OMG, I have to do this again tomorrow?

Unlike public schools in Michigan, my school (a private, Catholic high school) begins before Labor Day. And not just a little before Labor Day. We teachers went back LAST Wednesday. The students had their first day of school ( a full day, no half-days here) yesterday. We are back and running and I'm totally and utterly exhausted. I kind of hate my class schedule and it will take a lot of getting used to. We have seven classes a day. Teachers usually teach five classes and have two prep periods at some point during the day to do copying, grade, write lesson plans etc. My two preps are first and second periods. Then I teach straight through the rest of the day. No break. On the one hand, it seems to make the day go pretty fast (so far) on the other, it's utterly exhausting not having any breaks. Not even to run to the bathroom. I'll have to limit my liquids I guess.

Ok, so, for as much as I gripe, I do like teaching. I love teaching high schoolers (which tends to amaze people, why I'm not really sure). I particularly like teaching juniors. Freshmen aren't bad (they're usually scared stiff the first few months and after that are still easy to boss around), seniors are at least usually fairly mature, although you have to put up with senioritis, and juniors are typically beginning to realize that high school won't last forever and unless they want to stay working at the Coney Island/McDonalds/golf course/fun park forever, they might want to try and get into college. Juniors also begin to realize that they'll need letters of recommendation from you and so it is a good idea to stay on your good side (at least most of the time). Sophomores suck. They aren't scared freshmen anymore and they're cocky, obnoxious and difficult. I hate teaching sophomores and don't envy my office-mate for having ALL sophomores this year.

I am pretty lucky with the classes I teach. I have all juniors, teach two classes of AP Language and Composition (so, pretty driven kids) and two sections of American Lit (I hate American Lit, but that's neither here nor there) and a section of journalism (mixed, but not bad). As much as I like the juniors, I do notice some pretty big differences in attitude and behavior between the "regular" kids and the AP kids. Today is a perfect example.

All of my classes had to take their summer reading in-class essay. If they did the reading, they will be fine (for the most part). My AP kids moaned a bit about it, but got down to work quickly and I didn't have to bug them to get quiet or stay that way. Even some of the more boisterous kids were good about just doing the essay and keeping focused.

In walked my 5th hour American Lit class. There is one kid, I'll call him O to protect his identity, that I had a feeling would be difficult. Yes, teachers talk about students (sadly, far too much, we need new topics I guess) and I'd heard from my office-mate and Jon that this kid can be tough. I try to withhold judgment on kids until I get to know them, but this time I think they were right. I get everyone sitting in chairs (you'd think this would be obvious, I had one kid that I had to tell more than once to actually get off the desk and sit in the chair). I am giving basic instructions and reminders. O says (under his breath, but I still heard him) "lets get on with this Miss M. I need to check my Farmville." I rolled my eyes and told him to stop talking. I pass out the topics. He keeps talking to the kid sitting next to him. I ask him a second time to be quiet. He keeps talking. Third time, I tell him that if he does it once more, I'm taking points off his essay.

He did.

So, I told him (and the rest of class) that he just lost 5 points on his essay and so would anyone else who talked during the rest of the hour. That shut him up. He thought I was bluffing. Ha. I don't bluff.

I'm sure he thinks I'm a bitch. I'm fine with that. I don't care if he read the books (honestly though, the weren't even novels, they had to read two plays. "Death of a Salesman" and "The Glass Menagerie" Not too difficult). I don't care if he wrote a crappy essay. I don't want him bothering the other kids though. Aargh. Good start to the year, eh?

I also had another student in my 6th hour American Lit class come up to me and point blank told me "I didn't bother to read the two books this summer, I probably didn't do so well on the essay." I guess, thanks for being honest, but I told her that that is a bad start to the year (and her grade) and she needs to get with it and quickly. I think I need to talk to her parents before this gets out of control.

Wait. Did I say I like teaching? Remind me why? :) I'm glad we have a short week, I don't think I'd make it through a full week right now. One of my own teachers likened going back to teaching in the fall as being similar to getting back into a sport you haven't trained for in a long time. I think that's a pretty apt description.

How long until Thanksgiving?