Day 62

March 2, 2010

 

Day 62:

 

            If I were at school this would be the time of year when I got fed up with school and ready to leave. Being here in the Marshalls is no different. I’m ready to go home. In no way am I ready to say goodbye to my kids and I’m going to miss them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I got emotional but at the same time, I’m ready to be back in America. I don’t even have to be in Cincinnati, although I miss terribly the people there, but there are just certain things that I have had to live without that, at first, was a nice challenge to my comfort, but now it’s just annoying. Like hot water, drinkable tap water, consistent power, me space, McDonald’s, fast food in general, sweet tea, ESPN, available TVs, free exercise equipment, dependable laundry, a toilet that flushes, I could go on for a while, but hopefully you get the picture.

            Today at school was a, get me out of here day. I think the kids could sense that I didn’t really want to be at school today and they played off of it. My lack of motivation to be there bled into their lack of motivation to be there and we clashed. Especially third period, my better class. They just wouldn’t shut up. I gave them their test on the tenses: past, present, future and present perfect. They just wouldn’t be quiet. I threatened to take off points to people who talked and I ended up sniping 16 points from the class. My fourth period was actually pretty good. They usually talk a lot but I only had to tell them to be quiet a few times.

            I started grading the tests and just got pissed. I wrote the answers to several of the questions on the board right before class. For my fourth period class, I left them on the board for the better part of the test. Many of them STILL got the answers wrong. They were ON THE BOARD! Regardless, the test scores were terrible and I’ve decided that I’m just going to give it back to them and let them do corrections for half credit. I mean, my best student, Monique, got an 84%. Those are the first points she’s missed the whole quarter. I’ve had several failing grades and I’ve only graded half of my first class. I couldn’t finish today I was getting to upset with myself and the kids. I had to take a break and work on some music, or do pushups or watch Lion King, between grading because all of that at once was too much for me at this point.

            I went to the trailer after class, graded some papers and ended up falling asleep for quite a while. I was SO tired. I don’t know why but I was in the deepest sleep and it took me a good half hour to get out of bed. After the nap I went to play rehearsal for a bit. I really only went because the library was locked and I wanted to use the web. So I sat in the classroom right by the stage until my web credit ran out. Ally and Eric as we waited for dinner to be ready. Anna fixed a spaghetti with vegetables, tomato sauce and ground beef. It was really good. I ate that up real quick, and afterwards worked on my lessons and review sessions for the rest of the time I’m here. I’m down to six days of teaching left. Wednesday thru Friday of this week. Monday thru Wednesday of next week. Thursday’s the exam and Friday they’re throwing  a party for me. One of those bells I also have to give 107 their surprise for winning the grades competition with 104. So I figured all of that out and watched an episode of Family Guy with Eric before we went to sleep.