La Nostalgia

A couple years ago, on this day, I would have been in El Paso. It was a tradition to go all out for Halloween. When I still lived in El Paso, my brother and I would rush home on this day to finish the last minutes touches on the house. If I had a scanner, I’d share some pics with you all.

Halloween was when my brother and I bonded. He was the creative genius and I bought stuff and helped out with the building. When the actual day of Halloween rolled around, clad in black and eerie masks, we’d take our battle stations on the front lawn and scare every kid that dared to walk past the white wrought iron fence.

All this ended about a year ago when my brother became involved with the church and sold most of the Halloween stuff at a garage sale. It’s no longer a necessity for me to fly down to El Chuco and now all I have are the memories of Harrier St. Halloweens.

Misc.

The Media is Stereotyping Texas

That was the topic of conversation in the teacher’s lounge after the first World Series game played in Houston. Actually, it was all over the radio too. It was mildly amused by the whole thing. The people who were complaining, at least around here, were the anglo-sangrones. Anyway, I was mildly amused because it was interesting seeing them on the other side of the table. I mostly listened to their conversations since I tend to be on the opposite of the issue on many things with my co-workers.

Second Walk-through

I never really went in to talk to my appraising AP about the first walk through. We mostly have very impromptu informal conversation which works for me. I hate the idea of having to go sit in someone’s office with a line of kids outside. Anyway, on Tuesday, she came to my first/second period block. I told some of the kids that we’d be having a visitor and they were perfect. I’m so glad I have them at that time during the day because they prepare me for the day. Although, I love all the kids the same, this particular bunch of kids is amazing. It’s awesome to actually be able to get through a lesson and do the activity I plan. And to top it off, they actually have fun doing it.

A Toaster, Diamond, and Ms. Baeza

Last Friday, I had the kids write a journal entry about those three things. They came up with some great things. Most of them were getting me engaged or having me find a diamond encrusted toaster or dropping the diamond into the toaster. There were two that used it as an opportunity to share some of their thoughts on me and the class. It was cool reading their entries. I’d share some, but I’m afraid of running into issues with the district.

TeXes Exam

I think I may have mentioned that back at the beginning of October, I was taking the test that lets the Bush(whacker) know that I know my stuff. Well yesterday, in between classes and reading “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” I went to the SBEC website to see if my results had been posted. When the window popped up, I read the results and sat there for a while not knowing what to do. Here is what it read:

TEXES
111
Generalist 4-8
10/01/2005
Pass
246

I couldn’t believe it. I talked to my mom last night and she said, “I already knew that. Last night you came to visit me, you had a paper with you and you kept saying, ‘Look Mom! Look! I passed!’”

Friday

I’m off today. We worked enough before school started so that most schools are having in-service days doing trainings and stuff. We’re not, thank God. I’m heading over to the SCMLA conference later. And tomorrow, well tomorrow is the big bash for my ex-supervisor’s big three-o. I have lesson plans to do, but I think I’m going to shower and explore a Friday outside of school.

Classroom Management

Am I the only one that thinks that Jet kinda sounds like Oasis?

It seems like we’re going to have another Astros Friday at school. I actually watched an entire game on television today. Mind you, I did begin to fall asleep during the 5th and 6th inning.

Friday afternoon at work was kinda shitty. My appraising AP did a walk through and my kids were behaving like shit. Usually, on Friday’s, they are to work on a journal entry for their “quickstart.” Well, I couldn’t get them to stop talking and work. It was horrible. She left me a note in my box to go talk to her this upcoming week. It wasn’t all bad, I mean, there were some positive things like how I ask higher thinking questions and how I went around commenting on everyone’s writing, but she was “very concerned” about all the talking.

I went down to see my friend Melinda before I left and told her all about it. She said, “Oh please! We’re all going to have all those problems. What do they expect, we’re new teachers.”

My classroom management is shit; I’ll be the first to admit it. My kids tell me I’m the nicest teacher they have. People say it comes with practice, and I’m sure it does, but it’s quite frustrating. I mean, there’s so many “experts” on the topic. Where exactly do you draw the line? And if the kids do this stuff already, they say there is no way in heck I can tighten up the reins now.

