More Than a Rough Day

Today was a really tough day to get through. It was the kind of day that makes you question your purpose and your work. The kind of day that makes you want to leave and never come back. The kind of day that induces divorce, war, and bankruptcy! Ok, maybe not. My voice is so tired of saying over and over again "I am speaking to you with respect, and I expect the same from you. I cannot hold a conversation with you until your voice is as calm as mine" or "There is a zero here on your progress report because you did not do the assignment" or any other number of things!

I have a handful of students who I haven't yet been successful in motivating, and they were up in arms today when I passed out a progress report for my class and they had several zeroes. I hope that this will help me motivate them in the future.

The worst thing about today is the level of disrespect that I felt from my students. I had 2 classes in a row trash my room completely. Yes, I know this is my fault. I have a procedure that we pick up before we leave. Today, though, we were going over grades (the final grades for quarter 3 are due next week), and the daily routine was all messed up. In addition to trashing my room and speaking to me as if I were a sub-human, I had a couple of kids use my personal belongings as if they were their own. One used my brand new set of highlighters as markers-ruining 3 out of 8. Another borrowed a pencil and gave it back to me in pieces, things like that.

It may sound trivial, but dealing with that for 6 or 7 hours is exhausting. I love what I do and I am driven to do well, but there are some days where you question your very sanity. Today was one of them.

Tomorrow will be better.

Rough Day

Today was a rough day at Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Academy Middle and High College Preparatory. Four of the five teachers in my corner of the building were out today (I was the only one in!). That means that there were 4 substitutes with 8th graders with only one more week to go before Spring break. The lesson I taught today went great, and the kids were pretty well behaved. It would have been a fantastic day. But being the only familiar face to about 300 kids and trying to shoo them into class is an endeavor that nobody should ever have to try. I have done so much rushing, shouting "let's go!" and the like today, that I really just want a nap.

I don't get a nap. The day is almost over, and the lesson is fun, so it should not be so bad. There is one more passing period (that means rushing kids and hollering at them), and then the end of the day (which means rushing kids to their buses). Either way, the day will be over soon, and it was not so bad.

Honestly, the kids could be taking advantage of these absences much more, so I'll take what I can get.

Good to Go

The website is up and running. It's not near where we want it to be, but so far so good. Hopefully it will be completely done by the end of the week. We've got the blog up, and a link to the blog on the homepage. I am really excited to see where it goes. Soon, I'll start posting about the day to day adventures of being a teacher in St. Louis. Brace yourself! :)

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Testing testing testing!!!!!!