Hay que hacer changuitos

I was reading my friend's blog and she's worried about having a job next year and/or staying on the same grade. They say that as a teacher you'll never be out of a job b/c we always need teachers, but I guess it's not always true. I know that you can always find a job somewhere, but it's not that easy to just move to another grade/school/district.

My district is undergoing some major changes. Sixth grade used to be the last grade in elementary and next year it's goig to be middle school. They're opening 20 new elementary schools to aliviate the overcrowding and reduce bussing students to schools. They're trying to have a "neighborhood school" type of district. My school sits in a very affluent neighborhood and all of our bilingual students are bussed in from apartment complexes. The new boundaries will take a lot of our bilingual students to a new school in their neighborhood. There will still be bilingual students at our school, but not as many. So....can't say where that leaves me. I'm optimistic b/c there are only two bilingual sections in first grade right now, so we'll still need at least one. The other first grade bilingual teacher has been there longer, but has mentioned leaving after this year to be with her kids b/c she lives really far away.

One of the really bright spots this year was when the M-LEP department visited our school to drop into the bilingual classes (LEP is a little behind the times b/c we're trying to use ELL instead). It was five ppl who came into the class to scope out the room. They didn't stay long enough to observe a lesson and I was going over homework anyway. BUT here's the bright spot. They told my principal and VP that my room was an example of what a bilingual classroom should look like :) Whew! I've got to say that it felt really good. I hope that counts for something and they think of me when it comes to next year :)