I knew my “niceness” would catch up with me somehow. It’s not even that I want to be friends with these kids, but I think I take way too much interest in them. I have kids coming for tutorials just because they want to hang out in my class. That’s pretty cool, but still, that’s not my goal. But you know, I can’t help but relate to them when the stuff that they write in their journals and papers is so touching. Their excitement and sadness is all there even if they use double negative, misspell words and theirs papers are full comma splices. Even my devil child has written about some very touching experiences.

The other day, the devil child got really angry with me because I wouldn’t let him sit on the back of the chair. He ended up walking out on me. When I was retelling my story to one of the veteran teachers, she was like, “You should have sent him to the office!” But there was so much hurt and pain in his little face. I thought he should have been going to the counselor not the AP. He obviously wasn’t okay. I mean, I know he’s very difficult, but I just feel so sorry for him. I know exactly where this path is going to take him. I know that he does things to get back at “the system” but the only thing that does is hurt him and push him even further down the wrong path.

Anyway, I guess I’ll see what happens. She did ask if I wanted to go observe other classes. I think I do need to do that. Maybe I’ll spend some conference periods next week observing some of the veterans.

Viernes

Ah que la chingada!

El martes made two years since el jefito passed away. It’s crazy how fast time goes by. I had spent the day filling out progress reports and preparing my presentation for the evening that I completely forgot about my jefito until my sis called. The thing is that I think about him almost everyday. Sometimes I remember the good, others the bad, and sometimes I just remember he’s watching out for me all the time. It’s so weird how I have a totally different relationship with him now. Now, he’s the father figure I always wished he’d had been because now, I’m in control of how he’s remembered by the things I say & write.

Rocio Durcal

After reading Gustavo’s entry about Juan Ga, I was really hurting for some of his music. So I went to download some and I ran into the songs that Juanga and Rocio did together and well . . . it made me all nostalgic. See, my mom had this younger sister who was my madrina. Anyway, they were always together. They were like the best of friends. My mom would die her hair and later tell me how she had a cabeza de pollo. My madrina would encourage my mom to wear makeup, die her hair, and dress up while my mom was going through a tough time. My mom was my madrina’s confidant, she knew all about my madrina’s lovers and wild escapades, but one day it all ended. They got into some big fight over something stupid and quit talking. My madrina’s cherry-red Izuzu Trooper no longer picked us up for trips to the swap or to Charlie’s for the awesome comida corrida. A couple months later, her husband, wearing a shirt with foliage print and straw hat, walked up to my sister’s door and knocked. My sister didn’t want to see him, but she did. I stayed in my room. After his visit, my sister walked into my room and simply said, “La Bucha se mato.”

I felt like someone had punched me in the jelly belly. I didn’t know what to say or do. I just remember holding onto the dry green chest of drawers thinking, “this can’t be true.”

The next thing I remember is being with my mom and hearing her crying like those dramatic women on the novelas. In a lot of ways, my mom had been like her mother.

What does that have to do with Rocio Durcal and Juanga? Well, Rocio Durcal was my madrina’s favorite singer. Right around the time she passed away, el Juanga y la Rocio were once again doing their duos. Her favor song was “Amor eterno.” After she passed away, it was impossible for my mom to hear these songs without breaking down every time. She couldn’t live with the guilt of being angry with her sister. I think she’s over it now, but she’ll still let out an, “Aye, mi hermana,” once in a while.

Homesick

I was feeling spontaneous Sunday, especially after I noticed that I’m booked the next two Saturdays which means it’ll be a month with one-day weekends. Preston, this guy that was at my Saturday training and is in Dr. Full of Herself’s class admitted, “ATCP will end your marriage.” I can totally see what he means. Substitute “marriage” with “life” and you pretty much have the topic of conversation amongst all the ATCPers.

We have no lives because we have no time. I’m sure the little time we do get, we run wild . . . like I did Saturday night. I had originally made some plans but they were cancelled. So I was sitting at this here computer typing up an entry for you all when Dan the Man walked into the room and I said, “Hey, you wanna go to the mall?”

