Well, I knew this would happen. I've been completely overwhelmed since the second school began, which leaves very little time for my cathartic blogging.
The first 3 days of school are thankfully behind me. Here is a brief snapshot of this week so far. All teachers are required (and evaluated on their performance) to enforce the new dress code. Now picture me telling a 6'3" black 18 year old young man to, "pull up your pants." It seems that the majority of students in the Avondale district wait till the first day of school to begin registering for classes, which means that our original class rosters were completely wrong. Even on the third day there were many new students in my classes. The fact that I wasn't on the attendance/grading system until this morning has also presented a few challenges. All of this plus the fact that, as a new teacher, I have no idea what I'm teaching, so my entire evenings are consumed with planning, studying, and soon, grading. Oh yeah, and I cried while talking to one of the Assistant Principals today. That was a shining moment...
There are no good stories to tell about my "crazy kids" yet. Unfortunately I am too stressed out to see the humor in anything school-related right now.
The ONLY reason I have made it this far is through the strength of the Lord, the prayers of so many family and friends, and the much-needed encouragement from so many people. It is tough, tougher than I expected, but I have hope. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the people that love me can see it, and they keep me going.
I think the new dress code policy should be to pull their pants down instead of telling them to pull them up!!! Now that would be much easier and way more fun, albeit, I think it would land you in jail in 2.7 seconds. Which, one second thought, might be better than Avondale. I kid, I kid, but I hope you maybe smiled a little. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I found your blog! I'm sorry things are so tough right now, and they probably will be for a while, but I promise you that those kids are going to love you! Please don't hesitate to call me if you need some advice or just want to talk about your "crazy kids." Teaching high school is rough, but the reward is great!!
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