No Recess

This is the teacher's room. The table is shared by about a 8-12 teachers. Each person gets about 2 square feet of space on the table to pile all their stuff. You can see my suitcase on the floor under my two piles of books.
My grade 10's
My grade 9's


26MAR08

Won’t you believe it
It’s just my luck

No recess

Won’t you believe it
It’s just my luck

No recess

You’re in high school again

No recess


Grade 8 Reading. First thing in the morning. Good. They always say that first thing in the morning you should eat a pile of dog shit, and then nothing worse can happen to you for the rest of the day. Of course the person that wrote that never had to teach this arrogant herd or sweathog pigs. So I went in. HOMEWORK! I barked. I was going to be one tough nut to crack; one tough bitch. On my desk. A surprising number of kids actually handed in papers – maybe half of them. I wrote the exercise on the board. “Write a children’s story about, or involving a person in the profession you want to be or one you admire”. They said they didn’t understand, they said they didn’t know how, they asked if they could copy one from their book. I took out “Mortimer” by Robert Munch. “I will read you a children’s book”, I said. They were relatively quiet and loved it. They actually started to work. I asked what kind of music they liked, ignored their responses and put on Mika. If I could make the music louder, it may actually calm them a little. I gave out coins to everyone, and exchanged them at the end of class for chocolate. I sat through the class, ignored the noise and listened to Mika while I looked over their papers. I started singing to Mika. “Suckin’ too hard on your lollypop, oh love’s gonna get you down … la la, la la …” They got really quiet for a second there! I told them a little about Mika. The volume rose and I ignored it and went back to my work. I really don’t care. I realize that. I really don’t. That is why these kids can’t get to me, because there is no effect on my life. If the school fired me, it would mean a great rest of a vacation in Honduras.

Now I have to figure out how to mark these bloody assignments…

Comments

iain said…
OH another pointer...if you give them a really long test, where they have to read a really long story and then answer really short questions about it afterwards, then you can mark class A;s test while class B is writing, and B's while C is writing and so on..if they are working quietly of course..
tomorrow is my birthday ...Greg phoned a day early with well wishes..nice of him to remember at least :-)
We have played squash once, and not gone dancing atl all while you've been gone..
missing our triangle of social activities!
Paula is still missing in action....
dating is a disaster...
sent out my EI and my taxes yesterday..iain's birthday on the 7th, and then I have nothing pressing for the next week or two....and can travel since theres no EI happening for 2 weeks....
sooooooooooo
if I arrive miid-week, can someone pick my up from the airport? WOuld they like me to be a guest teacher (volunteer of course) for the week I"m there?
I can stay at the hotel for $10 if you dont have space for me..
anyway, let me know the options, etc,...should I rent a car? Would it be hazardous to drive?
etc
AND
Your shopping list of all necessities, if I"m coming!!
:-)
hil
xo