“Uh, yeah.”

So we headed out to the mall. It was more of a walking excursion. I don’t normally like malls because they’re crowded and mostly overpriced, but I like walking around and seeing all the crap that I used to be marveled with like the fluorescent lights that make signs for Claire’s and Journey’s. I like walking through Foley’s and Dillard’s knowing that I chose not to buy stuff from there and I love going into Lane Bryant to drool over the jeans that aren’t really made to fit all plus-sized women. Oh yeah, I can’t forget to mention the latest infatuation: baby clothes. I can’t wait until my brother’s baby is born to go on a spending spree for his kid.

Anyway, after the mall, we were heading home when I said, “You know, we should go to Galveston, we’re only like 30 minutes away.”

After some discussion, we decided to head out to Galveston. It was about 9 P.M., and the night was perfect. We walked around on the beach for about an hour and then settled on one of the piers for about fifteen minutes. Only reason we left was because I was freezing my butt off.

It was nice to do something so spontaneous. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to act out on whim like that. In actuality, I don’t think I’ve done anything like that since I lived in El Paso. Since I moved to Houston, my life has been so consumed with “things to do.” It seems like I need to dedicate time to “the future” or “my plan.” When I do get time to do my own thing, I end up vegging out because my brain wants to become this idle mass.

I’ve been feeling really homesick lately. It’s been about eight months since I’ve been to El Chuco. I’ve only seen my mom and one of my nieces since. The others, I only hear glimpses of them on the phone. I can only imagine what the nephews look like now. I could substitute Richard and Kendra’s face on any one of my students. I can’t even begin to imagine how big Little Lyn is and it hurts to think that I won’t get to see my brother’s baby as a newborn.

But I was expecting this. I knew things would change, especially once I got out of college. I also know that from now on, things will only get more complicated. This year won’t be the first that I may not get to see my family for Christmas. But at least I can pacify the craving with some of that El Chuco goodness that Alicia Gaspar de Alba exudes in her writing.

You're just being facetious!

I had my wonderful class with Dr. Full of Herself tonight. It doesn’t help either that we’ve got a lot of those full of themselves students who feel to need to constantly “share.” We got so off topic today, I thought I was going to stick my pencil through my eyeball. Then she starts telling us that we need to bend over backwards for every kid, and while I agree with that, sometimes there are extreme cases. While I hate to say that, this little turkey of mine, he’s seriously trouble and he needs a little more structure in his life, especially at home. Anyway, we went up to her after class because it so happens that Open House is on the very night that we have class and she begins apologizing for her bitchyness because by then, she had not only found out that we are first year teachers but that this kid is also involved in criminal activity.

I guess what really bugged me was that she called me facetious when I said, “I’m just happy when he actually makes it to my class.” She has no idea what the situation is like and you can’t apply this generic technique to everything. That’s just my opinion. But then again, I’m a first year teacher, what do I know?

My name has appeared in another book. On Saturday, my sis gave me a second edition of Lowriding on the Streets of Gold in which my name appears on the CIP data page. This is the one with all that Library of Congress stuff at the beginning of the book. I feel so proud. Also, my name may appear in another book with two of my stories depending on the publishing house and editor that picks up this Memoir Anthology project. We’ll see how it goes.

You know what that damn hurricane Rita was good for? Ruining my momentum. It stinks now. I have no idea what I’m doing again and the kids were running rampant the first couple of days. Things are better, but damn it, I got behind on my preparing for the future plans. I was making copies and there was no rushing to the copy room every morning. I guess I’ll have to start using the copy aid more often now.

Anyway, I’m about closing my eyes as I type this. I guess I should use whatever energy I have left to iron my “old lady” clothes. Catch ya’ll later.

Back to Normalcy

It seems as though my life will return to normalcy soon. School starts up again tomorrow and according to the other teachers, the kids are going to act like it’s the first day of school. I went up to the school today to put stuff back where it belongs. I had to move everything out of harm’s way last Tuesday. It feels weird thinking about going back. I still can’t believe I’m the one the kids look to when the enter room 212. Heck, I can’t even believe I know enough to teach.

