Beauty

Sometimes you just have to stop and blog in real time. Because it's just that good. At least to me. At least to my heart right now.

I often pass by the person with the sign "will work for food" or "need a ride" or "please, help" etc. and I'm ashamed to admit I often pass them by (I know some of you out there reading will think it's good I pass them up, but I don't).

Today, as I was having what I thought was the worst day of my life (bad class, cheerleader suspended, an hour at the emissions test play just to fail, 2 hours at the DMV for nothing etc.) It felt like the worst day ever.

Then I was leaving the DMV and this beautiful young girl asked me if I knew the way to Nole's road. I didn't. I got in my car, and I saw her ask someone else. I decided to ask her if she wanted a ride. She jumped in, and off we went.

It's a good thing she got in to, because after we headed that way we realized it was like 7 miles away. Anyways, enough time to hear about how she had just been released from jail. All her charges were cleared, and she'd been in for 25 days. She's originally from the Bronx, and has been living in Nashville for 7 years. No family here. When she was arrested, her 3 kids were taken and put into foster care.

And earlier I'd cried about my day.

I dropped her off on the corner closest to the address, she was going to wait until her friend got off of work (he worked at the hospital on the corner) to head to his house.

I don't know her name, but she was beautiful.

I hope she gets her kids back.

I hope she deserves them, and does right by them from now on.

People really are people if you stop and get to know them.

Beautiful People!

I kept thinking "How did I get here?" In this car, in Nashville with this beautiful woman. My life almost perfect compared to what she's been going through.

Thanks Lord.

Stream of Consciousness

SO I have this girl... Let's call her Renee. She talks out ALL THE TIME. We made this deal that she could write down anything she wanted to say if she would just not talk out, and I would read it after class.



Here are some gems...

• Shut up JT


• JT Keep it up and Ima beat u up


• Go buy some paper & stop askin for some


• Your not funny


• JT your breath stinks


• Why y talking about people get some maths kills because you dumb


• You need to shutup when nobody talkin to you


• If you are hungry JT go eat a banana or I rather you just starve


• You cant sing either


• You ugly heffa


• Shuttup


• If i'm not talking to you shut up and you aint gonna punch nobody in the face cuz i'm gonna punch you in the face JT Ricky got beat up Anna & Dueno make a cute couple


• U smelled yo mama feet


• What will the sargent do if you step on his shoes


• Stuart you thank u so smart but u not smart but on a 9th grade smart u swear up and down u a mathmetichen but u not


• JT u just a hater U punk

This is how my babies think...

Notes

Please read the following note I took up in class today (Exactly as it is written on the paper)



Whussupp Chrisy



nun BrD. ion wnA take Dis Test.



Rite men etha anis duba hard ion lyk dnis class bunt anyways.



ryte! she IYLK miss. Norwood



lol! Bunt iuno dnis stuf im black black people dont know shyt & lol [up] & dna pup rally whus bron O.M.G.



yea. Dey boy Cheerleader wus gewd doe. -n0 yhu crazi



lol, bunt O.M.G. dna homecomin thang 4 dna freshman was dnat bull LITERALLY.



Yea who U go Forr? I went 4 denise!



macy duh



awl! she b b.shixxn 2 much. Ms. S....



I'm sure it would have continued but this is where I took the note...

THIS IS THE FUTURE!!! This is the next generation. I think they spelled maybe 10 words correctly. WHAT LANGUATE IS THAT?



This is what I deal with people

**Names changed to protect the guilty

Things that make me nauseated

1. knowing I probably ruined kanoxious's (remember him) life. *I hope this is an exaggeration, but it may not be. this responsibility is killing me.
2. 14 year old's making out IN PUBLIC, like I've never made out in PRIVATE...Okay, maybe I have in the privacy of my own home but NEVER in PUBLIC. This one makes me nauseated for 2 reasons 1 - because it's just gross 2 - because why should the irresponsible 9th graders be getting some love when I'm not?
3. When my TFA program director shows up at exactly the wrong time...again. I'm trying to be a good corps member and it keeps back firing.
4. The fact that I'm missing the season premier of HOUSE. Don't worry...I'm going to get a bottle of wine, and I'll enjoy the show online after it's over...so from 9-11.
5. Knowing I'm not going to get any sleep tonight (see #4)

Playing Teacher

So yesterday was maybe my favorite day ever (okay, not really, but it was a good day).

