Wowza

It took me a good 15 minutes to figure out how to login into this blog. It's been over four years. That's insane. I used to really love teaching. Not so much anymore. I've decided that this needs to be my last year in the classroom. Sigh, it's hard coming to grips with it but it's not fun anymore. I've switched schools and the kids are rude, administrators are inept, and well. It just sucks.

Perhaps blogging will help me get that old thing back;-)

Report Cards

Report cards were issued this morning. Why do we hand out report cards at the start of the day? The kids are all either super excited or pissed. It was such a strange day. I'll spend the rest of the night recuperating.

We're into Whitman and Dickinson now. I feel like I'm rushing through this but what can you do when you only have one semester to cover as much as you can in American Lit? I added a little mini-project to extend the time that we spend on it. Hopefully, that will help.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

We (hubby and I) are watching this show. Hilarious. The contestant spelled vowel VOUL. I don't know what to say about that. I had to write it down so that I can share it with my coworkers tomorrow.

Grades are in and done. I can breath now.

I had a student ask me if chickens cluck. Huh? She was so excited about it that I can honestly say that I wasn't laughing at her, I was laughing with her. Later, she wrote a poem in the style of Dickinson's "I Never Saw A Moor." She included the chicken. Okay. Well. I don't know. I have to stop being at a loss for words. It's doing nothing for me.

Can someone tell me how to get my male students to stop talking? I've already informed them that excessive talking is a girlie trait.

It's that time again

We are issuing report cards next week. Of course all I hear now is:

Mrs. M, can I see my grade?
Mrs. M, is there any extra credit?
Um, yeah. What can I turn in?

I've even had students trying to turn in work from the second week of school. You have to be kidding me!

My air is out again and the mildew is creeping back up through my carpets. EEEWWW. I think that it's making me sick. Seriously. It rained today and boy oh boy was it stuffy.

I let my 9th graders listen to some slam poetry. (Saul Williams and Taylor Mali) They fell in love. I can't believe that only one of them had ever heard slam. That's ridiculous. I am so happy that I shared it with them. I'm on the hunt for more pg rated slam. Taylor's didn't have any curse words but Saul did use shit. It didn't bother them at all. In fact, they claimed that shit enhanced the poem.

I have mentioned how crazy they are haven't I?

I'm trying

I'm really trying to post every night. I just can't get the hang of it. Practice makes perfect I guess. Anyhoo. We had drama at school on Friday but the good thing is that it seems to have calmed down.

I had to write a couple of my students up as well as a couple of other teacher's kids. It wasn't a pleasant day by any means. I never write kids up! They seem to know how to stop before they get me to that point. Perhaps the referrals that I did on Friday will suppress any further ignorance.

My American Lit class is about to study The Raven and the Masque of the Red Death. I really want to read The Tell-Tale Heart with them. It's so evil and simple. It's very short and I think that it's the perfect introduction to Poe and his crafty mind. I'm sure that most of them read it in middle school but they have yet to hear me read it. Not tooting my own horn but I love the story so much that I know it nearly word for word.

My students already think that I'm strange. Why not give them proof?

Inmates running the asylum

I think that I fooled myself when I accepted this teaching job. Suburban schools are nice places with supportive parents, progressive administrators, and kids who seek the knowledge necessary to succeed in life. NOT! We had a gang bang type beat down in the boy's bathroom across the hall from my room. ButI digress~

In my introduction to Hawthorne today, I told my American Lit class that he was a close friend of Franklin Pierce, who was (come on you know this) ______?

Blank stares, crickets...

That guy that wrote Moby Dick?

Was he in the woods? (Thoreau/Emerson...not sure which one he was attempting to channel)

Come on Mrs. M!!

Okay, I realize that knowing Franklin Pierce was the 14th president may not make any of my students wealthy. However, most of them are taking US History. I'm sure that they've been introduced to Pierce already.

My goodness people!!

On a good note though, we're almost finished watching Moby Dick and both of my American Lit classes are enjoying the process of "reading the film." That certainly makes my heart smile. What more can you ask for? As a lover of literature, I'll take what I can get.

Are you kidding me?

Umm, yeah. While you're writing lessons, calling parents, keeping hormonal teenagers from groping each other, tracking little DJ's 8 million absences, and handling bus duty, do you think that you can put something on the bulletin boards outside of your classroom?

Excuse me?

Bulletin boards have preference over all of the above as well as my a/c being out since the start of the school year?

Okay, well thanks. I wish that I had known that earlier.

I'll get right on that.