I think I’m just feeling this way because I take my TEXES exam Saturday. You know, it’s that test that pretty much lets the state know that you know your shit. It’s really freaking me out. I haven’t been able to make the study sessions, but according to some people I know, you’ll leave there feeling like you failed the exam no matter what.

After the rearranging adventure at school, I went to Hell-Mart to get some cash and a cake. (It’s my brother-in-law’s b-day today.) As I was walking out, this little girl sitting on the bench in front of McDonald’s begins to frantically wave. She gets up and walks toward me and it was only then that I realized it was one of my students. I asked her if she was ready to go back to school and she scrunched up her nose and shook her head no. It was then that I remembered that I really am a teacher. I imagine that after I left, she told her mom, “I just saw my teacher! She had a birthday cake.” Tomorrow, she will probably ask about the cake in front of everyone or she’ll say, “Huh Ms. Baeza, I saw you at Hell-Mart yesterday?”

I guess it will be nice to go back to work. Dan the Man is starting to get on my nerves. In my opinion, he spends way too much time playing video games and in his opinion I spend too much time watching the Food Network and TLC. During this last week, there have been at least three occasions in which I’ve wanted to tell him to just leave. Sunday, I broke down and told my mom about all the issues we were having. About how he wanted us to go spend the entire day at his friend’s house, yet he can’t bear a couple hours with my friends because he “won’t have anything to talk about.” I also told her about how he fails to introduce me to people and I end up doing it myself and won’t even bother to ask if I want to come along to see his niece and nephew.

So many people have told me that I can do much better. My mom said she was going to pray to my dad to get him away from me, but I’m not sure if that’s what I want. I know these things take a lot and I also know that once I am fed up, I’m going to have no qualms about telling him to get out, even if his family rocks. But for now, I’ll continue to have my “bitch fits” in hopes that he’ll grow up. Fret not my blogger friends, I am going to talk to him. But the rabia has to go down a little. I don’t say things right when I’m so upset.

Well, I guess I’m off to the car wash. Because I had no help taking the trash out yesterday, I managed to get melted ice cream all over Dori’s butt. It’s not a very good look for her.

Home

It’s good to be home again. Everything was in tact when we walked into our apartment about an hour ago. We’ve set up the television and the computer, but now we have to empty out the fridge. The power went out for a while and they say it is best to throw it all out than get sick. Considering that a doctor’s bill would be more that $40 of groceries, I think I’m going to follow that snippet of advice.

The drive home took two hours longer than usual, but I’m not complaining. I got to listen to some good music. Dan the man slept most of the way since we don’t always agree on music. Since I’m the driver, I think I should be allowed to listen to whatever I want.

This little trip got us many goods for the apartment. The in-law’s bought us a microwave and a bad ass blender. The blender according to Dan the Man Sr. was for watching the kiddos on Friday. See, the in-laws had planned to take Dan the Man’s aunt to Medieval Times along with Bev, Dan the Man’s sister while Mush, the oldest sis, watched little Bev. Well, the aunt ended up with an extra ticket and Dan the Man & I didn’t think it was fair for just one of us to go and plus we had plans to go see Dan the Man’s friend. Then I suggested taking Mush along and I could watch the kiddos and everyone liked the idea. Dan the Man did cancel the plans with his friend and helped watch the kids. Anyway, Sunday, Dan Sr. caught me before I got out of the car at Kohl’s and said, “You’re gonna get something for babysitting.” When I started to say it was okay, he said, “Listen to me, you’re going to get something, and none of this clearance stuff. Get something for you or the house, but get something.”

Oh yeah, we also got some wine glasses and some “As seen on TV” plastic containers from his friend. The “Stuff for the Apartment” list is quickly dwindling.

Well, I’m going to go park my ass in front of the television and find out about slow downs on I-10 from San Antonio to give my sis an update whenever she gets home. Hope everyone is doing well.

