Chrono

The first two weeks of school have been absolutely amazing. I asked a friend of mine, "whose perfect life have I stepped in to...and who got my old crappy one?" My air conditioner works, my classroom is unbelievably neat and clean, I have fantastic supplies (almost...more on that in a minute), and the building is not a broiling vat of filth. So far, I have only 52 students in my 3 classes combined, but 5 of them will be moved out of my class soon because they are supposed to be in self-contained special ed classes. I have had to tell only one student to stop talking on their cell phone, and he was out in the hallway. I have not yet had to go out into the hallway to tell students to get lost. The students in school are almost 100% in uniform compliance, and no one is entirely out of compliance. The students are wearing the right colors and everything, just some of them don't have the school-issued shirts yet with the school logo on them. But we're getting there. Here are a few pictures of my classroom.





My new administration has been really supportive. They are visible all the time. They move students effectively to and from lunch and from class to class by standing in strategic areas of the hallway and ensuring that no monkey business takes place. Apparently they have a huge lockdown on lunch too because the kids are always complaining that they have to be quiet at lunch and about how strict it is. I hear their complaints, but I can't help but notice what a higher quality of education they have the opportunity to get under these circumstances.

The only thing that has really frustrated me so far is not actually my school's fault. The district adopted a new Chemistry curriculum this year called Active Chemistry. It comes equipped with a whole bunch of different supplies - new textbooks, a cabinet full of odds and ends (like glassware, but also things like balloons, flour, LED lights, glow-in-the-dark stars, etc. for all the activities in the book), a bunch of electronic devices (like scales, hair dryers, hot plates...), and a full chemical supply. Well, when I went to unload all of the supplies that go in the cabinet, I noticed that several things were missing. The cabinet is kind of cool - it's got these little plastic bins that snap into place so you can stay organized easily. Well, the bins come pre-labeled, and some of ours ended up empty. Our school has 3 cabinets, and the same things were missing from all three of them. So I started harassing people about those supplies. I finally got the people from Active Chemistry to send me a packing list. Each cabinet holds about $8,000 worth of supplies (this includes the electronics) and we were missing about $1700 worth from each one. On top of that, it is now Tuesday of the 3rd week of school and our Chemicals are still MIA. I spent the better part of the weekend yelling at people's voicemail and sending nasty emails, but I'm not sure it's working. My kids can tell I'm frustrated...we can't go on in the book until we have the Chemicals, and it sucks to actually have supplies and an easy way of teaching but not be able to use it because of some massive screw up somewhere along the lines. So there you go.

In other news, my pet population has taken a sudden increase. I got two giant hermit crabs for my classroom and named them Neils Bohr and Madame Curie. They're pretty neat little critters. I also have my long wall of windows lined with little cacti and plants like that for my amusement and to educate my kids a little bit. But the big highlight is in the newest addition to the house - Chrono. The other day, Jeremy was getting ready to leave and he went outside - only to come in a second later and tell me, "There's a turtle under my car." Sure enough, there was a living, cruising turtle chillin under Jeremy's car. So I scooped him up and took him in the house, rinsed him off, and then put him in the back yard for safe keeping. Matt and I went out that afternoon to get turtle supplies, and when we came back, the dude was nowhere to be found. I figured he'd found some way to get into our neighbor's yard, and that's where I found him yesterday. We brought him into the house, put him in his little home, and named him (Matt's favorite name). He is, in fact, a boy, so the name works. We are keeping him in a large rubbermaid tub with some plants and dirt when we're busy, but otherwise he's just out wandering the house (he's exploring my bedroom right now). I am excited for my new pet! He is fiesty.



Wish me luck in the coming weeks. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop...we'll see if it does.