Today was definitely a Monday.
After arriving at school early to make copies, I spent the rest of 1st period doing a combination of power-walking to find a working printer WITH toner, as well as doing impromptu hall duty (my assigned-colleagues were NOT at their designated posts -- AARGH!), and attend an ARD (the 2 teachers that were ahead of me...mysteriously didn't show up)...so the 3rd string had to step up to the plate. The irony: teacher #2...had put "requests conference with parent" on the progress report last week. AND SHE SKIPPED THE ARD. Heifer. Then I got to finally print my review sheet, and run to the copier one last time to make copies for the little putzes.
All that in 90 minutes.
So, no wonder I was not in the mood for 2nd period's shenanigans. Some of those children can work a nerve. I have a brilliant kid, who CAN NOT SHUT UP. He is constantly talking to someone. And yes, I've moved him. But, each time, he MAKES NEW FRIENDS. And, given that my room is roughly the size of a soupcan...I'm out of options.
He's always got a reason why he needs to be talking. I can't seem to get him to realize that I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU WERE "JUST" DOING. I don't care if you were discussing my nomination for Teacher of the Century. When I start to speak, SHUT. UP.
Sheesh.
And some painintheass child was CRACKING GUM during the last bit of the movie. I HATE the sound of cracking gum. But, because I'm a pasty white color, and was sitting in the light from the office window...anytime I would turn my head to see who was cracking the gum, they saw the glow and STOPPED. Dammit.
I was so glad to see them go...and 3rd period (Buggy's class) come in. Actually I didn't see 3rd period come in...because I had made my mad dash to the bathroom. But, when I got back, I was glad to see them. :)
The best part? I walked in the door, and headed toward my desk...Buggy comes over to me, and...without prompting...hands me the letter from Ubercity about his ticket. The court date? MAY 23rd. Thank heavens for small miracles. (I'm still wondering if he can still do community service...the letter was absolutely non-informative. I need to talk to my best friend who's a lawyer. See what she knows.)
We watched the end of the movie. I was feeling pretty warm & fuzzy abou them.
But THEN, they wouldn't shut up so I could explain the junior theme. Apparently I did TOO good of a job last week previewing the possible authors on the topic list...they were all jazzed about calling dibs on their person.
I hadn't even passed out the author list yet...I was still trying to discuss the timeline. Even Buggy was hollering about some author.
Buggy...who hates to read.
I know this, because he told me so today after I gave him the Life Strategies for Teens book.
I told him he could start learning to like it.
Like now.
OCD sidenote: I read through the book and underlined key parts that I wanted him to pay special attention to...and wrote notes in the margin for him. What can I say? It's a great book.
In discussing the timeline, I hammered home the fact that they must not miss a single day of English 3. Period. Or they will get zeros on the assignments due those days. I was doing a great job of being a hardass. But then, Buggy goes to sit at my desk so he can correlate my copy of the gymnastics schedule to the timeline....and I get:
Buggy: But Miss...I've got regionals. But what about regionals?
Me: We'll talk about it. Chill out.
Buggy: Miss. We're going to miss all day on the 12th. I'm not going to be here....
Me: DUDE! School-related absences will not result in zeroes. Can ya chill out?!
Buggy: Oh. Yeah. Sorry, Miss.
What I didn't tell him was that, if he makes it to Regionals, and it's during the day...I'm going to miss school, too!! hah!
By the time the Debate class came in, I was ready to scream. We spent some time talking about the importance of seeing another person's point of view. (Wrap up of the screaming-fight-in-class scene last time.) THEN, I gave them a free day so I could get some projects done. WOOP!
After school, I did a training session for the Special Ed department on our mobile computer labs. Oiy vey. Some of them were "special". I almost wished for my 2nd period back. Almost.
Then I had a whole hour to kill until Buggy got back to school from gymnastics, so we could go meet Hellion to run the concession stand for softball. It was really slow tonight, so we just hung out and chatted for most of the time. He's really handy to have around...does all the heavy lifting. (I must say, he was frighteningly adept at icing down the Gatorade and bottled water for tomorrow night. I don't want to know how a 16 year old figures out the layer-of-bottles-layer-of-ice-repeat trick....I'm living in denial.)
It was also a prime opportunity to grill him about his grades and staying out of trouble. Score one for Ms. H!!
Afterwards, I dropped him off at home, and headed for the ranch. It's been a hell of a long day...and I'm ready to go to bed.
Nite, folks!