Safe for now

Howdy ya'll. We made it to the in-law's at about 1 PM today. As I watched the 5 o'clock news with Lynda and Dan the Man, boy was I glad we left when we did. The traffic out of Houston is unreal. I talked to my sis about half an hour ago and she was barely leaving.

Watching the news, I can finally identify with the people who were affected by Katrina. As I sat in front of the television grading the work of my students, I said a prayer for each one. I hope Edgar gets back to Stinkydena and finds his home still standing. I hope Justin and his family made a last minute decision to actually leave and I hope Britanie didn't freak out too bad. I turned my bag inside out looking for the yellow sheet of paper that had the phone numbers for my collegues. I'm wondering if Linda is going to Brownsville and if Lalis might be headed to Valle Hermoso.

It all seems surreal. Dan the Man is worried about his car and the television and I'm thinking I should have taken down that picture of my dad in the hallway. I keep hoping Rita goes west just a little more. But I guess only time will tell. Until then, I'm on the edge of my seat hoping to get a call from my sister letting me know she's finally made it to El Chuco and seeing on the news that Ragging Rita has calmed down and will hit King Ranch. A girl can only hope.

I'm leaving

I had tried to post this yesterday and reply to some of the comments, but this thing wouldn't let me. Anyway, I'm securing the homefront and getting ready right now. We're headed up to Dallas until Rita unleashes it's vengance. Everyone is pretty much freaked out still because of Katrina so school let out and the city of Stinkydena told us to get the heck out. I'm not really in a danger area, but still, we're close enough.

I'll try to write some more when I get up to the in-law's.

Keep your chin up Cindylu! Don't forget to congratulate Cracked Chancla on her new business venture.

La Rita

Ya’ll in the event that Rita comes our way, as has been projected, the school district has canceled school for the rest of the week. Our little town has ordered an evacuation. So tomorrow morning Dan the Man and I are heading to Dallas to stay with his parents until Rita unleashes her vengeance.

I hope all my fellow coast Tejanos are okay. Ya’ll take care. I’ll try to update while I’m with the in-law’s.

Tired

When I left the school today, I was just . . . tired. My feet were killing me and all I wanted was for a Japanese woman to walk on my back. I was also starving; the Michelina’s lean lasagna lunches aren’t doing the trick for the hunger. I guess I should consider breakfast.

The day went well. The kiddos were okay. After lunch they started to get out of hand, I later found out that tomorrow is silent lunch. Silent lunch is exactly as it sounds. No one is allowed to talk. All the teachers are required to eat at the table on the stage in the cafeteria. Plus, we have to make sure the kids are sitting in their assigned seats. If you ask me, assigning seats and requiring them to sit at a table is way too much. I know why they do it, but still. I think that’s why they get so out of hand during and after lunch.

Did I tell you all I’m taking a graduate course? It’s part of this Alternative Certification thing. My class is on Tuesday nights. I hate the teacher. Part of it has to do with the fact that she uses tons of overheads and we have to copy everything down. She also allows way too many testimonials. And to top it off, “the Homie” is in the class. This guy loves to tell all these stories about himself and he’s pretty full of himself too. Plus, he asks some really lame questions. But well, from what I hear, that kind of student is in a lot of grad classes.

Anyway, I’m so looking forward to Friday. It’s not a half day and we’re not having a three day weekend, in fact, I have some training on Saturday, but still. I can’t wait. The thought of waking up at any hour I damn well please on Sunday really excites me.

Mr. Vayne

I had an entry that addressed all the issues I have been talking about lately, but then, I remembered and I googled this.

Mr. Vayne was one of my patients when I was a home health aide. He was just as his daughter describes him. Fortunately, I had to opportunity to see this house inside and out on several occasions.

He passed away about a week after I left El Paso. My mom was hesitant to tell me because she didn’t want me to worry. My mom was investigated because like most old people, he’d come about some bed sores and try as she may; she was not able to get rid of them. His daughter didn’t pursue the investigation. Like me, she knew his death was coming.

I didn’t cry when I found out that he had died. He wasn’t the same man I’d met years earlier. Age had eaten away at his brain. He no longer pestered me to read out loud in attempts to help me project my voice better. He quit giving me lessons about Shakespeare and pestering me about going out on the roof to clean the gutters.

