..and the insanity continues

I'm beginning to feel like I'm in a teen movie.  So far we've dealt with guns and knives, now we can add alcohol and sex to the mix.  Some students went on a band trip.  The next day, word got around that some of the students were drinking whisky on the bus.  The central office watched the bus video to find out who was drinking and while watching the video, a female student was seen giving a hand job to a male student on the way there.  Central office immediately sent the video to the school and the assistant principal had to watch the entire video, which showed the same student giving oral sex on the way home.  The fun part of it was when they had her mom come in and watch the video without warning her about what was on it.  Wish I could have seen that!  Say what you will about the teaching profession, at least it's not boring, right?

What a crazy week! Guns and knives and insanity!

I'm not sure what the deal is with the 9th graders this year.  I've never been real fond of teaching 9th grade.  The students seem to be whiny and helpless.  This year is particularly bad.  The student they warned me about turned out the be the best student in the whole class.  He sits in the front row right in front of my desk, writes everything, is quiet and friendly.  Basically, I just adore him.  On Monday, the assistant principal came to my room and asked to see him.  When he got up, she told him to bring his backpack.  The expression on his face when she said that told me he had something in his backpack.  I was thinking drugs.  As he walked out the door, two police officers escorted him through the building and to the office.  An emergency faculty meeting was called after school where they told us he had brought a gun and given to another student in the bathroom.  A teacher got suspicious about the other student's behavior and he ratted everyone out.  I was completely shocked.  Shows how good a judge of character I am!  Then on Thursday, another student took some scissors and broke them apart.  He broke off the plastic handles and put tape around the end of the blades to make two "shanks".  Then he taped them to the inside of his thighs.  The teacher was counting scissors and found a pair missing.  The thing that's bothering me is what is going on at this school that has the students thinking they have to bring weapons?  Apparently, I'm going through my day completely oblivious to something and it's driving me crazy!

$600,000 is missing from our budget?

I was talking to some of the other teachers today and found out that this year's budget is short $600,000.  Interesting since our superintendent and all the principals got big bonuses this past year.  Teachers got a 2% raise and the superintendent gave himself over $20,000 in a big ol' bonus.  Hey, it's good to be the king!

My teacher friend (the one who was threatened) is about to lose her mind with our assistant principal.  Apparently, the same assistant principal who came running to my class last semester when a student texted her during class, went running to this teacher's room when the same kid texted her.  The funny part is that last semester when it happened to me, the AP kept promising never to do it again.  "It'll never happen again." "I won't ever do that again."  Right.

We lost last week's football game, so I wore my volleyball shirt to school instead of my football shirt.  Some of the players asked me why I wasn't wearing the football shirt, so I told them that I didn't have that shirt in pink and they played like a bunch of girls. LOL  Sometimes I crack myself up.  We have a game tonight (that I'm about to head to), so let's hope we improve.  If we don't, at least I have something to pick on them about.

My first annoying parent. Great.

Progress reports came out yesterday.  Which means that students who hadn't done their work turned in everything they were missing on Tuesday.  Since I don't have a planning, I have to grade everything after school.  I worked until 7pm and got all the core stuff graded.  I am also teaching a non-core ACT Prep class.  I handed out progress reports first block and before second block, I had an email from a parent.  She informed me that her daughter is showing a failing grade in my class and if I couldn't get the grade right, then I shouldn't post it on the report.  (Now remember, this is a progress report, not a report card).  She also copied the email to the principal and the guidance counselor.  I responded by telling her that the grade was correct and that the zeroes were there because her perfect daughter hadn't turned her work in until yesterday  and since I don't have planning, I graded what I could until I had to leave to set the alarm and the late work wasn't showing up yet.  I corrected the progress report during class. and I also informed her that since I just passed them out and she works at another school, I wasn't sure how she already had her daughter's progress report.  She responded that she wanted a copy of all her daughter's grades in my class.  I informed her that she needed to check online.  Anyway, I ended up getting 8 emails from her.  I think she is mad that her daughter doesn't have an A in that class.  I explained that the class was preparing her for the ACT test and she is tested on reading and answering 10 questions in 8 minutes, so her grade will go up and down.  Not sure if it helped or not.  On the positive side, I now feel very sorry for that kid having to go home to that kind of environment on a daily basis.  (and feel very glad that I don't have to go home to that crap).  I'm a little curious as to whether I have an email from her when I get there this morning.  Part of me wants to tell her that she may expect perfection out of her daughter, but not to expect it from me because she will be sadly disappointed.  Lord only knows what she'll send when report cards go out.

