Last night it thundered loud enough to set off a car alarm. It was pretty awesome. Also, how nerdy is it that we planned to go out to our favorite bar, but then got sucked in to the presidential debates and wound up staying in instead ( Read more... )

Six am to 8 pm is a long-ass time to not see my apartment. I hate Tuesdays. Also, whose idea was it to have my annual observation on the same day as standardized testing and the day after I'm required to attend an out-of-building meeting during the school day? Cuz it's a bad, bad idea ( Read more... )

There's a certain student in my feral class who has a decidedly foul mouth. At first I think he honestly had no idea how much he cursed, or that it's offensive to some people. I've since made him aware, and now he does it on purpose for attention. For a while the kids all laughed every time he'd get caught mouthing off, but now they're starting ( Read more... )

For whatever reason, my students love nicknames. LOVE nicknames. This has been true for every class I've had so far in my career. They nickname their family members, their friends, the teachers, and anyone else. Sometimes they're basic nicknames, like La Rubia (the blonde) for the only blonde teacher at our school. Sometimes they're teasing, ( Read more... )

So, I have this feral class. Or at least, that's the only explanation I can come up with for them. They don't appear to be bad kids, and judging from the whopping 4 days I've had with them they're reasonably bright, but oh. my. gods. They seem to have no clue what a line is (keep in mind these are 8th graders, and my advanced students), and when ( Read more... )

Today was our students' first day back. As can be expected with an ESOL population, there were a handful of students today who were not on any of our lists, but clearly had our names on their schedules. During 1st mod (1st period to the uninitiated) I had one such student wander in about 20 minutes late and wordlessly show me her schedule. Sure ( Read more... )

So yesterday I discovered that I had no internet, phone line, or intercom in my classroom. After sweet talking the construction workers around my temp a bit, one told me that they'd jackhammered through the lines outside my room a few days ago, but that they'd called a "wire guy" and it would be fixed by next week ( Read more... )

This was the first day the entire staff had to be present, and it was really good to see everyone again. It was a bit distressing to see so many new faces, and to discover that there are still 3 positions open, even though the school year has now officially started. I'm also a little worried by the lack of a cost-of-living raise this year. Money ( Read more... )

...but for now, the Friday Five ( Read more... )

You know how sometimes people on your friend's list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ( Read more... )