Instead, he’d sleep in the room next to mine and claw at the walls and scream at the hallucinations he often saw. I rarely like to recall these events. Instead, I like to remember the lessons about what El Paso was like before he helped build the freeway and people’s comments about how excited he was for Tuesday and Thursday to come along because he’d get to spend time with me.

Sorry if this doesn’t make much sense. I’m just overwhelmed with emotion right now.

P.S. Things at la escuelita have been good. I’ll tell you all about it at another time. Thanks for all your comments.

P.S.S. I’d love for you to read my blog Belinda.

Oh yeah, I can’t wait for Cracked Chancla to reveal her big news! I’m still squeling!

And so time just goes by . . .

I still don't have internet at my casa. Actually, at this point, I don't even have electricity at my apartment. There was this huge screw up and we had our electricity cut off on Wednesday and we won't get it back until this coming Wednesday. That's one week I won't be able to spend in my dang apartment.

School is going. I had a very informal evaluation on Tuesday and my classroom management sucks ass. However, the evaluator did tell my AP that I'm a "very good teacher." She liked how I made up examples using the kids instead of taking the books. That's pretty much my teaching style thus far, make it up as I go along.

After a week of lecturing kids on learning to be respectful to each other and me, I had one class still acting up. I ended up telling them that I was so disappointed in them. I told them that I thought things would be different and that I could do fun things with them, but they can't handle that. I also told them that I was going to change things, I didn't know how, but things were going to change. Then I said, "We have two minutes left in class, I can't even begin to cover what I was going to teach you. So you know what? Please put your heads down for the rest of the period. When the bell rings, don't get up, I'll dismiss you when your minute is up."

After the day was over, I set up my desks in rows. Things will be changing on Monday but I don't know how yet. I have some hope that they're going to change. Even though I get upset with them, I continue to stress that I'm really there for them. I think they'll get it eventually.

I miss the blog world. I can't wait until Saturday. Hopefully, by then, I can read you all's journals on a regular basis and update more often. Anyway, I guess I better get moving. I gotta go check into a hotel and pick up some junk at my apartment. I'm sure I could stay at my sis's house, but I want the damn apartment people to pay for some of this time I can't be there, it's their damn fault in the first place.

More babbling

I may not be able to write an entry for a while seeing as how we start moving this weekend, and I haven’t even called about setting up some kind of internet at the new place. Also, I can’t get online at school. I mean, I can but everything has to be educational and stuff. Sometimes I can’t even get into the educational stuff.

Anyway, I have some stories for you all about the kiddos. I’ll start with the crappy one: I had to send a kid to the office today. He told a little girl in the class that she “needs to be on Slimfast.” I thought to myself, “That’s real nice asshole.”

I’ve get to see what the heck is going to happen to him. I’m wondering if he even went to the office. I tried to call my AP, but she didn’t seem to be in the office.

Now the good story, my first and second period class rocks man. We went to the library today and they were SO good. I told them to sit and read after they had checked out there book and I’d say all but like one or two sat there and read. When we got back up to class, they begged me to give them extra time to read and once again, they sat there and read. They were so happy to know that tomorrow they’re getting 45 minutes to read.

I finished my cohort training today. It’s sort of a good feeling, but I think I’m going to miss seeing them. I’ll at least get to see one person everyday because she’s a teacher at the school I teach at.

Not much else has really been going on. I started typing up an entry the other day about food, but I haven’t been able to finish it. It’s just so much easier to log in what I do day by day at the escuelita. I hardly ever type these days and I think I miss it because I’m typing so much faster than ever.

Anyway, even though I have some little shits in some classes, overall, I’m really glad I’m doing this. I’m glad that there are kids that like being in my class so much that they beg to stay another period. Of course, I can’t oblige, but it’s still cool. The best thing is that a lot of them have shared stuff with me about what’s going on in their lives outside of school. One kid told me about his dad being in the hospital and another told me how her mom almost had her arrested. So I feel like I’m there for some of these kids.