What an interesting week at my school

We have some gang members at our school - like most schools these days.  The other day, a teacher gave a student a zero on a test for talking during it.  That night, he commented on Twitter that he wanted to beat her over it.  A person came by her classroom to tell her of the comment.  We found everything he wrote about her and printed it off.  They finally got the boy out of her class and into OSS.  However, someone overheard the person who told her tell the principal, so that person needs to watch out.  I'm hoping it is just a case of a student getting embarrassed in front of the class and trying to be cool online, but these days you can't take any chances.

Geez! What a Monday!

What a day I've had today.  First, I had to post grades from Friday's test.  Just to give you an idea about Friday's test: they could use their notes, I only put 25 questions on it, and they had over 90 minutes to complete it.  22 of my 9th graders failed it.  Then today, I got two new students in my monster class, which brings the total up to 3 new students in that class since Friday.  This was going to be an easy day.  I was going over their test answers from Friday, then letting them read their water molecule stories (those who actually did it, of course).  While a student was giving her report, a kid in the back of the class started rolling his chair across the back of the room.  I warned him that he was being inconsiderate and got him back to his desk, then he started yelling to a student across the room, so I moved him to a seat away from them and over by me.  I signalled for the student presenting to continue and the kid started banging on the closet door handle.  I wrote him up and sent him out.  As I was coming back in ti class, I heard words that stunned me coming from the back of my class. One of my new students wasn't in class 10 minutes before I heard cursing that would make a sailor blush.  Needless to say, she was starting a fight with another student.  I wrote them up before punches flew and sent them to the office. Finally the bell rang for lunch.  I spent my lunch time looking for goggles for another teacher.  When the students came back from lunch, the door handle abuser was back.  I asked him why he was in class and he said the assistant principal sent him back.  And I kid you not, he started rolling the chair across the room again!  I walked around the desk and emailed the AP demanding an explanation as to why he would send a kid back to class after a write up.  No response.  After school, I went looking for the AP to get an explanation and he was gone.  I really hope this new AP isn't going to suck.

Yikes! He finally arrived!

Well, he finally arrived.  The kid who is apparently so horrible that the faculty met with me to explain that if he screws up just one little bit, he gets sent back off.  Basically, it's his last chance for an education and a better life.  Oh goody.  And he happened to arrive in my class on test day.  I received the email before his class arrived.  Part nervous and part panicky, I wondered how I would handle it if he becomes violent or mouthy during a test.  By the time he arrived to my class, I had devised multiple reactions to his behavior.  It was to the point that I almost hoped he would pull something.  See how weird I am?  Anyway, it was a big relief when he walked in and sat down in the front row, right by my desk and smiled and introduced himself.  He looked like an angel.  I explained that everyone had to take a test and he would need to sit quietly and read or take a nap or something quiet.  He was fine with that.  Very charming.  And he sat quietly the entire time.  I felt like chewing out the administration for scaring me like that.  Of course, it was only the first day, so Herman 1 (new school, new names) could turn into a nightmare.  And I still have four dissections to do with that class before it's over.  Maybe he'll be fine.  Maybe.

Our football team won...but we suck!

