The first week is officially over! I have to say I'm pleased with the school year so far. All of my classes but one have either grown or stayed the same as last year. The one I lost students in, but overall I'm up 3 students compared to last year! It's small, but it's progress. I also have a pretty good group of students this year, so I'm excited to see what the year has to offer.
I've also found out this week that I have a "look." I don't know if it has just developed or maybe it wasn't as effective last year, but it's kinda cool. It was early in the week and I had a student who thought something was funny and was snickering to himself. Now I have a pretty good sense of humor and most of my students realize this. But at this point there was nothing to be laughing at and his laughing was getting in the way of what I wanted to accomplish. So I stood and looked at him until he looked back. The entire time I'm thinking some not so nice thoughts and I guess it showed through on my face because one student at the front of the room whispered very quietly to himself, "whoa" in an awestruck voice with a tinge of fear. The snickering quickly stopped and we continued on with my agenda for the day. So I guess it's official, I have the look.
In other stories, Friday was quite the day. I am usually quite on top of having copies ready for class, but not Friday. First hour we had a test. It turns out I hit the wrong button on the copier and only managed to get 3 out of the 5 pages copied and only ended up with 8 copies when I needed 10. Thankfully I'm close to the office. Second hour comes and again we have a test. They take it and I start to grade them and realize the test they took does not match up with my answer key. A test from a different class had gotten in the folder somehow and I had copied the wrong one. So I print out new copies on my printer and they retake the test. The rest of the day went off without a hitch until after school. Our principal announced we could leave early and as I'm getting ready to leave I find out the vending machine for the FCCLA is broken. I can't fix it and neither can our maintenance man, so I call the company. Twenty minutes later I start to leave again and I can't find my purse. Turns out I left it in the teacher's lounge at lunch. Thankfully I made it home in one piece! Let's just hope I can find my way back Monday morning.
