Tired

I've been reading the blogs too. Seems like a lot of us have had a tough week. Guess the honeymoon for this school year is officially over. Ha! Ha!

I have been as tired as I've ever been this week. Just worn out. We had spirit week, and while that was a lot of fun, it was also very stressful. The SGA kids had a lock-in last Saturday and worked hard decorating the hallways. When the students got there on Monday, within the first hour they had mutilated some of the decorations, and generally were trying to trash the school. Our principal had to intervene on several occasions. I would say the majority of kids were enjoying themselves and having a good time. But it is those handsful of students who seem to just be trouble-makers and want to spoil things for everyone.

Anyway, I am glad this week is over. To make matters worse, one 16yr old boy who went to our school last year and for a few days this year, was in a terrible wreck. He died Thursday evening at Grady. His girlfriend is in my 2nd period class. His funeral will be Monday at 4:30pm, so I am sure lots of our students will be attending. I didn't know him but lots of the students knew him. Our principal is trying to decide if we need the grief counselors to come to our school since the student was not officially enrolled at our school now. I think we should. We will see what the decision is on Monday.

I have been just wiped out this weekend. I don't think anyone could possibly tell new teachers about how physically, mentally, and emotionally draining teaching is. Teaching is truly the hardest job I have ever had....

Connie

A Crazy Friday

Yesterday,in all 3 of my classes the students were off the chain. The 1st periord had about 6 students who decided to play with a lighter. Another student decided he would just get up and leave class. In the 2nd period at least 18 out of 22 decided they would sing rap songs as if they were at a concert ( outdoors ). After asking them to stop several times, then a group of boys and girls decided they wanted to have a rap singing "battle'. The 3rd period boys decided they would socialize in a group and tell jokes. As you can imagine, I wrote quite a few disciplinary forms and forwarded them to the administrator. Can you imagine these scenarios for 90 minutes each , in one day ? When they end up failing the class because of failure to complete assignments and to pass exams , they wonder why. Out of about 70 plus students , only about 15-20 shows interest in learning . I doubt if the students involved will receive any consequences for their actions , even though the instructional environment was disrupted . After this week and with the students having a day off on Monday, there's no telling what to expect on Tuesday. Is there any hope for this generation of teens ?

Whew! What a week!

Friday was supposed to be a teacher planning day, but had to be turned into a weather make up day because of the tornado's last week. As of this school year so far we have not had a single planning day. With this AYP situation and Industry Certification there just does not seem to be enough time for it all. These late evenings and weekends are really taking it's toll on me. I worked on 100% commission for over 25 years in the industry and made a very good living. I actually thought I knew what time management was.
In the service world and then on commission as well you had to plan your every move to survive. In this world of education I feel like a fish floundering around out of water. How does everyone make time to do it all and not let something or someone fall by the wayside? A lot of stress and challenges came from different directions this week. I woke up this morning realizing that I used to be on top of my game and now I'm not (yet)! Hey but I'm still chipping away at the stone for now.

As Woodard Would say "Its My Birthday"

Well as Tony would say this week was my Birthday as far as events in C Town. Which translates to a lot went on this week. So I’m going to whine a bit.
First I had a student who was supposed to compete for page one, but he didn’t turn in all the paper work in time. He just didn’t get to it he told me. He had taken construction, culinary art and was an A-B student so he was a natural shoe in. Well from what I understand he “just didn’t get to it”, and honestly didn’t seem really concerned. This kid is one of my better students so I feel I have lost credibility with all the other CTE instructors, teachers and counselor.
So on a darker side we had a top notch Assistant principal at Northside highs school resign be cause he did not report a dui (actually he didn’t report a couple of them). I actually knew the dude and I would have loved him to be the disciplinarian at the high school I teach at. There goes another fine educational faculty member due to poor judgment.
Finally, on a personal note, I had to drop a bunch of money on my transmission, pay a slew of taxes and my insurance was due on my and my wife’s car. Then I have to go to a wake tonight because my cousin’s wife’s brother committed suicide Wednesday night. So I guess happy freaking birthday to me.
When it rains it pours, but believe it or not mentally I am good to go. I haven’t been this well centered in quite a while and my students are beginning to be in high demand. And yes I know it does get better.