Today my students are reading Aristotle. And they are explaining his theories to me.

Today, today I feel like a good teacher.

We still technically have one assignment left, but unless they simply *don’t do it* (which isn’t likely as everyone has worked their asses off) there will be 22 F’s for all of my classes. At the last grading period there were 48 F’s.

I can’t believe they did it. Ok, I want to cry. At least for once these days it is out of happiness. 🙂

(And of these 22 F’s, more than half of them are basically never here so of course they are failing. Two of them don’t have the credits to graduate anyway and they are leaving school in February when they turn 18 so they have been showing up just to avoid being fined. And a couple have severe learning disabilities and the fact that they have a high F is a big deal for their progress.)

Two reams of paper. Many many candy canes. Some seriously high end chocolate. Home made white chocolate candies. Cookies. Skittles. A neat little book tree ornament. AND bitchin black/red/white argyle skull and crossbone knee socks.

Hell yeah. 🙂

My kids are working hard today. 2nd period was great and that rarely happens. 🙂 The juniors are writing an in class essay (I decided this late last night when I realized I didn’t want to teach today) and working very hard and taking it very seriously.

And 4th period I was called to sub for another teacher. Usually I turn this down, but I have little to do today, so what the heck. I had *fun*. It was a Spanish 1 class and the teacher has a backup copy of Pinocchio in Spanish for them. They watched the ending but then we had half an hour of nothing to do… uhm… Hey! How about if I tell you the real story of Pinocchio! Oh shit… that didn’t take that long… Want to hear about Beauty and the Beast? How about The Little Mermaid? Cinderella?

I had a blast telling them the original versions of the stories and they were really attentive and interested and great. yay!

And my babies are cheerfully signing up to bring me food tomorrow for eating as we watch cartoons. 🙂 Skating till vacation rocks.

Not to mention that my 2nd period aide got all teary-eyed because I gave her nice bath stuff (she’s exceptionally girly). And my 3rd period flamer aide is so happy about the feather boa. And 5th period bounced like a 4 year old when he saw his legos. He’s playing with them right now. 🙂

This is from the woman who made me cry yelling at me a few weeks ago…

“Hi
First I am sorry if I made you cry but I’m sure you can understand my situation. I cry too, because it’s just me doing it all, and it is frustrating.
I wanted to thank you for helping B and for being so understanding. Too many teacher are apathetic and are unwilling to put out the effort ( then why teach? ). I don’t think they see that the effort they make can change a life. Thank you! because you did make the effort and it has eased Bri’s life immeasureably. She tells me about the fun she has in your room and about being the “8th period class”… honestly she is eating it up.
You know my back ground, I believe any time spent on a kid is never wasted time. You have made an impact that will have a lasting effect. Thank you. Now if you could just give lessons to some of the other teachers, and administrators at that school. Oh well ( heavy sigh…) Know that you are changing the world one person at a time but that person will go on and change the lives of others. Pretty amazin’

Thank you so very much- N

P.S. Coffee some time?

PPS keep this letter for those days when you forget why you teach…so you will rememeber the remarkable thing you are doing.”

I’ll keep the letter.

This student is chronically ill and has had a miserable time trying to keep up with school work in between hospital trips. She is also a very depressed cutter from a poor family and she has to work to help pay the rent. In between her job and trying to catch up on school work she has been starting to make herself sick again. I told her to just not worry about it till after Christmas when things slow down at work cause I have faith she can catch up then. I think that’s why her mom sent the letter.

Last night when I was calling my no-show kids’ parents I talked to one father about his kid not being here. I mentioned that I knew he had been upset lately about the court case he was involved in and I didn’t want to pressure him and… Yeah. The dad got really upset and said he knew nothing about it. The kid had told me that it was something he was worried about talking about and I thought, “Oh shit… his dad doesn’t know?!” So I freaked out thinking I had violated his trust, I have gotten him in trouble, OH GOD this is going to be bad. I fretted all night long.

Today he tells me in class that he needs to talk to me after school about the situation. I felt like shit for the rest of the day. After school I took him outside and started apologizing profusely. Then he very stiltingly and haltingly let me know that when he gets really stressed out and uncomfortable sometimes he has trouble admitting what is really going on and sometimes he tells lies and… I interrupted him and said, “Wait… you were lying about the court case?” “Uhm…. yeah” He turned bright red and was visibly shaking. I started laughing hysterically and fell over backwards. I thanked him for relieving my guilt and explained that I have been feeling awful for a while. He said this is the first time anyone has ever thanked him for lying. I told him that him lying about this was better than me betraying a major confidence.

He came back in and settled in to work in a good mood and made a lot of progress. 🙂

I have had about a dozen parents tell me that they are deeply grateful that I am holding their kids after school so they can raise their grades. I’m feeling really good about the effort.