No Thanks Swine Flu!

My goal this on-track session: To not get swine flu...or any flu

Poppy

Book #41: Poppy by Avi

Poppy is a young deer mouse whose troubles began when she and her boyfriend Ragweed are caught on a hill by without the permission of Mr. Ocax, a horned owl. Mr. Ocax carries out the consequence to not following his rules by killing Ragweed and Poppy manages to barely escape from his deadly talons.

After another terrifying encounter with Mr. Ocax to ask permission for her entire family to move into New Home, she is blamed on all sides by her siblings when their request was denied.

Heartbroken and lonely, Poppy sets off to New Home to see why Mr. Ocax is so afraid of letting the mice move. On her way, she meets Ereth, a grumpy porcupine. Poppy is originally scared of him because Mr. Ocax has told all the mice that porcupines kill and eat mice. Poppy soon discovers this to be a lie and begins wondering what else Mr. Ocax has lied about.

I really enjoyed this book and thought that it was a great representation of how bullies work. I may be reading it to my class when I go back on track.

I'm a Grown Up

I put an offer on West Jordan Condo today.


Holy cow. I don't think I've ever been this excited and simultaneously close to vomiting in my life.

Wish me luck!

Even Newer Hair

I went back to get my hair colored today. I also had Rachel make my hair less "soccer mom meets Kate Gosselin" and more "hip 20-something teacher/bird.

Here is the product of Rachel's hard work:

Front view

Side view...

The cowlick that ruins everything and makes my hair look like this...

Crazy cowlick view


This crazy cowlick has given me a very good idea for a Halloween costume though...I'm going to be a bird. Amazing. And I'm making the outfit...how Susie Homemaker of me.

House Dreams

Here's some background before I get into the dream I had last night.

When we went to see #2--Taylorsville Condo yesterday, another realtor and a client were looking at it when we got there.

This condo is priced right now at $128,000.


Here's the dream:

I went to Tom, my realtor, to tell him I wanted to put an offer in on Taylorsville Condo. So to do this you go to the persons house and tell them what you're offering. When we arrived this same realtor lady that was there yesterday came strolling out of the bedroom and told us that she and her client had just made an offer that was accepted. We asked what they offered and she said $220,000. I was baffled at why you'd offer almost $100,000 more than the asking price but I left and went home.

When I got home I was going to watch TV so I plopped on the couch and pressed the "on" button on the remote. Nothing happened so I looked up and saw that the TV was gone. I then looked around and noticed that doors were open and many of our things were missing.

I freaked out and ran out of the house because I was sure that who ever had stolen our things was still in the house. I was headed to my neighbor's house to call someone. As I'm walking over there a big black dog comes running down the street and then heads to our fence. The dog is barking and going crazy. I see the fence open just as the dog is getting there and a young kid (probably 13 or 14 years old) runs out with the dog chasing him. I'm super freaked so I scream and run to the neighbor's house.

Weird.

House Hunting Marathon

In this post, I told you I started looking for *houses and I was very disappointed. Well, today I also looked and it was a much better experience. Though I still ended up looking in some ghetto areas, the houses were very nice.

We began looking at 9am and weren't done until 2pm. Geesh! Looking for a place to live it exhausting.

Here are my top 4:

#1--West Jordan Condo

This is the outside of the building. One great thing about this place is there is a mammoth amount of visitor parking. Some places we saw had like 2 extra places. Also, this place was built way after I was born (2004 to be exact).


This is the living room. The big glare-y window is a sliding door that lead out onto a deck. Please ignore the old man furniture. The guy that lives here now is about 80 and moving to a retirement condo.


This magical place has 3, yes 3, large beautiful bedrooms. This is the master bedroom. It also has a giant walk in closet in the master. Really, this thing was huge. About the size of some of the bedrooms in other condos.

Here's the kitchen. The man who lives there now was there when we went to look. He kept telling me, "The microwave is an upgrade and the counters and the floor and the cabinets and..." What a cute old man. If I had some single 80 ladies in my life I'd set them up...and then the owner would give me a really good deal.

