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2001-09-25 - 9:38 p.m. I'm back, thanks for worrying :) The reason I wasn't posting was because of all the moving madness, plus when I first moved the new phone line wasn't working. Luckily that is all taken care of now. I haven't unpacked much, but my boyfriend and his family came and helped me move all my stuff on Saturday. I really like my new place. The downside is that I still haven't heard from my landlord and his phone is still disconnected. I could not clean the apartment other than vacuuming since the water was turned off (how does one clean sinks and tubs with no water?) but I certainly did not feel bad. It is actually relatively clean. I just want my money back. He owes me more than half a month rent plus my $500 deposit. I had to put out nearly all my savings for the new apartment. I managed to get his lawyer's phone number because of the water guy, so I called his lawyer but did not get a call back. If he doesn't call me back I am just going to find out how to file a small claim against him. This is ridiculous. And guess what? On top of everything, we had a strike vote this evening and we voted to strike. It was something like 296 to 7. Right after we voted to strike we went to the board meeting. I have gone with the union before to board meetings with our Support Our Teachers signs and they are always really snotty. This was the biggest turnout I have ever seen of teachers...the other two times it was more like 100. Anyway, the president of our union informed them we are striking on or after Oct. 8th. It was very exciting in a lot of ways. I, of course, voted to strike, but I can't afford it. We just got paid so we at least have that paycheck but still...with only about $400 in savings now that I put all the deposits and such down, this is not looking good for me. I think I should get pain and suffering money from the evil landlord! Anyway, everything should work out fine. We'll see. Hopefully now they will at least start negotiating with us. They basically just get pissed off at every proposal we give and walk out of the mediation sessions. It is out of control. One good thing is that there aren't many subs in our district that will be willing to cross the picket lines, so maybe school will just shut down and they will have to do something... School is still going well, though it doesn't really feel like the kids are "mine" yet. I like them a lot but still haven't gotten to know them as well as I'd like. I really like how the senior classes are going this year, though. I feel like I am actually doing a fairly good job helping them through difficult texts. I am trying to make sure that they aren't TOO dependent on me for explaining things and reading to them. So I am trying to vary it but it is nice to hear kids say things like, "I don't get it!" and another kid saying, "Don't worry, Ms. Boombastic will explain it to us after we are done reading." I'm proud of them for reading things that I didn't read until college. My seventh period is a potential nightmare class and I realized it might be because I have mainly boys in that class and I can tell some of those boys were "bad boys" with teachers before. I am usually pretty good with those types of kids so hopefully it will go okay. The worst thing in the world is when you are waiting for the kids to be quiet and it takes awhile. You are just standing there and waiting and waiting...I hate that, but I refuse to talk over kids. And usually they will shush each other....I love violating the not starting a sentence with "and" rule. I feel like such a rebel. Oh I gave my first referral of the year today. This boy (in seventh period) refused to move when I asked him to move to a different seat. I explained my reasoning (he didn't do anything yesterday and talked the whole time and was already starting to do that today) and he argued with me and finally just refused. He didn't care about getting a referral either. Oh well... The other thing that bothered me today was that a teacher had to leave early. He is the other main senior teacher and I had to sub for his class. They are all my students, but in a different combo. Anyway, they were bad!!! They NEVER act like that in my class and I am not sure if it was because they were doing boring worksheets or what. I was surprised. Usually when I have to sub for another teacher the kids are well behaved. I hope they don't start acting like that again. They were just being really loud and obnoxious. It was like they were sharing answers, which I assumed was okay, but they were trying to be all clever about it and kept saying dumb things like "The 8th line needed Defense" as a code for 8 is D. Also at one point this kid got up on his desk and started loudly defending his answer to another kid. I had a little talk with him. And these are seniors. WHHHAAAAT?! I think most of that class is lecture based so maybe they were especially excited about being able to talk. They actually were all doing their work, but I am not used to them being quite so loud. I am down with talking while working but they were excessive but since they were working I didn't really feel like saying anything since that is my basic rule--you can talk as long as you do your work. Hmmm. I don't know. The other two teachers have both told their kids to shut up! Ack. I just can't understand how they think that is going to be good. I know it might be a temporary fix, but if a teacher told my class to shut up I would not like that teacher much at all. They both seem like really laid back nice guys too, so I am curious. Maybe I should ask to see their classes sometime. I already have some favorites. Surprise, surprise, teachers do have favorites. I am pretty sure I don't treat them differently though. At least I don't have non-favorites. Oh, I forgot to mention that I was glad Will won Big Brother. I was glad to see everyone else thought Nicole was a punk too. I can't stand her and I think it was funny that Hardy realized Nicole backstabbed him. I was really disappointed I didn't get to see what her husband looked like--that really sucked! He looked super old from the back but I don't know. Hey, Frenchgirl2, I really appreciated your two notes. I started reading your journal too and it is interesting! :) I tried to leave you a note back but your notes aren't turned on. Thanks for your comments! :)
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