the 8th tuesday

october 2008

hooray! another tuesday is over, which essentially means i have made it through the week in one piece.

i asked my director to sit through my 9th grade class today, thinking the students would behave in a more appropriate manner with her there. surprisingly, their behavior improved only slightly. the most enjoyable (and here i reveal the slightly vindictive side of me) part of her being there was the part where students from other classes (who were coming to interrupt mine (a frequent occurrence)) glanced in her direction as they walked in. you could read the "uh oh" looks from across the room the second they tore my door opened and stepped inside. finally!!! validation for my many weeks of complaining about students entering my classes and explaining that, yes, there really is a reason i lock my door to keep them out. i am actually not making that up.

at least they're scared of her. because i certainly feel about as ineffective as a big green slug plopped right in the middle of this crazy situation expected to sparkle some fairy dust on it all and make it work.

once upon a time, i worked at disney world and made 'magic' out of my days. maybe i should have considered a longer tenure there because my fairy dust seems impotent here.

anyhow, halloween weekend was enjoyable! i traveled to a place far away and spent the weekend paying homage to the celebration of costumes and crazy parties. there was indeed a crazy party, though i thoroughly enjoyed the chance to just relax away from site more than any of the rest of it.

in my friday classes, we celebrated halloween by playing games, pinning tails on cats, eating lots of candy, making mummies and counting how many skittles i jammed into an old jar. there were no spooky trick-or-treat trails, nor were there any haunted houses but the spirit of halloween was there and i think all involved enjoyed themselves. pictures are below.

i do not have much else to say today. i need sleep more than anything so i will leave you with a few lines from a poem i stumbled across in 'the gift' by hafiz...they seem appropriate now:

"Listen:
Not once in our history
Has an ant gone out and captured
An elephant single-handed.

Does that tell you anything new?
Maybe not.

This teaching business
Isn't
Easy."

Hafiz

some mummies and good costumes!