Same ol', same ol'

I would say that today was better than yesterday. At least I got my discipline/rewards system into place, and some of the kids from yesterday shaped up. There was still lots and lots of talking going on, but at least those kids saw that the behaving students around them got rewarded while the talkers did not. Also, there weren't as many interruptions or things to go home being passed out at 2:50.

Braces boy was chewing on his nametag string again, despite getting it caught yesterday. I guess some people never learn.

Oh, and at around 2:15, I'm not sure, but I believe one of the girls in my class either dumped a load in her pants or broke the seal on her "toxic waste dump" perfume vial, because it was all I could do to stand 5 feet away from her.

Pay is a thing of the past for morning duty, yet I still find myself out there in the morning. I guess my "voluntary shift" came up first (along with Anonymous Joe's), so we've been out there directing traffic. The usual craziness that we've come to expect during the first week of school. Everybody wants to pull up directly in the front of the door, park the car, and walk their child into school. We have to fight to keep some room free for kids to get dropped off.

Yesterday, one of our more troublesome children and his (even more troublesome) mother parked on the other side and walked out into the middle of traffic. When AJ asked them to use the crosswalk, the lady looked at him as if he was a talking bug from District 9.

And the people who live directly across from the school decided that from 7:15-7:45 would be a great time to run the sprinkler out in their yard. The sprinkler, of course, was set to spray the sidewalk, and I kid you not -- 2 people were standing in the doorway watching as kids and their parents ran through the sprinkler spray to get to the crosswalk. Nice.

Thankfully, they didn't run their sprinkler today.

And it begins anew

Today was our first day back to school after a nice long refreshing summer vacation. No kids yet -- well, except for one of my kids from last year who stopped by, I guess to be told that he would be repeating 3rd grade -- but a full day of staff development.

A few highlights:

We were forced to endure the district sexual harrassment video yet again. This thing is at the same time, poignant and repugnant. I feel like each campus should just cast it and re-film it with their own staff and it would be a lot more fun.

We were informed that our presence would be required on Thursday evening for an open house. 4 - 6, we will be in our rooms for parents to come up and meet. Nothing like short notice...

Yours truly got busted (sort of) during an intervention presentation. One of our counselors was talking about each teacher having a spiral notebook to log all of the interventions throughout the year. She made the comment that this spiral would be our best friend. I leaned over to the teacher next to me and whispered, "So should I put out a Facebook friend request to my spiral?" As we were giggling, the counselor noticed and said, "Oh, if there are any questions, we should stop and clear them up." while looking right at me. Oops.

Found out that there will be no paid morning duty this year. Every teacher will have to rotate through a schedule of a week or so at a time, but no more money. I guess this is good in the sense that I won't (always) have to get to school so early, but it's not so good in the sense that I won't be making my roughly extra $2K this year.

Tomorrow is another jam-packed day full of excitement and adventure! OR, more boring sessions...

Spoiled by warm weather

Yesterday, January 3rd, it was 80 degrees here. My brother and I took his two boys out to the park, where people were in t-shirts and shorts.

Now I know that's not normal for January, but I find myself wondering why it can't last, especially since the forecast calls for lows in the 30s for the next couple of days. Days when I have to resume my 7AM OUTSIDE morning duty before school!!

Yes, we have to go back to school tomorrow. The kids don't -- they return on Tuesday. But we have to go back to attend staff development and see what our rooms look like after 2 weeks of inactivity.

Suddenly having to wake up at 5:30AM again, after spending several nights over vacation staying up UNTIL almost that time is going to hurt like jumping off a 10 story high-rise.

Ugh. Bring the pain.

Greetings, little childrens!

Well, we're halfway done with our week of in-service before school starts on the 27th. These first three days have been full of meetings, discussions, and seminars. Some have been good, some have been bad, some have been VERY good.

Today, one of the meetings involved signing up for before-school duty. I have been wanting to reclaim my crosswalk spot, because I really enjoyed it last year, and I absolutely HATED my experience the year before which was in the gym, supervising ALL of the 1st through 4th graders.

So in our meeting today, the administrator pointed out the sign-up sheet and described what morning duty entailed. She then turned specifically to look at me and said, "And it would be REALLY wonderful if you would consider taking your spot again out front, because nobody ever wants to do that and it's a really hard spot to fill."

So of course, I let out a deep, world-weary sigh and muttered, "Fine. If I HAVE to. Whatever."

No, I'm kidding. I was happy to volunteer for the spot once again. And then I volunteered Anonymous Joe to be my partner. I might have spoken out of turn there, so I'm sorry if you hadn't really wanted to volunteer, AJ.

So once again, starting this Monday, Anonymous Joe and I will be the first line of defense for our quaint little elementary school. Oh wait, I think they actually refer to us as first line of GREETING.

Hopefully, this year, more of the kids will actually be able to see me, as last year it often seemed that I was invisible. Kids would hop out of their cars, and I would say "Good Morning" to them. They would then run right past me and yell "Good Morning, Anonymous Joe!"

Granted, he IS the beloved art teacher who has been at the school for 87 years. And I'm just a hulking, scary guy in the storm trooper outfit. But still, it's always nice to be acknowledged.