#holla at the career tech department

[187days]

Day Seventy-One

I woke up with a headache because I didn’t hydrate enough yesterday, so I wasn’t super thrilled about having to work. But I told myself today was going to be a short day, so I could drink some water, take a couple Tylenol, and get through it; I could even leave at lunch if I still didn’t feel well since the last block of the day is my prep time. 

Well. That’s not what happened.

My headache got better after I had breakfast, showered, and took the aforementioned Tylenol. I got to work right on time, got ready, and taught a decent lesson APGOV. My students took a vocab quiz, then did some reading on the end of the civil rights movement. I fielded questions on that, then lectured on policy changes that had been enacted post-1968. We discussed ongoing civil rights issues for a bit, and that was that. 

In World, we finished a set of board notes about Iran/US relations, and I explained how their government uses the tensions between our countries to paint opposition as “foreign interference,” call protests the result of American meddling, etc, etc... After that, I had them read an article about the human rights situation in Iran (lots of comments about the treatment of the LGBTQ community, lots of comments about marriage/divorce, lots of questions about the use of torture by security forces). Then I showed this BBC news report about the ongoing protests. That was a good call because most of my students couldn’t take their eyes off the screen, and they had so much to say afterwards. They think it’s cool that they’re learning about something that’s happening right now, something they’re developing opinions about, something they can talk to their parents about (I’ve already gotten one email from a parent, telling me their child was discussing “something that’s on the news” and asking- in a good way- how I’d made that happen... those emails are THE BEST).

My headache started to come back towards the end of Block 3, but it wasn’t bad, and one of my GOV students had asked if she could come by during Block 4 to go over her last test, so I didn’t end up signing out early. I grabbed lunch from our culinary class’ cafe (chicken quesadillas today... yum!), and got to prepping for tomorrow while I waited for said student to arrive. She had just a few questions she wanted clarified, so that was easy. She asked to schedule a retake, so I turned to my calendar... and was reminded that I had a faculty meeting after school.

So, yeah, so much for a short day. But it was fine. The meeting was all informational updates, data share-outs, nothing too dramatic. And now I’m home!

[187days]

Day Forty-Six

My school has a big career-tech center with, among other things, an award-winning culinary program. The students run a cafe, under the direction of Chef A, and teachers can take food to go three days a week. Today I didn’t bring my own lunch, so I grabbed salad, homemade french onion soup, cheesy bread, and a slice of cake. All of it was delicious, and much-needed fuel for a busy day.

Note to pre-service teachers: ask about programs like those when you interview at various schools. They’re nice to have, for both students and staff. 

So why was today busy? 

I had a lot to cover in APGOV: Fed. 78, Marbury v. Madison and judicial review, the structure of the modern court system. Then I assigned a group project on various SCOTUS cases (I’d love to do Court Madness again, but with the course being a semester long now it’s a bit too time-consuming, so I’m doing this instead) and gave students the last half hour or so to begin working on that. 

Essay rough drafts were due today in World, so I spent the bulk of both blocks proofreading, fielding questions, giving pointers. I am really pleased with how it’s going, though. It’s a challenging assignment, and I imposed a tight deadline for it because I’d noticed when they did current events write-ups that most of them finished with a lot of time to spare. I gave them two and a half blocks for this essay instead of the originally-planned three and a half, and they were able to adjust and manage their time successfully. It helps that they came in with noticeably stronger writing skills than last year’s freshman, so I didn’t have to teach as much upfront about essay writing. I do have to help individuals here and there, but overall? This is awesome. 

Since the quarter’s ending, I have a bunch of students in to retake or make-up work during flex block, which kept me on my toes. I’m glad so many opted to make use of that time, though. It’s especially great to see freshmen who are close to making the high honor roll put in the effort to earn those last few points, especially if they’re students who struggled academically in the past. It’s amazing how different middle and high school can be for some kids. 

