exciting week!

Third week of school is usually when the honeymoon period ends. On Tuesday and Wednesday, there were two different fights in the same area of the school. Both fights involved girls. The first involved one of my former students (she found out another girl was pregnant with her boyfriend's baby! Draaaamaaaa!) and the second involved a 'clan' of girls (all related), some of whom I taught last year. They jumped a new girl and tore out her hair! Poor girl was bleeding all over the place & her hair was all over the floor, I was told. Yep, honeymoon period over.
Students got a little more wild this week, but I still like them. I met quite a few parents on Wednesday night for our first semester Back to School night. They were all very nice & a majority of them brought their students with them!
All my classes took tests on Tuesday. For English 9 & 10, it was their first. They all did pretty great! I think out of all my students, only 3 failed (basically one per class), 5 got D's or C's, and the rest got high B's or A's! Some even got above 100 due to study guide extra credit or completing ALL of the short answer options. I am impressed! I've got a great group of kids this semester!
My student teacher (yes, MY student teacher--what? how?) had her first full day with my classes on Thursday. She came in for Back to School night and did a wonderful job of introducing herself. My English 9 students and student involvement worker met her last Friday when she was first visiting the school. She's not a 'real' student teacher just yet. This semester she will be coming in only on Thursdays and has little tasks that she must complete every week for the two classes she's taking. Next semester, she will be teaching for 10 weeks (yikes! Will I be able to give up my control of my classroom for that long?). She seems very nice, but nervous and/or uncomfortable. It's cool, though, cause I was pretty much the same way during my pre-internship.
The students don't really like her so far. My English 9 students call her the 'awkward lady'. My English 10 students were not pleased that she shh'd them when she was here (neither was I, to be honest. That's my job. haha!) and constantly told one of them to be quiet. My English 11 students didn't take much notice of her. All of them were disturbed that she never laughed or showed any emotion. Oh, and they all took notice of her make-up and a shoulder twitch she had going on (teenagers are so observant of the things you probably do NOT want them to notice at all). My 9th graders were planning on just staring at her next Thursday because they claimed that she just stared at them the whole time. I talked them out of that and explained to them what I explained to all of my classes who asked about her: she's probably just nervous and will loosen up as she becomes more comfortable in the classroom. Either that or she thinks we're all nutjobs. And that's okay.
At first, I was nervous about what she would say about me. Then I realized a few things.

1. She has never taught before. If she has, it definitely wasn't at a high school level.
2. My administrators and department chair know how I am, how I teach, how other teachers/students/parents feel about me. Their opinions matter more than hers because they determine if I have a contract.
3. Regardless of what she says, I will continue to teach the way that works for me. If she disagrees with it, that's fine since we are obviously different types of people.
4. My students are successful and retain a lot of the information I need them to. To me, this shows that I'm doing at least one thing right. :)
5. She's never taught before. Comparing myself to who I was when I was her age and place in my career to now shows how much you change when you actually have to teach.

Bless her heart, though, I do not envy her. I would not relive my pre-intership, student teaching or first year of teaching for any amount of money. The pure terror, panic and anxiety from those two years probably took at least a year off of my life. I no longer wake up with a nervous stomach, questioning why I didn't choose a career that didn't involve getting up in front of 20-30 teenagers and trying to teach them something. I am so glad that I'm in year five of my career, comfortable in front of my students, knowledgable about what I have to teach and learning more every year about becoming a better educator. By the way, I noticed that I wasn't nervous at all during Back to School night. My greatest weakness used to be addressing a whole classroom full of parents because I would get so nervous that I shut down, but now it barely phases me! Loving it!

One last note about this week: I found out one of my current (and technically former, she was in an English 10 class of mine two years ago) students is pregnant. Every year, there has to be one... I should really start warning my female students at the beginning of the year...

surprise day off!

My school is closed today due to having no power thanks to a massive amount of rain. It's a good thing I'm home, too, since the doors to our front porch really like to let in all the rain. I've gone through almost 5 towels now. Oy.

Anyway, I've hit one of the times in the year that I hate. It's the first time in the year that the kids stop being your great new students and you start seeing their bad side. It's also the first time I start to doubt myself as a teacher because grades start sliding downward. Kids start getting sick of school, start disappearing more, and I start getting more annoyed.

Thankfully this week hasn't been too bad. Usually by this time in the school year, my initial motivation has really disappeared and I get behind, causing me lots of stress. I've been pretty consistently productive, even today when I had no school! This is a good feeling.

My 10th graders are really something else. Their personalities are really starting to show up to class, in a good way. There were many times I laughed really hard this week at something they said or did (not at them, but with them, mind you...). I can't really remember exactly why or can't quite put any of those examples into words--they are more the kind of moments that make me wish I had a video camera on to capture. You-had-to-be-there kind of moments. Retelling them and trying to explain to you wouldn't be the same, unfortunately.

There is one thing that sticks out from this week. As you may know, every year I've taught, I've had at least one pregnant student or student parent. It's my curse. I joked with Math Teacher Next Door about how I should warn any female student I get next year. I have two rumored pregnancies this year, in the same class. I overheard one conversation (I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, they were right next to my desk) where the PG girl was answering questions of one of her classmates. Her classmate asked her "How does your BF feel? Does he want it?" PG says, "He did at first, but now... no. What does he care? His life doesn't have to change. It's my life that's the one that will change." I broke in and said "Ain't that the truth." She kind of laughed, which is the reaction I was hoping for. On the one hand, it's sad that her boyfriend isn't supportive. On the other, I was glad that she realized exactly what she was getting into, had no delusions about what would happen, and wasn't letting him slide by with that attitude. I hope everything goes smoothly for her, she is really sweet.

am I cursed?!

I keep meaning to sit down and write something meaningful. Or share some stories. Or something... else. It never happens. I get all these ideas, then I go home and read, laze about, play silly games, watch movies... you know. Lazy stuff.

I will be so glad when I'm done taking the GRE on Saturday. 

Also, I will be glad when I'm done teaching seniors. They're great kids, but good night, do they complain and whine a lot! I've never taught seniors before, so I don't know if it's the grade or just them. I like them as people, but I will be glad when I am no longer their teacher! That reminds me, I need to get started on their notes...

Anywho. The title of this post is about how every year I must, without fail, have at least one pregnancy in one class.

First year: two girls in the same class.

Second year: three girls, all in Eng 11, two different classes.

I thought I could avoid it this year, but I was so wrong! Oh, how wrong I was! 

O, God! O, mighty forces! why do you curse me so? Must I, every year, without fail, have a pregnant girl in my class?! 

There's nothing wrong with them. The problem is with the other students. You know, the ones who like to talk. I didn't have a problem before, mostly because most of them knew someone before like that. But here... at New School... oh my. 

When I told David I had a pregnant student, he asked "What is their policy on those cases?" I said, "point and laugh seems to work...?". I feel for this girl. I know her and her boyfriend/fiance pretty well since I have them both in two different Eng 10 classes. She's going through this in an environment that is so small that everyone knows everything, but unfortunately is not forgiving to those who are outsiders and those who do not do what they're supposed to do... Plus, the girl has been cursed with the most horrible morning sickness someone can have, has been hospitalized a few times due to that sickness, and has been told by her doctor that she will deliver way too early due to age and the placement/structure of her uterus. Could this be any more shitty for her? I mean, really.