The only bad thing about this place is that it's just a bit out of my price range. Ugh! I'm hoping that I can get him to come down a bit and hopefully I'll be moving in soon.

#2--Taylorsville Condo


This is the point I got a little ghetto. First, look at this building. It's a bit run down. It was built in 1985. Plus, the condo I'm there to look at is not on this side, it's on the back, with a nice view of Family Dollar's garbage dumpster. When you walk around the building, it gets really dark (there are a lot of large trees) and the grass and plants either all died, were pulled out, or just never there (it's kinda creepy, it would be a great place to live during Halloween). I was not expecting anything nice.


Obviously, I was surprised by what I saw. This condo has been kept up very well and it's super cute (any very in my price range). This is the living room. It has really nice carpet and it's a pretty big space. To the right is the kitchen. There aren't any pictures but it's nice.

This is the master bedroom. Again, it's really nice. I don't know what else to say about it.

This place has 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms (which is really hard to find. Most have 2 or 3 bedrooms with 1 1/2 bathrooms. Ugh! That's annoying!).


#3--Salt Lake Condo (West side)



This place was vacant. It's a really nice complex nestled in a kinda rough area but I'm ok with that.


The front door is the white door next to the window on the left. The kitchen is on the right and that smidgen of blue you see is one of the 3 bedrooms. There is a second bedroom right behind the living room and a full bath between the 2 rooms. If you're standing in the living room facing the kitchen, the master bedroom is to your right.


A better shot of the kitchen. That faucet was a bit messed up. Things were not in the right place and the handle that turns on the water gets in the way. I'd replace that if this were the one I bought.

This is the master bedroom and bathroom. Yes, the carpet is horrible. Yes, I would also replace that.


#4--Salt Lake Condo (East Side)

This place is in a really nice but older area of Salt Lake. It was built in 1964 (my dad was born in 1963). It's really maintained well though. The window in the picture is the window in the living room. I liked this area a lot but the only drawback is that everything I do is on the West side and this condo is way on the East side.


The couple that live here are older and a bit formal and outdated so ignore the furniture. When you walk in the front door, you come into the living room. It's really big and nice.

The kitchen is updated. It's right off the living room. If you go out to the left, you come to a hall. There is a laundry room (it's actually a closet but whatever) an ity-bity bathroom (only 1 in this place), and two bedrooms. I think this place could have so much potential but it needs some work.

So, out of 11 places we saw, 4 were acceptable. Well, more than acceptable. 4 were places I'd actually live.

*I know I always say "house" even though I really mean condo. To me, it's somewhere I'd live and own so it's a house.

Bye-bye hair

I cut all my hair off. By all my hair, I mean ALL my hair.

Here's a nice shot of my before hair. Add a few inches because this picture was taken in April.


And here's my new hair:








I'm not sure what I was thinking. I feel a bit naked. And I'm thinking I'm beginning to look a bit like Kate Gosselin which is never a good thing.

On the bright side, I have a pretty easy Halloween costume. All I need is a Blackberry and 8 babies strapped to me.

What do you think? Be honest!

It's Been a Very Productive Day...and P.S. It's Opposite Day

Kinda how I'm feeling right now.

Growing Up Part 2

I began officially (I think) looking for a home today. I went and met with the realtor and he showed me a few places. It was very disappointing.

I want something like this:


but can only afford something like this:

Very disappointing.

About 50% of the homes that came up in his system he would say, "I can't let you live there. Your mom would kill me."

I responded with, "Why?"

"Lots of crime...you'd probably be killed."

I may have to reconsider my stance on Sugar Daddies...

Ok. Maybe something really good will pop up really soon.

On a happier note...

How I Met Your Mother starts tonight! I love that show!

So Stinking Cute!

After my rant yesterday, I spent some time blog surfing. I came across this blog and now really want a cute little girl (and a sewing machine) so I can make all these great things for her.