I also had a handful of students stay after because they were doing things for other classes during flex. Dean 1 stopped by while one of the seniors was making up an APGOV test, and the look he gave to those FRQ questions was pretty great (I suspect my student may have been feeling the same way about them). He was there to talk about his recent visit to my class, and apologize for not having his written feedback done; long story short, there have been some Incidents that have occupied his time. 

Another thing that’s happening: unusually high absence rates. There’s no one cause- like, we’re not having a Covid outbreak- but several different ones. Some families are taking trips, some kids are sick, there’ve been an odd number of injuries (broken bones, concussions, etc...) It’s bad timing since the quarter is ending on Friday, but it is what it is. 

[187days]

Day Twenty-Seven

I was kind of a hot mess today. I mean, no irreparable damage has been done, but grrr. I don’t like it.

First of all, I made a scheduling goof. There’s an early release day tomorrow, so I was going over the schedule with my ninth graders, but I forgot that the admins had changed the schedule because they want to hold class meetings (and I read that email, I have it written down, I just totally spaced it). I posted the correction on Classroom, and I’ll apologize tomorrow in class for any confusion it may have caused. It really isn’t a big deal. I just can’t believe I did that. 

I also got a bit snippy during my Block 3 class. Some of the girls had to leave early for an away game, and two were lingering in the doorway while the third packed up her stuff, which would have been fine if they had been waiting quietly. Instead, they were distracting their classmates as I was trying to continue teaching, so I finally snapped, “Just go!” at them. I didn’t raise my voice- I rarely ever do- but it’s obvious I was annoyed. Again, not that big a deal, but it’s atypical, and now I’m flustered.

I’ll get over it, though.

Everything else went really well today. We had a solid test review session in APGOV. I fielded lots of questions (no more silent GOV class, woohoo!), we played a round of Kahoot, and then I let them study on their own. In World, I had students complete a comparison chart about Judaism and Christianity. After that, we watched a video clip showing a day in the life of a Christian priest, and- predictably- I assigned an annotation on Islam. More on that religion next class, and next week, as well, since it’s the one they’re least familiar with. 

Ooh, and the culinary students did a “soft opening” of their cafe, so Mr. F and I went down to get lunch. We’d both packed food, but this was better. I had a meatball sub and a salad; he had soup, salad, and a whoopie pie. Delicious.

I spent my prep time jotting down lesson plans for GOV in my plan book because we’ll be starting a new unit next week. I like to map out my units so that I can post dates for tests, projects, papers, etc... I’m totally fine with changing them if need be, but it’s good to have some idea of what’s happening when. I was on a roll, so I ended up staying late to finish that up. It helped me shake off the messiness of the day, as well. 

We go again tomorrow!

[187days]

Day One Hundred Twenty-Three

I think I’ve mentioned this: my school’s culinary program is award-winning. They offer a grab-and-go or dine-in lunch for the staff three days a week, and coffee/pastry deliveries on Fridays, and that’s pretty much how I eat during school days. Today they had teriyaki steak and potatoes... SO GOOD. 

Anyways. 

It was an easy teaching day for me because my GOV students were watching a film (Netflix’s The Great Hack), and my World students were reading and then working on their current events write-ups. Not a lot of stand-and-deliver stuff, you know? I fielded questions from my GOV students after I paused the film, I helped some World students organize their ideas so they could write them down, I gave feedback on a few write-ups, and that was pretty much that. 

It’s fascinating how different my three sections of World are, especially when they have an assignment like this one: lots of independent work time, lots of choices, few parameters (I’m breaking students of the habit of writing to an exact formula- ie, five sentences: who, what, when, where, why). My Block 1 students work very quietly, are really good at taking reasonable breaks and refocusing as needed, and ask me to check their work the most to make sure they’re doing it right because the aforementioned lack of a formula makes them nervous. My Block 2 students talk while they work, they’re half and half on using their class time efficiently, they’re thrilled there are no required numbers of sentences in paragraphs or things like that, they love the freedom to write as they see fit. And my Block 4 students are the biggest mixed bag ever: there are no class trends, they’re totally unpredictable, and they’re probably going in fifteen different directions. It goes to show that even teaching “the same course” multiple times a day isn’t really teaching the same course, which is something those of us who do teach know and those who don’t sometimes have a hard time understanding. 

