i meant to write sooner than this, really i did. but, while i had another okay weekend, last week was just . . . exhausting. there was just too much stuff going on, too many things demanding attention that wiped me out, too many monsters in the classrooms. the class i had the friday before last was filled with little snots, the classes i had last monday and tuesday were filled with little snots. when my wednesday school called and canceled, i took the day off. i was tired of dealing with kids. i mean, really tired of dealing with the kids. to the point that i just wanted to stop this whole teaching nonsense and just write again.
quite obviously i can't do that--we're budget deficient as it is. (though, still doing well at the moment, thank goodness!)
for the first time in a very long time, i had to write detentions and referrals. most kids know not to push their luck with me any more, and most the kids i had over those 3 days have had me as a sub before. kids who don't know me generally only need to ask their neighbor these days (although i still give my usual speech about not putting up with anything). and most of the kids also know that the teachers will support any detentions or referrals i write. so i never get it when it gets that far.
i guess there are just kids who don't care about getting in trouble. maybe they don't get attention at home and this is just their way of crying out for it, i dunno. what's really sad is when parents don't respond to the detentions and referrals, or when parents respond but claim it couldn't be their little angel that did whatever it was that got them in trouble.
yea, keep the blinders on. see where that will land your children in the future.
after my day off, i actually had 2 pretty good days. the thursday class was good up until the last group, but there were definitely special circumstances there. i don't excuse their behavior, but i do understand where it came from. friday's class was amazingly well behaved, considering both the grade level and the school i was in. i actually came home in a good mood and fairly energetic--much to my husband's happiness. ;)
the first of those two days, though, had me thinking i should have majored in math or science. a new position opened up in science at one of the schools i sub at regularly. what this means is i could possibly long term, but more than likely they'll find someone who can take it as a full time teacher next year. a language arts background and english degree will not help. not sure a math degree would help either, but i have heard of math spots coming open this year as well.
anyway, the weekend was okay, rather dull, and frustrating in the fact that i didn't get to write. it was for a good reason (though that didn't much console me--i really was hoping to get to write and revise this weekend!). the one bit of good news that came through last week was that my reference had made it in and i could make my interview appointment for the "job faire" coming up. now, this doesn't seem to be a standard faire--i'll interview with one principle at the faire and that's pretty much it. but it is a step forward.
because i don't have my certification yet (i qualify for the faire through my praxis II scores, which make me "highly qualified" for employment), i figure i need to prove i can do this job. so i'm doing what i should have done from the beginning and pulling together a portfolio. i just hope that most of my work is from the high school long term i did won't put off the middle school principles. anyway, so i spent this weekend revising a paper on my rationale. i cut the word count almost in half, made it more formal, revised wording, and a few other things. i've also been rewriting my plans so they're nice and neat to put in the portfolio as well. so, good weekend, just a weekend not focused on what i want.
we also discovered that taz was out of 2 of his meds. both are necessary for him to sleep at night, so he got no sleep on saturday at all and only slept on sunday because he was wiped out. obviously, we weren't going to send him to school this way, so i'm home with him today.
which gives me more time to finish writing up those plans, plus a lecture or two, type up cover sheets, and so on. i need this done by thursday so my teacher friend can take a look at it and tell me what to change. so far the thing looks sharp, but i need it to be as strong as i can make it. and it has to be finalized by this sunday. i don't know if it will help much at the job faire, but on the chance it will, well, it's got to be done. it would be nice if the kids are better behaved this week than last week. that will give me extra time to get some of this stuff done as well.
in the meantime, better get back to it. it's already afternoon and i still have too much to try to get done. taz is being good, but once the teenager arrives, all peace and quiet will dissolve. :P
