valentines and teacher appreciation
Although I am not a huge fan of Valentine's Day (it's just so sappy and needlessly coercive/guilt trip-y), I did enjoy it this year. When celebrated with kids it's pretty fun. Snoopy valentines and sprinkle cupcakes are so much more fun than Hallmark cards and flowers. They really are. I've figured out why I prefer spending time with high school kids (guys, esp.) than with most people my age (again, guys, esp.): at some point between high school and after high school, people become like Valentine's Day--they start taking themselve far too seriously. High school kids (and grammar kids) are, for the most part, unabashadly open about how they feel and think. Grown-ups aren't so much. Take flirting, for example. High school kids just have fun with it. They flirt because it's fun, and though they are clumsy, they are transparent. Grown-ups, on the other hand, are pretentious about flirtation. They conjure up ridiculous "pick-up" lines that they attempt to make sophisticated and smooth. And they are either ridiculously over-confident or freakishly stressed-out because they aren't "smooth" enough. Give me clumsy and transparent over sophisticated and smooth any day. I guess that's why I'd rather have Snoopy Valentines over drippy lover cards any day.
So, now that I've covered that. This week has been a review of hand-raising. Gotta love grammar school memory spans. And I had to send a girl to detention yesterday. Bleg. But, she earned three strikes and that means a detention. I'm having to learn how to be a good disciplinarian. I'm not one. I have a tendency to be overly merciful. And then I get to the point where I've given too much mercy and so I'm frustrated with them and me, and then I end up disciplining out of anger. I know that reactionary discipline is bad, but I have trouble avoiding it. However, since I am now working on a "promotion" of sorts (becoming the Dialectic Humanities teacher) for next year, I need to learn. And learn well. And soon. So, one of my colleagues is really helping me out. I have mentioned her before--she's the one that actually helps me by offering goals and suggestions rather than just observations of what's needed. Our earlier projects of room cleanliness and classroom order have really helped. My new project is being strict with deadlines for papers in composition. I have, again, a tendency to be overly merciful. With high schoolers this is really bad because they tend to take advantage of mercy. And this quester they have been really bad--not just with me, they have been turning in late work left and right. So. Another thing for me to improve on. Actually, this is really difficult for me. I have a tendency to take criticism as a personal critique and get defensive when I don't need to, thus much of this growing has more to do with teacheableness than ability to teach. Sigh. But it's good for me.
I must also say that I LOVE TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK! Not only to my kids give me very sweet gifts, but there is also great food! Yay!
My girls only have one basketball game left. It makes me a little sad because I enjoy seeing them and coaching them, but I am happy to have less stress and more evenings. :) I am excited about doing it next year, though, which kind of surprises me since I wasn't terribly excited about taking the job in the first place. Huh. I guess stuff like that grows on you.
Well, though this isn't a thourough update, I must off to finish writing a syllabus! Yipee!