more school thoughts. sorry. it's my life now.

I love grammar class. I am finally in a room with 9 people who hate apostrophe abuse as much as I do. It should be fun.

After school I had a chat with one of the English teachers. He's the brusque cusser who makes fun of everyone (including himself), so the muy serioso teachers go crazy and the jokers fall in love. I'm somewhere in between. But in the course of our conversation (about classroom management/discipline), he said, "Now I know you'll appreciate this because you're a strong Christian..." We had never talked about faith. Or really anything except for some surface joking around about how I was running an errand. I'd like to think that my faith is evident through even my basic interactions, but more likely he assumed I am a believer because I go to a Christian college. It was interesting, anyway.

Freshmen are super entertaining.

I graded a Spanish project today - it was a shield the kids had to fill in with pictures of their favorite song, car, food, season, and sport. They were graded on neatness and completeness. It reminded me of a conversation with my Dour Anonymous Commentator in which he told me those projects were his Least Favorite Ever. I was gracious to the kids because of it. Thanks, DAC!

That's all for today, I think. Now, off for a jog, a room cleaning, and a drive to Seattle for a wedding!

cont.

A cause and effect chain:
I took a vitamin.
I puked.
I felt too sick to drink my coffe.
I have a headache.

Yes, if I take vitamins in the morning, they make me puke. I thought somehow my grown-up body would be more mature about vitamins than in the past. I was wrong.

We had the first spirit assembly today. It made me smile. High school kids are so funny. It's a little strange to be welcoming the freshman class. They came in the gym through a tunnel - all 400 of them. They just kept coming! All the movement (think herd of cattle) made me slightly dizzy and nauseated (see above). But then there were 48 in my graduating class. Anything over 100 is intimidating.

The kid I didn't like transferred out of the class. I feel illogically guilty.

Favorite quotes of the day:
"I am just a really really unique person, so I don't have strong opinions about that crap!"
"So, like, be respectful or whatever."

nighttime

Ok, I know the clock tells me it is 5:45 a.m.

But it's nighttime outside. It can't be morning yet. This is just plain silly.

school-related thoughts

1) I like high school kids. Except one. He said some inappropriate things in class, and I'm not looking forward to teaching him. Of course, it's the second day. Maybe I'll change my mind.

2) I'm getting rid of the link on my myspace for school/student/it's-just-a-bad-idea reasons. If that's how you're getting here, write down the address somewhere else.

3) Pretty sure I've heard the f-word more times in the last 48 hours than in my entire life before. Don't these children have a vocabulary of more than 8 words?

4) A senior (TA, no less) asked me what the word "intellect" meant. Then 3 more students (juniors) asked the regular teacher. Shocked and appalled.

5) My grammar class starts tomorrow night. This is good because at least it didn't start last week causing me to miss the first day out of extreme negligence/stress-induced amnesia. This is bad because it makes my day tomorrow last from 7 a.m. sharp to 9:30 p.m.

6) I bought some sweet new dry erase colors (boysenberry, lime, forest green, and ocean blue - nice and soothing).

7) I HAVE AN ENGLISH TEACHER! and she is pretty darn cool. She has great rapport with the kids (aforementioned juniors and senior), and I'm excited to learn from her.

8) The skaters have been the nicest to me so far, followed closely by the goth kids. Funny how sometimes stereotypes are backwards.

9) When do teachers go the bathroom? Ever? Is this a habit I have to give up?

back to work

Ok, my two weeks off from blogging has ended officially. My excuse? I was going through a rough couple weeks. I came home feeling rested and ready to go, and... sat around for two and-a-half weeks with nothing to do. My roommates worked their regular-houred jobs. I saved up laundry so I would have something to do the next day. I don’t do well with a lot of unstructured time. Idle minds, you know?

But the good news: I started school on Wednesday! I went to teacher orientation/inservice/whatever they call it at 7:30 and stayed all day.

Question for the teachers: Will I learn to love playing ice-breaker games at 7:30 am?

Three best parts:

1) My spanish mentor-teacher is amazing. She is welcoming, positive, intelligent, and organized. I love it! And she seems to like me - partly because two of my roommates were some of her favorite students ever.
2) The staff is so much fun. They laugh, talk to strangers like me, and seem to like each other a lot.
3) My new school's colors are red and black - just like my high school AND college. Hurrah!

Three parts that are causing some stress:

1) The English department ignores me completely, and keeps putting off assigning me to a teacher.
2) Actually, #1 pretty much covers it.
3) See #1 and multiply by 8.

It will all work out, I'm sure. Dear Jesus, make me patient. Love, Mary