Last Day of Work

So today has come and passed. I bought five dozen donuts today for my two classes. For the past 3 days, I've spent $85 & bought 12.5 dozen donuts for my students. For a few classes, the students had to write first and final drafts for their final test over 2 hours, so I had to bribe them a little by offering donuts after they finished their first draft. I know it took them quite a bit of patience and focus in order to write for 2 hours straight. For the other classes, we had presentations and brought food.

This afternoon, after sixth period final, a few students came by to visit and Robby helped me clean up the last of my belongings. I posted up the juniors' Harlem Renaissance posters and the sophomores' To Kill a Mockingbird projects, hoping that the next teacher will leave them up there at the beginning of the next semester. I took pictures of my empty classroom, and as Robby waited outside, I stood for a few minutes with the lights out and spun around once before leaving. I wanted to soak it all in - soak the memories, soak in all the kids who walked through the door. I felt good...a little sad, but good.

I feel very fortunate to have had my own classroom. I did not have to share my space with any other teacher, and I had complete ownership over MY space. It was like a quiet little haven for me (quiet when the kids were gone), and though there are dirty little crevices between bookshelves and in corners, spaces into which I have never ventured, it was MY space, my windows, my sanctuary.

Now, I am onto other things. I don't know what lies ahead of me. I will definitely stay in education, but I need a break from classroom teaching. Robby thinks I will go back to teaching in the future. I hope so. It is both thankless and rewarding. For some classes, thankless from August to May and rewarding from May to June. Even when one class out of five is like that, it takes a toll on my mind. As much as I tell myself to focus on the wonderful students, I always examine where or who I fail. Oh, what a tumultuous career!

Three days of school left! (Jeanne)

I recently decided to resign from my teaching position. I have had enough of teaching - too much prolonged abuse, I suppose, from the students. Granted, most of the students are darling angels who love to learn, the few incorrigible ones prevent me from teaching. I've disappointed myself by not sticking with the program, but they've disappointed me as well. I have tried to be as consistent and perky as I could be, but it is difficult to motivate a class where 70% of the students are earning Ds & Fs. I just can't sustain a career in teaching if it's going to be like that. I want to be able to teach, not babysit, and all semester long I haven't found the answers to my dilemmas.
Maybe this is only a break from teaching. I don't know if I will return to this rewarding but thankless job. It is extremely worthwhile, and I love the relationships that I am able to form with impressionable and optimistic young people. But I encounter constant teenage angst - teenagers who can't articulate their thoughts, teenagers who can't control their mouth, teenagers who badger and pick on each other, teenagers who can't envision long-term goals.

Maybe I was meant to do something else.

Being sick sucks!

I've been lying in bed since Friday afternoon as sick as a dog. My symptoms have ranged from slight fever, ear ache, congestion in the head, chest, & throat, runny nose, cough, low energy, etc.
Now it's Monday, and I'm still not feeling 100%. Being sick is debilitating! I've drunk lots of water and tea, taken Sudafed, Tylenol, and Ny/DayQuil, but my symptoms don't seem to be going away.

Being sick sucks!

Your Comments Are Whack!

This is a hilarious posting from youtube.com.
For all the English teachers, this is a rap song on bad grammar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt-WIdmCVQ


blurb from youtube.com: "Herein Alexandra and Lizz throw down some rhymez in response to the phenomenon of YouTube haters and their whack comments. (Adapted from "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot.)"

It feels good to be home...

Even if I don't consider Los Angeles to be home yet, it feels good to come back to my own clean apartment, my own messes on the floor (Christmas wrapping remnants, gifts that still need to be given, my stationery messes - pens, highlighters, paperclips...).

As soon as Robby comes home, he'll be adding his own messes to our home: clothes strewn all over the bedroom floor; pants, instead of folded and put away, lying on the ground as if he just took them off (they wait to be put on again); dirty clothes next to the laundry basket because he missed; tags that have been torn off of clothing on the floor.

But I must admit that most of the messes in communal areas are mine: half-read newspapers, a New Yorker article in the middle of being read, clips and hair rubberbands tosses on tables, cards from siblings and children's drawings... Yeah, most of it's mine.

Robby leaves his messes on the floor and I put mine on tables. I guess we go about things different. Complementary, isn't it? It means that we never fight for space!

Back in Los Angeles!

After a long trip away from, it feels good to step into the apartment and recognize all our familiar belongings. Oh, our double showerhead! Oh, our bathroom counter! Oh, our rug and bean bag! Before leaving for Jersey, with Robby gone and unable to carelessly clutter the floor, I cleaned relentlessly until I was satisfied that the apartment was in the condition I'd want it to be in when I returned.
It feels lovely to be back.
We've spent the last week with family in the Bay Area, so that has been spectacular. But we've also been using other people's showers and sleeping in other people's beds and mattresses for the past 2 and a half weeks. Phew, it feels good to be back in our own bed!

New Providence, NJ

New Providence is covered in snow!
The families here like to put out fake candles lit from each window. We've shoveled the patio twice, the driveway once. The rain freezes over and the ground gets icy. I like the squeaking of snow beneath my shoes. The doggie Jessie accidentally cuts her tender paws when she walks on ice to pee outside (poor thing!). A few gusts of wind on our way from the subway station to the Guggenheim Museum froze our noses & made our eyes water. We've probably seen at least 10 different outdoor nativity scenes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Since being back from Pennsylvania, a bit of snow has melted and the grass peeks out from underneath. The grass supposedly hibernates when it snows. How does grass hibernate?
On our way back from Pennsylvania, Robby and his parents had a heated discussion about evolution, creationism, religion, and faith. Jeanne sat silently and listened, occasionally sighing very loudly. Without going into it too much, a few parties became seemingly apoplectic.