The only reason we won the game Friday night was because the other team sucked worse.  We didn't even score until the fourth quarter - and that was because the other team's quarterback got tackled over our goal line. (Still laughing about that).  It was the start to a crappy weekend.  Got home Friday night upset over all our penalties.  Saturday, had dinner with a teacher friend and we watched the Alabama game.  I know we won that too, but we sucked!  What is wrong with the offensive line?  I finally figured that the only reason we played so bad (we're ranked at #1, the other team isn't ranked), was so the other teams wouldn't know how good we really are.  It's a trick that Saban's using to throw off the other teams we have to play this year.  Brilliant, eh?  Anyway, so disgusted after that game, that I went to see The Wolverine to cheer myself up. Mind you, Hugh Jackman shirtless was worth every penny, but the movie ended all wrong!  WTH is going on?  Then, after church on Sunday, I decided to color my hair.  Too much gray, you understand.  I went with a dark brown color, which, as it turns out, is really black.  And for some reason the back of my hair didn't get dyed.  So, from the front I look goth, but the back of my head is a different color.  Needless to say, Monday was rough.  But the kids were wonderful.  They kept telling me that it looked fine and that two different colors of hair is the style.  LOL.  What a great bunch of young men and women!  (Frame this, I may never say that again!)

Getting a new student on Tuesday

Great.  Just when I thought it was going to be a really good year, I find out that I will be getting a new student.  And not just any student.  Apparently, this kid is returning from jail or juvie or alternative school.  They didn't tell me which.   Basically, all they said was "if he screws up just one tiny bit, send him out and we'll get rid of him".  Lovely.  Now, I'm wondering if he is violent, or high strung, or drugged out or just scary to look at.  Will assigning homework send him into a rage?  I hate when no one will tell you about a student.  I've really got to start taking some form of martial arts classes!  This is one of those situations where you actually hope he's a stoner or something.  I'd prefer him to sleep through class than to freak out and shoot everyone!  Oh well, guess I'll find out on Tuesday.  Thank goodness we have tomorrow off!

Parent meeting cancelled

After school, I was supposed to meet with a parent because my student flipped his chair over and got embarrassed.  Not sure why I was meeting with the parent.  It's not like there was anything I could do to stop his embarrassment.  Anyway, it was cancelled.  The only thing that irks me a little is that nobody told me the meeting was cancelled until I had locked up my room and walked the length of the school to get to the conference and nobody was there.  Then had to walk to the office and find the AP, who then told me it had been cancelled.  Great.  My feet were killing me and it was cancelled.  Oh well.  The good news is that I got out of there by 5 pm.  So far, this week hasn't been half bad.  Let's hope my optimism continues. LOL

Trouble with the 9th graders already!

I have a parent meeting tomorrow after school.  Three days into the new year and already have a parent meeting.  Geez.  Had a student flip his chair over yesterday (very loudly).  He didn't get up, so I went over and asked if he was alright.  He said he was fine.  I told him to get up and he said he would just lay there.  I asked him if he was really alright.  He said yes, he was fine.  I told him he had to get up. (He was lying spread eagle behind three other students sitting in office chairs on wheels.  His fingertips just inches from their wheels.  He finally sat up, but didn't get off the floor.  Realizing that this class was too big to risk a lot of our fun experiments on due to safety, I told them that right now they have a yellow flag.  That if they walk into class one day and there are books on the desks, I didn't want to hear a bunch of whining and complaining, because I had to consider everyone's safety.  Apparently, this embarrassed the student and his mom needs to discuss it.  Wow.  Really?  Of course it embarrassed the student.  The fall was so loud it scared the entire classroom.  Everyone stared at him and some giggled nervously.  Oh well. Another year.  On the good side, he was an angel today. Tomorrow, we break out the microscopes and they will look at cork and thread under them.  So, here's to hoping nothing gets broken and no one gets hurt tomorrow. Say a prayer.

Well, everyone survived the first day! Hurrah!!

I always love the first day of school.  I got everything prepared.  Arrived at school by 7 am and situated everything.  The "magic" worked wonderfully!  Students were amazed and a little nervous.  I think the long black skirt, fuzzy hair and black granny boots threw them off a bit.  I even had one student tell me as she walked into class that she was changing her schedule to take chemistry, but by the end of class, she said she decided to stay.  How's that for a great first day?  The magic potion grabbed their interest, but I think it was when I stuck my hand in the crystal clear water and pulled out a ball and a cube that they got a little freaked.  (In a good way).  I didn't get a chance to do it with my first block class because the class was only about 5 minutes long, due to a really long homeroom time. Anyway, I'll try to get some pics of the balls tomorrow if I remember.  I don't have a planning period, so that will be tricky.  And I already know which class will be my challenge.  But the other classes are shockingly fantastic.  Even the challenge class was pretty good.  I can just tell that I'll be moving some girls around and I can sense the drama to come.  Kind of like, if we are in a lockdown I don't want it to be with that group or we're all dead kind of feeling.

