Ok, maybe now I'm settling in. Finally, I can find a moment or two for myself that don't require more energy that I can muster. I still have a pile of grading to do, but I'm ok with it... no one will die because their questions on the Masque of the Red Death haven't been graded.

Next week, the plan was to start To Kill A Mockingbird - however, our department has discovered that we are about 10 books short. I'll have to check with one of my collegues on Monday to see if he has more stuffed in the closest. Othewise, my almost 2 separate preps for English 10 become actually 2, making for a total of four. The joys of rural teaching. (actually, I did at one time have only one prep and it bored me to tears!) I might also pick up a copy or two at the Border's teachers sale this weekend.

AP is working on narrative writing. We've read quite a few narratives and next week, will begin reading one about 'the black death'. It isn't quite the narrative that most would instantly recognize as a narrative, so the discussion on what really makes a narrative a narrative should be interesting. Or it could "gay" - these days it's really a coin toss on which. It's such a strange class to teach. They're all bucking for top 10, so I know whatever I assign will be done, but there just isn't a lot of classwork done in class. I need to figure out some new projects. Perhaps rhetorical term posters?

Monday also starts Homecoming week. I am one of those teachers who dresses up. Personally, I love dressing up, but I also find it a good way to bond with my students. One of the "school sucks - people who participate are preppie drones" will do my hair for Ridiculous Day. The student in question sports quite a mohawk, so who better to create mine? And for once, this student will probably make it to first period on time. For class color day, the staff has decided to dress in black. I'm sure the message will not be lost on the administration. A former student purchased a coconut bikini top for me on a trip to Hawaii, so I figure with a white turtleneck and the tropical clip left over from the end of the year luau, I should be pretty tropical. I'm sure that photos will be taken and passed from phone to phone.

I've also been asked to be a nerd date for the Homecoming assembly - I believe my date will be the principal. By coincidence, I bought the perfect skirt this summer. I may have to hit Goodwill to find a blouse.

Settling In

The first stories were turned in this week. I really have high hopes for them - more than a few students were really into writing their stories. The bonus was that they all have more than one page of writing. I still have sophomores who are confused with the whole concept of a 5 paragraph essay including more than 5 sentences total. With this assignment, creating a good story seems to dictate more detail.

My AP class has also settled in - I lost a few students with the period shuffle and didn't really gain any - but we're making due. And it really is less work for me. Locally, the mayoral race has gotten hot, with letters and accusations flying. It's made for interesting reading. Will it lead to a interest in politics in general? I'm pretty sure that all the boys have seem the Obama Girl.

How many annoyances build up to a major gripe?

I'm getting the distinct feeling that this is going to be a year filled with petty annoyances. It's officially a pissing contest. I wonder when the community was told about the new "Kids First" campagin, that said campaign would include a pissing contest.

For example, this summer I sent an email to our tech person to let them know that the printer attached to my side of the building was nearly out of ink and toner. I was then informed that none would be forthcoming until the beginning of the school year - for the second summer I'm forced to use my own money to get things for the students. I'm refusing to teach next summer. In the meantime, no ink or toner were ordered because the district office refuses to approve any purchase orders. Last week the printer fully gave up the ghost. Still no ink. I'm frantically sending files to my home computer so I can print them there. Luckily we still have a copy machine for the time being. However, I did notice that the supply paper looked to be about a weeks worth. I figure it's only a matter of time before I'm down at Staples purchasing paper. I realize that for some districts this type of thing is par for the course, but I have to believe that the district or local community offers something that counter-balances these types of things. Sadly, availability of the tools necessary to do my job was one of the positives. Now, I'll have to dig a bit deeper to find one.

This week I also had my first writers' conferences. I still have hope that all this narrative/short story writing will have a positive effect on the essay writing overall. Most the of the topics are interesting - not the usual "what I think the teacher wants me to write" and only a few have nothing done. To be honest, only having a few non-participants is a pretty good response rating. Grades should be posted online this weekend, so that may inspire a couple more to join in.

Musical Chairs

Whew! What a week! We played musical chairs for the last three days... except that instead of music, it was notes from the counseling center. I had two entire classes moved (which really sucked) and a class where students wounldn't get out of their seats for fear that I'd immediately give it away. I believe that class is currently at 33 students. If you counted the total number that appeared at one time or another on my roll sheet, the number would be closer to 45.
Of course, this means that almost nothing was done. I'm not even sure that everyone got a syllabus. My sophomores did get AR books and a jump on reading them because there's no real point to even going over procedures.

We had Open House on the 2nd day of school. I'm not sure if it was the schedule confusion or what, but the only class where I had more than 3 parental units show up were the AP course. One parent was shocked by the fact that she was the only parent there - sadly, given the class, I wasn't. Many parents feel that meeting teachers at the high school level is a waste of time, they've heard it all before and their children should be given some independence or some other shlock. This flies in the face of the federal government requirement to increase parent involvement in non-athletic ways. The school pays for huge BBQ right before the "meet your teachers" part... and even free food isn't enough. It's hard to say if past issues have caused this apathy or if that's just the way it is 'round here. It does make for a somewhat boring night.

My AP class did get their feet wet with Rhetoric. There was an awesome Letter to the Editor in the local paper last week - it even included mentions to people they knew - to begin with. There was an immediate click in looking at the argument and how the author shaped it. We also watched "Shift Happens" and started on that - it'll be interesting to see what they came up with over the weekend to talk about in class.

Classroom readiness

As promised, a photo of my classroom with tables -




Please note the broom handle... not only split in half in the photo, but desperately needed for the dust bunnies that seem to multiply like, well... bunnies. Please also note the clean desk. This is the last time it will appear like that until next summer.

Yes, that is a Yoda poster in the back. In my first year at my current school I was always saying "do or do not... there is no try" whenever a student told me they had tried to do something. Last year, it was changed to "do or do not... there is no like" in response to the incessant whine of "I don't like it". Apparently, if a book doesnt' have a dead body or other horrific scene within the first two pages, it's not worth reading.

The blank poster on the door is actually an event planner. I haven't put the titles on the boxes, but the upper portion is for announcements. The middle three boxes are where the jobs for the event are listed on little post-it notes with the name of the person responsible. The first box is "to-do", second is "doing" and third is "done." The bottom boxes are for supply lists and problems. It's a good visual reference for everyone involved.

Yesterday I finally got my computer back. However, I was only able to print a few pages before the printer went TU again... I mailed some attachments home for printing, but it doesn't look like they made it. I swear this nickle and dime crap is going to drive me nuts. I may have create a new sign for the door reading "don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish."

Today's agenda is re-working my first week's plan. I had it planned out several weeks ago, but now I'm thinking I need to jazz it up.