I can relate to the exhaustion. This is our first year in RF. What a
nightmare it has been. I used to have an aide that I could depend on.
SInce RF came, I no longer have an aide. Why? Because kindergarten is NOT
required and my aide is needed elsewhere. How do I test my kids? I test
them on a wing and a prayer. Wonder why my blood pressure rocketed this
year? Wonder why I do not slee at night? Wonder why morale in our
building is so low? Wonder why we are all at each other's shoulders? RF!

On 5/20/09, emma wrote:
>
> I have a lesson plan book that I use for my Core Rdg. time which is
> for just the whole group, 30 to 40 min. I then have Spiral notebooks
> which I use for Small group instruction and I have to plan for 4
> different groups. I plan for my 2 top groups who go to my
> interventionist (she has no prep time for planning) and I plan for my
> 2 more groups that are my more struggling kids. This is instruction
> during the Core Small group inst. time during the 90 min. I also have
> to have Literacy Stations planned and set up for this time and
> differentiated for all 4 groups. I also have to do plans for my Tier
> 2 Instruction time. I do the plans for my interventionist who takes
> my at-risk readers and I plan for my group who are the Strategic
> readers who are not as "at-risk". Also, during this Tier 2 30 min.
> time I have to make sure I have Literacy stations or challenging work
> for my "Benchmark" kids to do. Is it sounding like something from a
> bad nightmare? Well, it is. It's ridiculous but it is required by
> our Reading First state dept. people who then expect our principal and
> our reading coach to come into our rooms and check and critique us all
> year to make sure we are implementing everything we are supposed to do
> and that we are doing it according to RF standards. This is just my
> Reading Time!! Then I spend time planning for Spelling, Writing, and
> Math. Our social studies and science has to come from Scholastic News
> as that is all we have time for! We really don't have much time for
> writing anymore which has broken my heart but since I need the job I
> try not to complain. So can you see why we feel exhausted? We also
> have many more meetings after school and we have to progress monitor
> all the time. I am soooo ready for summer. I pray RF dies away
> quickly. It's been a horrible 3 years for me. I know the kids rdg.
> scores are better in fluency but at what cost??? I used to love
> teaching and so much of the joy of teaching has left me. I feel
> burned to a crisp.

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