First, how cute is this little dress made from an old t-shirt? You have to check out the site to see how cute the little girl looks in it. Plus, it's super cheap and easy to make...perfect.


Next is this fabulous dress made from a woman's tank top...how cute! I think I would wear it.


Then she made a dress out of a too-small onsie...So cute! I love this skirt!


Lastly, there is this so cute dress made from an old button-up dress shirt.

Holy cow. There are so many cute things on this site! I am very impressed.

I'm Moving Too Slowly for My Family

I had a great weekend (as long as I forget about all the bad and annoying things that happened).

On Friday I spent some time with some girls I graduated from Westminster with and we caught up, complained and laughed late into the night. Thanks for hosting Jenn, it was a great night!

Saturday was a surprise party for my cousin's husband. He turned 40 and we had a nice little party for him. This night was the beginning of the baby insanity that has infested my sisters. While at the party, we got to see another cousin who had a baby a year ago. He is super cute. This made my sisters need a niece or nephew. Here was the conversation:

Them: "Oh, he's so cute! Ash, don't you want one of these?"

Me: "Sure but I think I should think about finding a husband first."

Them: "We need to be an aunt within the year. We need to get you married then you need to have a honeymoon baby."

Me: "Oh. Ok." (Cue eye roll)

Them: "Seriously."

Me: "uh-huh."

Onto Sunday. We went to another cousin's house (on the other side) for dinner. Another cousin, who had a baby 9 days ago brought her little one. This is when the baby hunger infestation infected my mom.

My sisters and mom: (in unison and baby voice) "Oh, isn't he a cutie. Goochy goo. Yes, you think Ashley should hurry up and get married and have babies, huh. I know you'd love a cute little baby to play with...we need to get her a husband...blah, blah, goo, goo, ga ga...blah...Ashley needs to have a baby...baby...baby...goooo..."

Then I left and hung out with the unobsessed in the back yard. This is what I come back to about 15 minutes later:

Random family members: "So, we need to find you a husband?"

Me: "Uh, why?"

Random family members: "Because your sisters and mom want you to have a baby."

Me: "Oh. Ok."

A little bit later...

Family member: "I have a few guys I think I could set you up with but tell me what you would like in a guy."

Me: "A good job."

Family member: "Ok. That gets rid of 2 guys, I still have 3 I'm thinking of though."

Me: "College education."

Family member: "Ok. I still have 1 in mind."

Me: "LDS."

Family member: "Ok. Sorry."

Later when I'm holding 9-day-old baby:

Random family member: "I hear you're baby hungry."

Me: "What?!"

Random family member: "I thought we were trying to find you a husband so you could have a baby."

Me: "Umm...No."

Later...

Gay family member: "You could be the surrogate for me and Bri."

Me: "What? When did this turn into 'Ash just wants to be pregnant'?"

From there everything just got weird. I had to leave.

Let's just say that my family is a bit crazy. Sure, I'd love to find a great guy, get married and start a family but really...you're nuts family, I love you but you're nuts.

Sent

Book #40: The Missing: Book 2 Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Ok, I read the first book in this series when I student taught and loved it. That's where my author crush began. I decided to make it my first read aloud when I began teaching (I would have done it as a book group but don't have enough copies). My students absolutely loved it. When we first began reading I told them it was the first book in a series and the second one came out at the end of August. When we finished Found, my students begged me to go buy Sent, the even offered to each bring in a dollar so I would have enough money for it. I told them no but they were welcome to go buy it or check it out and read it.

A few days later, I broke down and had to buy the second book, Sent. I am so glad I did.

At the end of Found, Jonah and Chip, who are both thirteen-year-olds, are trying to contemplate the news that they're both missing children from history, kidnapped from their proper time period. Before they can fully absorb this revelation, a time purist named JB zaps Chip and another boy, Alex, back to the fifteenth century, where they supposedly belong. Because Jonah and his sister Katherine do not want to lose their friends they grab Chip's arms just as he's being sent away. As a result Jonah and Katherine also end up in the fifteenth century, where they do not belong.