The "magic" is ready!

Well, I conjured up some magic potion for tomorrow and took it to school (I'm always scared that I'll forget it on Monday).  Spent an hour or two setting everything up and entertaining the kids of a colleague who was also there preparing.  I really hope that I can hook the kiddies this year.  Plan on wearing my "witch" outfit.  Long black skirt, black clodhopper granny boots and dark lipstick and heavy eyeliner.  I have almost 200 kids this year, so I'm praying that I can handle them with grace and temperance.  (and if not, maybe a bullwhip!)  I have an activity for each day this week, but they are getting laptops this year and I'm a little worried that I will get in trouble if they aren't working on them.  I'm going to make them hand write their notes because it creates a stronger neural connection when they see, hear and take action, as opposed to having one kid type all the notes and forward them to everyone else, which is what I suspect they will do if allowed to use the computer.  I am looking at some software that I can use to get them using their cell phones, which I think will be fun for them.  Still have to figure out a way to get their laptops involved.  So, tomorrow's the first day of school - officially.  I noticed on our calendar that there are four days this year where the kids get out at 1:30pm.  When someone asked our principal what that was about, he didn't know.  Oh well, I'm thinking they are doing that instead of letting them out of school for inservices, but I don't know who knows for sure why they put that in the calendar. I know it's going to be a rough one because I don't have any planning this year and I have about three classes that are overcrowded.  We lost two science teachers at the end of the year and could only afford to hire one person to replace them, so we are seriously overworked.  But, with this economy, I'm just grateful to be working at something I love to do, so I'll take whatever they give me!  Here's to a great school year!

My tablet's been fixed....I hope

I'm about to go pick up my tablet for school.  I hope it is fixed and I don't have any more trouble out of it.  I wanted to just buy an Ipad mini, but will wait and see if the Lenovo works this time.  Today is the last day for sleeping in.  Will have to start getting up at 5 am tomorrow.  Well, lots to do today, so I'll give an update on the tablet tomorrow hopefully.

Specimens are ordered!

Well, I got the specimens ordered yesterday for this year.  It costs over $2,800.00 for worms, frogs, owl pellets, brains, cow eyes, sheep hearts and pigs.  I also ordered lumbriculus this year just so we will have something live to work with.  I think the next time a student or parent complains about the $20 lab fee I'll just show them the invoice for this.  It doesn't include the physical science stuff I ordered, or the "magic" and measurement experiment we'll be doing this year.  But, at least everything's ordered.  I'm also crash dieting to lose 30 pounds before the kids return in a couple of weeks.  I know you're thinking it is impossible and I agree.  But if I can just lose about 15 pounds, that would be really great.  And I think I can do it.  I'm low carbing and exercising every day. I'm going to buy a couple of outfits once we get a little closer to school starting.  Actually, I'll shop at the end of the month. The last weekend of the month is when Dillard's has their additional 30% off. My first day of school clodhopper, Army, kickbutt, super cool granny boots have been resoled and I am ready for the first week of school!  Well, almost.  I accidentally deleted my Powerpoint on scientific method and measurement, so I have to redo that today.  And I haven't made out their tests, but other than that, I'm ready. Still working on my filing system, but it's coming along nicely.  Things are always exciting as we get closer to school starting.  I turned in my professional development papers yesterday.  We have to have up to 30 hours of professional development time.  I have 124.8 hours, so I'm good.  Well, that's the update.  Today's goal is to clean off all the desks (especially mine!) and get my Powerpoint redone.  Will also try to go through some files and put them in their correct week in my new filing system.  Wish me luck!

Got the main stuff done - downloaded games.

