MOOP!

The first three(?) years you're teaching at my district, while you still don't have Professional Status¹, you have to do two evidence submissions a year -one in December, and one in late April. The evidence file is a big ol' pile of "proof that I am a good teacher". There's about 35 standards set by the district, that you ought to be working towards.

(Those standards sit in four strands, which are how you get ranked at the end of the year -Unsatisfactory, Needs Improvement, Satisfactory, Exemplary. You don't get Professional Status unless, by the end of your third year, you're hitting Satisfactory and Exemplary in all four strands. Last year I went from 2 unsatisfactory and 2 needs improvement in the mid-year, to 2 needs improvement and 2 satisfactory. And I got hired back, which is really the important part.)

Last year, it was due December 15th. I turned it in on January 16th, after some really explicit and pointed nagging from my boss. It was...not optimal.

This year the mid-year file was due December 14th. I signed it in at 9:37pm. The big file with too many words is a *third* the length of last year's, which is a _really good thing_ --it means I'm being better at "show don't tell" and also means that my boss doesn't have to slog through sixteen fucking pages of information. My evidence file actually turned out to be *shorter* than my Unit Four was, by about 2.5k words.

I make up for it in moving pieces. Unit four needed a summary, the lesson plans, a cover sheet, and a signed thing from your mentor. My evidence has 25 separate files covering 18 different pieces of evidence that I Am A Good Teacher And You Should Not Fire Me Please. I got to learn how to use the scanner in the office! I got to walk around the school while all the lights were off and it was eerie as shit because it's only lit by glowing red exit signs!!

I still have _no idea_ if I'm doing this right, or how to best optimize it. Unfortunately, the person who could best tell me is my boss, and she actually *can't* give me all that much advice here. But I feel a more confident with this one than I did the end-year last year. (I feel a _lot_ more confident than last year's mid-year, that thing was a mess.)

And I am incredibly heartbreakingly impressed with myself that I have managed to hit under the deadline for two *really serious* professional things in two weeks. Not having either my Unit Four or my Evidence hanging over my head is making me feel giddy, and it's barely been twenty minutes. Maybe now the _really shitty_ month can be over and I can just enjoy things for a bit.

And grade.

~Sor
MOOP!

1: The guarantee that I get to stay. That the union will totally and entirely have my back. That I can't get fired unless I actually fuck up. That the dream job becomes a dream career.

That I can come out as agender and start using the correct pronouns at work instead of wanting to cry every time I think about how much it hurts to lie like this.