Today was day two of the three day saga that is state standardized testing season at my school. As you know I teach juniors who presumably have passed this battery of tests last year and consequently I do not have to proctor the first two days. Oh, I am so grateful for this small gift. This means that I have had two, 3 1/2 hour planning periods this week. Before you go getting all jealous and hatin' on me you should know that tomorrow I will be proctoring the science portion of the test and have been told numerous times that "this test don't count for shit, Miss." So I'm expecting really good turn out and high levels of task commitment.
Let's recount the last two days, shall we? DAY ONE- extended first period. Normally 30 students. 4 actually came. I teach IB students first period- the best and the brightest our school has to offer (yeah, right). In all honesty they are great kids but even great kids get on your last damn nerve after 3 hours. :) I was asked by one of my colleagues to "quiet my students down" I bristled. If there's one thing I am proud of it's that my students behave. Of course they're scared to death not to since I zapped that one kid with my tazer. I am kidding... they're just good kids. It seemed as though my students, 4 of the 8 kids in the media center, were making so much noise reading and studying that my colleague couldn't concentrate to work on his MASTER'S THESIS. Naturally he failed to notice the that noise was coming from his 3 seniors. I'm sorry that my students were interrupting the homework you should have been doing AT HOME!
Once I graded the gargantuan stack of papers I schlepped down to the media center, did I mention I couldn't be in my own classroom because they were using it to test freshmen? Once I graded the papers and my students had all the reading and studying they could handle, we engaged in a highly competitive game of Scrabble. Yes, competitive. You didn't think I was going to let them win did you? I can't stand to lose not even to a 16 year old. Overall it was a productive period of time. I felt really accomplished.
DAY TWO- All grading was pretty much done. Schlepped lesson planbooks down to the media center this morning. Yes, BOOKS.. I teach two preps so I keep two books. Makes me feel all important. Insert eye roll here. I planned on getting caught up, no pun intended, but that plan failed miserably. I just couldn't committ. Oh, and guess how many kids showed up this morning? If you guessed none you'd be correct. So, I spent my time reading Smithsonian magazine and surfed Amazon.com for a bit. Ordered two books. The Arrival by Shaun Tan, graphic novel about immigration. It's really beautiful. Also, a non-fiction text by Chris Rose called One Dead in Attic about New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Saw the guy on the Anthony Bourdain show No Reservations. Let's see, after that I made some phone calls. Made an appointment to have my hair colored as it's perilously close to my natural color again, and that's a lot more gray than I thought! Got an appointment for a pedicure because it's sandal weather again and before I go scaring young children with my feet I better get 'em done... So that was my morning... how was yours?
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