to be a full time mom, things changed. Political correctness was the new thing and everyone worried about saying the wrong thing and being brought up on charges.
It took me a long time, but I found my crew, the group as warped and sick as I am. I found the group I can have my dirty conversations with and not worry about anything. I finally found myself at home at Packemin.
