woops

Ok, I already typed a big long new post... and then messed up and deleted it all.... so this one might not be extra impressive.

I had a 7th grade girl get diagnosed with "School Phobia". This was right after she broke down crying in my class for no reason... I was afraid it was me, but it is triggered by stress that they create for themselves... I didn't cause it, whew.

We also had a student get hit by a truck crossing a busy intersection on the way to school. It was bad enough they life flighted him out, but we found out he is going to be ok, broken up, but not life threatening. Scary.

A dog got into the school, so half of one day had this constant dog bark in the back ground...

I started off my classes by talking about what they liked and didn't like about school and what they would do to change it. I wasn't positive where it would lead. I wasn't shocked that every class said mainly they were bored. I know our job isn't to entertain them blah blah... but how well did you do in a class that put you to sleep everyday? It was good stuff.... Every class also listed racism and DRAMA as things that bugged them about school, as well as mean teachers. I get them excited about the courses talking about how it was all about communication. I asked them if they ever felt ignored and what would it be like to not be. They were totally buying in. I had them close their eyes and I asked them to imagine KNOWING that whoever they spoke to next would actually hear them, listen, and value what they had to say... they were speechless, I'm pretty sure one kid got teared up. Then I asked them to write me an intro letter that explained what they were thinking, what they wanted out of a class, why the did or didn't like school. As soon as they realized it was an assignment I started to loose some of them. I got some of them to relax and get into it. But there is still that bias I have to fight against that says "Homework Sucks and I don't want to do it."

Two of my classes are the more advanced 9th grade version. Both classes voted to have all of their assignments be centered on a common goal, so instead of class it will be run more like an activist group or lobbyist group. We are still researching possible causes.. but I am excited that they felt they could have a voice... it could be fun.

It is pretty stressful though, I am starting from scratch since I didn't like what the last teacher did... it was all to robotic boring memorization... I was bored just thinking about teaching it... So I may have created a huge project headache for myself, hope it's worth it in the end.

Life itself is pretty stressful too, which isn't making things any easier. I know it's considered crass to talk about finances, but when our last paycheck was at the beginning of the summer and we prepaid what we could and made all of our plans... we hadn't planned on, oh buying A HOUSE... so we are limping by right now... not pretty. Throw in there that my financing for my last semester of school has turned into an issue for the first time ever and we are about to crack... but hey, that's what food storage is for right? NOTE TO SELF: ADD VALIUM TO NEXT WAVE OF FOOD STORAGE