Vacation!

It's almost vacation. I have two periods left to teach, and I don't have the motivation to do ANY work during my prep today. So, I'm gonna write. I'm gonna write until it's time to get ready for my next class. I have about 6 hours of grading to do, so working for 20 minutes is not going to make me feel that much better.

Last night, as I was cleaning my apartment and packing up for vacation, I realized I had old bananas. If there's one thing I love, it's having old bananas. There is only one thing to do with old bananas: banana bread! I made some of my famous pumpkin ale banana bread to take with me to my boyfriend's house (and to eat along the way).

This morning, my class returned to my "toxic" classroom. I have them for a double period on Fridays, so we were in it for the long haul. They weren't the most productive, but I had a great time with them. Every single student showed some understanding of homozygous/heterozygous or Punnett Squares. I had this great activity called "Bikini Bottom Genetics", which everyone knows refers to the hometown of Spongebob Squarepants. The activity used traits of Spongebob, Squidward, and others to let students practice Mendelian genetics. And, when they were done, there was a crossword puzzle to do. They love crossword puzzles.

I also got a little bonding time with them. As I helped groups work, I had the opportunity to talk to them about my family, their families, video games, fire department stuff, and other things. I really love my kids, but I may feel differently after trying to keep them in line during afternoon homeroom right before vacation starts.

Moreover, during my class with them, I saw the principal peeking in through the door, and she didn't come inside or say anything. That is a big complement; she felt that I had my classroom under control (and I did!).

I'm really starting to get the hang of lockdown (although I did forget an important worksheet for one of my classes, and had to improvise). I suspect we're not going to get a whole other week of it though (yay?). This morning, the assistant principal was asking teachers if they had any way of taking attendance for all thier classes (which I already to, thanks to my mentor's advice, with a homemade spreadsheet) and keeping track of tardies and cuts. This sounds like the end of lockdown is approaching, or at least planning for it is.

This week, I was frustrated to learn that veteran teachers get more support from administration. Their office referrals are much more likely to result in suspension than mine. I'm going to have to focus more on my classroom consistency, now that I've learned the office isn't necessarily going to help me with consistency in suspending. I need to keep management in my classroom as much as possible for now.

I'm getting a better hang of things, though, after last week's disastrousness and my coach's advice. The clearer expectations are really helping. Repeating expectations seems to have more of an impact on the classroom than consequences do, but a combination of the two work best. I know my last two classes will be really antsy, more so than the average Friday, but I have high hopes.

I'm not sure if I will blog over vacation. Probably not. I will definitely try to run regularly, though. I will not have access to a gym until Thursday, so I'm going to try to do some outdoor running. It's harder to run on pavement, and I'll be in a hilly area, so I'll get some good, challenging workouts in. My GPS watch is all charged and ready to go, so I can keep track of every hundredth of a mile and foot of elevation I travel.

I am taking today off from running, but I'm not sure about tomorrow. I might be lazy, but Sunday will be colder. I think I'll brave the cold so I can get two days off from running (Friday and Saturday). On Monday, I'm spending the day in NYC, and I might wear my running shoes and wander around Central Park for a bit. I hope it'll bring back some awesome memories of the best race I ever did, the New York City Triathlon in 2009. 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run. 4:04:26. Best day ever.

I plan to run Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Wednesday is my trip to Atlantic City, and then I can run again Thursday. By then, I'll be back at my parents house, and can use the gym near there. Running outside is way more fun, but it's hard.

I can't wait to spend several whole days not thinking about school (or trying hard not to). By the end of next week, I'll have to get caught up on grading, though. I have high hopes to get ahead on planning, but that never works out. My number one priority next week is relaxing. Two is running, and lastly is work. I don't usually get to order my priorities that way, so it'll be a nice treat. And I have banana bread.

Enjoy President's Day, and whatever vacation you get (or don't). Go outside while it's not too cold.