Recap

Monday~High expectations.
*It was the first week of the academic and chronological year.
*The unveiling (figurative) of Ms. FL. What a surprising change to be treated as a human being!
*Students weren’t overly enthusiastic about being in class but they weren’t demons either. We did a ‘jeopardy’ game to review the Constitution & the Bill of Rights.

Tuesday~
First faculty meeting: were we going to be the lambs led to slaughter once again or could we hope for change? Ms. FL had us finished in 30 minutes. The actual time was 20 minutes if we did not have to watch the state mandated “Bus Evacuation” video. Meetings will be held 2x a month on an ‘as needed’ basis. This is a refreshing variation from her predecessor ~ meeting just for the sake of it or to pontificate ad nauseum!

Wednesday~
Our goal was to teach civic values to our students as directed in the curriculum guide. You know, integrity, responsibility, perseverance and the like. I feel as though I was being schooled. Students were given ‘scenarios’ and had to decide how they would act and why. Umm, since when is it ok to accept more change from the cashier? In other words you are given change for a $20 when you only gave them $10! “I need the money…” or ‘it won’t be missed’ were a couple of the responses given. Teachable moment regarding honesty and how cashiers have to make up that shortage out of their own pockets. I speak from experience!

Thursday~A day I would like to forget.
*Funeral for Shaylin. (see previous post) Although I didn’t attend, I was the emotional support for my brother. He and his wife have a rough road ahead but I know that they will persevere.

*Department meeting went extremely well ~ Ms. FL actually let me conduct my meeting without interrupting or treating me like an incompetent 5 year old.

*I lost a former student. This individual made some wrong life choices and paid the ultimate price. Shot during a home invasion on Tuesday, he was taken off life support on Wednesday. He was only 17 and leaves behind a younger brother who idolizes him. Angry brother is also my student and I worry that he is going to follow in older brother’s footsteps. As I wrote in a note to a dear friend: “I know I can’t save them all but it hurts nonetheless.” I would like to quote his response to me:

“I wish I could fully express how badly I feel about your loss. I have been down that road several times and each time seems to hit harder than the previous one. We as teachers try to reach as many of our kids as possible and hope that they make it through the other side and be happy. When they don't it cuts through us like a knife and sometimes we feel the loss harder than many realize. Just remember why we do what we do and for whom we do it for and continue to believe in our children.”

I took the time to talk to all of my students and let them know that we can guide them but ultimately they have to make choices and live with the consequences. Even though I may have lost one, I am not going to give up on them!

Friday~
The week flew by. We are noticing that our colleagues are starting to smile a bit more and engage in pleasant conversation. The human touch was missing from our campus in the past and I feel that we will have more encounters with humanity along the way.

Saturday~
Workshop day was worth the early wakeup call. Once again the session was useful and informative. Receiving kudos from the presenters was also a plus!

Next week will be ‘testing week’ which means 4 wasted days! We wanted to do a DBQ as the assessment for the quarter but we have to give the bench mark; we haven’t taught some of the material yet! I just don’t want the poor results to come back and bite me on the posterior.

ttfn,
~ba~