It's the little things

...that drive you crazy.

My current problem is constant, low-level misbehavior. Nobody's doing things that call for extreme action, but every day it's the same thing. How many times do I have to ask a certain kid to sit down? How many times do I have to redirect the same darn kid to the same darn task? How many times do I have to repeat instructions? It's crazymaking.

It's raising my blood pressure, unfortunately.

Also, let me officially state that I hate calling parents and should stop putting it off.

I went to a class on classroom management the other week and they showed us a graph of the first year of teaching. It started out with anticipation and excitement before the school year started (August, September). Then around October-November-December, it dropped off pretty sharply. This was the "disillusionment" phase. I think I'm there. With these phase-things, do you think it helps or hurts to know which phase you are in? Sometimes it annoys me (I'm not a textbook, darn it!) but sometimes it makes me feel better to know that others are in this boat too. Luckily the graph picks up and by the end of the school year is on the upward move again. One day at a time, right?

Meltdown

Meltdown last night...I let one student go way too far in one of my classes yesterday and it really upset me. Called mom today, got the scoop, she'll back me up, clear consequences. From now on, straight to the office, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Grr. My co-science teacher needs to come back soon.

Is it Friday yet?

A measure of success

Some days, it's just like this.
I come home.
D: "How was your day?"
Me: "I didn't strangle any students."
D: "Good day, then."
Me: "Yup."

It's only your first year once. Luckily. Almost 5 weeks done out of 40, that's 1/8th done!! Can you tell I do the math? At least I am not counting the days (yet).

By the way, am feeling better. Still not 100% and there's green stuff coming out of my nose occasionally. (TMI, I know.)

First cold of the year

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen: the first cold of the school year and definitely not the last. Don't feel nearly bad enough to miss school (plus I'm keeping things in order now that the other teacher isn't here) but bad enough to make going to school not the most fun thing in the world.

Holding down the fort

So...it's a girl, and a beautiful baby at that. Derek and I got to see her in the hospital when she was less than 1 day old. What a cutie! Full head of black hair, long fingers, fingernails. She was fully cooked and ready to come out!

Still holding down the fort around here while the other teacher is gone this week and the beginning of next. This week is pretty much all planned out; now all I need to do is prepare the detailed lesson plans for myself and sub. Luckily, it is the same one so I don't have to orient him every morning.

Had an inservice meeting this morning and picked up a few Excel tricks that were new to me, otherwise not much news there. Kind of nice to have the rest of the day to prepare for the week.

Made a mock-up of the wedding invitation and I LOVE it!! 5x7 green textured cardstock on the bottom, next a layer of lavender mulberry paper (looks handmade, you can tear the edges when you get it wet with a paintbrush) and a layer of pearly white paper with the printing on it. At the top, a small square of green stock with one pearl and two lavender (different shades) flowers (hooray for flower punches!). Made a mock 3x5 reception card and a response card as well. These are going to be easy to make and beautiful. Plus, a copy shop near us will cut all the paper to size for a very tiny fee--all I have to do is punch squares and flowers, tear edges, and assemble!

The honour of your presence is requested

Went to the local scrapbooking store last night for help picking out papers to make invitations for the wedding. Got some combinations that I really like...now to make a sample or two and send them to Mom for approval. Looked at the pricing on those envelopments...ouch!! at least $1.50 a piece and that's only for the envelopment itself (not including other papers and embellishments that you want to add).

Need to start thinking about wording. Mom wants both sets of parents on there, and she likes the British spelling...hmmm.

No word on the new arrival yet. I'm guessing that the new parents are sleeping it off.

It's a...

small problem.

Message on my voice mail this morning from the other science teacher, 12:00 am:
"Hi, Suzanne, I'm calling from the birthing room at the hospital, M is in labor..."

No problem, right?

I just had to lead the sub through the lesson she had to teach, no problem, just the one I taught yesterday.

I just had to go pick up the dry ice during planning period, no problem.

I just have to figure out how to hold down the fort for the next 2 weeks while he takes paternity leave, no problem.

We're right in the middle of the unit, no problem.

I was just starting to think I would actually be able to keep my sanity this year. But it's no problem...since when have I had sanity?

Ouch.

My feet hurt.
This is probably the result of my shoes. I have invested quite a bit in extremely comfortable shoes from Dansko, but I have yet to buy a black pair that can be worn with a skirt. So I am wearing my still comfy but less comfortable black flats. Hmmm...I am eyeing the Hermione style on the "stapled clogs" page, both for its name and for its look. I also have the Monika style in brown and the Narrow Pro in brown and black.
I need a pedometer...I would bet that I walk a lot more steps than I think I do. At least I feel like I never sit down.