[187days]

Day Ninety-Five

I finally met the new SRO. Sort of. I didn’t actually say hi or introduce myself. I just skidded by him on the stairs because I was late to track practice (I’d been discussing a student with Mrs. T and Mrs. H).But that’s better than falling down the stairs like I did in front of a previous SRO, so yay?

Anyways.

Today was a pretty good day: nothing remarkable, just solid teaching and learning. I’m very pleased about World because it’s going really well so far. The first few assignments I give are simple, but they give me a lot of information about students’ interests and abilities. This semester they’re in this order: brainstorm aspects of culture, write about your own cultural identity, do some basic research about world geography, learn to cite that research. Doing the research was today’s assignment. First, I lectured a bit on some basics of geography (continents vs countries, important circles of latitude, climate zones, etc....) and then asked students to find out some more information: the most populous country, the poorest country, an example of a culture that lives in each of the five major types of climate zones. I had them copy the links to their sources, and tomorrow I’ll show them how to do in-texts and works cited pages in MLA format. I want students to experience some initial successes because that gives me something to build on. 

GOV is going really well, too. My students have a lot on their plates right now between college apps, scholarship apps, and an overabundance of calculus homework. So I probably didn’t need to give them the whole block to come up with questions for a Socratic discussion about “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “The Ballot or the Bullet,” but I did because I figured they wouldn’t mind being able to take their time and/or have time to do aforementioned calc. 

They told me I was right about that, and, of course I was. I am a wizard. 

What else?

Our culinary students run a cafe (sit-down or takeout) Tues-Thurs, and I’m a frequent customer because it’s inexpensive and better than anything I’d make for lunch. Today they made fish tacos and chocolate cake (amongst other things, but that’s what I chose), both of which were delicious. The fish was perfectly cooked, and there was just the right amount of spice. I have to pass my compliments along to Chef B, for sure!

[187days]

Day Forty-Seven

Have I mentioned that pandemic teaching is a rollercoaster? Because it is.

Sometimes it’s fine. It feels like it’s a normal year, things go smoothly, we have a good time. Other times it’s ridiculous and frustrating, and feels almost like it’s too much. Sometimes wearing a mask is no big deal. Other times it’s a terrible reminder that this thing is still ongoing, and it makes that awful little voice in my head ask, “How long is it going to be like this? What if it’s like this forever?” I’m sure everyone- staff and students- is experiencing this, or something similar. It’s a little bit exhausting.

Today was a pretty good one, though, even though I was feeling that exhaustion creeping in. My World students were revising essays, and they’re doing SO well. I really like the effort they’re making to perfect their writing, and I’m really proud of them for it. I’ve probably told them so at least half a dozen times. I’ll tell them again tomorrow, too, because I know I have students who have not succeeded at essay writing before, and I want to build them up. A few of them are actually finished with their revisions already, too (the deadline’s end of class tomorrow), because they write quickly, but that’s fine. They can spend tomorrow working on other things. First quarter’s ending, so there are plenty of other things. 

I taught my GOV students how to write argument FRQs, then had them do some practice, which they good-naturedly griped about (”This is a lot of thinking, Miss M”) before getting down to business. Their practice attempts are on my desk to be checked in the morning; that’ll tell me if they’ve got it or if we should do more practice next week. Tomorrow’s class is all about the federal bureaucracy, so they’re reading up on that tonight in preparation, and I think it’s going to be a good lesson. In past years, students have struggled with some of the concepts- ie, discretionary authority and administrative adjudication- so I’ve changed how I teach them to include some more specific examples. 

Stay tuned to find out how that goes!

