N. walked in my room today at 7:20 (I’ve written about N. and his tough home life repeatedly). He asked me if I thought he was arrogant. I laughed and said I’ve certainly seen him be full of himself, but in general, no. He didn’t laugh like he usually would. He sat down and told…

In a meeting today, I publicly stated that I am failing 38/105 kids. Those are the grades they currently have. Many of those bad grades are due to class cutting. I was surprised at the backlash I got from some teachers. One teacher actually suggested that I take the ones who only have 15 or…

My 8th period, as I have mentioned, is mostly ESOL. I have a few American kids in there. All the students are generally friendly with each other. 2 girls, D. and Al., have repeatedly come to class 10 minutes late. Today, they arrived, laughing hysterically, banging on the door and screaming the F word. I…

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Since Aq. and I had our little chat, she has been in class every single day. She has not been disrespectful or even a minute late. I’m really enjoying teaching her- she asks lots of questions and wants to do well. M., a student I had HORRIBLE trouble with in previous years, stopped in after…

Kid: You’re a jerk. Me: I know. Kid: That’s a song, I wasn’t calling you a jerk. Me: I know. Kid (horrified, shocked look that I knew that song).

While working with C. and N. on SAT prep this morning, I dumped iced tea all over the front of my shirt and the mouse of my laptop. Me: I can’t believe I did that. N.: I can. You’re very clumsy. That’s been established before. Me: Good point.

A., who I recently wrote about, will from herein be referred to as Aq., as to not confuse her with my other A. Aq. showed up to class again on Friday. As soon as class began, we started an activity to reinforce the previous day’s homework, as I knew it would be difficult for some…

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Me: So, this is the powerhouse of the cell. D.: WAIT. Wait. What’s that word? How do you pronounce it? Me: Mitochondira. D.: Wow. That’s cute. Really cute. I’m gonna name my first born daughter Mitochondria.

We had a fire drill today. Afterwards, I was walking up the stairs to my classroom with some of my kids. K., a student i had problems with last year, ran up to me and put his arm around me. I shrugged him off quickly but was still bothered by the fact that he was…

I finally feel like a real teacher. Like, for real. Like I teach and kids really learn. That being said… 32 of my 105 students are currently failing. I’m making parent phone calls every single night. I’m staying after school to help kids who have missed work/labs. I’m doing at LEAST one hands on inquiry…