Pockets full of passes

I'm so amused...whenever I wear clothes with pockets, I end the day with my pockets full of passes. I suppose they would be quite the treasure trove for kids looking to get out of class! The other "teacher thing" I have is permanently colored fingers from the overhead. Not that I'm complaining...I've heard chalk dust is awful to get out of clothing and dries up your hands like there's no tomorrow. Thank goodness for dry erase!

The experiment went well today...as always, timing is one of the most difficult things about teaching. Had a few minutes extra in one class, racing to finish in some of the others. All in all, a decent day.

On an unrelated note, they now sell mini bags of microwave popcorn. So you can still eat a whole bag but not feel nearly as guilty about it!

And it's only Monday.

Why am I so tired? Just came back from a 3-day weekend, and I'm barely recovering. Not like I was partying or anything, I really wasn't!

I can tell right now that parent phone calls are not going to be my strength. Tried to do one today... it didn't go great, but I stood my ground and we are investigating the situation. Like serving 15 minutes of detention for a tardy is that big a deal. At least this kid has parents who care...two I have tried to call have had disconnected phones. What happened to the days when parents and teachers would work together for the good of the students?

Got to wear more new clothes today. :-) I could get used to this.

On the wedding front, made an appointment with the lady at the scrapbooking store to come in and work on ideas for invitations. I'm thinking of using Envelopments to enclose the invitation, maps, response cards, reception cards, etc. They are just so cool! Look at the "pocket folds" section. You can put the invitation on part of it and tuck the enclosures in another pocket.

More quality kid time with our friends last night. They have a 2-year old and a 3 1/2 year old, SO cute! It pushes off my maternal instincts for a while. Plus, we can play with them and then give them back whenever they need changing or feeding or when we want to go home and go to bed.

It feels like Saturday

3-day weekends. Aaahhh. And even better, 4-day weeks. I've noticed so far that I get more and more tired as the week goes on, so a shortened week can only be a good thing.

Must work on my assignments for the weather-related course I'm taking...free for teachers, I get recertification/graduate credit for it, and it's mostly online. How much better can you get?

Is there such a thing as demo karma? and other rambles

Because today, mine was definitely bad.

And the lesson of the day, ladies and gentlemen: no matter how much you want to go home, you NEED to try the demo by yourself before you try it in front of 22 impatient middle schoolers.

And even then, it probably won't work. I was trying to do the whole crush-the-pop-can-with-atmospheric-pressure thing. Should work, right? Didn't in my first three classes. Had to tap dance around and come up with something else. Tried it over lunch, it worked just fine. Tried again when the kids came back...nothing.

Bad demo karma.

But on the bright side, I get to increase some detentions to 30 minutes because the kids didn't show up to serve their 15 for being tardy! I am actively trying to get a reputation for being a really strict teacher...the better your reputation, the less kids will try to act up. This is hard...sometimes you (or at least I) just want to be nice and cut kids a break, but they respect and appreciate you more if you are consistent.

Also...3 day weekend coming up. Hooray!! We have 2 of them this month and although school is going well, I'm looking forward to them as much as the kids are.

Turned in a sheet about "supplemental duties" the other day...we are paid to do them, things like supervising random sports or running the scoreboard or time clock. Hopefully I won't have to do too many.

Going to a NICE restaurant this weekend to celebrate Derek passing his qualifier and me surviving the first two weeks of school. Maybe I'll wear my new Isaac Mizrahi (for Target) rockin' suede skirt. Light brown, just below the knee, A-line. I've never had a leather skirt before! $31 on sale!! I bought a lot of school clothes last weekend but this one was just for me. I have summer shoes to wear with it, but I definitely need some kick-butt leather boots for winter. Am I becoming fashion-conscious? Is the world coming to an end? Can I find anything else to ramble about? Only time will tell.

And it begins for me too.

Okay, so I'm actually continuing/changing my blog for a few reasons.
1) Xanga is blocked by the school district for unknown reasons.
2) I am enjoying reading others' blogs and thought I would reciprocate.
3) Xanga doesn't allow comments by non-users, and that's no fun.

Second week of school, and I'm doing okay. Getting through every day, which is the best I can say for my first year. Little things--good and bad--happen all the time. I'm getting to know the kids (I had all the names memorized by the third day--ask me how if you're really interested!) and already sent one to the office. But really overall, I love this job. Even when I say I don't. Even when it keeps me up at night. These kids are just great--they make me smile almost every minute of every day. Notice I said almost. ;-)

Welcome to the party!

Oh, and on the wedding front, no new news. 2 bridesmaids have picked their dresses, all major vendors taken care of, and invitations are the only thing on my mind right now.