| WORK: the finale! later, during science, things were going so well. the kids started to build their projets without much direction from me.they collaborated, helped each other, and included each other - which is a unique thing for this group of middle schoolers. it was really cool...when they presented their projects, the class was so quiet.people actually listened to each other.man, it was a night and day switch from how it has been since the beginning of school. after the presentation, we went to the church parking lot to do the egg drop down the stairwell. the experiment was great until the very end. the kids were looking at each other's egg capsules, seeing which eggs survived and which ones didn't...then all of a sudden, scott smashed an egg on shea's head. shea got really mad and threw scott to the ground. i think he hit scott once. it was scary. he was about to haul off and kick scott in the ribs! i lost control of the entire class for about a minute, which is an eternity if you have a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds on your hands. people weren't cleaning up their mess, they were walking away from the group, jumping into the stairwell, yelling, laughing, and of course shea and scott were fighting. it was the worst moment of my teaching career. i was like, "oh god, why me and why now?" i corraled them quickly and managed to settle people down. later in class, i had them do a positive writing activity about getting along...and knowing how to react to people. we also had a discussion about feelings...anger, people who tease...stuff like that. every one of them did what i said for the first time without talking and laughing. i was thinking, "wow." the whole thing between scott and shea was ironed out later by natalie... at the end of the school day (around 3:00) natalie and i spoke again, this time on calmer terms. she apologized for her behavior. she asked questions abuot what i did and didn't like about the school. i didn't say much during the "exit interview," as she called it. i just wanted to get out of there. she had the nerve to ask about my new job. she was all, "So when you said you went to financial aid at SDSU, you really were on an interview, right?" i didn't answer the question directly. i repeated that i found out about the position yesterday, which was the truth...but i did lie to her days ago about settling some college business, in order to go to an interview at a different school. she even asked about the salary. she couldn't believe that a private school would offer that amount. she was probabaly jealous. i was about to leave, but the natalie stopped me, asking if i usually stay until 6:00. SUPPOSEDLY she had to go to the airport, and EDITH had to drive her there. such fucking malarkey, but i said "ok, i'll stay." then EDITH made this noise like she was so disgusted and exasperated. oh, how i wanted to go off on that bitch...but i kept my cool. i was a professional, unlike those two twits. at least natalie had the ovaries to apologize. so that was the end of that. when i got home, i had a LOT of messages on the machine. some parents from the "new" school called, asking me to come and teach at the school. word gets around fast. they even offered to give me a "bonus." i was so amazed! and laura called, saying she was happy about me possibly accepting the contract...orianna (the teacher's assistant) left a message - basically telling me about the goings on in the classroom. COMMUNITY i missed karate monday. i didn't go to the coffee house tuesday. SPIRITUALITY i'm not sure. |
| September 21, 2000 |
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