Chip's true identity is Edward V, king of England, and Alex is his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York. But Chip is convinced that his uncle, Richard of Gloucester, plans to kill them and seize the throne for himself.

JB promises that if the kids can "fix time," he will allow them to return to the present day. But how can they possibly return home safely when history claims that Chip and Alex were murdered?

Now that I have read it I'm really wanting to read it to my students because it takes place in the Middle Ages (one thing I have to cover with my 6th graders) and it's just as riveting as the first. I'm stuck. I wanted to make sure I read a different genre each time I do a read aloud but now I'm torn. This book is more difficult to categorize than the first. It obviously has elements of science fiction (time travel) but it also has historical fiction (the entire story takes place from 1483-1485). Maybe I'll just call it historical fiction and read it to them.

My Desk

During the last week of school, I took a picture of my desk because it was such a mess. A few days later I was reading through older posts and I came to this one and had to laugh at how spotless my desk was.


Before:

After:

Goal: Be more organized when I go back on track.

The VMAs...Always a Good Time

Oh, wow. Those are the only words I have after watching the VMAs (in fast forward...I love Tivo!).

Here's a run down on me watching and my reaction to everything.

Show starts out with the host heckling Lady Gaga.

Host: 'Gaga is a hermaphrodite...' [Cut to Gaga]

Me: "What?! Are those feathers? Who's wearing the other half of her mask?"

More show happens...nothing involving The Gaga but I did get to try to find her in the audience. It was kinda like a game of Where's Waldo? but it was more like What's Gaga Wearing Now?

Lady Gaga performance--otherwise known as The Best 4 Minutes of the Show--

[Time frame and my reactions to the performance.]

0:04--"Wow. All white like angels."

0:10--"Nice Pierrot. This is obviously going to be amazing."

0:26--"Ok. She looks like the Easter Bunny's crazy uncle."
0:30--"Is that guy wearing underwear on his face?"

1:00--"Ooo...sparkles."

1:02--"Yes! She has a cape too!"
1:07--"Yes! Another costume change."

1:13--"Why is that guy still wearing underwear on his face?"

1:18-1:34--"Sweet choreography!"
2:16--"Bedazzled wheel chair...Why?"

2:22--"Cane...Why?"

2:31--"I think the cane made her very angry."

2:49--"That guy was on So You Think You Can Dance. I think his name is Mark. He has weird fingers."

3:05--"Playing the piano with your leg up = super classy."

3:21--"Is that blood?"

3:24--"Yep. It's blood. Why?"

3:34--"She should really go see a doctor. That's not just a paper cut."

4:00--"There is still underwear on your face, dude."

4:15--"Holy cow! Blood in your eye. Yuck."

{This section was at one time the video of Lady Gaga's performance. However, I keep putting up videos that the person doesn't own and MTV takes them down. If I ever find an "official" video I will put it back up. Until then, click here to watch it...it's classic.}

You think Lady has no more tricks up her sleeve? Oh, you are wrong...so wrong.

There is yet another wardrobe change (this one's the best...make sure you're sitting down before you look).

A see-through, red lace dress with a mask, gloves and crown. Who saw that one coming? Really. No one.

Then you think it's over. She cannot get any better, right? WRONG!! Last wardrobe change.


I have no idea what that is...a wreath made of feathers...the left over hair from one of her many crazy hair styles...an old costume from Cats...trimmed and styled Santa Claus wig and beard? I don't know but I do know it's awesome and I'd like to know what Gaga was thinking through the night.

That was the last crazy thing the Gaga did. But Kanye West was a different story.

If you haven't heard...Kanye got on stage while Taylor Swift was accepting her award and said how Beyonce had the best video of all time (and implied that it was ridiculous that Taylor would have won.)

Kanye: "Here. Hold this moonman while I take the microphone."

Taylor: "Ok but I thought I was supposed to talk."

Look at her face...she's so confused.