I managed to do a bunch of prep and grading in the afternoon before heading to the middle school for a mentor program meeting (which I was late for because of pick-up traffic, but so was everyone else). Ms. H actually couldn’t make it at all, so I just worked with some of the high school’s other new teachers and mentors, which was fine. Really, we’re all there for each other anyhow, no one’s territorial. And Ms. H and I are meeting tomorrow so I can bring her up to speed on what was discussed (the district’s evaluation process).

I realized halfway through the meeting that I’d left the baked mac and cheese I’d bought from our culinary class in the faculty room fridge, so after the meeting I went back to the high school to grab that. Am eating it for dinner now, and it’s amazing! Gotta love working at a school with an award-winning culinary program!

[187days]

Day One Hundred Twenty-Two

Duty-free lunch is the greatest thing ever, especially when it comes in the middle of a challenging class. It’s a half hour to breathe, collect myself, see my friends (I usually eat with Mr. F, Mr. W, and Mrs. R, and whoever else decides to join us), and eat whatever awesome food the culinary class is selling (cheesesteaks and strawberry trifles today). Meantime, The Vice Principal’s usually the administrator who watches my students. Today I walked back in just as she was telling them, “You should ask Miss M to answer that because she knows literally everything.”

I appreciated her validating my reputation as a wizard.

Their question was about privacy rights and technology and I did, in fact, know the answer. Yay me.

That wasn’t my only triumph today, though. A lot of things went really well. My students took a vocab quiz at the start of class, read their books while I graded their quizzes, then worked on the rough drafts of their Religions Essays for the remainder of the class time (a little over an hour). I was happy with the quiz grades, happy that some of the more reluctant readers made solid progress in their reading, and really happy to see so many essay drafts coming together so well. I actually edited a few during class today because they were finished (they’re not due till the end of the day tomorrow), and looked over several others informally and gave pointers. And I was able to help a student who was really struggling, which was probably the best moment of the whole day.

He didn’t ask for assistance, but I could just tell from the look on his face that he was stuck and that it was stressing him out, so I went over to his desk and had him pull up his outline. The information was all there; he just needed bit of help transforming his bulleted notes into full sentences, full paragraphs. So I talked him through it, and he had a whole essay typed out ten minutes later, and I honestly think he was a bit shocked by his own work. I gave him an air high-five and told him, “Look at what you can do!” Because that’s the thing: a lot of students struggle because they don’t believe they can do whatever they’re being asked to do (and there are many reasons why that happens), and essay writing can seem really daunting, at first. But a little guidance goes a long way. And a little success can have a huge impact on a student’s academic confidence.

So. Boom. That was good. 

[187days]

Day One Hundred Sixty-Six

So, you know how I said that I almost ran out of gas on the way home from the track meet yesterday? That meant I had to get gas on my way into work this morning, which didn’t seem like a big deal. But the pumps were out of order at first gas station I tried to go to, and the credit card reader wasn’t working at the second one, so I had to go inside to pay, and there was a huge line, and it just took way too much time. And there’s construction on the road that leads up to the school, and that’s a really big mess. 

I knew I’d be late if I parked in my actual parking spot in the faculty lot because it’s behind the school and my classroom is near the front of the building. So I threw my car in visitor parking, dashed in the front door (past The Principal, with a “Boss, pretend you don’t see me!”), ran up the stairs to my room... and I was still two minutes late.

But I teach seniors, and they also had to drive through the messy construction, so they were late, too. We laughed about it, and they got to work revising the essays they’d written about the efficacy of our state legislators. Then I got the best email: an order form for iced coffee and scones from the culinary class (delivered about twenty minutes later). What a lifesaver that iced coffee was!

World was a bit choppy because the district ran a vaccine clinic for 12-15 year old students in the gym today, and several of my ninth graders were called down to be vaccinated during my class time. But, luckily, they were just finishing up the current events exploration assignment they’d been working on- I wasn’t introducing anything new- so they could just pick up where they left off when they returned to class. And anyone who finished early could do make up work, study for tomorrow’s vocab quiz, etc, etc... 

