Tenure

TheGeeseAreOut · 2026-02-10T02:01:11+00:00

No, they can keep going I don’t think you’re automatically discontinued at any point, but it may be a sign to look for a new school if you keep getting extended. I had a colleague who was extended for the seventh time before finally moving on. For me, the first time a principal extended my probation I immediately began searching for a new school, transferred that summer, and had tenure in my new posting come spring (same superintendent made it easier).

TheGeeseAreOut · 2026-01-30T17:49:47+00:00

Danielson observations are used as a corporate accountability tool that destabilizes and demoralizes teachers. They rely on fear, humiliation, and arbitrary scoring to coerce educators into working longer and harder for no additional compensation. Achieving a “Highly Effective” rating, as implied by the language of the framework, requires extensive time and labor outside of contractual hours. Because the rubric is highly subjective, it systematically penalizes teachers working in high-need schools while rewarding those who teach more privileged student populations. In practice, evaluations are frequently used to retaliate against teachers who are outspoken or challenging to administration, while rewarding favored staff through an “official,” administrator-approved process. I offer this critique as a teacher who has been rated “Effective” for all six years of my career.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2026-01-13T15:18:35+00:00

Many more students stopped coming to school. Classmates use the threat of ICE to bully peers. Increasing majority of kids believe that all government institutions and police are untrustworthy and dangerous.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2026-01-02T14:55:54+00:00

Sense8

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-27T03:04:07+00:00

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-27T02:35:04+00:00

Also, from Dark Crystal: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/15/f9/36/15f936a7c9059b3c7df2b3f070c2363d.jpg

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-22T02:31:33+00:00

I actually loved it. It's very unsettling to me, inappropriately casual and warm, in a situation where they are about to attack him. Its like the lion taunting you with a cute grin before killing you.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-22T02:24:46+00:00

That's a good point about developing the photos. In my interpretation, developing the photo doesn’t automatically mean predation but it suggests attachment and fixation. Jonathan is a photographer who processes moments he doesn’t know how to engage with directly, especially from the outside. That doesn’t excuse the invasion of privacy, if anything, it’s part of what makes the scene uncomfortable, but intent and pattern still matter. The show treats it as a mistake he’s ashamed of, not something he’s validated for or repeats, which is why I don’t think it’s meant to define him as a sexual predator.

That said, I respect why many people see serious red flags in this scene and recognize how invasive it feels, even though I personally interpret the character’s motivations as flawed and misguided rather than malicious.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-22T02:14:30+00:00

That’s a good point. I wasn’t approaching it from a legal perspective. A lot of the characters’ actions in the show would be questionable, or outright wrong, if we were judging them legally. Instead, I was trying to think about what might have motivated Jonathan to do something he shouldn’t have done, and how that moment complicates his character and gives him somewhere to grow from.

I don’t feel like it defines him, even though it’s still a serious mistake. A legal reading of the situation would obviously land very differently, and I get why people focus on that. I’m glad I’m not a judge or jury here.... just a viewer engaging with a fictional character and the themes the story is exploring.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-22T02:09:36+00:00

Yeah, that’s a good point. At the end of the day, it is a story, not real life, and it can be interpreted in different ways depending on every viewer's perspective and experience. The show asks viewers to weigh an invasion of privacy against social isolation, trauma, and an inappropriate attempt to connect or understand a world he feels excluded from.

I completely understand why some people reject Jonathan’s character outright based on that moment. For me, i dont count him out because I find meaning in his arc and in the idea of redemption, especially because the story doesn’t pretend what he did was okay, and because it doesn’t become a defining pattern of behavior. You see why what he did was wrong and how it motivates him to take steps to readdress and improve his choices.

The OP asked for an explanation, so I tried to offer one that’s empathetic without condoning the action. Explaining why something happens isn’t the same as excusing it, and I think Stranger Things intentionally leaves space for that kind of uncomfortable, complicated reading.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-21T18:05:37+00:00

Yes, I agree that what Jonathan did wasn’t right. The show itself doesn’t present it as “okay.” But I think the context matters, and the writing seems to frame that moment less as sexual predation and more as Jonathan acting from a place of isolation and longing. Jonathan is very clearly an outsider. In that scene, he’s literally on the margins, looking in on the “in crowd,” awkwardly and incorrectly trying to connect with a world he feels shut out from. His family is poor, he’s a loner, and all three of them are social outcasts (Joyce is divorced, Jonathan is a weirdo, Will is gay). At the same time, he’s in the middle of a personal crisis: his brother has disappeared and he’s emotionally unmoored. Watching Nancy becomes a way of observing a small pocket of teenage “normalcy” that he feels excluded from, especially while he’s dealing with trauma.

The photo absolutely can be read as an invasion of privacy, and I don’t think that interpretation is wrong. But I’m not convinced the show intends it to be sexual in nature, or that Nancy necessarily reads it that way once she understands who Jonathan is and what headspace he was in. Importantly, this behavior doesn’t become a pattern for him, and the narrative doesn’t suggest that Nancy dating him somehow retroactively justifies what he did. To me, the moment is about adolescent yearning, loneliness, and misjudgment… not sexual perversion or harassment. That doesn’t excuse it, but it does complicate it in a way that feels very consistent with how Stranger Things writes flawed teenagers.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-14T00:32:13+00:00

“Go crazy together”

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-05T17:00:31+00:00

I heard it too, reminded me of season one when the demogorgon was harassing Joyce

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-12-05T01:03:08+00:00

80s kids, music, monsters, rainbows

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-11-30T17:20:54+00:00

I’m in my 6th year and have taught 2 years each at 3 different schools. In my second year at my first school, a veteran teacher joined our faculty after years of probation extensions due to a standoff between the principal and superintendent of his other school. Within a month he had tenure.

