So I interviewed for a history teaching job and found out at the interview that the job would not come with a home classroom, the chosen teacher will be floating with three preps. I am a bit apprehensive about the thought of pushing a cart with enough materials to teach three separate subjects. Anyone else ever float? Is it as bad as it sounds?
At one school I worked at, none of the teachers had home classrooms - we ALL floated. The end result was that the faculty room was an insane mess because all our desks were absolutely piled to overflowing with shit that we couldn't put anywhere else.
I subbed a bunch of times for floating teachers. Nightmare. It's really important that you not have any kind of relationship with any of your students that would keep you in your classroom for more than 30 seconds into the passing period. And may your bladder be about the size of an wildebeest's. Oh, and may you be able to pass a bathroom that you don't have to unlock on the way to your 2nd or 3rd period class.
Yea. I think this might be defeating the point of teaching. It is quite sad that teachers have to deal with being homeless in their school. I have also heard that the teachers who have to give up their room for a class or two can be quite irritable about the situation.
I float this year, and it's really not that bad (though it is my 4th year. I also floated my 1st year and thought it was miserable, so I guess experience counts for something). I have six classes (4 preps) in 5 different classrooms. The key is organization. I don't think I would ever teach without a digital projector again. I keep all of my objectives, agendas, drills, etc on a flash drive, and it keeps me from having to write everything out in each room.
