For a Monday, I've had a great day. My workout was good- I didn't struggle too bad pullin my tail out of bed this morning. Breakfast was good. The drive to work was pretty good. It felt great- all cold but not cold. I know that sounds totally weird, but work with me here. I have been so damn hot natured all my life and now am freezing all the time. How crazy is that. Then today- out of the blue- I'm warm while everyone else is cold. Makes no sense I tell ya.

Anyways...back to my day. My second period continues to razzle me dazzle me. We're doing some fairly deep writing and thinking, and most of them are rising to the occasion. Sadly, I have this one kid who comes to me today and says, I don't know what an outline is. My teacher last year never made us write. OH MY GOSH. Who to believe? How the hell can you possibly be in advanced English in 7th grade and ask what an outline is. I have worked with this kid so much. She really shouldn't be in an advanced class, but mercy...if I put her in basic, I'm concerned she'll shut down and on top of that, am pretty sure she'll be a real PITA in that group. SIGH. So, I'm differentiating big time for her needs.

Third period is just its own group. I have a few kids who are very strong writers, and they're kicking tail. I have quite a few others who I refer to as my bare minimum group. They're lazy and do what they have to do to get by. That kind of approach to anything just infuriates me. I find myself continually frustrated with lackadaisical kids who could give a rip about learning...all they have beaten into their heads is that they have to make a particular grade to keep the 'rents pleased. SIGH.

Fifth period is my inclusion group...I have a great inclusion teacher in there with me, so after I got to know my team and figure out approximate reading levels, I did some rescheduling...so this class is almost all struggling readers. It's a huge class- a kid just moved out, so I'm down to 29 in there now. The class is either awesome and all working hard or loud and lazy and doing stupid stuff to keep the whole class stirred and off task. Today was a very productive day. They're finally getting the hang of cause and effect.

Sixth period drives me batty. Another group of 29...I have 19 boys and they're all pretty rowdy. All are good kids but the combination of personalities is just difficult to manage. I find myself frustrated a good deal after this group blasts through my room, but today was different. Wasn't bad at all. Those who really give a damn listen and learn; the others are more challenging. Sometimes I wonder why certain kids come to school, ya know? Just to laugh and joke and play around. GRRR i tell ya!

Seventh period used to drive me absolutely up the freakin wall. I did a lot of rescheduling and things are better. I am kinda mean in there I'm told but hells, show me a handful of kids who wanna have English during seventh period. NOT MANY! I have a girl in there I'm worried about. I can't always reach her. She's a smart kid, but she's fighting an uphill battle at home and things are pretty dang rough. Today was a bad day for her. She wouldn't open a book, she wouldn't answer a question, she had no materials...what do ya do with that? I mean...seriously. She just would not do a thing. SIGH.

At any rate, the day was productive. Tomorrow we'll be in the computer lab all day. My plan is to grade, grade, grade.

Happy Learning!