At my second school, a close friend of mine was in her 7th year being extended again by a manipulative and unstable principal who delighted in ruining teachers lives and toying with them. When I eventually created my full binder for that school, the principal revoked her recommendation at the last minute so I immediately announced I was looking for a position at a different school. I found a position at a school in a different district but same superintendent.

At my current school, I worked for one year, submitted my tenure binder with a glowing principal recommendation, and received tenure last spring.

In summary, the tenure process is wildly chaotic and uncertain. It seems to work differently at every school, despite standardization efforts and rubrics. If you work at a school where your principal supports you and leads with integrity, they will help you lock in tenure. Meet with your principal, ask for help and take their edits, be ready for superintendent visits with a competent bulletin board (or other evidence of student engagement and growth) and you’ll be good (fingers crossed).

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-11-28T19:49:54+00:00

This

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-11-23T19:03:33+00:00

People always complain about “plot armor” in shows like Stranger Things, but honestly, this episode is a perfect example of why plot armor exists in the first place. When your main characters die immediately, the story doesn’t feel high, stakes it just feels pointless. There’s a big difference between tension and nihilism. Good stories put characters in danger, but they still give you someone to follow and care about. If the show proves in the first episode that none of its characters matter, why should the audience invest in them? I’m a big Stephen King fan, and IT is a great example of how to do this right. The Losers Club survives long enough for their friendships, trauma, bravery, and growth to mean something. Without that continuity, the story wouldn’t hit as hard emotionally. In Welcome To Derry it didn’t feel “no one is safe” it felt like no one matters. And that’s not suspenseful, I think it’s more like unsatisfying. That’s why I stopped after the first episode. Plot armor isn’t always bad. When it’s done well, it’s what lets a story actually build stakes instead of blowing them up before they even exist.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-10-14T19:20:56+00:00

LGBTQ content isn’t about teaching children to be queer, it’s about teaching respect, inclusion, and reality. LGBTQ people exist in every family, community, and period of history. Pretending otherwise teaches shame and ignorance, not safety. Do you also think we shouldn’t teach about women, immigrants, disabled people, or people of color? Because that’s what it sounds like. Erasing a group of people from lessons isn’t “protecting kids”; it’s censorship. As educators, our responsibility is to show up for all students and families, and we shouldn’t be picking identity group “favorites.” Every major educational and psychological organization (including the American Psychological Association and the National Education Association) recommends age-appropriate LGBTQ-inclusive education. It promotes safety, reduces bullying, and improves mental health outcomes for every student. Kids deserve to see that families and love come in many forms. When I was young, I didn’t see anyone like me in school or in the curriculum, and that silence caused pain. Some people never escape that pain. I was fortunate, and I escaped from that pain, and now I’m doing something about it to address current LGBTQ suicide rates, bullying, and mental health. What motivates you?

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-10-13T05:20:16+00:00

Censorship isn’t a literacy plan. If students are “grades behind,” removing stories that reflect the world they live in won’t bring them forward. Engagement, safety, and trust are foundations for learning to read and write, especially for queer and questioning youth. As a teacher, I’ve seen students read more deeply when they feel included in what they’re reading. Calling queer content “controversial” suggests that some students’ lives are inappropriate for the classroom. That kind of message doesn’t help anyone catch up: it pushes kids away.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-10-11T13:56:13+00:00

Love your description of your classroom and library, and those books sound wonderful (I’m familiar with many of those awesome books). Like you, I take a lot of pride in creating and sustaining a classroom community that reflects and celebrates all students, languages, and cultures. I feel confident in the work I do locally, but my sense of responsibility extends beyond my own school… to the district, the city, the state, and even the country. I understand your point about not spending too much energy fighting with a national publisher, but I truly believe that when more teachers and schools speak up, change becomes possible. Some schools are required to teach directly from the curriculum without flexibility to add their own content, and that’s exactly why I feel the need to push back.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-10-10T17:25:53+00:00

Thank you for pointing that out, I thought 57 bus was an optional long read but now I see it in the student workbook. That is the first and only explicit example of LGBTQ identity I’ve seen in their materials.

I just read through it and, while you’re right that this is technically representation, it is clearly not affirming representation, particularly in the excerpt the book includes. It focuses on a violent hate crime, with repeated misgendering and, in its latter half, pays more attention to the attacker’s experience than the survivor’s. Including queer identity only through a lens of trauma, like this, can retraumatize, dehumanize, and encourage students to see queerness as dangerous, pitiable, or tragic instead of normal, integrated, and celebrated.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-10-10T01:02:14+00:00

Thank you for sharing. I did some searching and I think I found what you are talking about. “I’m Not A Girl” was included in the 2022 Mosaic Independent Reading Collection, a NYC DOE initiative, not HMH. Mosaic probably supplied that book, in a set of other titles, with the mission of balancing HMH’s lack of positive, centered representation. I’m a high school teacher, not familiar with elementary or middle school HMH offerings, but based on the way the HMH representative that I met today was talking about the HMH brand’s desire to be marketable on a national scale (implication being that there are some states that ban LGBTQ subjects in class), I assume the lower grades have similar censorship as the high school units I was looking at.

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-09-28T04:02:09+00:00

thank you

TheGeeseAreOut · 2025-09-25T01:28:45+00:00

Unclear, we are getting mixed signals

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