Where do I start?

I opened this blog as a repository for my bits and pieces of writing. I named it "Sharonsfriend" since my dear friend Sharon told me how to start a blog. She uses it for her writing, and I will too. I love to write but always feel the pressure after the first two sentences that it's time to stop and get lesson plans ready for next week. Teaching high school is MUCH harder than teaching college. Not only are the students less interested, but various administrators are always slipping into the classroom, tablet and pen in hand, to document whether you are attempting to engage the students, using meaningful lessons, and following the state standards. When I think back to my college teaching career, I recall complete freedom to do whatever I wanted, whether it was good or not. Seriously, with little attention or feedback, how do I know whether I was an effective professor? There were certain posted "outcomes" for the end of each course, but no one checked to see whether the students had met them. No one ever came for observations. All annual evaluations were based on self-reporting and student evaluations. We were evaluated in the areas of teaching, publication and service, on a range from unsatisfactory to outstanding. But only one person, the Chair, determined the score, based, as I said, on self-evaluation. What it came down to is that most professors teaching freshman composition did what they wanted to in their classes. Annual raises were very mysterious too. We were told that 3% would be given university-wide, for example, but within Departments, it was distributed among all faculty based on the discretion of the Chair, and the amount was never known until the following school year! At least in the high school system they have a published pay scale based on degree and years experience, and they stick to it. The raise for all teachers is announced each spring and every teacher gets that amount, period! New high school teachers enter the system knowing what their salary will be and it's the same for everyone of that degree and experience. In college, new hires could come in at any salary the Chair sees fit to offer, and negotiations take place behind closed doors.