I got home @ 5:30
Made a pizza
Sat on the couch
Watched the local news
Watched wheel of fortune
Watched 2 hours of House (in preparation for the season premiere NEXT WEEK!)
Talked to Cass
Went to bed.

GLORIOUS.

Tonight, I'll be @ school till 7:30, and will be doing good to be home by 8.
Not to mention that I still haven't figured out when/what I'm going to eat.

Why? Because I have open house.

Which means all my sweet parents will come by to talk about their obnoxious precious babies.
I'm glad their coming but honestly I feel like a little kid playing "school" except that when I played school, I was never the teacher. I was always the bad kid.

Perfectly Pear

Perfectly Pear White Tea from Celestial seasonings is my new favorite treat. It is a mild tea with just the right hint of pear. Toss in a little honey and it is perfectly delightful.

Not only does it taste great, because it uses real fruit and tea leaves it contains high levels of antioxidants making it perfectly delightful and perfectly healthy.

Not to mention that the box has great little quotes like "I have tried, too, in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in." -Oliver Edwards

Why I'm Late?

So,

again, I'm a terrible teacher. SO...I just pulled my tardy log.

Anyone who is late signs the tardy log.

You get 1 free tardy

2nd- call home
3rd- teacher intervention (IDK what that will be yet)
4th- office referral

SO, anyway...On the log I give them a place where they can list the reason they are late. For example, if there bus is late I won't count that against them, but they have to mark it down so I can check it (as you can guess since I only check it about every 3 weeks, I'm obviously not going to check it...if they were smart they'd all put that down as the reason Ha!)

This one kids reason...

"hugeing my girlfriend"

I don't know if I'd be hugeing someone that can't spell!

Survey

Okay, so I really do anticipate updating this REAL SOON with beautiful pictures of...

-My classroom
-My dear friends
-Cassie's Bachelorette weekend o' fun.
-Cassie's shower that was FOREVER ago
-My house
-and ANYTHING else that might be on my camera

In the meantime, let me entertain you with some quotes from my students. I gave a "survey" the other day. I'll post some of the questions below with some of the responses:

How do you learn things?

• Music (from the kid who dances in his seat ALL DAY LONG...No music, doesn't even care if he has an audience...just wants to dance)
• I learn my best by nothing...I just learn
• A lot
• If the teacher would talk a little louder (note, I have one girl who has to close her ears when I walk by because I'm so loud..I think this kid needs a hearing aide)
• If the teacher speaks louder (look...another hearing aide kid)
• By a good teacher (guess I'm not one since this kid is failing..oops)
• When someone tells me step by step what to do (go to jail...they'll do that for you there)

What distracts you from learning?

• everyone in the class (me too, buddy, me too)
• People being obnoxious for the soul purpose of annoying people
• Girls
• Pretty Girls
• IDK. I just don't pay attention
• Pretty Girls
• Girls
• Pretty attractive young women
• When people talk a lot. Shut up. I know I am one of them, you don't have to tell me.

What do you want me to do differently?

• Tell us how we'll use it in the future (welcome to high school math, it's worthless in the future)
• That P.R.O. stuff, it's kindergartin (maybe if you went back to kindergarten, you'd know how to spell it)
• Speak Louder (SERIOUSLY, Then they'd be able to hear me downstairs)
• I don't know really, This class is too easy, Why would I want it differently
• If you would have fun teaching, then you'd be funny, then we'd have fun learning, because I really understand more when we have more fun learning.
• Nothing, you're perfect (I like you too kid)

What are you going to differently?

• Stop getting an attitude (you promise?)
• Never talk again (Seriously? I'll pay you?)
• Nothing (we'll, at least he's honest)
• Be a great student (right, but HOW do you do that)
• What are you going to do differently?
• I don't know really, Honestly, I just want to get an A and go home

I love these kids, but I'm SO tired at the end of the day...