But in the end Beyonce was a class act and let Taylor give her speech during the time Beyonce was supposed to give hers.

Kayne = word I don't use. Read Kelly Clarkson's blog about it. I think she sums it up nicely.

The Higher Power of Lucky

Book #39: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Lucky, a 10-year-old girl who lives in a small town called Hard Pan (population 43) with her guardian Brigitte. Lucky became the ward of Brigitte after her mother died two years ago from being electrocuted. Brigitte is Lucky's father's ex-wife. Brigitte is asked by Lucky's father to come to the United States from France to take care of Lucky. Lucky fears that Brigitte is tired of being her guardian and of their life in Hard Pan. Her experiences led her to believe that Brigitte will abandon her and return to France. This anxiety prompts Lucky to seek help from her "Higher Power", a notion she gets from eavesdropping at her town's 12-step meetings. After discovering three "signs" to leave, she runs away with her dog, HMS Beagle, and Miles but realizes she needs to come back home. Before she leaves the dugouts, she casts her mother's ashes out in the wind. Brigitte takes Lucky home and explains the papers Lucky had found in Brigitte's suitcase were actually to legally adopt Lucky.

I just read that this book has been censored by many school libraries because of the use of the word "scrotum" on the first page. Holy cow. Give it a rest. At the end of the book, Brigitte does an excellent job of telling Lucky exactly what a scrotum is. If you read it at school, yes, kids will ask about it. Is that a bad thing? Stupid people annoy me.

Rick Richter, the President and Publisher of the Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, is quoted as saying, "Simon & Schuster ultimately hopes that readers will recognize this wonderful book as a whole, and the charm and innocence of its main character Lucky, and will see beyond one word and the controversy surrounding the book. Susan Patron has written a masterful novel celebrating small town values and we can only hope that her deserved Newbery winner is recognized for the treasure that it truly is." Well said Rick, well said.

I'm Tired

For real this time...I get a break after tomorrow. I'm so excited.

I've been so tired this week. I think my body and mind were just so ready for the off track time that they went on vacation even though I worked this week.

One more day, one more day.

Are You Stalking Me?

I just read this post about Obama's education speech. It's funny because it's true!

Onto better things...me and my narcissism. If you've taken a look at my entire blog, you've noticed the counter. I just like to watch it go up a few numbers after I post. It's fun for me and tells me that someone cares about what I say (or you like to laugh at the stupid things I do and say...either way, you're reading my blog). It usually goes up about 10 views after I post something. Cool, people read my blog.

Since my last post about Obama's speech the counter has gone up about 10,000 views. What the heck? I'm thinking the counter just doesn't understand place value and thinks that you can add numbers anywhere...ones place, thousands place...it's all the same.

Here is my conclusion to the counter mystery...Either my counter needs a good second grade teacher or I have many more blog stalkers than I originally thought.

Hope, Education and Trying Your Best = Something You Don't Want Your Kids to Hear?

Being a teacher I was given the opportunity to show today's presidential speech to my class. However, there were some hoops I had to jump through. First, I had to write a lesson plan (complete with pre and post activities) and submit it to my principal to be pre-approved. Second, I had to have a relevant tie to 6th grade core curriculum. Third, I had to prepare work for those students who don't have permission that would be equivalent to what we did with the video. And fourth, I had to send home letters to parents to get approval from them.

With what went on in my classroom last week and the fact that I was supposed to be off track today, I didn't have the energy to worry about it. Now that I've watched it online, I can't believe it was so controversial. I also fully plan on showing it when my class goes back on track. I'm writing my lesson plan now. Sure it's going to be a month later and some kids may have seen it already but I'm going to make sure that all kids have the opportunity to see it and talk about it.

Since when do we not want the leader of our country to encourage students to work hard in school?

I would love for someone to explain to me why this is a horrible thing. Seriously, I'll listen. I just want to know what the big deal was.

Here's some quotes from the speech that I enjoyed:

"I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide."

"Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. . .Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and that then allows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust -- a parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor -- and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals."

