Almost Friday

I'd forgotten how exhausting teaching is. I can always tell I'm tired / stressed when I stop eating. Food is almost a hobby to me ~I know I'm a food snob, and I get pretty excited about eating. So, when I forget to feed myself, something's up.

I'm enjoying teaching, for the most part, even though I am sleep-deprived and continually have a growing list of things to take care of. The hardest part, though, isn't the exhaustion or paperwork or rough kids. The hardest part for me has been seeing the kid who sits alone at lunch. Or reading the parent's detailed note about his daughter's horrible year last year. And seeing the kid who gets dropped off at school at 6am, only to wait outside until students are allowed in the building. (I suppose it's tolerable now, but what happens when it's 20 degrees outside?) Anyhoo...

I am never far from laughter in this job, which is hard, since I have a very low laughter threshold anyway (& have consequently been accused of drug use on more than one occasion), and laughter isn't always the best reaction for a teacher. I'm working on my "stone face" and am perfecting "the look." It worked on a couple of kids yesterday, so I must be doing something right. Some of the highlights so far:

• The butterfly that got caught in the classroom one afternoon. I've never heard such ridiculous comments. "Get it out! I'm afraid of butterflies!" (Come ON. That's like being afraid of a bunny rabbit or chocolate milk, isn't it?) And then, after trying to catch the poor thing, "Don't kill it! It's pretty! Is it okay?"
  
• Kids' apparel. In high school, it was shocking. In middle school, it's just plain funny. T-shirts that boast comments like, "Brightest blonde in the bunch," and "Mind closed until further notice." I absolutely adore my student who, to date, has worn a different classic rock T-shirt every day - from The Stones to The Ramones. Cute.
• Classroom incidents. I've already had to test out the eyewash station on one kid. I assumed once he saw the gushing streams of water, he'd decide he didn't really need to rinse his eyes out, but no... he plunged his entire head into the eyewash fountains. I had to turn around so he wouldn't see me laughing. How am I supposed to teach these kids acid & base chemistry when they can't even use hand sanitizer without endangering each other?! I'll cross that bridge when I get there, I suppose.

Enough for now. I'm off to morning duties, which consists of monitoring 400 8th graders in a miniscule lobby. I love starting the day with an instant headache.