I had a bit of trouble during Block 2, but not with any of my students. A kid who’s in another class was working in the hall, as were some of the kids in my class, and he kept trying to distract them, and trying to get them to take their masks off, so I had to deal with that. Otherwise, things went pretty well. I answered a lot of good questions about things that are going on in the world right now. 

I was supposed to help one of the boys with his book paper this afternoon, but he no-showed, so, after waiting for twenty minutes, I headed out to track practice. It was an easy day for the sprinters: plyos, strides on the infield, a good, long stretch. And home by 3:00!

[187days]

Day Sixty-Four

I had to have a “reality check” chat with a couple of the students in my first block class this morning. They did a quick assignment to identify the differences between various types of government, and they were supposed to use the remaining class time to write 1-2 body paragraphs in their Book Papers. It’s a pretty easy task for anyone who took notes while reading (as they were repeatedly instructed to do); it was the the ones who didn’t who needed the chat. And, boy, it was eye-opening for me.

They looked so shocked when I told them they’d better take their books out and find the information they needed. They assumed I was going to give them an easier alternative assignment rather than allow them to be at risk of failing- maybe that’s what would have happened in the past- so I said that I was definitely not going to do that. Cue some more shock, and me making a mental note that next semester I’ll just say that up front, make it part of my first day spiel. 

Anyways, I offered to help them if they needed me to. One of them took me up on it, and was caught up by the end of class. The other, well, we’ll keep working tomorrow. 

Meantime, my second block class was the most focused it’s ever been, and they’re crushing this paper, so... cool? I don’t know if I can take full credit for it, but I do think taking it step by step has really been helpful for them. They’re all capable writers, and their biggest challenge has always been managing their time rather than procrastinating. Setting little due dates (not graded) for each part of the paper is working well. 

Halfway through that block is when lunch time occurs. Today I grabbed a sandwich (turkey, tomatoes, spinach, some homegrown sprouts, and aioli mayo on whole grain bread... so good) and a slice of apple pie from the culinary class’ “curbside” pick-up. I love that I can do that. The students, under the direction of Chef A, do such a good job.

There’s a lot of chatter about whether we’ll have to go remote soon or not. Some folks think it could happen any day, some doubt it’ll happen at all. I’m just doing one day at a time...

[187days]

Day Sixty-One

I don’t know how they pulled it off, but the culinary students made pumpkin pie for the whole school and delivered it during lunch today. How delightful is that?

It was a good day before that happened, as well. I got to teach some very cool things in APUSGOV. Today’s lesson was about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and included a discussion about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet.” I enjoyed that because my students offered up some really astute comments. I was particularly impressed when they started talking about how the two men are viewed today, and why that’s the case, and which current cultural figures are using King’s rhetoric versus Malcolm X’s, and how does society view them... It was thoughtful stuff. 

In World, students wrapped up a multi-day, move-when-ready lesson on some of the current conflicts in Africa. I’m really pleased with how that went, and how well they managed their time. Even the student who struggles the most with multi-step work, and sometimes grumbles at me to “stop assigning stuff that’s hard,” did really well. She looked so proud of herself when she finished (with twenty minutes to spare!) that it made me smile. The evidence of progress is terrific.

I wasn’t originally planning to, but I’m going to end up doing a lesson on the situation in Ethiopia tomorrow. It’s been in the news lately, and students have questions, and it’s totally relevant to this lesson they’ve been doing. I spent my prep time studying up and putting materials together, which you might think was stressful, but this is actually one of the things I really like about teaching World. I have to keep an eye on developing situations, I have to study, I can’t just use the same old dittos every year... I wouldn’t even if I could, but I like that I just can’t. It keeps me on my toes.

[187days]

Day One Hundred Seventeen

I didn’t feel well today- wicked sinus headache- but I managed to teach some good classes. It’s a B day, so my lesson in World was the same as yesterday: a quiz to end one unit, followed by the intro to the next. When I asked students to tell me what they knew or wanted to know about Central or East Asia, there was an explosion of participation. In my Block 2 class, I had a handful of students who knew oddly specific details about Chinese history, in particular, from watching Youtube. 

