Oops. Ok, I can explain why I haven't blogged since January 11th. First, I got extremely overwhelmed with a whole new set of kids and classes. Then, I had so many good stories to write about that I knew it would take me forever to catch up on the blog and I didn't have enough time to do these stories justice. And finally, as the end of the year approached, I cared less and less about anything remotely related to school and couldn't pull myself away from Facebook, Twitter, and everyone else's blogs long enough to force myself to recount all the funny and/or depressing anecdotes from the semester.
Second semester found me still pushing around my cart which, fortunately, evoked enough sympathy from those in power that I am high on the list for actually having my own classroom next year. As anticipated, my 2 classes of Juniors (or repeat juniors...) were significantly more tolerable than the freshman class from Hades which welcomed me into my new profession last semester. By Junior year, many of the kids have acquired their street names (this is entertaining but also doubles the number of names with which I have to be familiar). Bootsy, Cole Slaw, Juice, and Pork Chop were some of my favorites.
Second semester was also characterized by the same mismanagement, confusion, and incompetence on the part of DeKalb County that I quickly recognized in the fall. You may have heard that the DeKalb County superintendent, Crawford Lewis, was indicted this spring and eventually forced to resign his position. This event was certainly not a proud moment for the county, but it was most definitely not a surprise, either. Unfortunately, he seemes to have set an example for leadership that many others in the county appear to be following.
There are so many ridiculous things from this past semester that I have been meaning to write about, so I'll try to add them as the summer goes on. Let me just leave you with some teasers: fights every day after school, getting called to the Principal's office because too many students were failing my class, and being forced to eat lunch in the classroom with my students every day for 2 weeks.
If you don't already know, I signed the contract to return to AHS next year. I know, I'm still surprised myself. There was a lot of praying, a lot of discussing with Kenneth, and a lot of tears that went into this decision. I'm just glad that the Lord is in control and knows exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Honestly, the idea of returning for Year #2 doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy inside right now. (actually, it's more like sweaty and short-of-breath) But, summer is a nice separation from the chaos and has given me the opportunity to take a few steps back to realize that the Lord can use his children where ever he wants to use them, even if they feel inadequate, unprepared, scared to death, and very, very small. He is BIG and he has a plan. Thank goodness! So, it looks like I'll have plenty of more material to fill the blog...