Babbling

Howdy ya’ll.

I love that Molotov song that starts off like that. What is it called? Perro Negro Granjero. Speaking of music, on Thursday, I went to Hell Mart to buy some stuff for one of my kiddos who can’t afford supplies and I bought myself the lastest Intocable cd. It sure makes the ride to school a lot better.

School isn’t so bad anymore. I no longer get sick to my stomach on my way to school and I actually have somewhat of an appetite during lunch. Thanks to all of you for your advice and animo. At one of my trainings last week, this lady said that one of the teachers at her school said she almost quit seven times her first year; one day, she even took boxes to pack up all her stuff. That definitely makes me feel a million times better.

After what happened last Monday, I’m so glad I had a crappy first day of school. One of the little turds started acting up so bad that I had to call my assistant principal. A while later, a cop showed up at my classroom and the kid ended up getting a citation for disrupting class. I felt bad about it, but well, something had to be done. Besides, I had to do something for all the other kids in the class. The little turd was howling and kicking desks and some of the kiddos got really scared.

I’m doing well though. I turned in my first batch of lesson plans, I’ve got the kiddos working, not at the level I want them, but they’re working nonetheless. I come home very tired but not angry. Like Gustavo said, I can’t take this stuff personal. In fact, it makes me laugh sometimes that they act the way they do. I know they’re testing me. They tell me they hate reading and writing and think I’m going to take it personal. They attempt to ask all sorts of personal questions and to top it off, they think I’m going to stand there and argue with them about the consequences to their choices.

Although I spend a lot of time doing work, I’m not bitter. In fact, it sort of makes the time I do get to spend away from working that much more enjoyable. I especially like to see people who aren’t saying, “You think you have it bad…”

In other news, I’m moving this coming weekend. It’ll be nice to not live so damn far from work, especially with gas prices being what they are. Dori is pretty good about gas, but still. Well, I suppose I should get back to packing. I’m looking forward to the day when I can come around and blog every day. Hopefully, it’ll be soon!

Horrid

The first day was not what I was expecting at all. The computer system was being switched this summer and like most software companies, they promised a lot of things and only gave them half of it. This caused tons of problems with schedules and stuff like that so the whole morning was spent in homeroom.

I have a homeroom class of about 20 kids. At first, they were okay. Then, because I let them sit where ever they liked, they started getting a little talkative. It would have all been okay if it hadn’t been for the terrible duo.

I have a pair of repeaters who are extremely proud of being in the sixth grade again. They love having the attention on them, so they started getting up and talking really loud and just disrupting everyone. It was only a matter of time before they had the class up in arms. Since they wouldn’t stop misbehaving, I separated them because it was a deal I’d made with them. This of course, made both of them really upset so they continued to misbehave, so at lunch, they weren’t able to sit together, and this was part of the deal too. My other classes showed up later and they were pretty good. To my dismay, homeroom came back for another 25 minutes at the end of the day. I ended up giving one kid detention which he didn’t show up to this morning.

By the end of the day, I was so fed up. I did what I wasn’t supposed to do; I let them get to me. It’s not that I didn’t know how to handle them, but I just can’t picture the rest of the year with them. I almost wanted to go downstairs and resign.

This morning, I didn’t want to go back. I had knots in my stomach all the way to school. I didn’t even enjoy my morning tunes. First period went well, I kept them busy and I am pretty content with the work they were doing. Then there was homeroom. It was utter chaos because there are so many things we have to pick up from them, so I had them fixing their paperwork before turning it in to me. Then they called for lunch. When they came back to class, one of the terrible duo kids was gone. Apparently, he did something to upset the principals so he got sent to ISC, which is that class where they keep them isolated and working all day long. I think that’s what he was looking for all along.

The other kid kept bugging the class, but now I had more time to go make him work. I kept going over to him and pushing him to work and giving him little pep talks about wanting him to get to 7th grade.

My 7th and 8th periods were okay. I have a couple of kids who could potentially be problematic but I’m separating them on Monday. They’ve been warned. In the meantime, I’m going to get some sleep. The thing about being a new teacher is that you sort of have to make up your own questions to the books, especially if you don’t want to bore them with the questions at the end of the story. I hope next week goes much better.

