It's a Monday

So, I had this realization today: This year is all about survival. If I can make it through this year, survive, and come back next year, I've won. The kids are literally just throwing the kitchen sink at me to see if I'll stick around or run out like most of their previous adult "role models" have. This is nice in that it gives me a light (however dim) at the end of the tunnel. This is bad in that it makes me want to get violent at how wrong this situation is.

I told my pet project today (he was brutally bad) that no matter what, I'm not giving up on him. "Do I spend as much time with any other student?" "No." "Does any other teacher spend as much time with you?" "No." "OK. So when I get frustrated with you, I'm just as pissed at myself for not having stopped you or prevented you from misbehaving as I am with you. And, when you get expelled, because that's where this is going right now, you can bet that I will call your mom, get your cell phone number, and check in with you at least once a week to make sure you're not acting as stupid wherever you are at as you are when you're in my class. You've got too much potential to piss away like you've been doing lately." He laughed in an appreciative sort of way. So I hope tomorrow's better. We'll see - I doubt it right now.

7th and 8th grades both couldn't function well enough to watch a video. So we wrote lines. I told 8th grade that my new "fall-back" lesson plan will be to have them write a few paragraphs about whatever I wanted them to learn for the day in the more fun and varied activities that I've planned. They were all-star line copiers. Also, I think I'm going to start with some individualized notes. I'm going to start with my good students because they need to know that I notice that they're always on track despite how much attention I always give "the others." I'm also toying with the idea of sitting all my good students together on one side of the room. That way when I teach, they're closer to me and I can let the others jack around and miss the lesson if they want. It will also make them easier to ignore and therefore not give them the attention that they so desperately want.