Hey, awesome.

My Block 4 class, ever fascinated by the current issues, wanted to talk about the coronavirus, so we did. I did my best to answer questions, correct misinformation, and assure them that- while this is serious- they don’t have to panic. I also cautioned them to keep an eye out for anti-Asian racism. It was a good conversation.

I grabbed delicious pulled pork sandwich from the culinary class’ cafe for lunch, then spent my prep time grading and making photocopies of the materials I’ll need for my next lesson. I had to wrap up a bit early because The Assistant Superintendent had asked to use my room and Mrs. T’s for a meeting. So that was that!

[187days]

Day Twenty-Five

Weird, right? It’s a Sunday. But it actually was a work day for me because my school is going through the reaccreditation process, the final phase of which started today. Here’s the deal: every ten years, schools do a self-evaluation to start the reaccreditation process (there are committees that gather evidence and compile reports on different things... mine was school leadership), and the following year a team of observers visits to do their evaluation. They’ll determine whether or not a school remains accredited, recommend improvements, commend strengths, etc... It’s a big process. 

The visiting team arrived today, so we had a reception in the cafeteria, catered by the students in the culinary program, who did a fantastic job (there was this chicken with peanut sauce that was OMG amazing). Student leaders from various extracurricular activities were on hand, as well, so I got to watch the MfoL kids talk about their activism, which was so cool and I’m wicked proud of them. 

Did the club president and I also talk about how we both ate cookies for breakfast, and threw our hair into messy buns because brushing it would have taken too long? Yeah. I realize that’s not me being the best adult role model, but I actually think there’s some value (especially when talking outside of class with a senior) in admitting that there are times when we’re all faking our put-together-ness. So many kids these days are convinced that they have to be perfect when they grow up, and it’s causing their entire generation anxiety. 

If they didn’t have enough evidence that I’m very imperfect and out here surviving anyhow, the leader of the visiting team came up to shake hands with me, and I stumbled OVER MY OWN NAME. 

I blamed it on drinking too much coffee, but, really, I’m just a socially awkward butterfly. 

But everything else was good! There was a presentation in the auditorium, followed by one-on-one interviews (which I didn’t have to do, so Mrs. T, Ms. J, and I sat and ate cake), and that was that. The visiting team will be in the building for the next three days, so you’ll probably hear more about this from me in future entries!

[187days]

Day One Hundred Thirty-Two

Readers of this blog and/or my Twitter feed have probably noticed that this is a truly ridiculous year that my school district is enduring. Today made it even more ridiculous.

It started out all right. I was relieved to find my classroom in good shape when I arrived, and to see that most of my students had worked diligently on their assignments in my absence. I took a few minutes to get my life in order, then went to meet with my department and look at resumes (because Mr. T is leaving, which is a huge bummer). Here’s the thing about my department, though: we’re all young, clever, and unbelievably salty. Any time we’re all in one room, it’s hilarious. Any time we’re all in one room attempting to do something serious, it’s even more hilarious. But we will get it done because that’s the other thing about us: we pride ourselves on having our act together. 

I went from that meeting right to APUSGOV, so I went from having fun to doing some intense teaching (but also having fun because I love that class). Today’s lesson was all about the Mississippi Summer Project. I showed an excerpt from PBS’ Freedom Summer, which really got my students talking because none of them had learned about that part of history before. None of them knew about the murders, or any of the other crimes that rocked the country that summer, so they had lots of questions and comments. We talked for a while, and I closed class by reading Langston Hughes’ Kids Who Die. My students don’t have nearly enough poetry in their lives, and I thought that particular poem was fitting for the lesson. 

One of my students stayed after the bell to give me a pennant from the college she’s going to attend (I hang my seniors’ college pennants in my classroom, which is a custom I stole from Tom White), which was so cool. She also gave me a really sweet thank you card and a gift certificate to my favorite coffee shop because I’d written her a recommendation. I wasn’t expecting it, and it totally made my day. 