"And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country."

"Now, your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. . . you've got to do your part, too. So I expect all of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down. Don't let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don't let yourself down. Make us all proud."

The Year of the Dog

Book #38: The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin

This novel follows Pacy's adventures during the Chinese Year of the Dog. As she celebrates with her family, she finds out that this is the year she is supposed to "find herself." As the year goes on, she struggles to find her talent, makes a new best friend, and discovers just why the Year of the Dog is a lucky one for her after all.

Though this was an enjoyable book, I wanted more from it. I think it would be a great book for younger grades but it didn't have enough substance for grade 5+. I would say read it 2nd-4th grade.

Change of Plans

You know how I said I'm off track and I'm going to have a super lazy first day off? Well, change of plans.



The A track teacher called me earlier to tell me that over the weekend she fell off a curb and sprained her right ankle and broke her left in 3 places. So she has to stay off her feet for 6-8 weeks.



So I'm subbing for her this next week. I can't decide if I want to do it the whole time I'm off track or just this coming week. Decisions, decisions. So I may or may not have any time off this off track time.

I better do my homework tonight. Oh! I forgot to mention this! I decided to take one MEd class this semester. I don't know if I'm crazy or not but it seems like I can handle it even with the craziness that is my first year teaching.

The Joys of Being a Woman

Ok, I'm going to get a bit personal.

Anyone that is grossed out by a girls time of the month, stop reading now. Go make a sandwich and have a nice day.

Those of you that stayed with me, welcome.

Here's the deal. The medication I'm taking to get rid of Sherman (if you don't remember Sherman, read this post) makes it so I can't take any pain relieving medication. This is a big problem during this time. So I asked my doctor what I can take and she said I could take something called Fem Caps (which she doesn't know where to find and I haven't been able to find yet) or Percocet.

So today, after some agonizing pain, I decided to take 1 Percocet. Bad idea. I was feeling good but I also was kinda, no really, insane. So I guess the moral of this story is I would not make a good druggie.

If you know where to get Fem Caps, let me know. I'm never taking Percocet again.

Guess Who's Off Track

Hallelujah! I'm off track.

This is how my first day off track looks:

10am--Wake up
10:30--Watch some daytime TV
11:00--Eat french toast
11:30--Take a nap
12:30--Paint toenails
1:00--Read
3:00--Eat a late lunch...in my pajamas
3:30--Beauty sleep
4:00--Power nap
4:30--Read
6:00--Light dinner of Fruit Roll-ups and Zucchini
6:30--Think about getting dressed but realized it's too late to even try to get ready. Read again
8:00--Tivo
9:00--Read until I fall asleep.

Holy cow! I'm so excited for this day.

Wrath of Miss J

I told my students on Tuesday that if I got a bad report from the sub that they would feel my wrath. I was hoping that would scare them enough but apparently it didn't.

I also realized last night that I'm not really an angry, wrathful person. After talking to the other 6th grade teachers, I decided that I would just be normal during the day until we talked about it.

So here's a play-by-play of the day:

I got everything ready for the day and made sure I was out of the room when they came in. I came in to utter silence and a lot of scared faces. All I said was, "I heard we have a lot of thieves in this class but don't worry about it right now. We have a lot of work to do and we'll talk about it during lunch." That made many "who didn't do anything wrong" very angry. I told them to sit down and get to work.

So all day I was normal. We went through P.E., reading groups, and the rest of the morning like nothing happened. By we, I actually mean I. My students were so scared I'm sure some of them pooped their pants. And 2 mysteriously got sick right before lunch...hmmm?

So right before we lined up for lunch, I told them they were all going to sit together at the same table and were not allowed to leave before I came back to get them. "What? At the same table? We can't sit by our friends?" No. You're a bunch of "buttheads" (they actually called themselves this later in the story), sit down and be quiet.

So I go back and get them from lunch and we go to the classroom. I didn't know where to start so I just sat back and looked mean and said, "Who wants to start?" They all looked at me like a deer in the headlights. Finally someone raised their hand and we had a big discussion first on what actually happened and then I told them they broke my heart and cried like a baby again.

