This morning as I checked my school mailbox I was looking for the county issued science assessment I have been ordered to administer but which really holds no weight for any one and therefore I am wasting as entire day in class with. It wasn't there even though I was supposed to give it on Tuesday but the county had not yet delivered them to the schools at that point. As I am mentally preparing a plan B for the day (more like a plan ZZ at this point but....) my brain connects the dots that I was supposed to pick up my testing stuff from a certain administrator. Thanks for kicking in there, neurons. I like to be at school early so it is about 6am at this point. We are not contracted to be there until 7 and that is most people get there just for that very reason. So I had about a hour before I expected to find said administrator or her secretary. I head off to my classroom and try to be productive.
I had a parent ask me the day before when I arrived at school so that her and her son could come by (son not behaving so well and I have contacted Mom a few times regarding the behavior). About 10 til 7 after seeing no parent, I head over again and anxiously wait to get to my test box. After standing outside a dark office I find the nearest adult, the very 'seasoned' guidance counselor for the building. After having to chat (well, listen) to him for about 7 minutes he finally keys me in and we get what I need. Off to first bell as the warning bell is signaling time for the kids to get to class.
First period begins and even on a good day this class just rubs me the wrong way. I don't think many teachers are at their best first bell of the day or at least they get better as the say goes on. Maybe I am just not a morning teacher/person. Maybe I should ask for 1st bell as plan next year. This first bell has a sense of entitlement to them. Everything is too hard or too much work. For example, when introducing a mini-"project" today a student says, "How many projects do we have in here?" My reply was to refer to the syllabus where I listed them all including this one. I think she felt like the one they turned in last week meant they were finished with projects forever. As a whole they constantly whine and want to exude as little energy as possible when actually thinking about things. Again this is the overall class demeanor. There are some really good, courteous and intelligent students there. They just get over shadowed by all the squeaky wheels. I make it through that class. Second bell comes in. This is a lower academic level that the prior so some students take this assessment so seriously that they personalize it with their drool. They did attempt all 23 questions first though. Third bell and fourth bells which are honors level are concerned where the data from this test is going, how it will affect them and their science classes in the future, etc. I am not at liberty to tell them all of the truth: doubt anyone is really going to look at the data and it means nothing or if they do look at the data it still really means nothing I am just doing what I am told because I need my job and this is what they told me to do. The rest of my classes were fairly uneventful in the same manner. I felt accomplished just to make it through my teaching day.
My last bell plan period has been interrupted by a floater. Yes, some other teacher is coming in my room to teach a different class (biology). I did my best PC whining to administration about how I am in a chemistry lab and I switch rooms when the neighboring chem teachers need the gas hook ups or fume hood and a floater is not a good idea with the access to the chemical stockroom, etc. Didn't work. I have a floater. What is worse right this moment is that I have a floater's class but the actually real teacher for this class is not yet 'legal' to be in the building - hired but needs the BCI and orientation and all. So this class of freshmen (a breed all their own....) were taken from another teacher about a week ago (school rearranging of courses due to high class numbers and we got funding to hire another teacher for the department to cover these classes) and have had a different sub everyday since then in a 'new to them' chemistry classroom. AS you teacher readers know any one of these things would cause chaos but to have all these issues at once....well, that is when you pray that everyone comes out alive. They are off the wall crazy. The sub they had today has worked in our department a lot and is a good sub but things were just not going my way today. I had a dentist appointment at what I was told by my DH at 1:30 (ahem, this plays in later). At lunch I agreed to help the sub for this class today by providing a video AND a set of questions on a worksheet to go with it already copied. I was cuing the Bill Nye as the classes changed from bell 6 to 7. The bell rings to start bell 7. No sub. I piddle and wait around trying to ignore the 28ish kids in front of me and about 4 minutes later (which seems like and eternity in teacher time with a group of kids you don't know) the sub shows up. I would have taken roll but there is no class list. Yeah, how many fine students are skipping this class..... The sub had been locked out of where her stuff was.
Finally I try to leave. A football coach and I pass on the stairs (me with my full backpack, large purse, box of projects to grade and over sized insulated water mug, He with his big self) and he runs into me almost causing me to drop everything not to mention fall down the stairs in my flowy skirt. I had to set down half of my load to unlock the gate to leave the school grounds. Get in my car. I then get a call from my dentist office asking where I am. I tell her the location. She says she is not familiar with that part of town. My appointment was at 1:20 and DH (not so dear at the moment) said 1:20 but figured that was close enough to 1:30 that it wouldn't matter. (HA!) She asks if I thought I'd be there in 5 minutes. I said yes. She told me she'd see if they could still take me for the cleaning when I got there. When I got there she asked the hygienist and the answer was no. WTH?????? I was SO livid. I guess the fact that she was waving the $75 cancellation fee was supposed to make me happy. So the CLEANING that I was trying to schedule during the summer is now rescheduled for the day before THANKSGIVING! I am thinking I need to find a new dentist b/c the latest appointment they have is a 3:30 on Wednesdays which she says is booked until March right now! ARGH!!!
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
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