Spent about 3 hours at work yesterday getting ready for the new school year.  We have a new science teacher, so I'm dividing stuff up with her so she will have what she needs to teach.  The only problem with it is that everything is spread out all over my room, so I'll be the one cleaning it all up.  Actually, that's a good thing.  I need to go through my stuff anyway to figure out what I need to order and what I need to throw out.  I'm also trying to get my experiments ordered and together so I can find them when I need them.  Plan on heading out this afternoon to do some more work.  Hopefully, by the time school starts, I'll be organized and ready!  I'll take a pic of my room so you have some idea of what needs to be done.

Getting ready for a new year of teaching!

I've been getting prepared for the new year of classes.  This coming semester I will have two honor's classes and two regular classes with no planning period.  Because I'll have no planning, I've been going in to school every day for a few hours to prepare.  I have to get my lessons onto Powerpoint now, since we've gone "digital".  This year all students will have laptops, which should be interesting.  I'm sure they'll get really good at multi-tasking (texting, email, tweeting, and looking at porn, while appearing to be paying attention).  My tablet I'm supposed to use this year didn't work, so I sent it to central office to be replaced and I still don't have it.  Oh, and we've received no training whatsoever in how to teach with the laptops.  I haven't even been trained on how to use my tablet to control the overhead projector.  So, looks like another year of being completely unprepared, right?  I'm also going to try to do better at posting on here.  So, stay tuned!

I love spending my summer attending conferences!

And I'm not being smart.  I really enjoy them.  Especially when I get to learn new experiments to do with my kiddies.  This week I am attending a genetics conference in Huntsville, Alabama.  The first day we extracted DNA from strawberries!  My students are going to love doing that next year!  This is the third conference I've attended this summer, but it is by far the most exciting.  Yesterday we toured a cancer research laboratory and learned all the new treatments for assorted cancers.  Today we will be studying transcription and translation of RNA.  This is a very intensive, two week long conference, but I will receive thousands of dollars worth of experiments and supplies for my students next year, so I'm all for that!  Lord knows how bad I need supplies in my lab!  I'll post some pictures of the strawberry extraction soon!

I almost got arrested for breaking in school!

Talk about a crazy night.  We are moving from our old school building into our new school building.  Since I have to move not only my classroom, but my biology lab, the biology lab storage closet, my classroom storage closet and another science teacher's room who quit a few weeks ago, I have been staying really late packing things. Night before last, I was there until 9:30 pm moving boxes from one place to another.  As I was walking back to the school, I notice two cop cars hovering around my car (which is parked in front of the old building).  They drive off and I decide to call it a night and go home.  Yesterday morning the seniors pulled what is known as "senior prank".  They rolled the yard and inside the building with toilet paper, painted 2013 on the back wall and spread garbage and feces throughout the building.  Sixty kids get arrested in connection with it.  So, yesterday afternoon, I am taking boxes and moving stuff.  My car is the only one in front of the building.  (the other science teacher parks his car around back, close to his room).  I come out of the building around 8 pm and there is a cop parked behind my car.  He gets out of his car and says "hold it just a sec."  I say, "yes?"  He asks me what I am doing here.  I show him my name tag and tell him I am moving boxes into the new building.  He informs me that last night when he made rounds that my car was the last car here last night and this morning all that "prank" stuff happened.  I jokingly say that he got me.  I was pranking the seniors by doing all this and blaming it on them.  He is not amused.  He informs me that the cafeteria door is open.  I tell him that I have not been anywhere near the cafeteria and that I have keys to the front door only.  He then makes me walk the entire school building with him checking locks!  I tell him I really need to be moving boxes.  He doesn't care.  He then informs me that my car is "hot".  Apparently, he checked my tags and every cop in the area is on the lookout for my car.  WTF?  I tell him that his captain knows me and my car.  He angrily informs me that HE is the supervisor for second shift and that the captain doesn't tell them anything.  At this point, I am mentally slapping myself for not having anybody's number from school that I can call and verify things with.  First thing Monday, I'm getting the principal's home number!  The funny thing was that the other science teacher had taken a load to the new school and wasn't around during my fun times.  He did get a good laugh about it when I finally showed up to unload my car.  Now I'm scared to drive around town.  And I realized that my tags expire at the end of this month.  What a great start to spring break, eh?  Luckily for me, the kids couldn't wait to rat each other out, so I'm off the hook.  Whew!

