I started spending some time in front of my classes today, Day2, of this crazy journey. They need to know that I am actually a teacher after all, and not just some crazy lady that hangs out and greets them at the door. It is still a little boring--finishing up rules and regulations.
No I do NOT have a pencil you can borrow. It's called responsibility. Mine is to make sure you learn everything that is important about the world. Yours is to bring a pen/pencil to class. We'll duke it out later in the semester and see who wins.
The day went well overall, except the whole "woops, we forgot to give the handouts to 8th hour," fiasco. Hey, we were all zombies by then anyways. Also, the same kid fell asleep again in 5th hour. Seriously, dude, classes are only 30 minutes right now. And we aren't even talking about real stuff yet. Wake up and smell the musty chalk board for a while. (you heard me, chalk board.) Math teachers get SmartBoards, we get chalk boards. Just because I teach history does not mean that I need to have the school supplies of a 19th Century one room school house. That's alright, we do more with less. The lifeblood of democracy. Protecting America from dictatorships one social studies student at a time.
Remind me of my optimism in a month or so, please.
One of the other teachers approached me after school and asked if I wanted to come watch volleyball tryouts for the next three days and help make cuts. So that's exciting! Yay for seeing students outside of class and getting involved (at least, that's what I'm told). But really, I'm excited to get back into athletics even if I am not coaching. I only vaguely remember how terrible at volleyball I was in 7th grade so I am interested to see the skill level of these girls.
It rained all day here, so this morning when we had supervision duty before school I had my first chance to talk with one of our Assistant Principals. He is a new administrator this year and he serves also as the AD for our school. I noticed he had an Iowa Hawkeyes tie on and could not resist the opportunity to make friends with a fellow Hawk fan amongst these loonies who drink the Big Red Koolaid. Not to mention his sister goes to the same school I do, and so did his mom. Have to love those connections.
I've just finished up fixing the seating charts so they are not destroyed anymore. No changes were made in order to protect the sanity of those vulnerable little 7th graders. Although, they are taking a pre test tomorrow and I'm concerned some of them might freak out and not know what a compass rose is. Lord help us.
OH-- I almost forgot. I never understood how seemingly young teachers could lament that they felt "so old." Let me tell you what, I understand!!! Our "homeroom" class has been abnormally long the past two days, and when you have 8th graders they only need one day to figure out how to open their locker. So instead we played the game TABOO today. I was being the word-referee and one of the girls had to pass on a word that she could not describe because she said she didn't know what it was. What is the word, you ask?? COMPACT DISC. Yes, she did not know that a compact disc was a CD. Seriously dude? Do you even own a CD?
Also, when one of the boys freaked out because they lost to the girls (full-of-themselves 8th grade boys hate this, by the way) I said "woosaa" and rubbed my ears. Clearly, a reference to the movie Bad Boys. He stared at me with this blank stare. When I said "Bad Boys? Hellooo?" My CT informed me that the movie was probably too old for them to know.
The generation gap has already hit. I am only 22.
"Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up." --Ronald Wright
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