I decided to take a class this summer. A few weeks ago I signed up for “Classroom Management”. It meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 to 7:00. When I told my principal that I was taking the class he wondered why a teacher with 17 years of experience, who has been nominated for Teacher Of The Year twice would take such a course. He said I could teach the course. I told him it was simple. It's 2 easy credits towards re-certification and salary increase. He then said, Good move.

This afternoon/evening was the first class. There's about 25 people in the class. They all have different backgrounds, levels of experience, and ethnicities. The teacher asked everyone to tell why they were taking the course. We went around the room and most people explained that they had had troubles with their last class, had a marginal evaluation and their principal told them they had to take it, or they had significant discipline problems with students. When we got to me and I said I was simply taking it for re-certification and salary increase, everyone laughed. The teacher said there was nothing wrong with that and that I might actually get something from the class. Some of these people just shouldn't be in teaching. From the problems they described, I wondered how they were able to get the job in the first place. I'm sad to say there are some really stupid teachers out there. So sad but so true.

So the teacher talks about the class, what will be expected, what book to get to read, etc. Then we watched a video about how to set up the desks in your classroom to best deal with discipline. OH MY GOSH! It was the lamest video I've ever seen. You would have to be an idiot not to know how to set up your desks. I just sat there stunned that we were actually watching it. Of course the idiots around me were taking notes! I couldn't believe it. I guess I shouldn't be so mean. I'm sure there are those out there who are clueless. I should remember what it was like when I was a new teacher and I was learning new things. But damn, some things are so obivious. After the video we talked briefly about different classroom configurations. One older music teacher was concerned about how she would have her students sit in her class without desks. For the next several minutes we discussed her options and asked her many questions. Duh! Sit on the floor. My eyes were just rolling. After that he gave us our homework, which is to draw a floor plan of our classroom to show how we set up our desks. I feel like I'm a freshmen in college. Then he let us go. The class is supposed to meet for 3 hours twice a week but he said we would never stay in class that long. He said the longest we'd be in class is 2 hours. That's fine with me.

So for the next five weeks I'll have to endure the pain of sitting through this class twice a week. Maybe some of the idiots will drop out.