Not sure if I'm happy or sad

Ever have one of those days where you don't really know how you are feeling?  I'm having one of those days today.  I'm not really depressed, but not really happy either.  Sort of a non-feeling day.  While I'm still under 170, which is great, I'm not as low as I was last week, which is not too great.

Maybe it's all the rain we've been having around here.  Or it could be that my house smells like wet dog.  Anyway, been watching a lot of Gallagher on You Tube lately.  I hate that he has had heart attacks.  He always seemed so in shape.  And I hate to hear that he has been divorced twice and that he has lost all his money and lives in hotels now.  And I really hate that he is doing his final show and retiring.  He is my favorite comedian of all.  On the plus side, I love that I can watch his old routines from the 80's online now.  I've even found some I have never seen before.

So, if you've never heard of Gallagher before, check out his routines on You Tube.  My favorite is "Mad as Hell".  You'll laugh til milk comes out your nose!

Drama is over and school has resumed

Great news!  Little Ethan is safe and the bad guy is history.  We started back to school this week.  I really have to commend this area.  They really stepped in to help out.  It seems like everyone, young and old, was banded together during this tragic event.  I saw senior citizens working with children to deliver food, blankets and miscellaneous items to the law enforcement and television crews standing vigil at the scene.  Thousands of people gathered to pray and discuss what was going on.  The restaurants were fabulous by donating food to all the people involved.  Mr. Poland's funeral service was so nice.  Hundreds turned out for it.  Some of our JROTC students attended in uniform and lines of buses led the processional. It just goes to show you how strong a community can be.  This past Monday, when the students returned to school, I didn't hear anyone complaining about being back in school. There was no fear of riding the school bus or anger or hostility towards the man responsible or his family.  It really does a soul good to be able to witness the unity of an area when tragedy occurs.  I feel very privileged to call these people my neighbors and friends.  They have included me, an outsider, into their community with open arms and I am so grateful.  I have lived places where that type of good Christian neighborliness doesn't happen.  I have lived places where people are suspicious of outsiders.  I have lived in areas where people who are different in any way are made to feel like they don't belong.  I have heard false friends gossip and lie about people out of jealousy or fear.  Sometimes, teachers get to the point where they believe it's them against the world.  They feel as if they are not making any positive impact on their students.  Sometimes, they get to the point where they throw their hands up and say, "what's the use?"  I notice how when teachers mistreat students it makes the papers worldwide, however, when students mistreat teachers, no one seems to care.  Can you imagine what the news would look like if every time a student abused a teacher, it made the news?  CNN would have to add a "Student News" studio and have 24 hours of non-stop news about it.  We spend so much time keeping the adults in line that we forget that kids are accountable for their behavior too.  Okay, I'll get off my soapbox.  For now, all is safe and happy...at least in my little spot of the world.

Ongoing hostage saga

The standoff between the Vietnam vet with the 6 year old boy and the cops is ongoing.  Both the county and city schools are out for the rest of the week.  I'm heading to a prayer vigil at a local church, then back home to monitor the situation.  It finally made national news today. I hate that they didn't mention how heroic the bus driver was.  He tripped the alarm and reversed the bus to try to protect the children. The link is below:

http://gma.yahoo.com/gunman-shoots-bus-driver-ala-takes-child-hostage-085919180--abc-news-topstories.html

Tragic events in this area today

I know people are beginning to get numb to situations like this, but if you are right in the middle of it, it's downright scary.  A bus driver for the county I live in was taking kids home after school today, when a man boarded the bus and shot him 4 times, killing him - with a bus full of children on board.  He then took a 6 year old child off the bus and is currently holed up in a church with police all around.  Someone told me that he also shot a child, but I can't confirm that yet.  Horrible tragedy, but what was the scariest was that all the teachers were talking about bringing guns and how to stay safe.  It's looking like before long we will have federal marshals on school buses like we have them on flights now.  Prayers go out to the family of the bus driver and all who were witness to this horrible act of violence.