Jitters

Tomorrow is the first day! I’m getting more nervous by the minute. I know it’ll be okay, but still. This is my first day as a teacher; I’m allowed to be nervous aren’t I?

Dante's Inferno

Well then, it’s been long enough, hasn’t it? I hope you’re all doing well.

It’s been an interesting week. I’ve met almost the entire faculty and staff at the school. I think I know about every single thing a kid can do before he/she has to go to the office and I heard all about the sixth grade headache. Apparently, this kid failed and will be in sixth grade again. If he’s in one of my classes, I’ll “have full administrative support.” I wonder if one of his consequences will be a couple of swats.

Last week on Saturday, I experienced some part of Dante’s Inferno. Why? Well, sit down, let me tell you. After cohort, I skedaddled on down to the school because the incoming sixth graders would be there for orientation. I was a couple hours late, but I figured it’d be cool to see some of the kiddos that would eventually end up in my classes. Afterwards, I thought I’d head down to the teacher’s store so that perhaps I could buy a couple of things for my room. I was thinking a cool border for the bulletin boards, maybe some educational type posters or something.

During cohort, I’d been told that there was a 20% off sale and since I’ve been pretty much low on funds, I thought “huh, perfect!” About 30 other teachers thought the same thing. However, one out of every four decided it’d be a great idea to take their kids or spouse.

This store is designed to look like one of those old time schoolhouses. There isn’t much space in there so that 30 people, plus employees and kids makes it a little difficult to walk around. Add to this equation the walls covered with poster sets, stamps, games and anything teacher-related you can think of and you’ve got yourself a pretty chaotic place. The cherry on this little baby is the kid songs being performed by peppy little kids most likely clad in overalls in all the colors of the rainbow while pulling off some creepy choreography that includes a convict in a pink rabbit suit. It only took three steps in before I became dizzy. I walked around the entire store four or five times, blinking about a million times hoping to gain some of my eyesight, but I found nothing that I could use. I vowed to never, ever go into that store again.

However, this morning, I found myself in there again. This time was much better. I found the “Six Traits of Writing” posters, black border, and a nippy new pencil. I was out of there in twenty minutes. Still, I don’t think I’ll be doing much shopping there. I’ve used many unconventional things to decorate my classroom. My sis and roomie took some young adult covers from the press and made this neat border along the front wall of my class. I took my hideous fake cat and rat and set them up on the filing cabinets and desk, respectively. I also inherited an awesome César Chávez Apple promo poster that’s up on one of the whiteboards. The only thing left to do is write lesson plans and set up my accelerated reader space. It’s exciting and nerve wrecking all at once.

Oh yeah, I’ve also been given partial 6th grade bulletin board duty. The other girl and I are pushing for a superhero theme that many people really like. I still haven’t decided what superhero I want to be. Wonder Woman and Flash from The Incredibles are already taken. Dan the Man says I should be the Hulk because I’m mean according to him.

I haven’t done much else. I come home and pass out almost everyday. It gets pretty taxing to sit and listen for seven hours and then move around books, desks, etc. for two or three hours and then drive for about 30 minutes. I can’t wait to move to that side of town. I won’t have to get up so early anymore.

I’ll let you all know how Thursday, the first day of school, goes.

Dos noticias un post

Dear All:

I have two things to share with you . . .

The first is that I am officially employed. I got the keys to my room today. I’m going to have the clothesline in my room. I can’t wait to go in there and move desks around and create my reading corner and library. I also can’t wait to move my big ass desk to a less obtrusive place and put up all the things I’ve scored as door prizes.

The other news is that there’s someone new in my life. Her name is Dori. You can view her here if you click on “Polar White.” Never in my life have I ever had a new one. I owe it all to a certain older sibling out there who always saves my ass. I really hope I can do something great for her soon.

Well, that’s all for now. I miss writing in here! But alas, I have to get to bed. Early mornings aren’t my favorite thing in the world.

Love,

La Browngirl