World was also awesome because my A day classes have developed incredible class cultures, and the students are so eager to ask and/or answer questions, and that makes it fun for all of us. We discussed the current war in Afghanistan, watched some video footage of counterinsurgency efforts in different provinces (because I wanted to show that progress is uneven, and see if they could get at why that is), theorized about the future if the US withdraws its troops... In both my classes, a student pointed out that would probably impact neighboring countries, which gave me a perfect segue into the next thing I planned on teaching: the impact on the war on Pakistan. Their homework is to do some research on Pakistani culture, and next class we’ll examine what’s happened since the war in Afghanistan began, and what may happen in the future. 

My Block 4 class goes the latest lunch in the schedule (12:30), and I didn’t bring a snack today, so I was wicked hungry. Thankfully, the culinary class always has an amazing soup and salad bar (in addition to a sit-down restaurant that’s open to the public... they know us teachers don’t have time to sit down), so I went and got myself some food. I’d just gotten back to my classroom when The Vice Principal came on the loudspeakers and announced that a water pipe had burst, and everyone had to evacuate to the gym. 

I took my lunch with me and ate it in the bleachers.

Everything was all right, at first; the admins explained to the kids what was going on, and told everyone to sit tight until they had some more information. Of course, some kids immediately texted their parents to come pick them up, so a wave of dismissals started. Then, when it became obvious that things weren’t going to be fixed before the end of the day, The Superintendent made the decision to dismiss school entirely as soon as possible. As soon as that was announced, there was chaos; kids immediately got up and tried to leave, and it took several minutes to get everyone settled so The Vice Principal could explain how dismissal would work. 

She told everyone that it was not possible to get back to the classrooms at that time because the fire department was still determining if it was safe (water in the ceilings + electrical wires + gas lines = you get the idea), so they either had to wait or leave their stuff behind. Of course, not everyone listened. I was in the hall outside the gym (because some of our students have service dogs, and I’m allergic, and being in the gym with them was making my eyes itch), and I and several of my colleagues ended up having to stand shoulder to shoulder to physically block the hallway while The CTC Director and The SpEd Director reiterated to students that it wasn’t safe to go back to the classrooms. I’m louder than either of them, so I shouted the info when it was apparent not all students were hearing it. 

Gotta love having Teacher Voice.

The students were frustrated, of course, but most of them understood that we weren’t keeping them from getting their stuff just for the heck of it. Some students, though, really couldn’t cope (for lots of reasons, I’m sure, because stress affects us all differently). They shouted, and swore at us, and a couple even started crying, which I felt terribly about. I wish I could’ve told them that it was only going to be about twenty minutes of waiting, but we didn’t know that at the time. Thankfully, the nurses were there to escort criers to their office- which was in the clear zone- and give them a quiet space to calm down. 

Anyways... It was only about twenty minutes, and then everyone was able to grab their things, head out to their cars or to the buses, and go. My classroom is fine- no water!- but about half the ceiling panels are out and my tables are everywhere, so... I guess I’ll deal with that in the morning if we have school.

The SRO caught me as I was leaving to thank me for “holding the line,” and we both had a laugh about how scary and intimidating I obviously was (The SRO is a good half a foot taller than I am- and a heck of a lot stronger- and so are most of our students). I joked with him, too, about the year he’s having because it’s been ridiculous for all of us, but it’s been wicked ridiculous for him. He agreed that he’s basically a disaster magnet. 

So... That was my day. Definitely did not predict the ending!

[187days]

Day One Hundred Seventy-Five

Today was the last day of senior classes, so the culinary class threw a celebratory cookout at lunch, which was DELICIOUS. I had awesome pulled pork, pasta salad, hotdogs, etc... And all day long there were seniors popping by to say goodbye and thank you, which was adorable, even when I was mid-teach.

I did writing conferences for nearly all of Block 2, but during Block 4 there weren’t a lot of students ready to conference, so I just walked around and helped out as needed, and tried to keep everyone on task. I may have promised to freestyle rap in exchange for two students finishing the pieces they were working on.

