That was how my morning started. At least he got a three day suspension. My students may have seen me tear up, though.
I had a meeting with my mentor this morning. She is the one in the school who holds me to the highest standards. She challenges me. She's like my mother: she comforts me when I'm sad, and she provides advice that I don't always appreciate at the time but is probably the best answer.
I took her advice in giving another one of my classes assigned seats. It took 20 minutes, and involved A LOT of arguing. Eventually, I got (almost) every student to stop groaning and go to their assigned seat. It ended up working pretty well, although I didn't feel like they were able to do the lab activity today, so I went a little overboard on worksheets.
After 2 preps, a lot of productivity, and a teary-eyed lunch, I was back in form. My first class after lunch was much better than usual. I gave them a review worksheet to practice before the exam this week, and I had more compliance than usual. I definitely had more than half the class on task (sometimes more, sometimes less), which is an improvement. This is a class that can quickly snowball into laziness and complaining. I ended up getting a few more kids than usual doing hard work.
My non-homeroom seventh grade class had donuts and a quiz today, and they did great on the quiz. As usual. It's the same quiz my homeroom had last week.
My last class was also not bad, although I had trouble keeping them on task. I was able to (for the most part) keep them in their seats and quiet, which is a start. Next I have to work on staying on task.
At some point during the day, my homeroom class had difficulty finding their way to class, and now they're not allowed to go anywhere without an escort. Is it my fault for starting their day off poorly, or are they really that difficult? I have to say, they were great during homeroom this morning, so I don't think it's me.
On Friday, I had a great career discussion with a student. He wants to be a basketball player, but I don't think it's the most likely future for him. I discussed with him the idea of working towards being a video game designer. He loves drawing and coming up with stories, but his writing could use work. I'm hoping that if he gets into drawing, he'll be less bouncy in class. I enjoyed speaking to him.
This weekend was wonderful. I found good (but expensive) sushi, but I don't think I'll be going there too often. I went on a lovely hike outside New Haven. I made INCREDIBLE banana bread, with pumpkin ale as the liquid and a little too much sugar. Yum. I also found the greatest ethnic supermarket and stocked up on various noodles and miso paste.
Tomorrow is the first day of my New Teacher Induction Program through BPS. Full day PD. I used to hate that sort of thing. Now I can't wait. No students for a full day!
Back to grading. I have some leftover miso soup to charge up for spin class tonight. Rough morning, good afternoon.
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