It's an Emergency!

Haha, it's amazing how often students claim that they MUST go to the bathroom NOW. Almost every time, they just want to get out of class. I understand that (really, I do), but if they are failing my class due to weak classwork, I'm not just going to let them leave. It always surprises me how often emergencies are not emergencies, "I'm bleeding!" turns into "Go wash your hands", and the "hiccups" disappear with a stern talking-to. I'd like to think I'm going to make an awesome parent one day (very, very far from now), but then I realize that I'll get to distracted with cheeks and fat thighs to remember to parent.

I really need Christmas break. Tension is high, Relay isn't helping, and the students are getting antsy. Student paychecks are looking worse every week, and homework effort is waning. Students are getting frustrated with me, and I'm getting frustrated with them, and we end class sometimes in a spiral of frustrated dollar-taking.

Fortunately, I had a refreshing day today. Today I introduced Science Fair! (I forget that even though Microsoft Office automatically changes SF to Science Fair, Chrome doesn't. From now on, it'll be SF.) Students were introduced to the 5 topic choices - and they were so engaged! We had a good amount of joy, sillieness, and engagement. Besides, they are doing quite well on scientific method content, which we reviewed today.

It was refreshing.

Of course, now I'm in detention, so I'll end my post before I stop feeling so refreshed.

Workouts have been good. Lots of running. Oh! I forgot! I won a race this weekend! Okay, I didn't win, but I did come in 3rd in my division! I also beat my best 5K by 34 seconds! I'm pretty darn proud of myself - 28:49 - not even close to 30 minutes anymore. Of course, there were only 4 in my division, but that means I beat 1 person. Besides, I was only about 2 minutes away from the 1st place division, so I might have a shot at it next year (for this very small, very local race). I guess the extra mileage is paying off. I'm hoping to keep up my fitness binge (I had a very productive/exhausting weekend), keep off the weight (only 1 more pound to my Thanksgiving goal), and hit 20 miles per week by New Years'.