One of the things I never knew when I was about to become a teacher is the precarious balance that each class period develops. One different kid (or a few different kids) thrown into the mix, can make the class entirely different. It is for that reason that I felt a strange sense of trepidation when one of my students from one class asked to switch into another period. He's one of my loud kids, but he loves me so I don't have too many problems. However, I am frightened to see what will happen when I throw him into the bunch. Especially since my other class has many loud kids. The period he is in is no picnic either, but at least I've found that balance. Let's hope that this isn't the BIGGEST MISTAKE of my teaching career. He did promise that he would stay away from the other loud ones as I am doing him a big favor. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Poetry is still going well. Kids today asked if we can do a poetry book like they did last year. Of course I was secretly thrilled, but I just said casually that we could do it if that's something they would be interested in. I used a Tupac poem to illustrate a certain kind of poem today, and that is always exciting. Kids love his poetry.
I bought my second Christmas gift. It's Justin's cologne, so that was an easy one, but at least I have something for him now.
I'm going to have to call the stupid phone company again. Apparently the $100.00 paid to them last time to fix my phone was not enough, and now it is broken again. I can't get calls, I can't make calls. The phone rings, but I can't answer it. I feel almost like getting rid of my home phone. I pay $24.00 a month for nothing but a pain in the ass! Sometimes the phone is so full of static that I can't hear, and this is the third time that it has completely just gone out so I can't get calls. It drives me crazy.
I really don't know what to tell people who ask what I want for Christmas. There is always my 53454354 billion wishes on amazon.com, but it seems like no one wants to buy me anything off of that. The major gifts I asked for were the My So-Called Life box set and the Felicity box set.
There's a staff Christmas party coming up. I'm not sure if Justin is going to go with me or not. He always feels awkward going to those things (so do I), but I had a good time the last times I went. I might just go alone. One of my former students is going to be there, so I can always hang out with her. It's sad that I feel more comfortable with the kids than with the adults, but I guess that's life.
I watched one of the episodes that I missed of The Real World the other day. It was all about how they had to go to this eight hour trust building workshop. I was actually quite angry that they were required to do this. I
think it's BS to require them to do something like that on national TV, or require anyone to do that period. I know that they have obviously cried and screamed and gotten emotional in other parts of the show, but it made me really uncomfortable in that context. It was like therapy, almost. I just feel like that kind of thing should be by choice--to decide to do that kind of intensive soul-searching. I can't imagine how uncomfortable I would be. They seemed to take it as a positive thing, but I would have been angry. The worst part was when they had to choose one person to live if they were on the Titanic and the rest they had to look in the face and say, "You die," to each individual. I can't imagine how that would help build trust, to know that you were not picked to live by some of the housemates. I also did not like how they edited it so you couldn't tell who everyone picked to live and die. Obviously that was the most important part of the whole exercise for the audience. GRRRRRRRRRR.
I'm so happy that it's almost vacation. I got my course outlines for the year done (finally) and feel like I actually know where I am going with my classes this year. I also have most of my grading done (I finished the remaining two classes), and feel somewhat on top of things for once. I also finished writing my grant proposal and sent it off with time to spare.
I am going to go make some CDs. I have so many songs now, and I've only had a chance to make one CD. I feel a little guilty about these free songs, but I promise I will probably end up buying most of the CDs anyway.
