We left you at Levi on an old project and myself being released from my subbing position at Crawford high. Since then, Levi has progressed, is working overtime (more on this), and I am the newest teacher at Standley Middle School. this one will be around for the rest of the year, thank God. I am teaching all 8th graders, three periods of regular English, one of GATE English, and one study skills section consisting of two alternating classes. For those of you keeping score, that's 184 kids not counting my advisory class of 30. (its a 25 mintues class each morning to keep the kids from falling behind without anyone knowing about it).
it is a huge classload.
wait. i apologize for the biggest understatement of this blog.
its a HUGE classload.
The staff here and the faculty are amazing. The support is undeniable. And the resources are adequate. However the children are having an unbelievable time adjusting to a new teacher after 6 weeks with, from what i'm told, is the "most amazing teacher in the world. " The kids told me this in their letters to me on the first day of school. oh children.
so what results from this for me is a string of extremely taxing days. in fact, my first "good" day was today, when a field trip for spanish claimed 5-10 kids from each class. Bliss. The kids worked today, they were quiet (kind of) today. I didn't feel as overwhelmed today. Wow. What a contrast to yesterday, where i experienced my first ever fight, in my classroom. gnarly girl fight, resulted in blood, chaos, and three combined days of suspension. I fear mostly the social rejection of the second girl when she returns tomorrow to school. She has a sad story, and the kids aren't accepting of her. There is a possibility of an intervention in my second period. more to come on that.
i also saved a kid's life.
read that again.
go ahead.
saved.a.kids.life.
uh huh.
i sent him to the nurse because he was loopy. kids said he fell down a lot, so i got him to look at me, i checked him out, (in my head) deemed him drunk or concussion(ed) and sent him to the nurse with a friend. turns out he had gotten a concussion in pe the period before mine, nifty. he was still out of it today, but i think i am going to hold it over him (since he is a behavior issue) that i saved his life. he'll thank me, i'm sure, by doing homework for once.
ha.
On happier terms (at least for us humans), our children were fixed (Aunt Laura is da' bomb), and declawed, and vaccinated, and dewormed. woot. here are some of the pictures to prove that they are upset with us, and totally drugged out:
Emmy is practicing her teenage "i hate you" look...
Tony is totally out of it, but hey, lookie! He likes his crosswords, just like his Mommy!
Emmy had a little difficulty waking up... (needless to say, Tony was apparently up and eating by the time Auntie and Nana showed up).
and this is what you look life when you do drugs. yay for red ribbon week! :PThe house has been extremely quiet for the past week while they have been up in ventura getting healthy, and i miss them. can't necessarily say the same for levi. ah well.
This weekend looks like the fourth busy weekend in an even longer string of weekends that we haven't been in town for. we are trying to get into a church, but having trouble staying in town to, between Elsinore and Ventura. Hopefully we'll change that this weekend. We'll see. We need a little more God in our lives. :) But we are excited to celebrate Karynne's birthday this Saturday night, and get our children back soon. :D
can't wait. apologies for the Jillian-heavy blog this time. Levi can update at his leisure.
love to all.