I seriously don't know how people who don't get out of school until 3 survive. I've been out of school since 2:05. It's 3:49. True, I have a game tonight, but I won't go home until @ LEAST 7:30!

@ least I enjoy going to work.

Yelling

If you are offended by tales of teachers yelling at kids then stop reading now. Seriously. A lot of yelling happens in this story. And the responsible adult is the one doing it. If not keep reading...because I'm about to vent.

Okay, so God has a sense of humor. I totally thought I had great classroom management...really. This summer I would have said "I don't have many rules, or any consequences but I have good rapport with the students so they behave."

Now...I have rules...I have consequences...I have a good rapport...my students are terrorists...TERRORISTS I TELL YOU!

Today it wasn't even the bad class.

I have a inclusion teacher second period every other 3rd second period for half an hour. And math is not her specialty...meaning I only know slightly more than her. Meaning, of no fault of her own, she's not very useful.

Today she was doing a jeopardy review game for my class because they are having a test tomorrow.

They were maniacs...Animals.

She doesn't ever make them behave
I get frustrated and yell at them
The problem gets worse when I hand the reins back to her
There's a lock down
The kids have a million questions
It's funny to me how they tell us not to tell the kids it's a lock down, but they come over the intercom and announce it...
We're still under lock down, and one of the things we have to list on the sign in our window is our cell phone number
I forgot to put my cell phone on silence, so during lock down I get a call from a 615 (Nashville) number
I answer it thinking it is something to do with the lockdown
It's the varsity representative calling about uniforms
The kids go crazy
(Please remember there is another teacher in the room doing NOTHING about it)
When they got done with the jeopardy game I LET THEM HAVE IT.

I shouldn't have, but here's the deal, I was mad. There was a lockdown so I couldn't send the kids out, but during the review game most of them talked and played the whole time. The class average for this class is in the 60's...BAD. I have a kid with an 11 average.

Basically what told yelled at them was that they were lazy, didn't care about their grades and were going to fail my class. I threatened to call parents and tell them that their child was happy with an F. I told the class that the kids failing where the ones with attitudes. One girl told me I had an attitude and I said "Sure do, and you might as well get used to it because I have no plans for getting rid of it." I told them that if they failed one semester of my class they failed the whole year (which is true) and I told them that since none of them ever came for help that they must want to fail, and if they failed algebra they'd probably fail other classes, and that would set them back from graduation, and if they didn't graduate they'd never get a job and they would starve to death or sell drugs and get killed.

I refuse to talk for the next hour (my planning)...because I DON'T HAVE A VOICE...@ least not much of one.

I know I'm a terrible teacher.

Thanks for telling me.

Jerk.

BTW...I still love my job (I'm sick and twisted)

Top 10

Top 10 reasons why a fire drill at 2:00 ticks me off.

1.) None of the kids have been to their locker yet, so they have a legitimate excuse for not doing homework (which by the way I NEVER assign, but of course did today)

2.) only half of my kids got the review sheet for my test tomorrow, so now I have to find a new time to give my test, which puts me even further behind.

3.) my room was left a mess because you can't stop a fire drill to put up white boards, markers and worksheets

4.) my cheerleaders get panicky and are late to practice because they can't find their way back INTO the building

5.) kids miss their buses because no one can find their way around the building

6.) it's ineffective because at 2 o'clock most teachers don't think it's a real fire drill, so they stay in their rooms with their classes until an administrator yells at them. in a real fire. they die.

7.) it makes me even more flustered after an already flustering class

8.) it interrupted my lecture about how my kids are going to be miserable, unproductive citizens for the rest of their life if they don't get their act together in my class.

9.) most teachers don't actually leave the building...they stand in the lobby talking about how stupid a fire drill at 2 o'clock is. again, in a real fire...dead. (except the old man, who just gets in his car and leaves...he breaks the rules, but he lives).

and

10.) it's messes up my schedule which really ticks me off...and the world revolves around me right?

NOTE TO SELF: When you become a principal don't EVER have a fire drill 5 minutes before the bell rings.