Guns and Wedgies

We got a new English teacher a couple of weeks ago, and on Monday he took over a couple of creative writing classes. He's a strange guy, really socially awkward and timid, even though he's pretty tall and lumpy. At any rate, I heard a great story from Ms. Garrett a few days after the event happened that had me rolling on the floor laughing. Apparently two of my kids who play around a lot were in class wrestling, and one of them pulled the other's shirt up to reveal a gun tucked in the back of his pants. My reaction to this would have been to look away, pretend I hadn't seen, and go fetch the principal or school police at the soonest opportunity. Not Mr. Kennedy. Instead, Mr. Kennedy throws the kid to the ground, yanks the gun out of his pants, points it at the kids, and yells, "I'm not afraid to shoot you!" then looks a little closer at the gun and adds..."...because...I know...it's only a BB gun..." Needless to say (or is it?), the kid is suspended, but I am so thankful for this event to brighten my week.

My second period class seems to have been replaced by pod-children from the suburbs. I have not had to ask for their attention a single time this week. I was freaked out on Monday...as I was standing at my table taking attendance and listening to them talk, I decided to look up and tell them to get seated and get started. However, when I looked up, they were all sitting and all working. On Tuesday, I didn't even have to ring the bell for them to be ready for class...at 10 o'clock they were all silent and looking at me. That trend continued for the rest of the week. I gave them an assignment on Wednesday and told them they could talk to their neighbors if they wanted to...a minute later there was no noise in the room so I started to walk around to spur them to work, but was surprised to find that every single one of them was working - they were just doing it independently rather than with their neighbors. My 1st period class had done nothing but socialize during that time. It was absolutely surreal...I honestly didn't know what to do with myself while they worked, since normally I'm walking around hounding people. I think the major difference is that the two major disruptors weren't there all week...I knew that they had that kind of impact.

A kid in my 1st period who hangs out in my room before school wrote me a note that said, "You've got a nasty little weggie." The first g had originally been a d, but he changed his mind before giving it to me. He prefaced this by telling me I had a problem but he couldn't tell me what it was...then when I couldn't figure it out, this is what I got. I'm not sure I like that he was looking at my ass, or the particular way the note is phrased, but I'm glad he was looking out for me.

We had more school drama this week. Dr. Peters told us on Wednesday that we're going to Calverton and we're not fighting it. I got really mad about that...I had to tell my students all day, "I'm in a bad mood, and I am NOT going to fight for your attention today because I don't want to take it out on you." In the afternoon I talked to Jen, my PD from TFA, and she made me feel a lot more optimistic about the whole situation, so we'll see how it works out in the end.

On Wednesday at Hopkins, we learned that nothing actually exists but the human mind, and that all other existence is just observation. There is no matter, there are no atoms, and basically Physics is proving the existence of God. It kind of made my stomach hurt.

On Friday we went out for Afghani food, which was surprisingly delicious, and then on Saturday Carla and I went in search of "what teachers wear to prom." What resulted was a fabulous little black dress and amazing necklace. Expect pictures next week after the big event. We played games around here in the evening...I like that because we don't have to talk about teaching, we just get in to the game. Of course, it makes me a dweeb, but I've always known that.