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2002-09-09 - 9:50 p.m. For someone who has very little time lately, I sure found a good way to waste it this evening. I let myself be drawn into this Sorority Life marathon and now there is no looking back. I have to see the finale tonight at 10:30. I had never even seen the show before, for this exact reason, but now I am stuck. I have been having a great time being back at school. Yes, I am overwhelmed, but I am really enjoying myself anyway. I have to do a lot more work than last year, but I'm surviving. I am still feeling pretty confident. So far I have kept things really structured in all of my classes, so I haven't seen any real behavior issues yet. These things seem to crop up once they start doing group work and more relaxed stuff. But anyway, I am glad everything has been fine so far. The kids are a nice bunch from what I can tell. I feel bad because I don't know all of their names yet, but I guess with almost 175 students that is to be expected. I've had really positive encounters with a lot of my former students. The former sophomores tell me they hate English this year and that the teacher, "doesn't talk to us about non-school stuff the way you do!" Yeah, I'm gloating. I really miss them, and the seniors. My senior classes with the ten million boys who need my constant attention are doing fine. So far those boys aren't causing much trouble, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The seniors also seem to be understanding Beowulf pretty well. The new book has a different translation that I actually like less, but it is easier. I feel less needed, though, because the last two years they didn't get it as well. So that's a mixed blessing. I always liked feeling like I was helping them along. I am still getting along really well with the other English teacher. He is seriously the only person I have found that is even close to a friend. We had a pretty cool mini discussion on Friday in the regular sophomore classes. I am really loving my two sophomore classes so far. They are friendly, agreeable, and well-behaved. Let's just hope it will last. I think my favorite class so far is my fourth period, which is a great thing, because usually the class before lunch is a little crazy. Anyway, the mini-discussion made me hope that we will have bigger discussions. I think I've mentioned before how bad I am at running discussions, so I sort of avoid planning them. This is bad, and I need to figure this out if I want to be a good teacher. What's also cool about the other English teacher is it sounds like he runs his class similar to mine. He doesn't do much lecture, plus he is having them do journals and silent reading. I feel sort of confirmed in my stance as a teacher or something. I don't know about other teachers out there, but my throat sure hurt at the end of the first week! I guess I got out of practice with my teacher's voice and with talking for great lengths of time. :) Justin didn't want to go to the first football game of the year, and of course we won that night! It's a rare occurance, so naturally I felt bad I missed it. Maybe I've been watching too much Sorority Life because I'm feeling very inarticulate.
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