I told them how I can't trust them right now but I still like them and I would never hate them. I told them they would have to work really hard to earn my trust back. I cried and carried on for about 10 minutes. We had 10 minutes until recess would have been over so I said, "I'm going to leave you here to think about what you did while I go finish my lunch." And I walked out to the sound of nothing but sniffles.

When I came back in, they were all silently writing letters of apology to me. They all handed them to me and I got ready to go on to writing. We were going to read a book and then write a similar story but I couldn't do it hearing such loud sniffling. So we stopped, pushed the desks back and made a pact to work harder from today on. Then I just let them pass a small ball around and get whatever off their chest. I thought it would be 20-30 minutes tops. We did this for an hour and 15 minutes.

The kids were opening up about all kinds of stuff. And everyone was crying. It was amazing to me that they would all feel that comfortable to cry like they did. It was fantastic but very emotionally exhausting.

I also had recess duty today so all the girls were coming up to me and hugging me and bonding like girls do after they've all cried together.

Oh, what a odd few days. Now we go off track tomorrow and I hope that they remember their pact to try harder tomorrow and the rest of the year.

It felt like I really got through to them today. So many of them talked about how they come from families who are drug addicts or gang members and how they don't want to go down that same road. Woot for hopefully beginning to change lives.

Worst Day, EVER!

Today didn't start off bad. But it quickly got there.

I had a sub today because my school offered a math endorsement class. I got to school at about 6:45 because I was a slacker and didn't prepare anything last night. My sub arrived at 7:15. What? School starts at 8:25. Weirdo! So I just explained everything to him but also gave him explicit, written instructions on how my class runs. After speaking with him for that 10 minutes, I knew my class was going to eat him alive or leave him looking like this guy:


But I went to my class anyway.

We got through about an hour and a half of the class when my principal was called down to the office to take care of a problem. Little did I know the problem was my class.

I need to give some background knowledge for my class. For birthdays I give students a candy bar, a pencil, and a card from the class. I spent my own money on all of these things and each student will get their present when it's their birthday. All they need to do is wait. Fair enough.

So back to today. I gave the sub a movie to put in that I thought was pretty cool. It was about Mars and space travel. My students didn't think it was and my sub had no control over them at all so they were crazy. At some point during the movie a large group of them decided they were going to find the candy bars and take them. They proceeded to look through each filing cabinet drawer until they found them (where the heck was the sub? Kids in filing cabinets behind teacher desks screams, "NOT ALLOWED!" to me but what do I know?). They then passed them out to the kids who wanted one. Many kids put them back but a group of 9 decided to just eat them.

I don't care about the candy. It's not like it was that expensive. What I care about is that they would have the audacity to go through my things and steal from me. They didn't even really steal from me, technically they stole from themselves and their classmates.

What I really care about is that I can't trust them. I can't leave my things alone in the room without thinking, "Is someone going through my things? Are they going to steal bigger things?" It's a trust issue and now they've broken it. And they broke my heart. I thought we had a good rapport going. We've only known each other for 6 weeks but I care about these kids so much already and to have a large group of them disrespect me, the classroom, their classmates, and the sub really upset me.

My principal told me about it during our first break (about 10:45) and I got really emotional. I cried and was just so upset. I couldn't concentrate in the class (seriously, ask me what we did. I don't know.) and I was on the verge of tears.

I came back to my room after school and read the letters my principal made them write to me. Most were really apologetic and most students fessed up but I know that at least 2 said they were perfect even though I have notes from the sub and other students saying they weren't. I think that upsets me even more. Admit your misbehavior, we'll work through it and get over it. But knowing these 2 stole then lied about it makes me so angry. UGH.

So I sat at school for 3 hours crying and trying to figure out what I'm going to do tomorrow. I still don't know. Hopefully I'll get some divine inspiration tonight but I think I'll look something like this: