"Suffering From A Kind Of Indecision"

So today was not one of our better days at school.

The 8th graders...well, let's just say that if it'd been me who was the new teacher in the classroom, I'd've quit then and there. They treated our new student-teacher like shit today, and they are going to catch hell from me tomorrow because of it. They totally disrespected her the whole class period, acted more poorly than I've seen them behave in a long time, and essentially made complete asses of themselves for an hour.

So I plan on sitting them down tomorrow and having a nice, long talk. They don't realize it, but the rest of the school year can go two ways: it can be filled with interesting activities, field trips, and worthwhile educational fun; or it can be dull, dreary, mind-numbing bookwork with no fun, no interesting activities, and no freedom. Really, the choice is theirs to make. I'd be fine with lecturing to them every day, assigning massive amounts of homework, and flunking anyone who didn't do what I told them to first time. Really. I would sleep the sleep of the righteous every night, knowing that they'd brought it on themselves. Regardless, we are not going to have a repeat of today's behavior. Not if I have anything to say about it.

Beyond that, it was just a day that seemed to drag on forever. We had class this evening after work, and none of us were really up for sitting through four hours of lecture. We managed, but I'm so glad we're halfway through this cursed thing.

Tomorrow I get to start helping out in the Art class. Should be fun: two class periods every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of art, and I have to actually take solo control Wednesdays for half of it. A strange arrangement, to be sure, but I'm sure I'll manage.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Butch Walker, "Mixtape"