Also, this conversation happened:

Student A: I have a golf tournament this weekend. Student B: Gotta go all Tiger Woods, man. Student C: Tiger is so good. Like, I bet he’s so good at everything, not just golf. Me: I mean, he was pretty bad at marriage... *chorus of “Ohhhh!”* Student C: Drag him, Miss M! Just for that, I’m going to write another paragraph.

Whatever it takes, right?

And during flex block, I met with all my incoming APUSGOV students, went over course information with them, and assigned the summer work. I know about 2/3 of the students already, and am excited to get to know the rest. It’s going to be fun.

During Block 5 there was a house meeting, which was fine, initially. Then one of my coworkers said something pretty cutting. I’ve written before that there’s one who just doesn’t like me, and I stopped trying to change her opinion a long time ago, but her comment today still stung a little. So I was more than happy to leave when a student came to see me. He’s behind on his Multi-Genre Project, so he came to get some help, and ended up almost back on track by 3:30. I think he’ll get there by the end of next class, which is awesome.

As he was leaving, he thanked me and smiled. I don’t think I’d seen this kid genuinely smile before, and that erased how I was feeling coming out of my meeting. Let folks say or think whatever they want about me, you know?

I know who I am, and what I can do. 

[187days]

Day One Hundred Sixty-Seven

Today started with PLC. Both of my World counterparts were absent, so I spent the time wrapping up the project I started yesterday (planning for an incoming student with unique needs). Mrs. T is going to look over my work and add some English-y things, and then w should be all set. It’s important to us to work quickly; it reassures this student’s family that we’re on top of things, it helps us get organized and prepared, and it’s good for our professional reputations. We’re given these kinds of challenges because our administrators know we can handle them, and that’s a compliment to us.

We had a great day with our combined World/English classes. Students are drafting pieces, and they’re doing it with so little help from us. Fly free, little birds!

I wandered the room, answering questions and doing quick writing conferences by request. Meantime, Mrs. T took up a stationary position where she could check in finished drafts and monitor the 4-6 students in one corner who can be loud and unruly (but not malicious- they just need a close eye on them). It was good teamwork!

Unrelated note: I had a gift certificate to the restaurant our culinary program runs, so I went down to grab a salad for lunch. Instead I got a steak bomb, and it was amazing. 

I have guest speakers coming to APUSGOV tomorrow, so I shut the wall in the Cavern of Learning and spent Block 5 rearranging my classroom. I had a few minutes to spare, so I was able to change into running clothes and get out to practice a bit earlier than usual. It was a quick day: 4x4 hand-offs and a 3x150m workout. MOCs, here we come!

[187days]

Day One Hundred Seventy-Eight

Today was hot, so I wore the lightest, shortest dress I could get away with. My male colleagues informed me that they, too, wanted to wear dresses. I pointed out that, technically, nothing is stopping them. 

So we’ll see about that. I mean, Mr. F does own a kilt...

Also, I bought a new car over the weekend- first time I’ve bought a car all by myself, the boys in the auto shop are so proud of me- so much of Block 1 was taken up with chatter about that as we all did our work. And with the fact that Mrs. T had baked a cake.

Mrs. T also booked our air-conditioned computer lab so that our students could work in there with her or in the Cavern of Learning with me. Most of our students went with her, so my day was pretty quiet. I edited some work, answered some questions about finals, and that was that. 

At lunch I discovered that AP Lit is going to run at the same time as my AP Gov class next year, and there are students having a crisis about which one to take. My reaction was to look at Mr. J, who teaches the lit class, strike a heroic pose, and yell, “Pistols at dawn!”

Lucky thing, Mr. J appreciates that I’m weird and answered in kind.

My seniors came in for their Civics final during Block 5. We had donuts and bagels, they took the test, no one cried... And I told them I’d see them at graduation. The lone sophomore in the class- who’s there because she’s a March transfer from a school where Civics is taught in tenth grade- has to come for one more day (Wednesday), but she’s finishing up a paper for me anyhow, so it’s all good.