Monday, August 17, 2009

Math Tramp

.... I met for dinner with a bunch of the staff from the school I was at last year one last time before the new school year started. Even though it's been only a couple of months, it was good to see them and find out how things were going at their new schools. One teacher who had left in tears after finding out where she was going, is much happier about the situation now that she has had a chance to get out there a couple of times. A couple other teachers hadn't as good an experience, the worst being one of the science teachers. She wasn't at the dinner, but someone who had talked to her recently told us the story. One of the other science teachers at the school she was sent to ran into her and at some point told her "we were hoping to get -insert some other teacher's name here-, but instead we had to take you because your school closed." Nice. If it had been me, after recovering from the shock of someone having the chutzpah to say something that rude, I would have been tempted to give them the finger. I doubt she did.
.... Later we were talking about change, and I said something about liking it once in a while, and how I've been to 5 different schools in my career, and that I have no intention of spending my remaining 14 years at one school. The councelor chimed in with "You're such a tramp, a Math tramp." I think I'm going to get that on a license plate. Of course, since the state asks you to explain your request, they would never approve it, unless I could come up with some reasonable meaning that they would fall for. I've already had one personalized plate reposessed by the state, I have no desire to go for two. That plate had the french word "Merde", which you can have Babel Fish translate for you. I'd had the plates on my car for a couple of years before the state found out and revoked them. They did replace them with more acceptable ones, free of charge. If it had happened years later, I could have always argued that Jean Luc Picard (Star Trek TNG) often muttered the word under his breath during the first season. Probably wouldn't have helped, but at least I could have argued.

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7 comments:

A Paperback Writer said...

Uh, you could say you're "tramping across town, spreading the love of mathematics." How's that?
And I have every intention of staying put in my job for awhile, even if you think I'm silly for doing so. If there's one thing I've learned about moving classrooms so many times, it's that the grass is NOT greener and you just trade one set of problems for another. I've got some pretty good stuff going on where I am, and the problems are fairly minimal right now (knock on wood), due to a really good principal -- you know I've survived some nasty stuff where that's concerned.
As for license plates, do you know the science teacher who had such a crush on you until she gave up and married someone else has a license plate that reads JRHIGH? That's a good one.
We used to have a resource teacher at the school with the license plate IYQ2, which was pretty funny.
With my '66 Beetle, I always wanted to get RINGO as its license plate, as that was its name. I don't know what I'd get now. OLDNFAT? No, wait. That's 7 letters. HZBEEN? That works. GOTSHAKESPEARE? is a bit too long, I think. So's BARDLVR. And BLUESTOCKING. (Uh, google the term if you don't know what that is.)
I probably should get a personalized plate, though. Maybe then I'd actually remember it.

The Gearheads said...

Well that's an easy explanation. Math Trump. since you trump at math.

Max Sartin said...

Writer - I like that, "spreading the love of mathematics." I don't think that's the way it was meant, but I'm revising the memory for it to mean that.
You'd be silly for staying where you are if you didn't like it, because of the fear of change, but I firmly believe that if you enjoy your job, you're not silly for staying there.
Having made a full circuit of the district, I can agree that no matter where you go there will be problems and you just change one set for different ones. Each move I've made, except for this last one, has been for a change of scenery, different opportunities and different challenges. The move to your school was the closest to looking for greener grass, but at the same time I never expected it to be problem free. I just knew that I was tired of the set of problems I was working with and needed a change. That's why I'm convinced I will go through a few more schools before I retire, whether it's a great school or not (I've enjoyed all the schools I've been at) I know there will be a point where I need a change. That's just me, I think I've got a serious case of PADHD (Professional ADHD).
Actually, you could have BARDLVR, they started allowing up to 7 letters and numbers on plates several years ago.
(http://www.srossi.net/2009/08/bardlvr.jpg)
On my blue 4 door I have HIFIVE0, though I think when I get a little extra cash I’m going to change it to simply FIVE0. (Too many people thought it was High-Five, instead of Hawaii Five-0).

A Paperback Writer said...

Yeah, that does look like high-5.
And I KNEW that's not what math tramp meant, my dear fellow. I was offering a suggestion for what you could tell the DMV folks (and younger students)....
Thanks for the photoshopped licenseplate. Maybe I'll stick it on my blog. :)

Max Sartin said...

:)

Jo said...

will you let me know when you get together with the two fave ladies again as I want to crash your party :) And I'll probably stay where I am for a couple more years as I want to see the disaster clean up :)

Oh, and FYI: Barry's mother-in-law died this past Monday. She was hit by a semi while crossing the street. :(

Max Sartin said...

Jo - shall do, they ask about you all the time, I'm sure they'd love to see you.
And I'm sure it will be great to see the school regain some of it's luster again after the train wreck of the last 3 years. Keep me up to date on how things are going.
Give Barry & his wife my condolences, it's hard enough to lose a parent when you're expecting it, but I can't imagine dealing with a freak accident like that!
Good luck back at school tomorrow. Give you-know-who my love....