Long days.

I am tired.

Two 13 hour work days in a row, with a 1-hour commute both ways...

Parent phone calls, lesson planning, after-school homework help, Art Club, Project-Based Learning, Advisory, modifications for English Language Learners, modifications for SPED students, technology, grading, finding time to eat lunch, following directions, explaining directions, writing down directions, no passing periods between classes, learning the Adobe Suite, public relations, ECHO, Reading Strategies, journal writing, tracking sheets, rules, the Constitution, THE MASCOT WE NEED A MASCOT WHAT SHOULD OUR MASCOT BE, homework, drama, enablers, co-dependence, excuses excuses excuses, Evolution is wrong, Math is boring, why do we do this, off campus lunch. Math night, science night, Back to School Night, parent night, meeting night. District meeting. Inservice day. Trainings. E3 coach, PBL coach, IMP coach, WriteSource coach, 1st year teacher mentor(s), ELL support, SPED support, SmartBoard trainer.

Punched in the gut

So, during 2nd period, my principal and the McMinnville School District Superintendent unexpectedly dropped by for a good 10 minutes.

Uuuuuuummmmm..... I hope that's not a normal occurrence. Not a bad experience, but I lost a lot of "teaching umph" resulting from my heart stopping for a good 60 seconds. I wonder if they could actually see my eyes popping out of my head.

They went to everybody's class. Liz lucked out. It was her prep period.

Thank goodness for the quiet ones.

I just wanted to let you all know that my first week of school is going marvelously. James has been relieved that I'm experiencing very little stress. These kids are coming from all sorts of different places--many of them want to be at MACA, lots of them were forced by parents and are trying to get kicked out. So, some classes are more challenging with others. But, as James put it, it's nothing I can't handle--and certainly it doesn't compare with some of the other situations I've dealt with. I just hope I don't have to use my restraint training during Math class, you know? ha ha. But really, I'm feeling fantastic right now. The staff at MACA is phenomenal--very smart, very supportive.

From Tuesday morning to Wednesday afternoon we spent our time at Camp Yamhill. 40 hours with 165 stinky teenagers (60% boys in the school!) was definitely an experience I'll never forget. But I got to know several students pretty well and formed what we like to call "alliances" with some of the troublemakers. For some reason, it seems like they gravitate toward me, which is funny 'cause I'm a total nerd. Once we got into the classrooms (today) and got to see my mad SMARTboard skillz, they were pretty impressed. That thing is awesome.

Today in my class we talked about bullying. On the way out the door, a quiet girl said to me, "That was really good." That was so nice to hear. And after the next period, another girl said, "Math is my favorite subject!" (They know I'll be teaching math). So sweet.

I think I also managed to jazz some up about taking psychology next semester--we aren't offering it now, but Deb just ordered psych textbooks (of my choosing).

My school day goes pretty fast, but it's also exhausting. At 8:30, I'm already pooped. Poor James has a pretty boring wife. I get up at 5:00, leave by 6:15, and his alarm doesn't even go off until 7:45. So, our schedules are pretty far off. :( I'm in bed for hours before he's tired.

Oh, and my schedule changed again. Some of my fellow (and more experienced teachers) realized that I'm teaching four different classes--which means I have four different subject/lessons to prepare every day. This is, as they said, "insanity, and not really fair." (Most of them are teaching two, and they've been teaching a lot longer than me.) So, they switched some things around to try to make it easier for me. My schedule is now:
Prep period
Cognitive Tutor (math on computers, study time)
two Science classes (diving right into Evolution. Heaven help me. This is a really conservative place.)
two Math classes
Digital Photography/Photoshop

You may have noticed that I am STILL teaching four different classes. At least they're chunked together now.