Ridin' Herd

I managed to survive, barely, yesterday's sixth grade activity day extravaganza. You try spending an entire hot, humid, school day with hundreds of screaming kids. We played volley tennis, ran a obstacle course, battled in tug of war, did the three-legged race, and still had energy left over for water balloon volley (kids "launch" and catch water balloons using bedsheets, quite the feat of coordination). It was all good fun, but being the orderly person I am, it was a bit too much CHAOS. I came home with a splitting headache and a touch of heat stroke. At least I didn't get sunburned, thanks to my tireless efforts at slathering on the sunblock.

My students have been generally rotten lately, especially my first period class. I don't know what's up -- or maybe I do, I just don't want to admit that I've lost their attention for the 10 remaining days of school. I had to call the mommas yesterday. This morning, it was like trying to teach the dead. When the boys weren't misbehaving, it was blank stares and no responses all around. Finally, I just gave up trying to teach the little twits about adjectives and said, "Look, I'm doing all the work here. You guys are putting forth zero effort. So, you do the practice on your own, then take the quiz when you're ready. It's open book. I'll be happy to help you with the practice, but you're on your own for the quiz." I was proud of myself for not losing my temper, but unsatisfied with the way things turned out. That's not the way I want to teach, or the kind of teacher I want to be.

I do want to invent a way to make grammar interesting to middle-schoolers. What a noble purpose. Grammar was my worst subject in school and, yes I'll admit it here, I STILL HATE IT. For some reason, it has to be taught. If I ever get a good enough grip on grammar, I'm going to write a textbook that, if it doesn't make grammar interesting, it will at least make it comprehensible. I can't even understand some of the stuff in the student textbook. I need to go to class with my peer teacher and learn from someone who knows. Oh, grammar woes.

I was talking to Missy, my mentor teacher, about the appalling behavior of my students the other day, and she gave me the bad news: it only gets worse from here on out. "Just hang on and survive," where her words of advice. I feel like it's the beginning of school all over again and I'm that green teacher that felt always-incompetent in front of her class.

Kelli Howard asked me, a while back, to consider taking on responsibility for the yearbook next year. I thought about it and have decided to give it a try. Kelli has been yearbook sponsor for eight years, and has done a beautiful job. Big shoes to fill on this order. The good news is I'll receive a "supplement" of $2000; the bad news is I don't get a period for yearbook, but will have to work on it during planning period and after school. Kelli and I will review applications next week and choose my staff. The yearbook is entirely digital, so I'm counting on my ten years' experience in desktop publishing to help me learn what I need to know quickly and painlessly. One of the new teachers is pregnant and leaving at the end of the year. I've already put in my pitch to the principal for her room in the school building. I've been told that moving in is "a possibility." I have zero storage in the portable (can't lock the bathroom), and I have no room to set up the dedicated computer and scanner I'll use to produce the yearbook. So, there is a good possibility I'll get the room. It's a nice room -- large, windows floor to ceiling one wall, long counter in the back, and a huge storage closet. I don't know when I'll know, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Someone has gone to bed without me (and it isn't the cat!), so that's all for now.